USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The area of California was never organized as a territory, but was administered from 1848 to statehood by a federal military authority. California was admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850, as the 31st state.

Detailed explanation-2: -With the Gold Rush came a huge increase in population and a pressing need for civil government. In 1849, Californians sought statehood and, after heated debate in the U.S. Congress arising out of the slavery issue, California entered the Union as a free, nonslavery state by the Compromise of 1850.

Detailed explanation-3: -After a rancorous debate between the slave-state and free-soil advocates, Congress finally accepted California as a free-labor state under the Compromise of 1850, beginning the state’s long reign as the most powerful economic and political force in the far West.

Detailed explanation-4: -California became a State as a result of the Mexican-American War, 1846-1848. A massive 525, 000 square miles of territory above Mexico was ceded to the victorious United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago on February 2, 1848 (the US also paid Mexico $15 million).