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: 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. This
 
small
 
piece
 
of
 
yellow
 
metal
 
is
 
believed
 
to
 
be
 
the
 
first
 
piece
 
of
 
gold
 
discovered
 
in
 
1848
 
at
 
Sutter's. Smithsonian
 
Museum
 
of
 
American
 
History
 
Unbeknownst
 
to
 
both
 
the
 
United
 
States
 
and
 
Mexico
 
at
 
the
 
time,
 
the
 
Treaty
 
of
 
Guadalupe-Hidalgo
 
would
 
serve
 
to
 
further
 
America’s
 
growing
 
wealth
 
and
 
prestige. For
 
just
 
six
 
days
 
before
 
the
 
treaty
 
was
 
signed,
 
gold
 
was
 
discovered
 
in
 
the
 
foothills
 
of
 
the
 
Sierra
 
Nevada
 
Mountains
 
in
 
California. None
 
of
 
the
 
delegates
 
at
 
the
 
signing
 
of
 
the
 
treaty
 
could
 
have
 
imagined
 
that
 
the
 
rivers
 
and
 
streams
 
in
 
California
 
were
 
soon
 
to
 
yield
 
a
 
fortune
 
in
 
gold. In
 
reality,
neither
 
the
 
United
 
States
 
nor
 
Mexico
 
thought
much
 
of
California.