'Too many foreigners for my taste.' Mexicans, Chileans and Irish in California, 1848--1880

This dissertation argues that inter-ethnic alliances and conflicts in California, which were to a great extent influenced by transnational connections, became of central importance for Mexican, Chilean and Irish strategies of incorporation into Northern California society between 1848 and 1880. The work starts considering what internal factors other than capitalism, stimulated people from these three countries to emigrate to California and what aspects of these foreigners' historical background became important for their experiences in Northern California. After this comes the examination of the Gold Rush, when Mexicans and Chileans suffered extreme discrimination at the hands of Anglo-Americans who tried to impose white racial supremacy through discriminatory legal and judicial practices. The Irish sided with Anglo-Americans in opposition to non-white foreigners to improve their position in Northern California, but they faced discrimination, too, especially in the mid-1850s when they had acquired a visible socio-political presence in Northern California. If the Irish tried to side with Anglo-Americans during and after the Gold Rush, Mexicans and Chileans followed a different strategy of incorporation. They built an inter-ethnic alliance that provided a degree of security against the hostile Anglo society. This alliance was solidified in the 1860s when both Mexican and Chilean communities developed stronger transnational connections with their homelands. The Chilean War of 1865--1867 attracted the Mexicans and Chileans in California to events in their own countries and linked them to their homelands. In addition they retrieved from their countries a discourse calling for the union of Hispanic America, which led them to develop an early Hispanic American identity in Northern California. The Irish also had strong transnational connections but they saw themselves as "exiles," which explains why most of the Irish became naturalized and more involved in California local issues, like in the anti-Chinese movement of the 1870s. This dissertation stresses the importance of transnationalism to demonstrate that California during and after the Gold Rush is not only a chapter of United States history but of world transnational history.