ABSTRACT

Gold was discovered in California on January 24, 1848. The region was technically a part of Mexico at the time, but 18 months earlier U.S. naval forces had seized the regional capital of Monterey from an overextended Mexican empire. Nine days after the discovery, the U.S. and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ceding California and much of the Far West to the United States. The discovery was both confirmed and publicized on December 5, 1848, by President Polk. The ensuing rush to the gold fields turned the territory of California into an American state and the town of San Francisco into one of the busiest commercial centers in the United States.