Gender Identity During the Gold Rush

Women’s roles have changed greatly throughout history. As the advancement of culture, laws, and ideas altered ways of life, women’s lives also evolved in numerous aspects of society. Women’s roles changed greatly between 1815 and 1860. During this time, family dynamics changed as the mothers that were placed at the center of the household were given greater freedoms. In addition, women had more opportunity to take on jobs in the workplace. Women also fought for reform movements that altered their ways of life in the community. During the reform era of the United States, factors such as religion, education, and reforms greatly changed women’s roles in the family, workplace, and society.

The gender roles in America have changed tremendously since the end of the American Civil War. Women and men, who once lived in separate spheres are now both contributing to American society. Women have gone from the housewife so playing key roles in the country's development in all areas. Though our society widely accepts women and the idea that our society is gender neutral, the issues that women once faced in the late 1860s are still here.

The Gilded Age is a brief time in American history in which the United States experienced a population and rapid economic expansion. Mark Twain named it the “Gilded Age” as this was after the Civil War, lasting from 1870 - 1900. Although, this name was ironic as “gilded” is a term used to describe something that was covered in gold, by this he meant that the Gilded Age was whitewashed but was full of corruption. It shows how the social factors (as seen in documents A,B,C and D), economic factors (as seen in documents G), and political factors (as seen in documents E, H and I)

The late-nineteenth century was a turning point for American society, economics and politics. This era was an era of seeming prosperity and diversity. Nonetheless, there were many perspectives that were omitted from this prosperous and wealthy view shared among the few. As a result, the late 1800s was known as the Gilded Age, named by Mark Twain as an allusion to the concept of something that is seemingly pleasantly plated with gold on the outside, but rotten to the core. This Gilded Age, in essence, was a period of rapid growth of industry in the American North and West. This industrialization brought many benefits, however, along with the benefits for the select few, it also saw heavier persecution and exploitation against those who were

The daily life of a miner was far from perfect. The way the papers and other means of propaganda had portrayed getting rich quick, but it was far from easy. All the equipment that was needed to start out as a miner was for the most part outrageous. The earning wages from gold was” sixteen dollars an ounce” pg.8. Even so, the work was backbreaking. There was swarms of minors trying to get rich quick. To many miners that traveled to get a piece of the precious metal they where resorted to taking land from previous land owner just to get ahead in the Gold Rush. Not to mention that the living conditions where also outrageous. The “rentals of hotels and other business structures, whether of boards or of canvas, reached even dizzier heights than did commodity prices” pg.8. This spaces where set prices at 3,000 dollars a month or 40,000 dollars for a year, there was also other prices around the area of San Francisco. And in some cases miners where resorted to living in a room filled to the brim with other miners. This lead to very poor conditions for any one to live in. But nothing was better then being rich in a few months or

The author focuses on Alfred Doten, John Dobly, Timothy Osborn exemplify prevalent “vices” that men struggled with working in the California Gold Rush. Alfred Doten represents the man who is flexible with his sexuality because of his drive for intimacy. He openly flirted and indulged in Native women. He took part in “homosocial behavior,” and the article indicated he may have slept with several men. Yet, he continued to write to an Anglo white woman back at home. John Dobly represents the man who tried to uphold his Anglo Protestant

The Gilded Age was a time in American history, from the 1870s to the 1890s, which ostensibly characterized the country based on its economic and technological advancements. However this era’s development served as a mere facade for the corruption and classism which occurred during the time. From economic manipulation to immorality in politics, the Gilded Age is best characterized by the unscrupulous nature of individuals who sought to attain superficial success.

The Gold Rush of California was a “shot heard” round the world that caught the ears of many individuals who were seeking the golden opportunities of the West. (Chan & Olin 1992). With the dreams of wealth on the horizon, the Gold Rush brought on a drastic change in American society. For the women of this period, their lives would be altered in ways that would change the Western frontier. With an eagerness for wealth and equality women now found themselves struggling to survive in a society that was mainly male dominant and branch out from the normalcy of womanhood, which would transform occupational drive, prostitution and marital status.

