The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War

By: Leonard L. Richards

Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach

In this revelatory study, award-winning historian Leonard L. Richards outlines the links between the Gold Rush and the Civil War.

Richards explains that Southerners envisioned California as a new market for slaves who could dig for gold, schemed to tie California to the South via railroad, and imagined splitting off the state's southern half as a slave state. We learn how the Gold Rush influenced other regional and national squabbles, and we meet renegade New York Democrat David Broderick, who became a force in San Francisco politics in 1849, and his archrival, William Gwin, a major Mississippi slaveholder. Richards recounts the political battles and the fiery California feuds, duels, and, perhaps, outright murders as the state came shockingly close to being divided in two.

©2007 Leonard L. Richards (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"Richards' characters evince impressive depth, and her blend of old and modern makes for a pleasant deviation from the standard historical novel." (Publishers Weekly)

A Must For Civil War Buffs

If you think you have read everything about the Civil War this book will probably give you a new point of view. Serious students of the Civil War realize that the Gordian Knot of Antebellum politics was not slavery, only a handful of extremist questioned the right of southerners to own slaves, but the expansion of slaves into the territories, however this is the first book that I know of that looks at the question through the eyes of westerners. That is really what makes this book worth reading, because it makes it clear just how complicated the problem really was.

Not typically covered in history class...

This was an extremely interesting book that discusses a time period (between the Gold Rush and the outbreak of the Civil War) in California history that is typically not covered in any depth.

The book opens with a 1859 dual in San Francisco between David Broderick, California's US Senator, and David Terry, a former Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court over slavery-related politics in which Broderick was mortally wounded. It then moves back in time to the discovery of Gold in the Mother Lode and the increasing value of California to the nation. From that point, Richards then demonstrates how political and social tensions became so fierce in California in the 1850's.

The book provides an nice overview of the history of the Gold Rush and then illustrates the surpising number of cross-influences between California and the growing sectional conflict in the nation. It discusses in some detail early California politics in the 1850's and how much it was affected by activist pro-slavery and abolitionist forces.

For example, I was quite surprised the number of times that they proposed dividing California in two - a free Northern half and a pro-slavery Southern half. In fact, a proposal to do just that was approved by both the California Assembly and Senate and signed by the Governor in the late 1850's. Only James Buchanan's relcutance to push it forward to avoid antagonizing an increasingly polarized congress stopped it for good.

This is a great book for people interested in California history or people interested in the build up to the Civil War on a national stage. Readers interested in both topics will be especially delighted. The narrator was very good and the pacing was quick.

Should have read the Publishers Summary.

It took me awhile to get through this book. I was not expecting a "who's who" of early California political players, but that's what this selection is.

All in all, a fairly interesting listen. Definitely well researched.

The reader did a decent job, as good as historical accounts can be read.

Unbalanced

Hardly a paragraph seemed to go be without the mention of slavery. it got to where I dreaded the next slavery topic. Simply put, there was just way too much talk about slavery. Part of the history, yes. Contextually , , the main subject, there is just too much of it.

Good book, lousy reading

Title says it all. The reader is dull and plodding. The contents of the book are okay but there's little spark of the excitement about the gold rush days. In any case, a bad reader makes it impossible to listen too.

Misleading title

What disappointed you about The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War?
Despite the title, five percent of the content was about the calif gold rush, ninety five percent about the coming of the civil war.

Any additional comments?
I was had not gotten it.