California became a state 173 years ago

Will Conybeare (KTLA News, Channel 5, Los Angeles, California, posted Sept. 9, 2023); Xochitl, Crystal Quintero, Pfc. Sandoval, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Admission Day: California admitted to United States 173 years ago today that

California used to be an island (on all maps)

Happy 173rd birthday, California! [Of course, this is unceded land stolen from the indigenous inhabitants, American-Indians, First Nations peoples, Native Americans, the tribal nations that for centuries were inhabitants and stewards all of the new USA and the old Mexico.]

• [The land originally known as the U.S. portion of California, Alta California, was much larger, as it included parts of neighboring states.]

[California (Alta and Baja, "Upper" and "Lower") is, of course, much older than the USA, having been an integral part of Mexico and the Spanish Empire before being occupied then colonized by the British Empire-in-the-Americas under the generic name of the "USA," very generic given that Mexico's official name is the United States of Mexico or United Mexican States, so not exactly a creative name for Columbia, when we were named after our governing goddess. That's why it's called DC, by the way.]

"American Progress" John Gast painting of Goddess Columbia (personification of America)

While other states and territories worshipped Columbia, we paid homage to Califia and Mary.

.

On Sept. 9, 1850, California became the 31st state to be admitted to the Union after the Compromise of 1850 was signed by then-President Millard Fillmore. [The Union was the future USA unless the Confederacy got its way.]

California became a state relatively quickly, as the Gold Rush that started in 1848 – just days after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed between the U.S. and [Spain's possession] Mexico, which ceded most of the Southwest and all of present-day California to the states – led to an influx of settlers, and a hasty constitutional convention was held the following year.

Seal could say it all with dead Indians and gold

It was at this convention that the state seal that we all know today was created. The seal features 31 stars, symbolizing California’s admission as the 31st state, as well as the Greek goddess Athena, a grizzly bear feeding on grape vines, and the state motto “Eureka” [to signify the happy surprise at finding such a wondrous, golden island/land]. More