Basic HTML Version
S
15.000.000
for the newly ceded ter–
ritory.
Only about one week before that
trcaty was signed J ames W. Ma r–
sha ll discovered gold a t Sutter's Mill
- not far from San Francisco. This
resulted in the famous CaLifornia
Gold Rush of
1849-
which helped
bring a flood of selllers into that
sparsely scul ed state.
Would America be satisfied with
the territory which she now occu–
pied? Hard ly. America still coveted
a sliver of Mcxican terri tory. The
U.S. rinally agreed to acquire lhe
"Gadsden Purchase" from Mexico
in
1853 lor
thc sum of
$ 10,000.000.
With th is purchase. the a rea com–
prising the origina l
48
cont iguous
states was now complete.
"Choicest Bounties of Heaven"
Te n years latcr in thc midst of the
bloody Civil War. Abraham Lincoln
sa id about that rich land which
America then po sesscd : ·'... We
havc bccn the rccipients of
rhe
choicesr bounties of Heaven:
we have
been preserved these many years in
peace and prosperity; we have
12
grown in numbers. wea lth . and
powcr as no other na tion has ever
grown.
"But we have forgotten God . We
ha ve forgotten the gracious hand
which preserved us in peace and
multiplied an d en ri ched and
strengthened us. and we have vainly
imagined, in the dece itfulness of our
hearts. that al l thcsc blessings were
produccd by some superior wisdom
and virt ue of our own. lntoxicated
with unbroken uccess. we have be–
come too self-sufficient to fee l the
nccess ity of redceming and pre–
servi ng gracc. too proud to pray to
the God that madc us."
And on October
3. 1863.
Lincoln
maJe a not he r proclamation in
which he said: "No human counsel
hath devised nor hath any mortal
hand worked ou t these great things.
Thcy are the gracious gifls of the
Most High God , who, while dealing
with us in anger for our sins. ha th
nevcrthclcs rcmembered merey."
Then. near the end of lhe Civil
War, Lincoln issucd a Thanksgiving
Day proclama tion in which he
urged his fellow Americans to prop-
e r ly observe the soon -coming
Thanksgiving Day "as a day of
than ksgiving and pra ise lo Almighty
God the bendicen! Crea1or and Ru–
ler of the Uni ve rse. And
l
do further
recommend lo my fe llow-cilizens
aforesaid tha t on that occasion they
do reverently humble themselves in
lhe dust and from lhence olfer up
penitenl and fervenl prayers and
su pplicat ions 10 lhe Greal Disposer
of Events for a return of the inesti–
mable bless ings of peace, union,
a nd harmony throughou l
the land
which il has pleased Him lo assign as
a dwelling place for ourselves and.for
our posterity lhroughout al/ genera–
tions. "
How America "Stole" Alaska
From Russi a
Russia. as wetl as Spain and France,
had been grasping bela tedly for
control of North America. She had
taken posscssion of whal is now
known as Alaska, claimed parts of
weslern Canada. and in
1812
even
es tablished a 1hriving colony of
about
400
pcoplc al Fort Ross jusl
north of modern-day San Fra ncisco.
The PLAIN TRUTH July 1976