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We the Miners : Self-Government in the California Gold Rush by Andrea Griet McDowell is a nonfiction available to read on EtoBox.

What is We the Miners : Self-Government in the California Gold Rush about?

A surprising account of frontier law that challenges the image of the Wild West. In the absence of state authority, Gold Rush miners crafted effective government by the people--but not for all the people. Gold Rush California was a frontier on steroids: 1,500 miles from the nearest state, it had a constantly fluctuating population and no formal government. A hundred thousand single men came to the new territory from every corner of the nation with the sole aim of striking it rich and then returning home. The circumstances were ripe for chaos, but as Andrea McDowell shows, this new frontier was not nearly as wild as one would presume. Miners turned out to be experts at self-government, bringing about a flowering of American-style democracy--with all its promises and deficiencies. The Americans in California organized and ran meetings with an efficiency and attention to detail that amazed foreign observers. Hundreds of strangers met to adopt mining codes, decide claim disputes, run large-scale mining projects, and resist the dominance of companies financed by outside capital. Most notably, they held criminal trials on their own authority. But, mirroring the societies back east from w

Who reads We the Miners : Self-Government in the California Gold Rush?

Author

Andrea Griet McDowell

Publisher

Harvard University, Department of Sanskrit & Indian Studies

Published

2022

Language

EN

ISBN

9780674248113

Category

nonfiction

Subjects

History, Law, Humanities