Question

In Chapter 6 of Intimate Frontiers, what do the changes Hurtado traces in the tone of Bret Harte's writing over time tell us about how white Americans wished to remember the early years of California's American period?

Answer 1

The Book Intimate Frontiers:

This book reveals how powerful undercurrents of sex, gender, and culture helped shape the history of the American frontier from the 1760s to the 1850s. Looking at California under three flags those of Spain, Mexico, and the United States.Hurtado resurrects daily life in the missions, at mining camps, on overland trails and sea journeys, and in San Francisco. In these settings Hurtado explores courtship, marriage, reproduction, and family life as a way to understand how men and women whether Native American, Anglo American, Hispanic, Chinese, or of mixed blood fit into or reshaped the roles and identities set by their race and gender.

Hurtado introduces two themes in delineating his intimate frontiers. One was a libertine California, and some of its delights were heartily described early in the 1850s.Gold dust was plentier than pleasure, pleasure more enticing than virtue. Fortune was the horse, youth in the saddle, dissipation the track, and desire the spur. Not all the times were good or giddy, and in the tragedy of a teenage domestic who died in a botched abortion or a brutalized Indian woman we see the seamy underside of gender relations on the frontier. The other theme explored is the reaction of citizens who abhorred the loss of moral standards and sought to suppress excess. Their efforts included imposing all the stabilizing customs of whichever society dominated California--during the Hispanic period, arranged marriages and concern for family honor were the norm; among the Anglos, laws regulated prostitution, missionaries railed against vices, and "proper" women were brought in to help "civilize" the frontier.

Early Years of California's American Period:

The collection covers the dramatic decades between the Gold Rush and the turn of the twentieth century. It captures the pioneer experience; encounters between Anglo-Americans and the diverse peoples who had preceded them; the transformation of the land by mining, ranching, agriculture, and urban development; the often-turbulent growth of communities and cities; and California's emergence as both a state and a place of uniquely American dreams. The production of this collection was supported by a generous grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

First-Person Narratives of California's Early Years, 1849-1900:

For the period 1849-1860, the Gold Rush and the variety of new settlers it attracted to California overshadowed all else. Newspapers in New York and London sent reporters to the Pacific Coast of North America to send back their reports, and even a fairly ordinary man or woman who participated in the rush to settle California might expect to find his or her letters home published in a local newspaper in Ohio or Massachusetts, perhaps collected and published as a book not long after.

As the Gold Rush ended, California began to attract people for reasons unrelated to mining and overnight wealth. Climate and natural beauty drew a new generation of "pioneers" hoping to recover their health and to explore the picturesque terrain of the still-wild West. By the 1880s, California had become the romantic destination of choice for thousands who came to "take the waters" at mountain resorts or to tour Yosemite and other natural wonders. Settlers also continued to arrive, hoping to take advantage of the state's continuing development. Later writers tended to focus on California's advantages as a vacation spot or a place for making a new home far from the harsh winters of the East and Midwest.