California Gold Rush

Answer any FIVE of the following seven prompts.  Each response should be 100-125 words.Two points per question.

1. What motivated the United States to procure California?
2. How did the idea of Manifest Destiny and suspicions of foreign interest in California affect the process of the United States gaining California?
3. What factors impeded California statehood?
4. Were American fears of foreign interest in California unfounded?
5. What was the historical context of the California statehood debate?
6. Did the Gold Rush influence the United States in this decision?
7. Did the conditions and actions of Forty-Eighters and Forty-Niners have any political influence?