ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Social Studies Videos 51 videos
GED Social Studies 1.1 Civics and Government
John Hawkins was may have been the most interesting man in the world. He doesn’t always hijack ships, but when he does... he prefers for them to...
Betty Frieden was one of the leading influences (arguably the starting one) in women's rights. She argued for gender equality everywhere— from th...
Gold Rush 2276 Views
Share It!
Description:
There’s just something about gold that makes people do some pretty crazy things. What would you do to get your hands on some of that glittery goodness?
Transcript
- 00:08
The Gold Rush, a la Shmoop:
- 00:10
"There's gold in this thar video!"
- 00:13
It's 1849. Spring. Early morning. 187 pounds of dynamite rattle around in your
- 00:20
wagon as you bounce to the mine on unpaved roads.
- 00:24
A year ago, gold was first discovered in California by a guy named James Marshall.
Full Transcript
- 00:30
Word spread quickly, and people from all over the world travelled to central and northern
- 00:35
California. And it wasn't for the weather.
- 00:38
Well... not just for the weather. But gold prospecting wasn't the safest way
- 00:42
to make a quick buck... or even a million of them.
- 00:45
Any idea what 187 pounds of explosive can do to ya?
- 00:52
Many of the very first prospectors -- the "48ers" -- had made many years' wages
- 00:57
in a very short time... ...but the 49ers usually came up empty.
- 01:02
Yet just the chance of finding gold caused hundreds of thousands of people to abandon
- 01:06
their former lives and travel across the world. Just how desperate were people back then...
- 01:12
,,,to risk life and limb and everything they had...
- 01:15
... for a small chance of hitting the jackpot? What would you risk to make a million dollars?
- 01:20
An arm? A leg?
- 01:22
What about ten million... or a hundred million?
- 01:26
Nowadays, reality game shows push contestants
- 01:28
to their limits in exchange for big-money prizes.
- 01:31
How much money would get you to eat a bug, or live on a deserted island?
- 01:36
What if somebody promised you lots of money to take a locked suitcase on a plane to a
- 01:40
foreign country... would you do it?
- 01:44
Where do you draw the line? What would you do for life-changing money?
- 01:49
What sort of chance would you be willing to take?
- 01:52
Shmoop amongst yourselves.
Related Videos
Ever heard of a "living document"? They eat and breathe just like the rest of us! They even walk around on their own two legs. Okay, fine—maybe t...
If the Puritans had gotten their way, religion would play a much larger role in lawmaking these days. Want to know more? Watch the video for all th...
What happened between the creation of the Articles of Confederation and the ratification of the current U.S. Constitution? This video analyzes the...
The Modernists thought the world had a lot of problems, and they were intent on fixing them—or at least talking about fixing them. Unfortunately,...
This video explains Federalism and the quest for a fair balance between state and national power. It covers the progression and compromises of Fede...