Geography 417
California for Educators
California’s Mexican Era and
the Mexican American War
Objectives
•
Students will
identify and describe the key features of the Mexican Era.
•
Students will
identify the major causes of the War between the US and Mexico
•
Students will
identify and describe some of the factors that factor into the nostalgic
notions about the Mexican (and Spanish) Eras.
California
Standards
CSET
•
They describe
Mexican rule in California.
•
They state the
causes of the war between Mexico and the United States and its consequences for
California. Web Link
•
California
History On-Line
The
Mexican Period 1821-1848
•
1821 Mexico
declares independence from Spain and Alta California is no longer part of
Spain, but a remote northern province of Mexico.
•
Very few Alta
Californians were interested in defending land from Mexican Revolution and
little happened in
California during the revolution.
Secularization
of the Missions
•
The missions did
not fit in with the principles of the Mexican revolution…at least the liberal
version of it.
•
Obstacle
to economic development, according to the capitalists.
•
Hard
to keep operational because of Indian revolts.
•
Hard
to shut down because they supplied much of the locals with vital needs.
•
Missionaries
feared for the fate of the neophytes.
•
Various plans for
secularization, the Figueroa plan was finally begun in
1834.
Secularization
of the Missions
•
Original plans
had reasonably fair provisions for the neophytes, but in typical western
fashion the Indians got only promises instead of the good land and a fair share
of the mission properties.
•
Most of the
wealth of the missions fell into the hands of those who already had
wealth.
•
Indians had
multiple fates after mission life.
•
Most of the
missions themselves fell into disrepair, not until the turn of 19th century
that reconstruction projects begin.
Dilapidated SJ Capistrano Mission 1881
The
Rancho Elite
•
The rancho
families become the ruling class in Mexican California.
•
Most were given
land grants.
•
In all 300 years
only 35 land grants were issued by the Spanish. They ranged from 4500-100,000
acres. Were mostly cattle ranches.
•
Mexicans gave out
100s of land grants in 30 years. “Ranchos,” cattle ranches for tallow and
hides.
•
Highly
romanticized era, much like the South of “Gone with the Wind”.
•
Why do we
gravitate to such imagery?
Figure
Native
American Serfs
•
The lot of
Indians who worked the ranches was little better than it was when they were in
the missions.
•
Similar
treatment and lifestyle, presumably without the religious instruction or
paternalism.
Provincial
Autonomy
•
Mexico, like
Spain before it, had little concern or resources to govern California
effectively.
•
California was
essentially autonomous, neglected and weak.
•
Frequent
changes in nominal heads of state.
•
Ever
increasing fractionalism between northerners and
southern Californians.
Trading
Hides and Tallow
•
Since California
was so distant from markets, and had little domestic market, they had to
produce non-perishable goods for trade.
•
The climate and
the expanse was conducive to cattle ranching and the
cattle were raised not for beef or dairy, but for their hides (leather) and fat
to make tallow, a key ingredient in soaps and candles of the day.
Ramona
Novels
•
The most
important woman in the history of southern California never lived. The
eponymous heroine of Helen Hunt Jackson’s popular 1884 novel Ramona, a
half-Indian beauty raised on a wealthy Mexican rancho, nonetheless left an
indelible imprint on southern California’s landscape. Within a year of its
publication, landmarks identified with Ramona’s fictional life—her birthplace,
her home, the site of her wedding, and her grave—became important, even
canonical parts of a visit to southern California. One could take the Ramona
freeway to town, cook like Ramona, and smell like Ramona. The novel’s
romanticized version of California’s Hispanic past also inspired films, songs,
musical instruments, jewelry, clothes, beer, wine, canned goods, collectibles,
and a play that still draws thirty thousand people annually. – from Ramona Memories by Dydia DeLyser
Helen
Hunt Jackson
•
Author of Ramona
•
Wrote
to help improve lives of Indians in imitation of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle
Tom’s Cabin.
•
Long
term impact?
Ramona Landscapes
•
The “real” Ramona
•
Old town San
Diego
The
Americans Arrive
•
The first
Americans arrived by ship, mostly hunting for valuable sea otter pelts.
•
In a generation,
they basically wiped out their own trade.
•
Jedediah Smith arrived over-land
looking for beaver pelts in 1826, but settlers began to arrive by the 1830s.
•
The Stevens party
was the first through the Donner Pass, but the pass was named for the more
infamous party that came through in 1846.
Mexican
American War
•
The
Mexican-American has its roots in the fight over Texas some ten years before.
•
Mexico and the
Californios recognized that the American settlers were a threat as they had
proven to be in Texas.
•
US had plans on
the neglected Mexican provinces…manifest destiny.
John
Fremont
•
Fremont was an
American Army
officer who was part of an
topographical expedition.
•
Had
political ambitions of his
own and of his wife’s.
•
Agitated Mexican
authorities
•
Itching
for a fight with Castro,
felt insulted.
•
Got his chance
when the Bear Flag
revolt erupted, an he joined in the fight.
•
Later
an important figure in the Mex-Am war. Ran for President against Lincoln.
The Bear
Flag Revolt
•
Demonstrates
the weakness of the Mexican authorities in Mexico.
•
American (Anglo)
settlers who began settling the North and Great Valley were worried that their
“rights” to land that they had settled would be stripped as tensions between
Mexico and the US grew.
•
Took advantage of
internal Californio rivalries and the diversion (and confidence) created by
Fremont’s troops.
•
Marched into
Sonoma and took the town bloodlessly.
•
Minor skirmishes
ensued, but it lasted a very short period of time because they joined the US.
Pig Flag
Revolt?
•
The
original flag?
Battles
•
In terms of other
US military conflicts, this one was particularly mild.
•
The Californios
has a couple of victories, especially the Battle of San Pascual,
but for the most part were hopelessly overmatched.
•
Very
little resistance in California as result of animosity towards Mexico City.
Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo
•
War lasted from
1846-1848
•
Andres Pico
surrendered to Fremont at the Cahuenga Pass here in
Los Angeles in 1847, ending the fighting in California.
•
The treaty gave
the US control over all of Mexico’s northern
provinces, including California.