What is the history of wagon trains to California?
President Polk advertised the idea of Manifest Destiny. This means that the U.S. was destined to gain large amounts of land. At the end of the Mexican-American War, the U.S. gained an area of land called the Mexican Cession. California was part of this. It became a state as part of the Compromise of 1850. California was populated mostly by migrant workers near the time of it’s annexation, but events such as the gold rush caused many to see California as a place of wealth and prosperity. Many citizens traveled to California to seek gold and to take advantage of cheap prices of land.
