Gold Discovered in CA

Question 1

Q: How did James W. Marshall in 1848 change the political, social, and economic history of the state?

Answer 1

A: He discovered gold.

Question 2

Q: How did “Gold fever” transform California?

Answer 2

A: California settler population increased tremendously from 15,000 in 1847 to 92,000 in 1850, and 380,000 in 1860.
A: Population growth led to statehood. (California was the thirty-first state.)

Question 3

Q: How did California’s statehood petition get caught up in national politics?

Answer 3

A: California prohibition of slavery upset the balance of free and slave states.
A: The Compromise of 1850 finally allowed for California entry.