MANIFEST DESTINY 1806 1855
ELECTION OF 1848 AND THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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The population decreased
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The population remained about the same
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The population increased
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We can’t determine what happened to the population
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Detailed explanation-1: -Americans soon began “rushing” to California by land and sea before the “easy” gold disappeared. Between 1850 and 1860, California’s population grew from 92, 597 to 379, 994-a 310 percent increase!
Detailed explanation-2: -The Gold Rush had severe effects on Indigenous Peoples of California and resulted in a precipitous Native population decline from disease, genocide and starvation.
Detailed explanation-3: -By 1849, the non-native population of California had grown to almost 100, 000 people. Nearly two-thirds were Americans.
Detailed explanation-4: -The news of gold brought approximately 300, 000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. The sudden influx of gold into the money supply reinvigorated the American economy; the sudden population increase allowed California to go rapidly to statehood in the Compromise of 1850.