Vocabulary
What do you call people who rushed to California in 1849 to search for gold?
Forty-niners
Who was the first governor of California?
Peter H. Burnett
When was gold discovered?
1848
In what year did California become a state?
1850
What do you call a graph that uses lines to show changes over time?
A line graph
What is a piece of land marked by a miner for digging gold called?
A claim
Who was the military governor who called for the Monterey Convention?
Bennett Riley
Who discovered gold?
James Marshall
What important document did delegates write at the Monterey Convention?
California’s constitution
If a line on a graph becomes steeper, what does that usually mean?
There was a faster or greater increase.
What vocabulary word means a rise in prices, like when food and tools became very expensive during the Gold Rush?
Inflation
Who was the businessman who sold strong denim pants to miners?
Levi Strauss
What was usually the fastest route from the eastern United States to California during the Gold Rush?
Traveling through the Isthmus of Panama
What law, included in the Compromise of 1850, required escaped slaves to be returned to enslavers?
The Fugitive Slave Act
Why were rivers important during the Gold Rush?
Miners searched riverbeds for gold and needed water for mining.
What vocabulary word describes people who start businesses to make money?
Entrepreneurs
Who was the former slave who became a successful landowner in Los Angeles and helped start a school for African American children?
Biddy Mason
What type of mining used powerful water hoses to wash away hillsides?
Hydraulic mining
Why did California have trouble paying its bills during the Gold Rush?
Most miners did not own land, so they did not pay property taxes.
What was the name of the place where gold was first discovered in California? (Not the city)
Sutter's Mill
What is the name for a narrow strip of land connecting two larger pieces of land, like the route travelers crossed in Panama on their way to California?
Isthmus
Who helped start the African American newspaper called Mirror of the Times?
Mifflin Gibbs
Why did many miners end up poorer than when they arrived in California?
They spent a lot of money on expensive supplies, food, and tools but did not find enough gold to become rich.
Why did many Californios lose land after the Land Act of 1851?
They had trouble proving ownership, many did not speak English, their maps were inaccurate, and expensive court cases forced many to sell land to pay legal bills.
What town was Sutter’s Mill located in?
Coloma