California’s Turbulent Transition From Spain to Mexico

Anne Schroeder author photoRelevant History welcomes Anne Schroeder, who served as President of Women Writing the West. Her award-winning fiction includes stories of bandits and bold women. She worked her way through college at a truck-stop café near where James Dean died. She lives in Southern Oregon with her husband, dogs and several free-range chickens. To learn more about her and her books, visit her web site, and follow her on Facebook.

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The land of dons and doñas comes to an end
Viva la independencia! Viva el Emperor Augustin I!” shouted the residents of Monterey while the Spanish flag was lowered in California’s capitol. A moment later the Mexican flag fluttered in the ocean breezes. The year was 1821. Swift riders were sent up and down California to spread the news.

Mission in CaliforniaIn pastoral ranchos across El Camino Real, the King’s Highway, from Sonoma to San Diego, Spanish ladies put away their black taffeta dresses, high hair combs and mantillas. They loosed their severe braids and adopted brightly-colored skirts and blouses that suited an informality of attitudes that accompanied the fall of influence from the Catholic Church. Padres were banished, some to a Spain they had never seen. Mission tools, food stores and livestock were sold to cover the current governors’ gambling debts. Horses were driven off by the thousands, sold to the U.S. army in Arizona for use in the Plains Wars. The Indians were emancipated, with nowhere to go.

Three new governors were appointed in four years. Complaints about each flew between Mexico City and Monterey. Traditional pride ignited old rivalries, but the conflicts were undertaken with honor and decorum as brother raged against brother, nephew against uncle. Some of the actions, recounted later, seemed almost courtly. General Mariano Vallejo was imprisoned for months during the Bear Flag Revolt, until his wife won his release with daily gifts for his accusers of wine and delicacies from the General’s rancho.

Conflicting Californians clashed, and one was killed by countrymen near Santa Barbara. Widows of the great Spanish dons, interviewed for the Bancroft Project years later, expressed the opinion that civil war seemed inevitable and was only avoided because the Americans took control. Perhaps the Californians turned their energies to a common enemy.

Spanish land grants, conveyed by a handshake and a promise, were set aside by Mexican courts. Spanish dons, unable to provide a written deed, lost their lands to loyal Mexicans, many of whom later lost their own claim in American courts. In canyon and arroyo, greed descended. Gone, the fiestas with their fierce combat between a lassoed grizzly tied to the leg of a wild longhorn bull. The bucolic life of pastoral California had come to an end.

The “Time of the Troubles”
The Indians in both Alta and Baja California suffered greatly. During the Colonial rule, Franciscan monks under the leadership of Padre Junipero Serra had traveled from Spain to set up a chain of Missions to instruct the natives. By decree of the King, they were to produce worthy Spanish subjects. They were to baptize, instruct in music, prayer, teach matters of hygiene and modest dress. They were to teach methods of European farming and stock management that would provide for the gente de razón (people of reason, the Spanish people) living in California as well as the benefactors of the expedition, the Spanish court. Each Mission was supplied with five soldiers who were to protect and administer punishment. Families were encouraged to immigrate and procreate, with families producing over twenty children. Outposts at the edge of the world, the immigrants were cut off from civilization except for a Spanish ship that arrived each year with supplies to be paid for with hides.

Old well in CaliforniaWhen Spain went to war against her European neighbors, Indians were pressed to their limits to provide leather, gold, food and raw materials for Spain. During the first years, padres ministered to the curious Indians who gathered at the edge of the trees and watched the greyrobes offer prayers to a God that was more powerful than their traditional gods. As Indian neophytes, Christians, died of sickness and overwork, the soldados de cuero, leather jacketed Mission guard, rode further into the countryside rounding up replacements with ropes and sticks. The neophytes singed their hair with hot coals and grieved their loss of freedom. Some escaped, only to be rounded up and severely punished by soldiers tasked with strict quotas set by the Spanish king and, later, by the taxes needed to pay salaries of the Mexican administrators. What began as a ten-year plan to train Indians stretched into a fifty-year joint venture that became increasingly difficult for everyone.

