- Connect
- During the Mexican-American War, the United States gained control of California. American settlement of California moved slowly however, until the discovery of gold sparked a gold rush that drew thousands to the California mountains. News of the gold rush also spread across the Pacific Ocean, attracting thousands of Chinese fortune seekers in the 1850s.
- Investigate
- Victory in the Mexican-American War allowed the United States to finally fulfill the ideals of Manifest Destiny. The long-term effects of the war, however, highlighted growing differences between North and South and set the stage for future conflict. The California Gold Rush in 1849 changed the state’s population dramatically. California’s application for statehood intensified the increasingly bitter debate over slavery in newly admitted states.