Western Expansion History

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History of American West changed forever when James Marshall found gold at Coloma on the American River in California on January 24th, 1848. It started Westward expansion. People from all over the world start coming to the west. Mexico was still dominating the western area. Mexican- American war ended their reign and they forced to surrender. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the war. American bought california for 15 million dollar and it changed American History for ever. Gold was a money maker thing. People started coming to California for a better future. Even though people from all over the world started coming to the west for a better future, it showed their insanity of greed.
The Forty- Niners set the bar for everyone in 1849 during Western Expansion. They traveled 100 of miles of wagons. It took them months to come to california. People from all over the world started coming to earn some money and go back to their homeland. There were 40000 miners by …show more content…

Once it was a peaceful, calm place for them but now it's full of people from all over the world taking everything away for their own benefits. Native Americans were killed, their properties were occupied by Americans. They even found it hard to find food since people are taking everything away and Native Americans did not have the power to go against them and take things back. They started stealing foods. Americans forced Native children to work on the field. Indians were forced to dig. Even they didn't have any right to go against white people according to california law that time. They were kidnapped and sold too. Life was becoming harder for them as the city of San Francisco became an important part of U.S economy. There were 50,000 Native Americans in california in 1849. By 1870, fewer than 30,000 left which is known as the “The worst slaughter of Indian People in United States