United States History Student Edition

01

Introducing Political and Geographic Changes

Jackson and Growth When Andrew Jackson won the presidential election of 1828, the country was in a period of great change. As settlements spread to the West, Americans came into conflict with Native Americans who lived there. Gold Rush The discovery of gold in a tributary of the Sacramento River kicked off the California Gold Rush. Miners adapted various tunes to sing as they searched—mostly in vain—for gold. This 1850 image shows miners panning for gold. Gold is much denser than other materials and will settle out as water washes away dirt and gravel.

And it's blow, boys, blow, For Californi-o. For there's plenty of gold, So I've been told, On the banks of the Sacramento. —From the song “The Banks of the Sacramento”

» This 1850 poster advertised passage on a clipper ship—a long, narrow ship that could travel faster than any other ship at the time. Clippers carried people and supplies to and from San Francisco during the Gold Rush.

PHOTO: (l)FLHC 21/Alamy Stock Photo; (r)Transcendental Graphics/Archive Photos/Getty Images; TEXT: Shay, Frank, ed. "On the Banks of the Sacramento." Iron Men & Wooden Ships: Deep Sea Chanties. Garden City: Doubleday, 1924.

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