The Gilded Age in American History was a time period of great controversy. Those in wealthier classes believed the changes that had been made socially were for the best. For instance, Andrew Carnegie in the The Gospel of Wealth sees the industrialization in a positive light. He, along with other Robber Barons of the late nineteenth-century are the ones that created the idea of a “Gilded Age”. His class of folks believed their contributions to society was bringing back a Golden Age. Carnegie, though, didn’t necessarily approve of the wealth distribution and was aware there was an issue. However, others didn’t feel exactly the same. Upton Sinclair shows this in the novel, The Jungle. The novel highlights the social injustice and unfair treatment of the working class in the nineteenth century. Although a work of fiction, the novel brings to light true occurrences from heavily populated cities during this time period. In several instances, the novel details how the quickly rising issue of poverty in the United States wasn’t treated, as it should’ve been. In addition to Sinclair and Carnegie, there were several other views on either ends of the spectrum. Whether it was a view of the poorer class; or that of the wealthy class, the opinions were very controversial and gave a strong sense of the issues that occurred throughout the Gilded Age.

One of the most notable times during the late 19th century was the Gilded Age. This is a term often used to describe this time period since from the outside looking in urban life in America seemed perfect, but in reality, many citizens did not like the changes that were occurring. Since the verb gild means to cover with or as if with a thin coating of gold[1], historians often refer to this time period as “the Gilded Age”. New ideals about poverty, social reforms, different political approaches, and a new women’s culture brought forth political, economic, social, and cultural changes in urban growth during the

During the rise of industrialization, the United States had just ended the Civil War and was starting to move on. People had an aspiration at this time to make a more than decent living for themselves, and the economy was at the right spot for this to be possible. This time period in American History is referred to as the Gilded Age, termed by the famous author Mark Twain, which simply means covered in gold; however, Twain did not necessarily mean this in a good way. He believed right under the surface of this gold plating was still problems with the American society that didn’t look so appealing. This essay will discuss how practices during the rise of industrialization during the Gilded Age shaped the American work and labor force.

California is the state that well known with the largest population in the United State, and it is the most culturally and racially diverse society.When walking in the street, it can see different kinds of races and hear many different languages. “Melting pot” is a good definition to explain this diverse phenomenon, which describes that the lost of different cultures living together harmoniously in a common society. Actually, numbers of these different cultural immigrants came to the California, the United State since the Gold Rush. These different cultures are melting harmoniously right now, however, they has faced discrimination and racist attacks during the Gold Rush. In this essay, it is going to discuss the development of the Gold Rush, who has been discrimination and how they has been discrimination during that period.

First, I would like to consider the economic theory behind the gold rush and explain why on the surface; it is quite simple. Consider a modern theoretical case. Say a family of four is living in Cincinnati, Ohio and the main earner of the family works for a tool manufacturing company in Cincinnati. Suppose that the company decides during their yearly employee reviews that they aren’t going to give this certain individual a pay raise for the next year; also suppose that the employee does not see themselves climbing up the pay scale any further. Now suppose that this person is offered a thirty thousand dollar per year raise if they move out to Los Angeles, California for a new machine related job. Assuming

     What effects did the Gold Rush have on people? Some became forever rich, and some lost everything. In 1849, California was a rather uncivilized place, especially San Francisco. Miner’s came from every where to try to find their fortune, but most fortunes weren’t made mining gold, they were made because of mining. Sam Brannan was one such man who made his fortune this way. Brannan bought every shovel, pan, and every other mining related tool he could in the region. A twenty-cent metal pan now became a fifteen-dollar pan, and the only place to buy them was from Sam Bannan. Levi Strauss, a tailor who happened to have very popular canvas pants made his fortune from the Gold Rush. Phillip Armour, of Armour Meat packing company, and John Studebaker just to name a couple more. Unfortunately, not everybody could get rich, for every one person that struck it big; there were thousands that didn’t. It is not uncommon to hear stories of men leaving their wife, kids and

America is the land of opportunity. It is a place of rebirth, hope, and freedom. However, it was not always like that for women. Many times in history women were oppressed, belittled, and deprived of the opportunity to learn and work in their desired profession. Instead, their life was confined to the home and family. While this was a noble role, many females felt that they were being restricted and therefore desired more independence. In America, women started to break the mold in 1848 and continued to push for social, political, educational, and career freedom. By the 1920s, women had experienced significant “liberation”, as they were then allowed to vote, hold public office, gain a higher education, obtain new jobs, drastically change