Current Events 1851

Current Events 1851- March 1852

California as a State and Place:

California has been a State since September 1850
President Millard Fillmore at the helm of the United States

If you are a woman or a foreigner you need not be familiar with the following:
California’s Governor is John McDougall originally from Ohio. His proclamations earn him the nickname “I John.” Peter Burnett was the first Governor elected in 1849 serving to 1851
Lt Governor is Samuel Purdy.
California’s Senators are John B. Weller and William M. Gwin (pro-Slavery)
The Congressional Representative for Tuolumne County and the First District is Edward C. Marshall a Democrat
The Ninth Assembly District (originally the San Joaquin District) in the State Legislature is where Columbia is located and your representative is Benjamin Moore.

The State Legislature has reinstituted the Foreign Miners Tax that was so devastating to the economy in 1850. The 1852 tax is primarily aimed at Chinese. Latinos suffered from the 1850 Foreign Miners Tax.
World events of importance to Columbians and certain foreigners:

Queen Victoria is still on the throne. Crowned: June 20th, 1837 The ruling British cabinet is headed by Edward Stanley in February 1852. He has replaced the Russell Ministry who has ruled for five years.

France’s Second Republic ends in 1851 after three years in a coup by President Louis Napoleon Bonaparte in December. Unarmed citizens are massacred in the streets by troops.

Argentina’s Juan Manuel de Rosas is defeated by Uruguay in February 1852 at the Battle of Monte Caseros.

In July 1851, Victoria, Australia is declared a colony independent of New South Wales.

China is still in turmoil and rebellion, there is famine. Many Chinese are arriving in California. There are beginning to be thoughts that perhaps the Chinese are not such a good thing. Many politicians initially believe that they are good for the State. In fact Governor “I John” MacDougal calls for land grants to be given to Chinese who have the potential to be “one of the most worthy of our newly adopted citizens.” In 1852 50,000 Chinese come to California, defying a Chinese law that includes the death penalty for leaving the country. Even though many politicians accept the Chinese in California with open arms, competition is heating up for gold, and ideas are changing.

Ireland’s Famine continues. Widespread blindness is now occurring from malnutrition. 250,000 people leave Ireland in 1851, emigration will peak in 1852.

London is the World’s largest city with 2.37 million people living in it.


Issues in the U.S. for Americans in Columbia

Slavery Issues:

As part of California’s entry into the Union in 1850, the Fugitive Slave Law has been enforced. This allows Southerners to hunt blacks who have escaped to freedom. Many Freedmen are also kidnapped and sold into slavery. The law is highly controversial. Demonstrations are rampant. In February 1851 Boston blacks break an accused slave out of jail, and President Fillmore demands that Massachusetts uphold the Fugitive Slave Law. In Syracuse, New York, in October, abolitionists rescue another accused fugitive slave from jail.

Cincinnati Papers in January of 1851 tell of a story of black woman who has crossed the Ohio River when it was frozen to attempt to be free of slavery. When caught, she cut the throat of one of her children rather than let her live in bondage.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published in 1851 and produced as a book in March of 1852. Harriet Beecher Stowe relates the episode of Eliza Harris who murdered her child as she crossed the Ohio River in January of 1851. The book is widely popular and 120 editions are published by the end of 1852.

Westward Expansion:

Sioux Chiefs are persuaded by government officials to give up lands in Iowa and Minnesota Territory in July 1851. A large gathering at Ft Laramie uses gifts and arguments to persuade the chiefs of many tribes to move to lands “reserved” for them.

In 1851 a small town that will be named Seattle in 1853 is founded in the Oregon Territory.


Transportation:

The Flying Cloud an American Clipper Ship is launched in 1851. She displaces 1,783 tons and sails from New York to San Francisco in just 89 days! Clippers are now the fastest ships on the run around the horn. In 1852 the Sovereign of the Seas is launched and demonstrates that a 2,421 ton clipper is practical.

