Appearing on Glenn Beck's radio program today to promote his latest book, "The American Miracle: Divine Providence in the Rise of the Republic," right-wing radio host Michael Medved stated that God hid all the gold in California until "the very moment" that the territory became the property of the United States.
As Medved related the story, gold was discovered in California in late January 1848 while on "the same day" California was given to the U.S by Mexico.
"People of the time asked, 'How it is that God hid the existence of this huge load of gold from all of humanity until that precise moment that America was having California handed directly to us?'" Medved said.
When Beck marveled that both of these events happened on the exact same day, Medved backtracked a bit, saying that he wasn't sure if they happened precisely on the same day, but was positive that the two events happened within a week of one another and that anyone could "simply look at a calendar" and see that this was divine providence.
For what it is worth, gold was reportedly first discovered in California on January 24, 1848, while the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the peace treaty that ended the Mexican-American War and gave the U.S. ownership of the territories that eventually became California and various other states, was signed on February 2, 1848.
