Passports during the California Gold Rush

RationalIdealist

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 27, 2014
Messages
94
Reaction score
5
Location
United States
Did you need a passport if you were sailing from New York City and around Cape Horn to San Francisco in 1849-1850? I never thought of this before, but I recently learned that you probably needed one if you took the "Panama route", which required you to leave your ship to take a shortcut through the steamy jungles of Panama, and then one the other side board another ship for San Francisco. But what if you just sailed all the way around South America? Did you need a passport to stop in ports? And what about when you arrived in San Francisco? California was under American military control, so wasn't it considered not a foreign country?

Also, if you were of German nationality and a German citizen but living in the U.S., would you need a German passport? The National Archives say that "aliens were ineligible" for passports.
 
Last edited: