This document provides a summary of the history of California from Spanish rule through statehood. It discusses how California transitioned between being owned by Spain, Mexico, and the United States, and the impact this had on the citizenship and land rights of existing residents. It also describes the influx of new settlers during the Gold Rush, the resulting lawlessness and racial tensions, and California's path to becoming a US state.

1. CALIFORNIA
Part 1
Mark Brandon
History141 Fall2011 Internet
Dr. Arguello

2. Chapter 3
So many identities, so short a time.
• The evolving identity of California and the occupants in its borders.
• Owned by Spain, in 1821 Mexico gains its independence as a federal republic.
• California is held by Mexico as a territory.
• In 1834 Mexico forces the Church to sell all of its lands to private owners. This lead to the Indians
migrating back into the interior areas.
• Out of the Mexican-American War is the concession of California, Utah, and New Mexico as
American territories in 1848. This was the G. Hidalgo Treaty.
• What is profoundly important here is the turnover of governmental ownership, but what about the
people that were granted, purchased, or otherwise feel they have a claim. Some of these land
grants are bigger than some colonial states. Since there was no formal turnover of titles, just the
treaty existing.
• What about the citizenship of these people in these areas? Obviously they are now US citizens, but
short of not leaving, these people are altered in citizenship but not in their unaffected lifestyle or
identity.
• The area of California is so large, it has a minimum of 2 but more accurately 4 natural regions. Is
this a place to big and to diverse to manage as one territory?
• These problems of ownership are the big setup for chapter 5, in that now that California is US
owned, how do we unravel it into an organized mess instead of chaos.
• The makeup of the people in this California; Franciscans, Indians, Mexicans, colonists from all over
the world, and those who have fought in the Mexican War, all have to gain their identity.

3. Chapter 3
Spain and Mexico knew it a rich land
• The Rancho lifestyle was a great way of life for those Mexican families on
the land grants, but it was a dead end for progress and increased
population beyond what had developed to that point. Trade and business
is what it needed to propel.
• Spain had declared the coast off-limits to all other countries. In 1579 the
Golden Hindle was followed by 2 others in 1786 the Boussole and
Astrolabe. The 207 years of isolation produced obvious effects of limiting
political and trade effects, this was now all changing.
• Numerous trading stops began to occur and these were all tied to
reconnoitering by other countries from all over. The Russians, the English,
the French, the Colonists, the Canadian Fur Traders, and the Hudson’s Fur
Trade Co, to name some important ones.
• In 1839 Mexican California needed northwestern flanking protection, so
Governor Aalvarado made a deal with German John Sutter giving him
48,000 acres around the junction of the Sacramento and American Rivers,
in a land grant. This area was to later change history profoundly.

4. Chapter 3
Was it a backup plan to stop others?
• Fremont arrived Monterey in Jan1846 and had conversations with Larkin, an agent
in confidence and consul. Castro ordered him out CA. He raised instead, the
American Flag on Gavilan Peak and a heavy barricade. Late one night in March, he
quickly move into Oregon. Meetings with Marine Lt. Gillespie, who had come
from Hawaii and Larkin, then travelled to Oregon to meet Fremont.
• Most believe this was orders to take California, however others say, since war was
declared on 13May1846, it is not likely.
• My strongest opinion after reading this is simple. There was no way to know or
prevent French, English, or Russian ships from invading and taking California.
Larkin was likely a backup planner, to prevent Fremont and Larkin from
surrendering to an unknown threat or known how important a fight would be if
one was faced with such.
• The English could have fought to gain Eastern control and use Canada as a squeeze
with the known tensions of Northern and Southern. This could be the same with
any country I propose. LOOK CLOSELY AT THIS MAP AND IMAGINE ATTACKING
FORCES FROM SEA OR LAND AND HOW SLOW INFORMATION COULD TRAVEL. I
REALLY BELIEVE THESE WERE SMART TACTICIANS……….

5. Chapter 4
Territory lawlessness, racial, and ethnic
• As an American territory which makes California only Federally governed. This is only able to be directed through
military officers and appointees, and complicated by the great distance to congress.
• Under this system, Jasper O’Ferrell commission by Navy LT. Bartlett is to master plan San Francisco. An Army LT.
Ord, the same for Los Angeles. Without this these later cities could never be grown like New York as world center
points, which its key was this kind of advanced planning of Manhattan Island.
• Gold is found at Sutter’s on the American River, sparking the Gold Rush 49’s from all over. This drives a wedge in
slave legal California. The balance Congressional power of voting is able to block anti-slave bills, which by default
gives pro-slave voting power. This complex issue is fought out in attempting to divide it into a North and South,
but is ultimately bargained away by letting New Mexico and Utah territories become slave states. The miner’s
were never going to allow free labor to take their opportunities away.
• This influx caused infrastructure to be bought and paid for, preparing the launch pad for industrial modernization.
• The lack of sanitary laws and modernization caused the 1850 cholera outbreak and decimated Sacramento.
• The lack of lawmen and the lawlessness that ensued while men were forced to leave their equipment to make
claims and other assay business, led to the 1853 Los Angeles Rangers.
• A beautiful Mexican woman who was pregnant, named Josefa was home when a miner broke into her cabin. The
next day she scolded the miner, he called her a whore, and she stabbed him to death. Two thousand American
miners hanged her for killing the miner in July of 1851. This was clearly primarily racially motivated and the crowd
psychology was stoked by the significant shortage of women in the region.
• The Lynch Law of traditional European origin using local tribunals. Without it, imagine how much worst it would
have been. As legal framework improved this rapidly ended it in 1901.
• Taxing foreigners proved as successful in driving out Mexicans from the mining, as the will of the same to keep it
anti-slavery area. The Chinese were only allowed to mine abandoned prospect areas.
• Women were brought as wives-to-be, by ship all the way around the Horn.
• This shows how wide problems were in trying to provide a life for these miners, and California to progress.

