KVMR Interview with Alan Stahler – California and the Civil War, Part 1

Alan Stahler, host of KVMR's Soundings, interviews Richard about the pre-war history of the Golden State. Part 1 covers California from European contact to the outbreak of the war.

    Topics:

California as Indian homeland and as Spanish colony. Religious origin of the Missions and their impact on native population.

The increasing "Anglo" presence in California and convenient timing of the Bear Flag Revolt. God signals his approval of President Polk's "Manifest Destiny" policy by revealing gold at Sutter's Creek.

California as international magnet, drawing both Northerners and Southerners from the United States. The admission of California as a free state in 1850 comes within a hair's breadth of triggering civil war. California state government aligns with the South for most of its first decade.

California's dangerous Border State demographics (as revealed by its voting patterns). The fatal Broderick-Terry duel, pitting our pro-Southern Chief Justice against our free-soil Senator. The Democratic Party splinters, and Lincoln wins the Golden State with less than a third of the vote.

A crucial decision by General Albert Sidney Johnston, commander of the US Department of the Pacific, insures that war does not break out in a badly divided California.

Richard talks about California Educational Multimedia, his new vehicle for bringing rich media history to the web.