In the United States, California stretches from the border with Mexico along the Pacific for almost 900 miles. Its land includes cliff-lined beaches, redwood forests, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, farmland in the Central Valley and the Mojave Desert. The City of Angels is the headquarters of the Hollywood entertainment industry. So it was no surprise that Californians were eager to take California to the altar of statehood. Yankee California wanted a quick wedding.
His “trick” was to presumptuously convene a constitutional convention in September 1849, and even adopt a state seal. In exquisite weather, President Zachary Taylor died of an ugly digestive complaint, and his friend and vice president Millard Fillmore became president and quite quickly, the month of September. The state was under the command of military governor Colonel Richard Barnes Mason, who had only about 600 soldiers to govern California, many of whom deserted to go to the gold fields. Baja California consisted of the Baja California peninsula and ended approximately in San Diego, California, where Alta California began. An independent group of men called The Bears raised the California Republic Bear Flag over Sonoma.
Initially, there was little resistance from anyone in California, as they replaced the dysfunctional and ineffective Mexican government that had already been replaced by the Californians. Some 80,000 Argonauts arrived in 1849 alone, about 40,000 by the California Trail and 40,000 by sea. The California Missions, after they were established, were located approximately one day away on horseback for easy communication and joined by the El Camino Real Trail. Although most of California's railroads began as short-line railroads, the period from 1860 to 1903 saw a series of railroad mergers and acquisitions that led to the creation of four major interstate railroads serving the state (Southern Pacific Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad, Santa Fe Railroad and Western Pacific Railroad). Militia captain Thomas Fallon led a small force of about 22 men from Santa Cruz, California, and captured the small town of Pueblo de San Jose bloodlessly on July 11, 1846. Some 2,350 men from the California column marched east through Arizona in 1862 to drive out Confederate forces from Arizona and New Mexico. The new Constitution deprived most of California's non-white or male population of their rights, so it's no surprise that it was passed in November 1849 due to low voter turnout that would soon grow to just under 20%, and California's new “senators” headed east to lobby for statehood.
In Alta California, Mexico inherited a large, sparsely populated, poor and backward province that paid little or no net tax income to the Mexican state. In 1870 there were rail connections to Oakland, California, and via a train ferry to San Francisco from Sacramento which effectively connected all of California's major cities and then to the East Coast. Debt claims against Mexico were resolved as well as boundary claims for Texas. New Mexico, California and other future states of the southwestern United States were added to U. S.
territory. Most grants were virtually free and typically went to friends and family members in California government. Riley who had fought at Veracruz and Chapultepec during the war between Mexico and U. S., was appointed as last military governor of California between 1849-1850. After all these events had taken place on September 9th 1850 President Millard Fillmore signed a proclamation admitting California into Union as 31st state. California is now one of most populous states in US with its diverse culture and economy making it an important part of United States.
