# @sachistorymuseum on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/C9ImoARSA0T
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/76084047-sachistorymuseum-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/a0d7f7919b.jpg
- **Posted:** 2024-07-07T20:11:57.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Sacramento History Museum (@sachistorymuseum) — https://gondola.cc/sachistorymuseum

## Caption

July 7, 1846 

On this day in 1846, seven weeks after the U.S. Congress declared war on Mexico, Commodore John Drake Sloat ordered the ships USS Savannah and the sloops of war Cyane and Levant of the Pacific Squadron Navy fleet to enter Monterey Bay and to send troops ashore. The troops landed, seized control of the Custom House and Presidio in Monterey, raised the U.S. flag, and claimed California for the United States. 

The U.S. troops that landed in Monterey (the capital of Alta California) did not meet any resistance from Mexican soldiers. Two days later, Captain John Berrien Montgomery of the USS Portsmouth seized Yerba Buena (now San Francisco) and soon after the Bear Flag was lowered over Sonoma and replaced by the U.S. flag thus ending the short-lived (just over 3 weeks old) Bear Flag Republic. 

Following the seizure of Monterey, a period of American occupation began as part of the Mexican-American War in California. The Mexican-American War ended on February 2, 1848 when the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was signed and made all of Alta (Upper) California part of the United States. This acquisition of Alta California included the land now known as California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, and Wyoming. 

With the foreign policy doctrine of American expansion, put forth by President James K. Polk, it made war with Mexico inevitable. The seizure of Monterey, 178 years ago today, encapsulates the very fabric of Manifest Destiny and American colonization of the west. 

Photograph of a sketch by Charles C. Pierce depicting the raising of the American flag at the Monterey Custom House on July 7, 1846, courtesy of the Huntington Library.
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#TodayinHistory #OnThisDay #CaliforniaHistory #monterey #montereycalifornia #sachistorymuseum

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## Credits

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## Tags

montereycalifornia, todayinhistory, californiahistory, onthisday, sachistorymuseum, monterey

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