PSC 100 FINAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
(1) As the text chapters demonstrate, the settlement of Nevada and its ultimate acceptance as a state was often linked to external events. Outline how the Mexican-American War, the movement of the Mormons into the West, and the search for mineral wealth first br...
PSC 100 FINAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
(1) As the text chapters demonstrate, the settlement of Nevada and its ultimate
acceptance as a state was often linked to external events. Outline how the
Mexican-American War, the movement of the Mormons into the West, and the
search for mineral wealth first brought settlers into what is now Nevada. The
Mormons created the first permanent settlement in Nevada.
The settlement of Nevada was ultimately due to three external events. The Mexican-
American war, ending with the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty in 1848, gave the United
States control of much of the current day western United States, including Nevada,
which allowed settlers to move west to this newly acquired land. During the Mexican-
American War and following the murder of a profit, the Mormons moved their group of
15,000 people west in 1846 and by 1849, they had settled in Colorado, Utah, Nevada,
and various other western states. Finally, once gold was found in Sutter's Mill in 1849,
people began to move west in hopes of finding mineral wealth. Here, many passed
through the northern Great Basin in Nevada. Additionally, during the California gold
rush, there was a large need for settlements along the way to California; towns like
Virginia City were settled in Nevada and became principal towns capable of extreme
growth.
(1) What factors contributed to Nevada becoming one of the first western
territories to gain statehood? (Pay particular attention to the efforts of national
politicians such as Senator Doolittle.)
Nevada became a state largely due to external national political factors. These factors
are largely linked to the Doolittle bill. Twenty days after the defeat of the 1863
constitution, a bill was introduced into congress allowing territories of Nevada, Colorado,
and Nebraska to hold constitutional conventions and establish state governments. The
bill, introduced on February 8, 1864, by Senator James R. Doolittle (R-Wisconsin),
easily passed both houses of Congress and was signed by President Lincoln on March
21. The swift passing of the Doolittle bill and the push for Nevada's statehood came
from national issues that would benefit from the Nevada's statehood. National
Republicans saw Nevada as a political gain which would support the re-election of
, president Lincoln, helping to avoid the complications of third-party candidate John C.
Freemont, and provide congressional votes for the support of the 13th amendment and
various Reconstruction policies.
(2) Discuss how the Nevada constitution provides many of the same specific
rights and liberties as guaranteed by the United States Constitution. Give an
example of how a specific group has been denied full exercise of these rights and
liberties in Nevada. Give an example of how improvement has been noted for a
specific group in terms of achieving full exercise of these rights and liberties.
Like the United States Constitution, Nevada's constitution includes both civil rights and
civil liberties. The Declaration of Rights in Article 1 of the Nevada's state Constitution
outlines the government's role to protect the people from acts against one another. This
includes inalienable rights such as happiness, safety, and equality among all people.
The article also lists an adaptation of the Bill of Rights, a list of liberties which serve to
protect the people from the power of the government.
An example in the state's history where Nevada has demonstrated little disregard for
minority rights was most notable with the Native Americans. Native Americans were
denied full exercise of their rights and liberties when settlers seized the natives' land
and broke countless treaties regarding land ownership and trade. Settlers and the
government stuck the tribes in reservations and passed discriminatory laws against
them. For a period, it was prohibited to sell alcohol and firearms to Native Americans,
and it was illegal for them to intermarry and attend school. Native Americans quickly
became foreigners in their own land: the subjects of both social and political
discrimination.
Change began to take place in the 1920s when Native American children could finally
attend public school, but it wasn't until the 1940s that Nevada began repealing the
discriminatory regulations and punishing previous social behavior. In 1946, the federal
government began to pay the tribes for the land previously taken from them, but this
was not the compensation the natives sought. The government has made several
efforts to appease the Washoe and Timbisha Shoshone tribes since. In one case, land
in the Mojave was granted permanently to the Shoshone, but this was only a fraction of
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