California Admitted to the Union
California was officially admitted to the United States as the 31st state on September 9, 1850, following a complex history marked by significant political and social upheaval. Initially a Spanish territory, California became a Mexican province in the early 1820s. Discontent with Mexican governance led to a brief assertion of independence by local settlers in 1836 and culminated in the Bear Flag Revolt in 1846, where American frontiersmen took control of Sonoma. The subsequent U.S. military presence during the Mexican-American War solidified American claims to the region, further formalized by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, which ceded California to the United States.
The discovery of gold in early 1848 spurred a massive influx of settlers, fueling debates in Congress over California's admission to the Union, particularly regarding its status as a free or slave state. After a lengthy political struggle, California adopted a state constitution that prohibited slavery, ultimately leading to its admission as a free state as part of the Compromise of 1850. This historic event established California not only as a critical part of the Union but also as a symbol of the westward expansion and complex socio-political dynamics of the time.
California Admitted to the Union
California Admitted to the Union
On September 9, 1850, President Millard Fillmore signed into law a bill that made California the 31st state of the Union. The act of admitting California to the Union was the culmination of a confused political period extending back into the previous 30 years of Californian history.
California, once a Spanish possession, became a Mexican province in the early 1820s after Mexico's successful revolt against Spain. The Californios, including several hundred Americans who had settled in the area, grew increasingly dissatisfied with Mexican rule. They briefly asserted their independence in 1836 and drove out the last Mexican governor in 1845. Under the influence of the American explorer Captain John C. Frémont, a somewhat ragged band of American “revolutionaries” conducted a surprise attack on the Mexican presidio in the pueblo of Sonoma on June 14, 1846. They surrounded the house of the commandant, General Mariano G. Vallejo, and seized the garrison in a practically bloodless battle. The frontiersmen's army then hauled down the Mexican flag, raised its own Bear flag over the Sonoma plaza, and proclaimed the independence of California. A motto read: “A bear stands his ground always, and as long as the stars shine we stand for our cause.”
The short-lived talk of making California an independent republic came to an abrupt halt three weeks later when the issue merged with a larger question, namely the American declaration of war on Mexico on May 13, 1846. When the news of the war finally reached California, Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy captured the Californian capital of Monterey on July 7. He raised the American flag and claimed California as a military possession of the United States. Two days later the Bear flag was hauled down from the Sonoma plaza.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of February 2, 1848, which ended the Mexican War arranged for the cession of California to the United States. The federal government was therefore obligated to provide a civil government for the region. Settlement of California's political status soon became even more pressing, as news spread that James W. Marshall, while establishing a sawmill for John A. Sutter on the south fork of the American River at Coloma, had discovered gold on January 24, 1848. The discovery touched off the California gold rush.
As thousands of Americans migrated to California, the congressional debate about what should be done with this area of great national importance grew bitter and was deadlocked over the question of slavery. The United States had 15 free states and 15 slave states, so the admission of California to statehood would upset this delicate balance. After a confused period in which Spanish law, American law, and military law were simultaneously administered in California, military governor Brigadier General Benet Riley issued a proclamation on June 3, 1849, “recommending the formation of a State constitution, or a plan for a Territorial government.” Forty-eight delegates met in a constitutional convention in Colton Hall in Monterey on September 1, 1849. On October 10 they adopted a state constitution, which was ratified overwhelmingly by the people of California on November 13, 1849, and put into effect a month later. On December 15 the state legislature convened at San Jose and on December 20 Peter H. Burnett was inaugurated as the first governor.
On that same day, Brigadier General Riley issued a proclamation: “A new executive having been elected and installed into office in accordance with the provisions of the constitution of the State, the undersigned hereby resigns his powers as Governor of California.” The highest American official in California had recognized California as a state, although legally it had no right to declare itself such without congressional action.
This development precipitated a debate that lasted for eight months in Congress. Since the founders of California had explicitly included in the constitution adopted at Monterey a clause forbidding slavery, the issue was prolonged by proslavery members of Congress who desperately fought to prevent the admission of a new free state. From January to September 1850 threats of dissolution of the Union, if California was admitted, were frequently made.
California was finally admitted as a free state in the momentous Compromise of 1850, worked out by Henry Clay. Thus California, cut off from direct contact with the 30 states in the east, entered the Union less than three years after gold had been discovered within its borders. Sharing a distinction possessed by the original 13 states and Texas, it did not pass through customary territorial status.