how did the gold rush affect the issue of slavery?

Answer 1

It may be that the loss of the gold shipment on the SS Central America contributed to the Panic of 1857 -- though it is perhaps better to say that the shipment MIGHT have helped avert the Panic (which other events actually caused), but this seems to me an extremely IN-direct connection to the sectional (slavery) conflict.

Much more significant, and usually missed, was the fact that there was quite a sectional fight over California itself. Even after the admission of California as a free state in 1850, Southern leaders attempted several times throughout the 1850s to split California in two and make the southern section a slave state. The odds of this actually happening were greatly improved by the fact that California's Senators, themselves transplanted Southerners, fought for it.

There were a number of other facets to this struggle, including the plans of Jefferson Davis, as Secretary of War under Pierce, to build a transcontinental railroad by a SOUTHERN route. (This was the reason, incidentally, for the Gadsden Purchase. It also belies the "states rights" defense of Davis and others -- in fact, they were quite willing to use Federal monies and force for the benefit of THEIR section. Note that this whole railroad struggle --tied in part to California-- was another factor intensifying the sectional slavery conflict.)

For an informative and fascinating telling of these struggles, check out the recent book by Leonard Richards, *The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War* (Knopf, 2007).

Answer 2

The discovery of gold in 1848 in what was then the territory of California caused President Zachary Taylor to call for a speeded-up process to get California declared an official state. Congress had previously set down certain criteria that had to be met for a territory to make the transition to statehood, but Taylor's advocacy allowed California to bypass some of those criteria. With this precedent having been set, the pressure to bring other states into the Union more rapidly increased.

The way all this relates to the slavery issue is that whether a state came into the Union as free or slave was one of the major points of political, and in the case of Kansas physical, conflict in the years leading up to the Civil War. With the process of becoming a state speeded up, this only intensified the slave-vs-free conflicts.

So, it can be argued that the Gold Rush of 1849 actually contributed to the coming of the Civil War, and of course the Civil War decided the issue of whether of not slavery was going to continue in the United States.

The issues I have just alluded to are very complex, and this has been a very abbreviated account, but I hope you now can see how the gold rush affected the issue of slavery.

Answer 3

The California gold rush was directly involved as one of the causes of the civil war which in turn, was the deciding factor to end slavery in the United States.
Septembert 1857, a huge shipment of California gold on the S.S. Central America headed for New York banks sank in a storm off the coast of the Carolinas. This single event is credited with being the "financial trigger" of the civil war.

Throughout the year grain prices had fallen dramatically causing economic problems in the rural south, land speculation programs were failing and many business' which were counting on western expansion also failed, British investors worried about the economy withdrew funds from U.S. banks, and the subsequent loss of the gold shipment were more than the fragile economy could stand. A massive depression ensued.
While all this was going on, a tarriff reduction designed to spur economic growth was enacted mainly with support from southern representatives. Business' in the southern states saw huge benefits which caused a rise in the demand for slave workers that further divided the north and south and within 4 years, the civil war began.

Answer 4

Lots and Lots of people from all over the world flocked to California to try their luck in the Gold Fields. A lot of the stayed after the gold played out.

Answer 5

It had nothing to do with slavery unless the migration is what you are talking about?