The Gold Rush: the most significant event in Californian History

Füleki, Hella (2000) The Gold Rush: the most significant event in Californian History. Masters, Szegedi Tudományegyetem.

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Abstract

This thesis deals with a most significant part of the Californian history, the gold rush from 1848. My purpose in writing is to show the difficulties of the `forty-niners' and gold miners through their own experiences during the gold rush. The main point is to focus on the problems from the distance of the Californian history, following a timeline from the discovery to the boom of the country. After introducing the historical background of the era, the first main section deals with the conquest and the territorial expansion of the West. The reason for giving facts about the background of the gold rush is to show the territorial changes and the development of the railroad instead of referring back and forth all the time during the thesis. In this part the focus is on the reasons why the Californian gold rush was the main purpose for so many people to start mining for gold in 1849. In the following unit the main procedure of gold mining is introduced. The way how James Marshall found gold for the first time and the way people felt like hearing about the discovery. Going through the topics we are able to put ourselves back to the time of the era and feel like those miners who took part and made success from gold. We can follow the boom of Los Angeles and Coloma by gold find and the timeline how it led to strict justice. The last main section focuses on the culture that took hold despite tough crowds, conditions in the theaters. The chances for people to entertain themselves are also introduced here - although the prices were relatively high and not all layers could afford to do so. This part also shows the situation of the press and the rivalry between journalists about informing people of the gold rush. The light is thrown on how the everyday habits of people's meal times changed in parallel with the development of restaurants. People see California as the state where the American Dream can come true but they are not well-informed how it has become such a rich and metropolitan country during the history. They could even not imagine how it became a state on the other side of the Great Plains. This thesis may introduce California becoming a real, rich state in the United States and become one of the most popular one in the world.

Institution

Szegedi Tudományegyetem

Faculty

Gyula Juhász Teacher Training College

Department

Angol Tanszék

Discipline

Teacher Training

Specialization

angol

Supervisor(s)

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	05. Social sciences > 05.03. Educational sciences
Depositing User:	Szerkesztő JGYPK
Date Deposited:	2019. Jun. 03. 08:32
Last Modified:	2019. Jun. 03. 13:06
URI:	https://diploma.bibl.u-szeged.hu/id/eprint/76775

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