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b'On a crisp January morning, in the forested foothills of the Sierra Nevada, part of the remote Mexican province of California, a frontier carpenter spotted a few shiny pebbles in a drainage ditch. Little did he know that at the same week he validated that his discovery involved real and unusually pure gold, the suddenly valuable territory had passed from Mexican possession to become the territory of the United States. The result: the most rapid mass migration in American history and an economic transformation that led the young nation to a fateful rise in economic power. As one observer noted at the time: "It had been so ordered by Providence that the gold might not be discovered until California should be in the hands of the Americans.\\nThe peace treaty with Mexico that ended the Mexican War had been negotiated by one of the great unsung heroes of our history: Nicholas Trist: former aide to James Madison and Andrew Jackson, married to Thomas Jefferson\'s granddaughter, defied a president and risked arrest. As chief clerk of the State Department, with no official sanction, he broke every rule to make the monumental deal that changed the world.\\nThe American Miracle is part of the Airwave podcast network. Contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to inquire about sponsoring this podcast.\\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices'