Title: 
Headings: The Gold Rush and Westward Expansion
The
 
Gold
 
Rush
 
and
 
Westward
 
Expansion
  

U.S.
 
Territorial
 
Acquisition
 
map,
 
www.nationatlas.gov

The
 
Discovery
 
of
 
Gold
 

Arrival
 
of
 
the
 
Forty-niners
 

Miners
 
in
 
the
 
Sierras
(detail),
 
1851-1852,
 
Charles
 
Christian
 
Nahl
 
and
 
August
 
Wenderoth
 

Outcome
 

Glossary
 


Content: The
 
region
 
collectively
 
known
 
as
 
the
 
Mexican
 
Cession
 
included
 
all
 
of
 
present-day
 
California,
 
Texas,
 
Colorado,
 
Arizona,
 
New
 
Mexico,
 
Nevada,
 
and
 
Utah. The
 
signing
 
of
 
the
 
Treaty
 
of
 
Guadalupe-Hidalgo
 
officially
 
ended
 
the
 
war
 
on
 
February
 
2,
 
1848. In
 
addition
 
to
 
the
 
ceded
 
territory,
 
Mexico
 
gave
 
up
 
its
 
claims
 
on
 
Texas
 
and
 
U.S.
 
Territorial
 
Acquisition
 
map,
 
www.nationatlas.gov
recognized
 
the
 
Rio
 
Grande
 
River
 
as
 
America’s
 
southern
 
border. At
 
the
 
time,
 
the
 
war
 
was
 
regarded
 
as
 
a
 
major
 
American
 
victory
 
over
 
a
 
hostile
 
foe,
 
but
 
in
 
the
 
wake
 
of
 
the
 
sectional
 
strife
 
of
 
the
 
Civil
 
War
 
the
 
Mexican-American
 
War
 
was
 
all
 
but
 
forgotten
 
by
 
history. But
 
the
 
war
 
was
 
pivotal
 
in
 
shaping
 
our
 
nation’s
 
future. It
 
cemented
 
the
 
idea
 
of
 
the
 
United
 
States
 
as
 
an
 
expansionist,
 
transcontinental
 
empire. It
 
fulfilled
 
the
 
nation’s
 
vision
 
of
 
Manifest
 
Destiny
 
–
 
creating
 
one
 
nation
 
from
 
Atlantic
 
to
 
Pacific. It
 
shaped
 
the
 
land
 
on
 
which
 
many
 
Americans
 
live
 
today. And
 
it
 
led
 
directly
 
to
 
the
 
California
 
Gold
 
Rush. The
 
Discovery
 
of
 
Gold
 
Gold
 
nugget.