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PreviewAdvancedSpecial charactersHelpHeadingLevel 2Level 3Level 4Level 5FormatInsertLatinLatin extendedIPASymbolsGreekGreek extendedCyrillicArabicArabic extendedHebrewBanglaTamilTeluguSinhalaDevanagariGujaratiThaiLaoKhmerCanadian AboriginalRunesÁáÀàÂâÄäÃãǍǎĀāĂ㥹ÅåĆćĈĉÇçČčĊċĐđĎďÉéÈèÊêËëĚěĒēĔĕĖėĘęĜĝĢģĞğĠġĤĥĦħÍíÌìÎîÏïĨĩǏǐĪīĬĭİıĮįĴĵĶķĹĺĻļĽľŁłŃńÑñŅņŇňÓóÒòÔôÖöÕõǑǒŌōŎŏǪǫŐőŔŕŖŗŘřŚśŜŝŞşŠšȘșȚțŤťÚúÙùÛûÜüŨũŮůǓǔŪūǖǘǚǜŬŭŲųŰűŴŵÝýŶŷŸÿȲȳŹźŽžŻżÆæǢǣØøŒœßÐðÞþƏəFormattingLinksHeadingsListsFilesDiscussionReferencesDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getItalic''Italic text''Italic textBold'''Bold text'''Bold textBold & italic'''''Bold & italic text'''''Bold & italic textDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getReferencePage text.<ref>[https://www.example.org/ Link text], additional text.</ref>Page text.[1]Named referencePage text.<ref name="test">[https://www.example.org/ Link text]</ref>Page text.[2]Additional use of the same referencePage text.<ref name="test" />Page text.[2]Display references<references />↑ Link text, additional text.↑ Link text===Early American period=== {{see also|California Gold Rush|Interim government of California}} [[File:Map of the States of California and Nevada by SB Linton 1876.jpg|thumb|Map of California and Nevada by SB Linton, 1876]] [[File:Treaty of Cahuenga.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The [[Treaty of Cahuenga]], signed in 1847 by Californio [[Andrés Pico]] and American [[John C. Frémont]], was a ceasefire that ended the U.S. [[Conquest of California]].]] Following the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]] (February 2, 1848) that ended the war, the westernmost portion of the annexed Mexican territory of Alta California soon became the American state of California, and the remainder of the old territory was then subdivided into the new American Territories of Arizona, Nevada, [[Colorado]] and [[Utah]]. The even more lightly populated and arid lower region of old Baja California remained as a part of Mexico. In 1846, the total settler population of the western part of the old Alta California had been estimated to be no more than 8,000, plus about 100,000 Native Americans, down from about 300,000 before Hispanic settlement in 1769.<ref name="Osborne2012">{{Cite book |last=Osborne |first=Thomas J. |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=FvA3jL4CFCMC}} |title=Pacific Eldorado: A History of Greater California |date=November 29, 2012 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-29217-4}}</ref> In 1848, only one week before the official American annexation of the area, gold was discovered in California, this being an event which was to forever alter both the state's demographics and its finances. Soon afterward, a massive influx of immigration into the area resulted, as prospectors and miners arrived by the thousands. The population burgeoned with United States citizens, Europeans, Middle Easterns, Chinese and other immigrants during the great [[California Gold Rush]]. By the time of California's application for statehood in 1850, the settler population of California had multiplied to 100,000. By 1854, more than 300,000 settlers had come.<ref>{{Cite web |title=California Gold Rush, 1848–1864 |url=http://www.learncalifornia.org/doc.asp?id=118 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727033216/http://www.learncalifornia.org/doc.asp?id=118 |archive-date=July 27, 2011 |access-date=July 22, 2008 |website=Learn California.org, a site designed for the [[California Secretary of State]]}}</ref> Between 1847 and 1870, the population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1870 Fast Facts |url=https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/fast_facts/1870_fast_facts.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190305053406/https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/fast_facts/1870_fast_facts.html |archive-date=March 5, 2019 |access-date=March 5, 2019 |website=United States Census Bureau}}</ref> {{multiple image | direction = vertical | align = left | width = 220 | header = [[California Gold Rush]] | image1 = California Clipper 500.jpg | caption1 = An ad to sail to California, {{circa|1850}} | image2 = SanFranciscoharbor1851c sharp.jpg | caption2 = [[San Francisco]] harbor, {{circa|1850–51}} | image3 = Mining_on_the_American_River_near_Sacramento,_circa_1852.jpg | caption3 = Mining near [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]], {{circa|1852}} }} The seat of government for California under Spanish and later Mexican rule had been located in [[Monterey, California|Monterey]] from 1777 until 1845.