Existing comment:
War & A New Era:
In June 1846, a month after President Polk's Declaration of War with Mexico, a band of Americans at Sonoma hoisted the Bear flag of the California Republic, heralding the region's entry into the conflict. The war ended with the signing of the Guadelupe-Hidalgo Treaty, February 1848.
Almost concurrently, gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill, an event that would not touch off the great commercial and social explosion of 1849, for nearly a year. In this interim, the vast, sparsely settled pastoral region and its former Mexican citizenry entered the new era in a continuation of the agrarian pursuits, while military governors sought to integrate the hijos de pais into the Yankee, hell-for-leather way of life.
The former system of Alcaldes, as opposed to the U.S. system of a jury of peers, served to encourage representatives of local constituencies to meet at Monterey to draft a State Constitution in 1849, followed a year later by California's admission to the Union. |