Contrasts
Georgia gold rush, which took place in the early nineteenth century, had various attributes, which governed the way the gold enterprise took place. Among the different aspects included labor, social, political and economic characteristics, which were vital for the stability of mining.in this regard, this paper will compare and contrast political and economic attributes that gold miners in Georgia experienced mining and trading in gold merchandise(Bryan 398).
Apparently, political associations were formed by the natives who occupied the gold belts and held the land as their ancestral land. Natives were known as Cherokees.in contrast to economic forces that motivated the gold miners; political institutions did not constitute of the whole lot of miners; only the native settlers in Georgia saw the need for organized political units. Political units were necessary to the Cherokees, who faced imminent eviction by gold miners. Forced migration was common among the natives, and courts were instituted but Cherokee elders to provide immunity and avoid displacement from their ancestral land (Williams 356).
On the other hand, economic benefits that cropped up from gold mining were distributed in all households, where gold miners lived. There was no discrimination regarding natives or immigrants, rewards from mining gold were enjoyed by all economic actors in Georgia. Due to commercial distribution of benefits, towns around mining belts grew rapidly, and even new towns developed. Regardless of ethnicity, race, color or occupation, the effect of gold mining activities manifested itself regarding economic development. Growing towns and increased number of wealth in the economy threatened the existence of Cherokees in their ancestral land, as wealthy miners evicted natives forcefully, or bought off their land in rare cases. Moreover, when rumors about gold mining and rich gold fields in Georgia, people migrated to America and population around the minefields grew rapidly, causing land pressure in the region (Hume, and Noah 31).
Another contrast between political and economic perspectives of the Georgia gold rush is the scale of success of policy and economic systems. Gold was highly valued in the eighteenth and nineteen century, and miners could travel vast distances in search of belts rich and minerals (Davis 607). When rumors spread, there would be sudden in the flow of miners from all over the continent. Although the technologies used by Georgia miners were primitive, gold mining in Georgia was up taken at a rapid pace, and gold produced was substantial, given the crude tools used to break the rock. Thus, Economic aspects of the gold mining process were the most evident, given the developments, it constituted in its locality. However, the case was not the same in the political organizations in Georgia (Glass 380). Since miners had migrated from vast cultures, languages and races, the formation of unified political groups was not an easy task. Different political systems could not be integrated into one standard system, but the effluent in the gold mining regions still found a way to form court systems to protect their welfare to the mining society. However, the Cherokees did not have a challenge formulating their political systems, as they had a preexisting system of administration, in this accord; the political system in goldfields was not unitary (Williams 240).
Comparisons
First, the first comparison of the political and economic systems in Georgia gold mining belts is that both were created because individuals saw an opportunity to gain sudden wealth, and had to form systems that would favor their common goal, and also preserve their welfare. Miners formed economic entities to facilitate the flow of gold into the market while Cherokees and wealthy miners formed court systems and law enforcement bodies to preserve their welfare. However, in both the economic and political realms in Georgia gold rush, the gold merchants reaped more benefits regarding profits than the miners did (Boney 68). Miners were eager to dispose of gold into the market, but merchants who shipped the gold to better-developed economies enjoyed the big returns.
Furthermore, both the economic and political attributes in Georgia gold rush caused considerable migration and displacement of people to pave the way for gold mining. For instance, Cherokees, or the native settlers in Georgia were forced off their land, as more miners and their families flocked in to take part in mining (Bryan 400). Some miners even migrated, and sold their goodwill to new entrants in the gold mining venture, as commercialization of gold trade was active in the nineteenth century.
Lastly, settlement of miners and their interaction with the Cherokees gave birth to hybrid connotations, which included multicultural groups, as the two groups intermarried and shared cultural values, and practices. Furthermore, miners borrowed political systems and strategies from Cherokees, as there arose a need to contain the behavior of raising the population of miners (Davis 609). At some instances, miners went on strike to push for better conditions. Hence, miners formed court systems which helped in settling disputes, arising from contractual agreements, and also law enforcement units, similar to the police force, for enforcing laws that the courts formulated.
Works cited
Boney, F N. ‘Book Review: The Georgia Gold Rush: Twenty-Niners. Cherokees and Gold Fever’ The American Historical Review. 99.4 (1994): 1391. Print.
Bryan, T C. ‘The Gold Rush in Georgia’. The Georgia Review. 9.4 (1955):398-405. Print
Davis, Robert S. ‘Book Review’ The Georgian Gold Rush: Twenty Niners, Cherokees and Gold Fever’ The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 77.3 (1993) 606-608
Glass, Brent D. ‘Book Review’ The Georgia Gold Rush: Twenty Niners, Cherokees and Gold Fever’ The journal of the Southern History 380-381.
Hume, Janice, and Noah Arceneaux, ‘Glittering Dust, Dormant Treasure: Press, Public Memory and Georgia’s Forgotten Gold rush. American Journalism. 23.4 (2006) 7.33 Print.
Williams, David ‘Georgia’s Forgotten Miners: African- Americans and the Georgia Gold Rush. The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 75.1 (1991) 76-89. Print.
Williams, David. The Georgian Gold Rush :Twenty-Niners, Cherokees, and Gold Fever. Columbia, SC: the University of South Carolina Press, 1993. Print.
