The History Book

249

See also: The signing of the Declaration of Independence 204–07 ■ The Gettysburg Address 244–47 ■

The opening of Ellis Island 250–51 ■ The Trail of Tears 264

CHANGING SOCIETIES

population of San Francisco, the

main point of entry, was hardly 200

in 1846. By 1852, it was more than

30,000, and by 1870, it was 150,000.

A handful, mostly early arrivals,

made fortunes, while some made

modest profits, and most made

nothing at all. The California gold

rush seemed a national obsession.

In reality, it was no more than

an extreme instance of the

determination to colonize North

America by the United States that

was underway long before the gold

had been found. By 1803, Vermont,

Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio had

become states. In addition to the

annexation of Texas in 1845, a

further 13 states had been added

by 1848. In the same year, New

Mexico and California were also

seized from Mexico.

New technologies

To reach California, the 49ers

endured journeys of astonishing

hardship, traveling by wagon

across the immensities of the Great

Plains or by ship around Cape Horn,

and sometimes across the Isthmus

of Panama. Six months was the

expected minimum for these

enormous undertakings.

However, an extraordinary

resolution to link these vast new

territories was being forged,

harnessing new technology in

pursuit of nation-building on an epic

scale. In 1861, the first telegraph line

was established between the east

and the west coasts. In 1869, the

first transcontinental railroad line

The Battle of the Little Bighorn

Gold was behind the most

famous confrontation between

the new settlers of the west and

the native populations: the Battle

of the Little Bighorn on June 25,

1876. The US government
      authorized the settlement of the
      Black Hills of South Dakota after
      gold was discovered there. By
      doing so, however, it broke a
      treaty with the Sioux of the
      Great Plains. When, in return,
      substantial numbers of Sioux
      and Cheyenne refused to move
      to reservations, federal cavalry

were sent to Montana to round

them up. Among them was a

troop of 600 under Lieutenant

Colonel George Custer. Some

200 of these men, led by Custer

himself, discovered the Indian

encampment in the Little

Bighorn Valley. In just one hour,

the combined American Indian

warriors, led by Sitting Bull,

killed Custer’s entire force.

Their deaths renewed the

government’s determination to

force the Sioux and Cheyenne

into reservations at any cost.

was completed, slashing journey

times: by 1876, it was possible to

travel from New York to California

in three and a half days.

Settlers and victims

Immigration was the fuel that

powered these transformations, the

new lands demanding a vast influx

of new settlers. In 1803, the US

population stood at 4 million. By

1861, it was 31 million; and by the

turn of the century, 76 million.

There were inevitable costs to

such rapid growth, and American

Indians paid the highest price.

Driven off their tribal lands with

relentless brutality, their numbers

dropped from perhaps as many as

4.5 million to 500,000. Herded into

reservations, their traditional way

of life destroyed, they were helpless

in the face of this seemingly

irresistible expansion. ■

John Gast’s painting American

Progress (1872) depicts the concept

of manifest destiny. In it, the figure of

Columbia, representing the USA, lays

telegraph wires and leads settlers west.

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