<ref name="nps">{{Cite web |title=Introduction |url=http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/ca/intro.htm |access-date=August 26, 2012 |website=Early History of the California Coast |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref> Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California, had briefly moved the capital to Los Angeles in 1845. The United States [[consulate]] had also been located in Monterey, under consul [[Thomas O. Larkin]]. In 1849, a state Constitutional Convention was first held in Monterey. Among the first tasks of the convention was a decision on a location for the new state capital. The first full legislative sessions were held in San Jose (1850–1851). Subsequent locations included [[Vallejo, California|Vallejo]] (1852–1853), and nearby [[Benicia, California|Benicia]] (1853–1854); these locations eventually proved to be inadequate as well. The capital has been located in [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] since 1854<ref name="Wilson 2006">{{Cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Dotson |url=http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pdf/caleg11.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pdf/caleg11.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live |title=California's Legislature |last2=Ebbert |first2=Brian S. |date=2006 |publisher=California State Assembly |edition=2006 |location=Sacramento |oclc=70700867}}</ref> with only a short break in 1862 when legislative sessions were held in San Francisco due to [[Great Flood of 1862|flooding in Sacramento]]. Once the state's Constitutional Convention had finalized its state constitution, it applied to the U.S. Congress for [[Admission to the Union|admission to statehood]]. On September 9, 1850, as part of the [[Compromise of 1850]], California became a [[Slave states and free states|free state]] and September{{spaces}}9 a [[California Admission Day|state holiday]]. During the [[American Civil War]] (1861–1865), California sent gold shipments eastward to Washington [[California in the American Civil War|in support of the Union]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.civilwar.org/learn/articles/10-facts-california-during-civil-war |title=10 Facts: California during the Civil War |work=American Battlefield Trust |date=August 13, 2013 |access-date=September 9, 2017}}</ref> However, due to the existence of a large contingent of pro-South sympathizers within the state, the state was not able to muster any full military regiments to send eastwards to officially serve in the Union war effort. Still, several smaller military units within the Union army, such as the [[2nd Regiment of Cavalry, Massachusetts Volunteers|"California 100 Company"]], were unofficially associated with the state of California due to a majority of their members being from California. At the time of California's admission into the Union, travel between California and the rest of the continental United States had been a time-consuming and dangerous feat. Nineteen years later, and seven years after it was greenlighted by President Lincoln, the [[first transcontinental railroad]] was completed in 1869. California was then reachable from the eastern States in a week's time. Much of the state was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Vast expanses of wheat, other cereal crops, vegetable crops, cotton, and nut and fruit trees were grown (including oranges in Southern California), and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production in the Central Valley and elsewhere. In the nineteenth century, a large number of migrants from China traveled to the state as part of the [[Gold Rush]] or to seek work.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Chinese Experience in 19th Century America |url=http://teachingresources.atlas.illinois.edu/chinese_exp/introduction04.html |website=teachingresources.atlas.illinois.edu}}</ref> Even though the Chinese proved indispensable in building the transcontinental railroad from California to Utah, perceived job competition with the Chinese led to anti-Chinese riots in the state, and eventually the US ended migration from China partially as a response to pressure from California with the 1882 [[Chinese Exclusion Act]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Immigration to the United States, 1851-1900 {{!}} Rise of Industrial America, 1876-1900 {{!}} U.S. History Primary Source Timeline {{!}} Classroom Materials at the Library of Congress {{!}} Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline/rise-of-industrial-america-1876-1900/immigration-to-united-states-1851-1900/ |website=Library of Congress}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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