The Squatters' Riot was an uprising and conflict that took place between squatting settlers and the government of Sacramento, California (then an unorganized territory annexed after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo) in August 1850 concerning the lands that John Sutter controlled in the region and the extremely high prices that speculators set for land that they had acquired from Sutter. The influx of squatters was a consequence of the 1848 California Gold Rush; when courts began to take legal action against squatters in the area, the squatters mobilized under Dr. Charles L. Robinson and Joseph Maloney and challenged mayor Hardin Bigelow and sheriff Joseph McKinney; the conflict was ultimately resolved, and the speculation in Sacramento ended as a result.