The later period from the Mexican era through the first years of the American conquest, became known to the People as the “Time of the Troubles.”

This is the setting of my novel, Maria Ines. Maria is a Salinan Indian girl born under Padre Serra’s cross at Mission San Miguel Arcángel. She witnesses the political intrigue and greed of Spanish, Mexican and Yanqui invaders who plunder California, destroying everything she loves. A refugee in her own land during the Time of the Troubles, Maria Ines struggles to survive while she reclaims her family, her faith, and her ancestral identity.

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Maria Ines book coverA big thanks to Anne Schroeder. She’ll give away an advanced reader copy (ARC) of Maria Ines to someone who contributes a comment on my blog this week. I’ll choose the winner from among those who comment by Friday at 6 p.m. ET. Delivery is available in the U.S. and Canada.

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Comments

California’s Turbulent Transition From Spain to Mexico — 22 Comments

  1. Where in the world did you did you find all that history? Wow. Sounds like a “Time of Troubles” indeed. Best wishes for great success with the novel. Marilyn Johnston (aka “cj”)

    • Other women buy clothes and shoes. I buy books about California! I have lived among the Salinans and attended many of their functions through the years. Color me fascinated by this culture. Thank you for noticing!

    • Me as well. I grew up in Paso Robles and had a chance to spend a weekend in the Padre’s old quarters at San Miguel and later, to make adobe bricks to repair the earthquake damage. I think I was called to write this. Thanks for visiting. If you’re available, I’ll be signing books at the Pioneer Museum in Paso Robles, April 2, 1-3.

    • So true. I finally got it–La la is short for “L.A.Los Angeles.” I felt a little silly because I’ve seen the movie and still didn’t get the connection. Thanks for visiting.

  2. What a wealth of history and information! I loved how Anne incorporated it all into her story. It brought both the times and the characters to life.

  3. What a fascinating history lesson! I’ve always loved learning about Old California — when I moved to San Diego, one of my first stops was at the library to get history books and then to visit several of the missions. I even started writing a time travel book set in California, but now I see how much research I still need to do.

    • The best source for books about California are often found at the Mission giftshops and museum bookstores. Find a book (like Maria Ines) that has a bibliography and track some of them down. Or email me about a question. Good luck on your project. You should join Women Writing the West, a great organization for writers who want more information.

  4. This sounds so great – love California history thanks to Zorro etc – but have a paranormal set in Old California. A serious Calif epic – wow – can’t wait to see this one.

    • Yours sounds great, too. Consider entering it in the WILLA Literary Competition if the central figure is a girl or woman. They need more books set in California. Thanks for stopping by.

  5. Really interesting article.
    The book sounds really interesting. I have added it to my TBR list

  6. Looking forward to reading this book. So many times in history class, we learn the dates and what the men did. We don’t learn how these changes in power affect the women or the Natives. I wish more books were written from the Native view point. The Native history is what I absolutely love to learn about. This is a good fit for me!

    • Thanks so much, PM. You give me courage to continue with this series. I wanted to capture the heart story, not the linear dates and body count stuff that men seem to care about.

  7. I studied the Spanish and Portuguese Seaborne Empires, which was a turbulent time – especially for the indigenous people. However, I never got as far as the latter periods. Time to catch up on my history.

  8. Oh, wow. Love old California history. This sounds like a fascinating read. Kinda fun, too, because I know the Paso Robles area as a wine geek. And Jack’s Cafe, which now has a tasting room for Hearst Ranch Winery in it. The food’s still good, though.

    • We share this love of the Central Coast. I plan a book event at the Jack Ranch. And lunch with old school friends. Thanks for sharing. If you want, you can ask your library to order Maria Ines. My publisher, Five Star is an imprint of Gale/Cengage, a company that specializes in the library market. That way we can spread the word.

    • I belong to Western Writers of America and Women Writing the West. There is so much more interest in the Plains Indian story. I want to shed light on our own history. Thanks for stopping by. And please, ask your library to order a copy.