1. Mission Secularization and the Rancho Period

2. New Spain’s Changing Demographic
La Casta – The mixed-race people of post-Conquest Spanish America (generalized description).
Social Stratification / Caste System
Upper Class (Land Owners / Aristocracy)
Peninsulares: Spanish Immigrant (Pure)
Criollos: Mexican-born Spanish (Pure)
Lower Class (Peasant / Working Class)
Mestizos: Spanish + Native America
Mulattos: Spanish + African
Zambos: African + Native American
Indios: Native American
Negros: African (Sub-Saharan)

3. Mexican War of Independence: 1810 - 1821
Movement was led by the casta.
Began as an idealistic peasants’ rebellion against colonial masters.
The liberal movement of the coinciding Spanish Civil War (1820 – 1823) led Mexican conservatives (originally loyalists) to ally with rebels to maintain the status quo and the colonial system.
1815 – 1821: Guerilla war leading to independence (Treaty of Córdoba)

4. Mission Secularization
Meaning “disestablishment,” a two-year process to remove the religious significance and to modernize old mission lands for secular use.
All Indians were given two choices: (1) to be free from missionary rule and become Mexican citizens; (2) to remain under the church guidance and be exempt from corporal punishment.
Resistance from the padres

5. Secularization (Cont’d)
An Act for the Secularization of the Missions of California (1833):
Active colonization and settlement of Baja and Alta California
Sale of mission territory and distribution of land grants to private interests
Proceeds from sale of mission lands to fund colonization of California

6. Aftermath of Secularization
Franciscans abandon the missions
Locals plunder missions for building materials
Partial conversion of some missions to pueblos (e.g. San Juan Capistrano)
Statewide Indian population decreases from 300,000 to 100,000 in six years (1840’s)
Exposure to European diseases
Franciscan cloistering of female Indians

7. The Rancho Period Wealthy upper class acquire secularized lands
Development of cattle, hide, and tallow trade
Active trade with Boston
Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana (1822)
Agricultural development and growth of California
The Californios
The Brig Pilgrim

8. California Statehood The Bear Flag Revolt (1846)
Mexican-American War and military occupation of California (1846 – 1848)
Compromise of 1850 → Statehood
Indian loss of mission protection, land, and property
18 treaties between U.S. and Indians → establishment of reservations by 1875
Indian population decreases to 3,000 by 1879