Historical Context in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Since the 1920s, an annual frog-jumping contest has been held in Angels Camp, Calaveras County, in honor of Twain’s short story.

The ridiculousness of Smiley’s feeling the need to teach a frog how to jump illustrates how Twain employs stereotypes from the era about Western settlers—that they weren’t as educated and sophisticated as Easterners. Twain himself had a strong connection with the West: He grew up in Missouri but moved west in his 20s, living and writing in Nevada and California for almost seven years. His experiences in the American West launched his literary career with the publication of this story and served as material for his 1872 semi-autobiographical travel narrative, Roughing It.

The names of Smiley’s pets are humorous because they represent two major political figures in U.S. history who opposed each other. Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States, from 1829 through 1837. Smiley’s frog, Dan’l Webster, (introduced later in the story), is named after senator Daniel Webster, one of Jackson’s most vocal political opponents..

Consumption is a lay term for tuberculosis, an infectious disease of the lungs that was extremely common—and deadly—throughout human history. In 1882, German physician and microbiologist Robert Koch discovered that the disease was caused by a type of bacteria that could be spread from person to person.

Twain’s story reflects the humor of the Southwest frontier, a genre in American humor in the early 1800s that was rich in exaggeration and tall tales.

One of Twain’s early ambitions was to become a preacher. He did not pursue this path, however, because of his conflicting beliefs about religion. Though he believed in God, he often criticized organized religion and sometimes satirized it in his writing. He struggled with his religious beliefs throughout his life.

Angel’s Camp was a former mining camp in California’s Calaveras County. In 1864-1865, Mark Twain spent several months there while writing this short story. Today, Angel’s Camp, also known as City of Angels, is the only incorporated city in the county.

Calaveras County is located in the foothills of Northern California called "the Gold Country." A jumping frog contest has been a featured event at the annual Angel's Camp county fair since the 1930s. The event commemorates Mark Twain's story, and since the jumping frog contest has become widely known as a tourist attraction, it can be said that Mark Twain's frog really is "celebrated."

American author Mark Twain was skillful at accurately reflecting 19th century speech patterns and vocabulary of rural areas.

The year 1849 marks the beginning of the California Gold Rush. John Sutter, owner of Sutter's Mill near Sacramento, California, found gold on his property and sparked one of the largest gold hunts in history.

Twain heard a version of the story in 1865 while he was staying at the Angel's Hotel in the mining town of Angel's Camp in Calaveras County, California.  In other versions of the story, Twain uses the fictitious name of "Boomerang" for Angel's Camp.

Daniel Webster (1782–1852) was a famous orator in the US Senate, known for his attempts to avert the Civil War. Twain uses the same technique as he did with “Andrew Jackson” earlier in naming the animals after famous men: not to criticize or ridicule them but to have fun at the tendency for people to give their pets strong names to ensure success.