As Americans moved into California, the U.S. government wanted to provide them with an official representative. But the government also wanted California for the United States. So when Thomas Larkin was appointed as consul to Monterey, Alta California, he had the job of keeping the peace with Mexico---while other Americans tried to make war. But Larkin also wanted to bring California into the United States. He became a consul who literally worked himself out of a job, when California became part of the United States in 1847.

Show notes, including a full transcript, available at consolationprize.rrchnm.org.