6. Chapter 4
Statehood does not mean Freedom
• Statehood as a free state is established as a push toward eliminating the
military directorate with civilian authority. A priority must be made to be
consistent with the rest of the US for California to succeed.
• California and Canada have the same language problem. Spanish is one of
two official governmental languages until 1879.
• Chinese, Afrikaners, Native Indians were denyed citizenship! The
Mexicans were previously protected by the Treaty of G. H. and it was not
permitted for these groups to testify in legal proceedings against whites!
• It was only narrowly prevented all Afrikaners complete exile! This would
have been the only state with such a law. It is clear this was a parallel to
the miners fear, but that the Hispanics were fearing the loss of farm work
or the competition of property ownership, as they have been given all
their land for free except that land purchased from the Missions.

7. Chapter 4
Native Indians are abused terribly
• They had life better before statehood, clearly racial driven abuse of
a people, heartbreaking cruelty.
• They are sentenced to indentured servitude to local businesses and
people for “crimes” using the legal system, clearly leveraged against
them. This government sanctioning started in 1850.
• Kidnapping of Indian children was common.
• Genocidal level war against the Indians by the miners, and vigilantly
groups.
• Massacres also occurred, one example in 1850 was hundreds of
Pomos in Clear Lake by Army troops.
• In 1845 Indians were estimated at 150K people, and by 1870 to less
than 30,000. Disease is believed to have killed 72,000 of these, and
the others murdered. Noteworthy is looking wider back to 1769
when the Spanish arrived, population had been reduce 90%!

8. Chapter 5
• Surveying and title recording is headed by O’Ferrell, who had planned San
Francisco, and record title to properties. Sec. of State Halleck as a result files his
report questioning many. In Feb 1851, a 3 member Board of Land Commissioners
was set in San Francisco.
• A Commission to determine the ownership of title, a very complex, costly and of
highest importance to becoming a sovereign state. As ownership of property is
one of the most basic fundamentals of freedom.
• August of 1850, this led to many dead sherrifs and squatters during eviction riots.
• This ownership question had another layered problem, there is no way big money
could get involved in buying from the land granted areas until this issue was
overcome, and that was a major impediment moving ahead.
• Lawyers became wealthy from landowners that had no money to fight for proof of
title, and the only option was to be paid handsomely in prime land or lose
everything!
• Bringing in the railroads and giving them land grants required to connect California
with the rest of the nation was a boon making them the biggest land owners.
• Numerous bills were introduced to split the state, using the 36deg30” line to move
slavery lines. This was not successful.

9. Chapter 5
Now its time to have a society
• A State Library is setup by Colonel Stevenson and Sen. Fremont in 1850.
• That ship full of convicts is a legal problem, so 1854 San Quentin is first
opened and its first cell block lasted 105 years. It was tried as a contract
business operation but didn’t work as the capitalism got in the way of the
job, and a warden was required and appointed in 1855.
• The State Agricultural Society was established bringing more credibility
and advertisement.
• In 1859 a winery owner in Napa, makes a year long trip to bring grapes
from France and surrounding regions.
• From 1862-1864 the was a Great Drought which wrecked the cattle
industry, but it survived as 7.7 million head of sheep and much less cattle.
• There had to be famous outlaws such as Murieta who the Rangers Captain
Love caught him and decapitated him, and Juan Flores who was hanged in
1857 after robbing and terrorizing the So. Cal areas.
• The Civil War draft was not popular and many young men moving from the
east arrived to avoid involvement by both North and South against it.

10. Chapter 5
Build the railroads, they will come...
• 1855 the Army made its proposals for rail routes to connect CA to the Transcontinental RR. Judah won approval when war
broke out in 1861.
• Pacific Railway Act of 1862 allowed UPRR and CPRR to connect with the rest of the nation.
• CPRR was swindled from Judah by the four other owners, and he died of typhoid contracted in the Ismuth of Panama trying
to rebuy his company.
• 50 Chinese workers prove themselves, and over 10 thousand of them get jobs as a result, building the railroads. With this
they brought the lottery game known today as Keno. Their game was 88 instead of 80, but that is because of the belief 8 is
lucky. This game generated a significant amount of money for the Great Wall.
• UPRR used Irish workers, and this comparative work by Chinese workers proved they too were great American stock.
• In Sept 1873 a bank by Jay Cooke bankrupted and Wall Street panic set in. The NYSE CLOSED for TEN DAYS! The country
went into a flash depression lasting until after the decade turned, decimating tens of thousands of businesses and most
every major railroad!
• A two week takeover of city government in St. Louis resulted in federal troops directed by President R.B. Hayes in 1877 to
get control back. The roots of this were people in Paris who had done the same, and in after regaining control of these
Marxists around 17,000 radicals and supporters were executed. These people killed hostages by the hundreds, including the
archbishop of Paris.
• The railroads supported the silver found in Nevada and the Bank of California was involved in a scheme with the Ophir mine,
when a run on the bank left it with worthless stock. Ralston, the owner either killed himself or had a medical problem
swimming in the ocean. This collapsed many other banks and wiped out San Francisco capital. People then began
denouncing capitalism! Sounds a lot like today with this Great Recession which is code for the Second Great Depression.