In 1851 the Erie Railroad is completed connecting New York with Lake Erie. President Fillmore and Daniel Webster take a 447 mile ride. Webster’s rocking chair is secured to a flatcar for the trip. But to get to New York City, a steamboat must be taken across the Hudson River. However, the New York and Hudson River Railroad actually gets into the city itself and is the first railroad to do so, connecting with horse car lines.

In 1851 the Pennsylvania Railroad reaches Pittsburg and the Baltimore & Ohio reaches the Ohio River at Wheeling, Virginia (West Virginia won’t be a state until 1864). By February 1852 the first train from the east reaches Chicago (the Michigan Southern Railway). The Pacific Railway, a grand name, is the first Railroad to lay tracks west of the Mississippi from St. Louis, Missouri in 1851. In all during 1851 4,400 miles of railroad track are laid between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mississippi.

The British Navy Frigate Birkenhead, an iron hulled paddle-wheeler, strikes a reef while rounding the Cape of Good Hope in February 1852. 455 of 648 are lost, all 56 women and children survive.

Steamboats regularly serving Stockton from San Francisco are the John A. Sutter (first Steamboat into Stockton) that blew up in 1851 in a boiler explosion. Others regularly serving California River Ports were Lady Washington (sunk 1849 returning from Coloma on its first trip), Senator (arriving 1849), Comanche (sunk 1853 Suisun Bay by collision with), J. Bragdon, Sagamore (blew up November 1, 1851 killing 50 people in San Francisco), Secretary, Commodore Preble, and the General Warren. On July 11, 1850, New World steamed through the Golden Gate with 250 cash-paying passengers on board and enough money in her safe to pay off creditors. On New World's first run to Sacramento April 1, 1850, Wakeman halved the best time heretofore made by any other steamer, setting a record that held for a decade.

Small boats often less than 100 feet could travel up the Sacramento as far as Red Bluff or on the San Joaquin almost as far as today’s Fresno. They went up the Tuolumne and Stanislaus Rivers, up the American, Feather and Yuba. They parted the tules on French Camp Slough, went into the South Delta to Old River, and slogged their way into Suisun City and up the Petaluma River -- and to many waterways in between.

Freighting to the mines was done with mules and oxen. When roads were developed teams of 20 or more mules pulled multiple wagons full of goods to camps. Camps tucked into some of the more rugged country were accessed by mule trains without wagons. Freighting could command high prices.



The California Gold Rush:

The rush to Kern River is started in 1851. It is short lived and disappointing.

The U.S. Mint produces four million $1 gold pieces. They are small, but made mostly of California Gold.

The Australian Rush in New South Wales begins in 1851.

In Nevada City, Hydraulic Mining techniques are first used.

Items of interest:

Colt’s 36 Caliber Revolvers are exhibited in England. They are not immediately accepted because they are American. Samuel Colt gives one to Prince Albert and the Prince of Wales in 1851.

Porcelain Dentures are patented in 1851 by Dentist, John Allen. Allen helped to found the Ohio College of Dental Surgery in 1845.

The New-York Daily Times (now known as the New York Times) begins publication in September 1851 with a steam press. By the end of the year it has a circulation of around 20,000. Other New York papers include the Tribune (Horace Greeley) and Courier and Enquirer (one paper).

A fire in the Library of Congress in 1851 destroys two thirds of Thomas Jefferson’s collection housed there. Thousands of other books are also destroyed, congress will allocate $100,000 to replace and improve safety.

During 1851 the great Crystal Palace in London is built. It is the largest glass structure in the world. It will be used to house exhibitions. It used 1/3 of England’s glass production for a year and 2000 men to put together.

Maine passes the first U.S. Prohibition law in June 1851.

The average consumption of coffee per person in the U.S. is 6 ¼ pounds.

Interesting Sayings:

Pregnant women were in an “interesting condition” or “visiting the country.” Newborn children were often said to be “discovered under the gooseberry bush” or “found in the cabbage patch.”