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wild adventure and marvellous conquest in the valley of valleys! How came the Northman and the Moorish Celt here to meet, and here to battle, in this North-American valley? Look at it! Inquire! Ask yourself how they came here! Are they the citizens, by nature, of this continent? Are they the aborigines of these wild and wonderful forests? Never! How came they, then, to be contending for the lands and groves of those whose children they are not? In the beginning of the sixteenth century, Cortez landed on the coast of Mexico, and, at the head of Spanish troops, marched on to the conquest of Mexico, over whose effeminate inhabitants the Spaniard has, for three hundred years, held undivided dominion. Not many years after, the Anglo-Saxon landed on the coasts of the northern Atlantic. He, too, marched on to conquest. The native citizens of the forest disappeared before him. Forests, mountains, and Indians, were ineffectual to oppose him. From the banks of the St. Lawrence to the Sabine of Texas, he is a conqueror over nature. And now, this Spaniard and this Northman meet, in battle panoply, in this valley of volcanoes, by the ancient graves of unknown nations, on the lava-covered soil where nature once poured forth her awe-inspiring flames. Three centuries since, these warrior-nations had left their homes beyond the wide Atlantic. Two thousand miles from each other, they had planted the seats of their empire; and now, as if time, in the moral world, had completed another of its grand revolutions, they have met in mortal conflict."

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9. The capture of the city of Mexico by the American army virtually ended the war. A treaty of peace was signed by which Mexico agreed to the Rio Grande as a boundary Treaty between the two republics, and surrendered to the United States a vast territory between Texas and the Pacific ocean, including all the present State of California. On the part of the United States it was agreed that the sum of fifteen millions of dollars should be paid for the territory thus acquired, and that debts due from Mexi

of peace.

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1848

Discovery of Gold in California.

243

co to American citizens, to the amount of three millions of dollars, should be assumed.1 Five years later, the United States, desiring a more southern boundary for a portion of their new territory, secured what is known as the "Gadsden Purchase,” by paying the additional sum of ten millions of dollars.

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Discovery of gold in

10. Peace was no sooner concluded than "it was discovered that the soil of California was richly endowed with gold." On one of the tributaries of the Sacramento river an old settler was peacefully digging a trench,-caring little, it may be supposed, about the change in citizen ship which he had undergone, nor dreaming that the next stroke of his spade was to influence the history not merely of California but of the world. Among the sand which he lifted were certain shining particles. His wondering eye considered them with attention. They were

California.

The treaty was made by commissioners who met at Guadalupe Hidalgo, a small town about four miles from the city of Mexico; but the boundary between the two countries soon became a subject of dispute, which was not settled till 1853, when the United States purchased the Mesilla Valley, or, as it was called, the Gadsden Purchase, General Gadsden having been the agent employed by the United States in transacting the affair. The map on the opposite page shows the extent, not only of the territory acquired from Mexico, but of the territory possessed by the United States at the close of the Revolutionary war, as well as of all the tracts since acquired. So much of it as relates to Louisiana and Oregon is based upon the conclusions stated in Greenhow's History of Oregon and California, an official work published under the direction of the United States Senate. The map inserted in Vol. 1 of the Ninth Census Report, is not in accord with Greenhow's conclusions, as it extends Louisiana to the Pacific ocean.

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2 Before 1779, eight establishments, missionary and military, were formed by the Spaniards on the Pacific coast of North America, the most southern being San Diego, the most northern, San Francisco; and during the five years preceding that date, three exploring voyages were made by order of the Spanish Government, in which the coast was examined as far north as the sixtieth parallel. (See page 37, note.) By the year 1800, as many as sixteen Spanish missions had been established in various parts of Upper California. Here the Indians were gathered, and the Catholic missionaries taught them the arts of civilized life, and imparted to them the truths of Christianity. After Mexico had become independent, the mission lands, comprising several million acres, were occupied by the Mexican government, and the missions were gradually abandoned.

gold! Gold was everywhere-in the soil, in the river-sand, in the mountain-rock; gold in dust, gold in pellets, gold in lumps! It was the land of old fairy tale, where wealth could be had by him who chose to stoop down and gather! Fast as the mails could carry it the bewildering news thrilled the heart of America.

11. The journey to the land of promise was full of toil and danger. There were over two thousand miles of unexplored wilderness to traverse. There were mountain ranges to surmount, lofty and rugged as the Alps themselves. There were great desolate plains, unwatered and without vegetation, Indians, whose dispositions there was reason to question, beset the path. But danger was unconsidered. That season thirty thousand Americans crossed the plains, climbed the mountains, forded the streams, bore without shrinking all that want, exposure, and fatigue could inflict. Cholera broke out among them, and four thousand left their bones in the wilderness. The rest plodded on undismayed. Fifty thousand came by sea. From all countries they came-from quiet English villages, from the crowded cities of China. Before the year was out California had gained an addition of eighty thousand to her population.

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12. Florida became a State the day before the last of Tyler's term of office (1845). At a later period of the year, during Polk's administration, Texas became a State, as previously stated. Iowa, the twenty-ninth State, was admitted in 1846. It originally was a part of the "Louisiana Purchase." The admission of Wisconsin took place in 1848, from what, in part, was soon after the Revolution, the Northwest Territory.

New States.

Taylor's Administration.

1. As slavery in Mexico had been abolished more than twenty years, the territory ceded by her to the United States was "free soil." In anticipation of this acquisition, Mr.

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