His 305 - California and the United States

California and the United States

HIS/305

April 16, 2015

California and the United States

The United States originally did not have very much interest, if any, in California till late in the eighteenth century. The main event which caused the United States to be interested in California in the late eighteenth century was very lucrative market in China for sea otter fur. The New England merchants were the ones that discovered the market for sea otter fur and that the sea otters flourished in what they believed were endless numbers along the Pacific coast from the Aleutian Islands to Lower California, predominantly along the Alta California shores.

The fur of a fully grown sea otter was about five feet in length and two feet in width, and had thick black glossy fur, which was worth about three hundred dollars when it was shipped to the Chinese port of Canton. The furred seal was even more abundant along the coast of California then the sea otters were but their fur was also not as valuable as the sea otter fur was. The Spaniards in California prohibited foreigners from procuring furs in California, but, they were not able to prevent them from doing so. By the end of the Spanish era in California the fur seal and sea otters had almost been eradicated along the coast of California. By this time New England whalers began making more numerous visits to the coast, but the main trading concentration in the United States shifted to cow hides and tallow.

There were other reasons other than just trade routes that the United States ended up wanting to procure California. One of the other reasons was something called manifest destiny. Manifest destiny was basically the belief that a nation would continue to expand its own territories across the continent; so basically from ocean to ocean when it came to the United States.

Another thing that led to the realization that the United States wanted to acquire California was the reasonable suspicions of foreign interest in California such as Great Britain or the French. However the suspicions that Great Britain was interested in California were mostly unfounded there were some people in Great Britain that did want to obtain California, but, her majesty’s government had no intention whatsoever of acquiring California. The French on the other hand was interested in getting California based on the belief that Mexico would rather see California in the hands of another Latin and Catholic nation instead of Anglo-Saxon Protestants. There were probably other countries that were interested in gaining California as well based on how apparent it was to anyone who observed the California territory, that the Mexican control of California was so very weak that a large number of foreign designs were unavoidable. When it comes down to it the American fears of foreign interest in California was not unfounded it would have just been a matter of time before another country would have tried to claim it for themselves.