Reassesses the role of the California gold rush in the events leading up to the Civil War, analyzing the squabbling over bringing California into the union as a slave state, the political maneuverings and battles, and the economic factors involved.

"1849--Gold Rush madness threatened to destroy California. Congress could not decide if the western territory should be admitted as a slave state or a free state. Something had to be done, and newly-appointed Military Governor Bennet C. Riley had the guts to do it: call a constitutional convention. Of the seventy-two men elected, forty-eight delegates left their homes and businesses to come to Monterey and draft a constitution. Their socio-economic...