Westward Expansion

Ah, the beautiful land of California, and the rustic southern wonderland of Texas. Both of these states are defining factors and contributors to what foreigners imagine the Unite States to be. Can you just imagine what we'd be without them? Many people that I've talked to from other parts of the world always romanticize the idea of living in California, figuring that it would be their go-to location if and when they could ever move over to the States. But the way we obtained the area wasn't the most righteous of systems, but to what cost? We knew were going to win the battle for the states, and the Mexicans knew that they were going to lose, but still, they continued to fight, and we continued to slaughter them, and all for chunks of land claimed to be filled with prospect and hope, take for example, the gold ore found in California.

Many flocked to go and strike rich in California, return home to their families and become successful in their area of expertise along with the bit of fortune they earned when they went panning for gold. This, like many other issues, was just another romanticized idea of what people wanted to believe would happen. Instead, there was a mass amount of suicide rates, death from the dangers of mining, and don't get me started on those dead by illness. Men couldn't return home to their families, as they had earned little to nothing, and what they did earn, they gambled away. Some people got in quarrels between races over who had the say-all for where they could pan or what they found.

It was a real mess, like many other facets of the formations of this country, yet in the end, when we think of California, we don't think of the devastation of the Gold Rush. Instead, we think of sunny skies, never-ending beaches along the coast, lush flora and fauna, and warm climates. To a point, do you think we still have the romanticized ideal of what we wish a place to be? Are we, and fellow foreigners, holding onto that illustrious hope of beautiful lands abroad to ease their reality, when and if they ever do make it over here? What will they do when the realize its not all what the advertisers say it was?