WI no Gold discovered until after ACW and less settlement on the West Coast

Would the ACW BE prevented or postponed without California joining the Union?

If it went as OTL might the West Coast be the place where former slaves go?

How would the old South go without ANY African Americans?

Could the West Coast be successful under former slaves?
 
If an independent and Yankee controlled California exists, it is more likely than not going to apply for annexation like Texas did. An Anglo government would probably try to attract American settlers. It wouldn't be anywhere as quick as the Gold Rush and would resemble settlement of Oregon and Washington.

Exactly how many African Americans went to Oregon and Washington in OTL? We can't forget that the Anglo Californians were racist as hell. Just a reminder single largest act of genocide in US history was the one committed on the native Californians during the Gold Rush. And lets not forget the race riots over East Asian immigrants that occurred from Vancouver to Los Angeles.
 
The big question is whether California would be a state before the Civil War. How would the west coast be settled?

An incentive for the transcontinental railroad was to connect the west coast population centers with the east. Could it have been delayed if the incentive was lower?
 
Would the ACW BE prevented or postponed without California joining the Union?

If it went as OTL might the West Coast be the place where former slaves go?

How would the old South go without ANY African Americans?

Could the West Coast be successful under former slaves?

  1. Delayed, certainly. Without the California Question the entire issue of the Southwest (and all the thorny issues that went along with it: the Wilmont Proviso key among them) could be kept on the back burner for quite some time and allow for a more thought out, less hotheaded compromise to be hammered our by estute statesmen rather than turning into a public spectical. A southern political class not presented with this ultimatium, which was interpretted as a northern attempt to permenantly undercut the regional balance of power by practically banning their expansion into the territories, wouldn't have been as forceful in their Counter-attack by trying to open all the territories to slavery: safe in the knowledge they could keep making new states at a similar rate to the Yankees. Less rhetorical and legal tension, likely less and slower move towards secession as the only option to maintain their position as legitimate routes remained open.
  2. Not likely, I imagine. Most former slaves wouldn't be able to raise the capital to supply themselves and family in a cross-continental journey.
  3. Not happening.
  4. Unlikely, given you'd run into alot of cultural conflict problems, lack of education, lack of capital, tensions with the natives and maybe even incroschment from Mexico, ect. Now, as a substantial minority? Sure they could thrive, but not if we're talking New Liberia.
 
IIRC, the CA gold rush inspired other Americans to go out to the Southwest and look for riches, leading to the discovery of other gold and silver mines... which led to an increase in population for CO, NV, etc. So a delayed CA gold rush is likely to delay this as well. But... the discovery of gold/silver in both CA and the SW can't be delayed all that long... people already suspected that both were there, thanks to lots of rumors about Spanish mining (lost Spanish mines were a consistent rumor throughout the area), and there were scattered prospectors looking for ore already. Plus, people were trickling into CA to take advantage of the rich farmland there, and the placer gold was soooo easy to find.... someone is bound to discover it before long...
 
Top