chapter 4: american state, part 1

Question 1

what were the six “founding patterns” of american california established by the gold rush? (80)

Answer 1

• it’s internationalism
• psychology of expectations
• artistic and literary culture
• racism
• heedless damage to the environment,
• rapid creation of a political, economic, and technological infrastructure

Question 2

what does the author conclude about the many different interpretations of the gold rush have historians offered? (83)

Answer 2

all offer a piece of the truth, but none offer the complete truth

Question 3

in what ways was life in gold rush california “nasty, brutish, and short”? (84-85)

Answer 3

disease, violence (highest muder rates in history of US), a lot of sexual tension, etc.

Question 4

what motivated more complex forms of social organization in the gold fields? (89)

Answer 4

technology

Question 5

when a gold rush reporter noted that “california resembled a princess captured by bandits who cut off her hands to obtain the rings on her fingers,” to what was he referring? (89-90)

Answer 5

the hydraulic mining = washing away the beautiful mountains