1850 American Gold Tycoon

Chapter 599 Eastern Immigration Wave

The calm death of this little man, John Brown, caused great shock in America.

This little man, whose influence was extremely limited during most of his lifetime, became famous after his death.

Although the Pennsylvania authorities prohibited northern journalists from entering Pennsylvania to interview John Brown and his followers, the story of John Brown spread to the North through other channels.

The newspapers in the north reprocessed the second-hand information they obtained, and then reported it with added detail.

John Brown's deeds were thus spread to the streets of America through America's developed telegraph network and media.

People all over the north regarded John Brown and John Brown's followers as heroes and martyrs. Even the deserters in John Brown's team received hero-like treatment.

John Brown's home state of Connecticut came forward to negotiate with the Virginia authorities, hoping to have John Brown's body returned to his hometown for burial.

The Virginia authorities, taking into account the influence and propaganda role John Brown now had in the North, rejected Connecticut's request on the grounds that Virginia had already buried John Brown.

Despite this, the state of Connecticut held a grand funeral and memorial ceremony for John Brown without his body.

In Hartford, Connecticut's capital, all government offices and councils lowered flags at half-mast to pay tribute to John Brown, and fired a gun salute in his honor. Even churches across the state rang their bells in honor of John Brown, and the bells rang for days.

Connecticut orators and politicians also took this opportunity to criticize the inhumanity of slavery in the South and the incompetence of the Buchanan government in public and in newspapers.

Soon, the custom of commemorating John Brown quickly spread from Connecticut to the entire north. New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago and other major northern cities successively lowered their flags at half-mast in mourning for John Brown. Fire a cannon salute.

Infected by this atmosphere, the northern people's disgust towards slavery and southern slave owners reached unprecedented heights.

Of course, John Brown's death caused an uproar not only in the North, but also in the South.

The northern extreme abolitionist armed forces took the initiative to enter the territory of the southern states for the first time and directly occupied important ferries and armories in the southern states. This made the slave owners of the south feel sleepless.

In order to enhance their sense of security, southern states not only accelerated the pace of regularizing their militias to deal with obvious military conflicts in the future.

At the same time, the connections between southern states have become closer, and the frequency of banquets held by high-level officials in each state has increased significantly.

It’s just that the theme of these banquets is no longer about romance and showing off wealth. These well-dressed southern gentlemen began to seriously talk openly at the banquets about the idea of ​​​​separating from the Union and forming a new alliance that would serve the interests of the South.

The elites of the South were trying to break away from the North politically and completely get rid of the constraints of abolitionism on the South.

John Brown's deeds also spread to the western region through the developed modern telegraph network, but in the western region, the impact of John Brown's deeds was very limited.

Firstly, it is because the sky is high and the road is far between the west and the south. Ordinary people in the west have never even set foot in the south. They have no direct contact with and understanding of the slave system and slaves in the south.

The second reason is that compared to the bad things that happened in the far east, people in the west are more concerned about the rise and fall of wages and prices, the output and efficiency of factories, the defense of farms, and whether it is worth the risk to move to Utah Territory and Colorado Territory. Immigration to these newly developed lands poses issues that are closely related to their daily lives.

The greatest impact of the John Brown Incident on the West was through the Spring River Plumbing Duck Prophet. Most of the eastern property-owning classes, especially the elite class, began to realize that the risk of war between the North and the South was extremely high. Many eastern elites began to flee for safety.

These people either moved their whole families or had some family members move away.

There are two main destinations for the migration of these eastern elites. One is the European countries on the other side of the Atlantic, where their ancestral homes are. The second is the western region.

Since the western region also belongs to the United States, the western region has always implemented very generous immigration policies for skilled workers and the property-owning class from the east. In addition, the Corwin family of Ohio was treated as honored guests soon after they immigrated to California. The invitation to serve as Secretary of State of California also gave the eastern elites hope after immigrating to the west.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, most of the eastern elite decided to move to the west.

After all, their ancestors were the frustrated and outcasts of the European continent. The superior Europeans had always looked down upon the Americans in the former colonies. When they return to Europe, they not only have to face the problem of being unfamiliar with the place where they live, but they also face the risk of class slippage.

On the other hand, traveling to the West not only eliminates the risk of class slippage, but also makes it possible to achieve a class jump.

Liang Yao was naturally happy about the sudden increase in immigration from the east.

Those who can afford expensive train tickets to the western region are basically the eastern elites above the middle class. These people all brought capital to the west and could directly create wealth and jobs for the west in the short term. They did not need to worry about the resettlement of immigrants.

Such high-quality immigrants are exactly what the West is craving for.

The West is no longer what it was ten years ago. The Chinese are now the absolutely dominant ethnic group in the West. The Western region is now fully capable of absorbing and digesting tens of thousands of high-quality eastern immigrants without changing the absolute dominance of the Chinese ethnic group.

Furthermore, retaining these high-quality immigrants from the east will also strengthen the strength of the west in disguise and weaken the power of the north and south.

In order to take the opportunity to attract more high-quality immigrants from the east, Liang Yao not only asked the branches of the five major western banks in major cities in the east to cooperate and assist these immigrants in realizing and transferring their assets in the east. At the same time, the California Railroad Company and the Atlantic Railway Company also gave free train tickets to the West to immigrants who could provide proof of assets and skills.

California has also launched a preferential tax exemption policy for eastern factories that move to California, ranging from one to four years depending on the size of the factory. It hopes to take this opportunity to attract more eastern factory owners to open factories in the western region.

Liang Yao, who was in North Platte, also personally received and entertained some northern celebrities who were traveling to the western region during this period.

These northern celebrities were all deeply moved when they saw that Liang Yao dragged his sick body to North Platte to greet them personally in order to welcome them to the west.

After all, it was no secret among the upper echelons in the north that Liang Yao was unable to serve as Minister of War due to illness.

In July 1860, Liang Yao, who had personally been in charge of North Platte for more than four months, saw that both the North and the South were still sharpening their knives and that large-scale direct military conflicts would not break out in a short time. He took a special train back to California to participate in the First Three-term gubernatorial election.