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Website
Digital History

Digital History: The Political Crisis of the 1840s

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the attempt to keep slavery out of the newly acquired Mexican Cession, and so how this attempt revealed an increased split between North and South.
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Handout
Sacramento Bee

The Sacramento Bee: Timeline of John Sutter

For Students 9th - 10th
John Sutter was the unwitting lynchpin in the California Gold Rush. Read the time line of events that show how he suffered for that discovery.
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Handout
PBS

New Perspectives on the West: John Augustus Sutter (1803 1880)

For Students 9th - 10th
Biography of John Sutter, a Swiss settler who helped to develop Californian and saw his fortunes dwindle after the California Gold Rush.
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Handout
PBS

New Perspectives on the West: James Wilson Marshall (1810 1885)

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief biography of James Marshall who discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in 1848, which led to the California Gold Rush.
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Handout
Other

Gold Rush Players: Johann Augustus Sutter

For Students 9th - 10th
Chronicles the life of John Sutter who immigrated to America to find his fortune and then saw it crumble away after the discovery of gold at his mill.
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Handout
Other

The Gold Rush: Fever

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource provides information about the Gold Rush, and fever that took place during westward expansion.
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: California History Collection: The Discovery of Gold

For Students 9th - 10th
Contains an article on the discovery of gold in California at Sutter's Mill that resulted in the California Gold Rush.