California Gold Rush
24 Jan 1848
Causes: Gold was found in California, shortly before Mexico ceded the land to US in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
People: Many immigrants from across the world (Asia, South America, etc), the "forty-niners" (miners)
Effects: Thousands of people flooded to California, which quickly allowed California to apply for statehood in 1850. California's request to become a slave state led to conflict between Democrats and Whigs and led to the Compromise of 1850.