Process Paper
I have always found Westward Expansion to be one of the most interesting areas of American History. Immediately after the project was assigned, I knew that this was the time period I wanted to work with, and the Gold Rush seemed a fascinating subset to focus on as my topic of research. My formal subject of research has been the effects that the California Gold Rush had on the West and Westward Expansion as a whole. Westward Expansion as a subject of study has a very strong value, as it was one of the largest contributing factors to the growth of the United States.
With the research question, “How did the California Gold Rush affect expansion in the West?” in mind, I went to the Bedford Public Library reference room in the hopes of finding an encyclopedia that would provide basic statistics and introduce further questions and subtopics for research. I was able to find an encyclopedia there that fulfilled both of these requirements, called “American Eras: Westward Expansion Vol. 6.” It provided a good framework upon which to build, and also contained two more sources that I was able to use in my research. Both were articles from the New York Herald in 1848 and 1849. The perspective of those living during the time of the Gold Rush and Westward Expansion in general is greatly valuable when trying to understand how these events truly shaped the West and the United States as a whole.
After that, I began to do some internet research in the hopes of finding more sources. I began with Wikipedia. With the knowledge that Wikipedia is an unreliable source in itself, I investigated the sources that the “California Gold Rush” section of Wikipedia had in its own Works’ Cited Section. I was led to The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco, which has a wide array of primary sources. I still intend to read through more of them, but so far I have been able to gather information from “The Miner’s Song,” and “San Francisco Gold Rush Banking - 1849.” I was also led to the book “The Age of Gold” by H.W. Brands, which provides a long and detailed history of the California Gold Rush, as well as information on many different aspects of this time in American History.
In a decision to research more of the general history of Westward Expansion, as opposed to solely the California Gold Rush, I purchased the book “Westward Expansion: A History of the American Frontier,” by Ray Allen Billington and Martin Ridge. It just came in the mail, so I have not yet had the time to read it, but that is something that I intend to do this coming week. In further exploration of the California Gold Rush specifically, however, I have also read the “Official Report on the Gold Mines,” written in 1848 by Colonel Richard Barnes Mason. It was not entirely helpful, as it spent more time detailing the actual process of mining for gold and geographical descriptions than was useful for my research, but it did contain some valuable notes about population and costs.
I began to think more about my my Research Question: “How did the California Gold Rush affect expansion in the West?” I had already discovered in my research that people began emigrating to California in vast numbers, some temporarily and some permanently. California was admitted to the Union in 1850, only two years after gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in 1848. I began to wonder when some of the surrounding Western States were admitted to the Union, and through my research I discovered that they took much longer. The earlies admitted after California was Oregon, in 1859, and the latest was Arizona, in 1932. I found this to be amazing, and it prompted me to think about how much of emigration to California was less about expansion for expansion’s sake, and very specifically about the hope of finding gold. With this in mind, I was able to come up with my thesis statement: “The California Gold Rush aided expansion in the West, and helped California to expand much more rapidly than other states could.” I wrote an outline for my paper, as well as edited my annotations to make them more appropriately long.
For the next due date, April 29, we were to turn in a polished version of our paper. I found one additional source that I believe helped to fill out some final holes in my paper. This was Frank Soulé’s, “The Annals of San Francisco.” After meeting with Mr. Sunderland, I decided to slightly alter my thesis statement. Originally, my thesis statement focused on how the Gold Rush helped California to expand much more rapidly than other states could, but now focuses solely on how the Gold Rush helped California to expand rapidly.
I made some final edits to my paper, and conducted some final research on the early government of California. I read the Constitution of the State of California - 1849, as it outlined the early governmental structure of California, as well as showed the types of laws and structure inherent in a place with such a diverse population as California. I completed my paper and turned in my final draft on Monday, May 13.
With the research question, “How did the California Gold Rush affect expansion in the West?” in mind, I went to the Bedford Public Library reference room in the hopes of finding an encyclopedia that would provide basic statistics and introduce further questions and subtopics for research. I was able to find an encyclopedia there that fulfilled both of these requirements, called “American Eras: Westward Expansion Vol. 6.” It provided a good framework upon which to build, and also contained two more sources that I was able to use in my research. Both were articles from the New York Herald in 1848 and 1849. The perspective of those living during the time of the Gold Rush and Westward Expansion in general is greatly valuable when trying to understand how these events truly shaped the West and the United States as a whole.
After that, I began to do some internet research in the hopes of finding more sources. I began with Wikipedia. With the knowledge that Wikipedia is an unreliable source in itself, I investigated the sources that the “California Gold Rush” section of Wikipedia had in its own Works’ Cited Section. I was led to The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco, which has a wide array of primary sources. I still intend to read through more of them, but so far I have been able to gather information from “The Miner’s Song,” and “San Francisco Gold Rush Banking - 1849.” I was also led to the book “The Age of Gold” by H.W. Brands, which provides a long and detailed history of the California Gold Rush, as well as information on many different aspects of this time in American History.
In a decision to research more of the general history of Westward Expansion, as opposed to solely the California Gold Rush, I purchased the book “Westward Expansion: A History of the American Frontier,” by Ray Allen Billington and Martin Ridge. It just came in the mail, so I have not yet had the time to read it, but that is something that I intend to do this coming week. In further exploration of the California Gold Rush specifically, however, I have also read the “Official Report on the Gold Mines,” written in 1848 by Colonel Richard Barnes Mason. It was not entirely helpful, as it spent more time detailing the actual process of mining for gold and geographical descriptions than was useful for my research, but it did contain some valuable notes about population and costs.
I began to think more about my my Research Question: “How did the California Gold Rush affect expansion in the West?” I had already discovered in my research that people began emigrating to California in vast numbers, some temporarily and some permanently. California was admitted to the Union in 1850, only two years after gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in 1848. I began to wonder when some of the surrounding Western States were admitted to the Union, and through my research I discovered that they took much longer. The earlies admitted after California was Oregon, in 1859, and the latest was Arizona, in 1932. I found this to be amazing, and it prompted me to think about how much of emigration to California was less about expansion for expansion’s sake, and very specifically about the hope of finding gold. With this in mind, I was able to come up with my thesis statement: “The California Gold Rush aided expansion in the West, and helped California to expand much more rapidly than other states could.” I wrote an outline for my paper, as well as edited my annotations to make them more appropriately long.
For the next due date, April 29, we were to turn in a polished version of our paper. I found one additional source that I believe helped to fill out some final holes in my paper. This was Frank Soulé’s, “The Annals of San Francisco.” After meeting with Mr. Sunderland, I decided to slightly alter my thesis statement. Originally, my thesis statement focused on how the Gold Rush helped California to expand much more rapidly than other states could, but now focuses solely on how the Gold Rush helped California to expand rapidly.
I made some final edits to my paper, and conducted some final research on the early government of California. I read the Constitution of the State of California - 1849, as it outlined the early governmental structure of California, as well as showed the types of laws and structure inherent in a place with such a diverse population as California. I completed my paper and turned in my final draft on Monday, May 13.