Journal Entry

It was April 1850. Her name was Maria and she was 22 years old. All of her life she resided in Mexico and Maria was Mexican. At this time, she went from being a Mexican citizen to becoming a Mexican American. My home that was formerly a Mexican Territory is now California.

My family and I built our lives on Mexico soil. We were Mexicans, living in Mexico and life was rough. We lived in California, a Mexican territory, which is now the state of California in the United States. My family and I are now citizens of the United States of America. I am proud to be a citizen and I know that there are many possibilities here in this new nation. Even though there are many opportunities here, I find that there are many struggles to come.

We became citizens of the U.S. after the Mexican-American war. The war lasted from 1846 till 1848. The U.S. occupied California as well as Texas from Mexico. My family in Texas wrote to me describing how the United States was the land of opportunity and how there are endless opportunities for the people of the U.S. In California, there are many ports that are used for trade and there are many travelers coming here for our gold. I find that the population here is growing tremendously. This is bringing great wealth to our area. My new life is exciting yet I am worried about the way I am being treated by the travelers.

I am married and have four kids. I help provide for my family. I work when I can and do daily chores that keep our lives going here in California. My husband works as much as he can and as often as he can. My husband is a coach builder and he also makes tents. This is new trade of work for him. He just learned to do these things over the last few years. There was such a high demand for these items that my husband felt that is was a wise decision to learn how to make these items. Business is doing really well and my husband is always working. I am thankful for this because it wasn't always like this. Lately though, many travelers have come to our land in search for gold over the last couple of years.

There were so many Anglo travelers from the east that came to our area. These travelers came over with their entire families. This has increased the population here so much. For all these years, I have only seen my type of people. Now, a lot of these travelers are Anglo and the population is mixing together. This is causing hostility between us. We have our ways and they have their ways. The travelers are starting to take control over my people. These travelers are treating my family and friends as outsiders. This angers me, because this is where my family and I have always lived. This has always been our home. Now, these travelers are treating us as foreigners. In my opinion, they are the foreigners. We provided work, shelter and food for these people. It upsets me that we are being treated this way. Not only are we being treated like we do not belong, but California has just passed

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