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a state in the western United States on the Pacific; the 3rd largest state; k

a state in the western United States on the Pacific; the 3rd largest state; known for earthquakes

The name of one of the states of the United States. It was admitted into the Union, by-an Act of Congress, passed the 9th September, 1850, entitled "An act for the admission of the state of California into the Union."

This section enacts and declares that the state of California shall be one of the United States, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, in all respects whatever.

By this section a condition is expressly imposed on the said state that the people thereof shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the public lands within its limits, nor pass any law, nor do any act, whereby the title of the United States to, and right to dispose of the same, shall be impaired or questioned. It also provides that they shall never lay any tax, or assessment of any description whatever, upon the public domain of the United States; and that in no case shall non-resident proprietors, who are citizens of the United States, be taxed higher than residents; that all navigable waters within the said state shall be common highways, forever free, as well to the inhabitants of said state, as to citizens of the United States, without any tax, impost or duty therefor; with this proviso, viz., that nothing contained in the act shall be construed as recognizing or rejecting the propositions tendered by the people of California, as articles of compact in the ordinance adopted by the convention whicb formed the constitution of that state.

was formed from the Mexican cession of 1848. The name originated from a Spanish romance of 1521. The coast of California was explored by the Spaniards Cabrillo (1542) and Ferrelo (1543), and by the Englishman Drake (1579), who named the country New Albion. Two hundred years later (1769) Franciscan monks founded a mission at San Diego and discovered the Bay of San Francisco. The missions in 1823 numbered twenty-one and were very wealthy. The priests opposed the government of the towns which was established by the Mexican Government and the Mexican Revolution of 1822, and in 1834 the mission lands were divided. In 1826 the first American emigrant wagon-train reached California. Before the Mexican War the United States Government feared that England intended to seize California, and accordingly encouraged the inhabitants to revolt from Mexico. June 14, 1846, the American settlers, upon the advice of Fremont, proclaimed a republic, and Sloat, in command of an American fleet, occupied Monterey July 7. By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed February 2, 1848, California was ceded by Mexico to the United States. On the nineteenth of the preceding month gold had been discovered near Coloma. By the close of 1849 the population was about 100,000. A State Constitution was ratified November 13, 1849, which prohibited slavery. The admission of California as a free State formed part of Clay's famous "Omnibus Bill" of 1850 (September 9). For ten years the State was steadily Democratic until the division in that party in 1860 gave the electoral vote to the Republicans, who controlled the State in national politics until 1876. From 1851 to 1856 San Francisco was governed by a "Vigilance Committee" who put down the lawlessness in the city. In 1880 the Democratic presidential electors were elected with one exception. In 1892 the electors were again Democratic. In State politics the State has always been very doubtful. Opposition to Chinese immigration, monopoly in land, and the influence of corporations in politics have complicated the political history of the State. The population in 1850 was 92,597 ; in 1890, 1,208,130. History by Bancroft.