History 108 – Early American History

The Views of the Californios on the Influx of Americans in California

Long before the exploration of California , there had been about 150 ,000 native inhabitants of the place . According to Thompson , the natives of this place described it salubrious '1 it was named California for it meant earthly paradise '2 by the natives . But around 16th to 17th century , the first Europeans arrived and occupied the place they were Spanish people , who imposed colonial practices in the region . In 1826 the Mexicans gained independent from Spain , and took control of California

until 1840s with few but bloodless uprisings from the settlers . Through the effort of President James Polk , California became one of the states of America it was February 2 , 1848 , when California was formally turned over to the United States by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , which ended the Mexican War during that period .3

Since then , many Anglo-Americans had migrated to California from different places to find settlement because of its abundant resources that resulted to some problems among the original settlers of the place

The rise of new settlers of California

Prior to the discovery of Gold Mine at the northeast of Sacramento many Americans had migrated to California because of the `easy life which the early Americans told about the place . Along with Hispanic speaking people and other native of the place , more American people kept coming to dwell in that place . 4

Base on the report , the early settlers before 1840 were sailors , fur trappers , and adventurers (California all U .S . citizens . However in 1841 , new settlers arrived about eight hundred settlers had traveled over the western portion of the Santa Fe Trail , the Oregon Trail , and the California Trail (California . California 's population rose to about 90 ,000 by end of 1849 because of the discovery of gold mine in the northeast of Sacramento . And in 1852 , this number increased to 220 ,000 as new settlers arrived in search for gold . Aside from the whites who migrated in this place , some black slaves were also lived along with their masters .5

View of the Californios with the Coming of New Settlers

According to Guadalupe Vallejo , the original settlers were more peaceful or happy people on the face of the earth than the Spanish Mexican , and Indian population of Alta California before the American conquest '6 But due to the increase in population and new sets of government , many of the original settlers , developed hostility against the Americans

Some old settlers developed hostility against Americans because some of their lands which were granted by the Mexicans , were given to new immigrants .7 It was best explained by an article entitled `History of Hispanic-American Migration ' which according to it those lands were maintained by original landowners despite many attempts due to the complaints made by the new settlers . However , because of their ignorance of the law and of the English language , they often cheated out of their legitimate claims to the lands '8

For this reason , many of the original settlers lost their lands , and had found themselves workers of the rancheros some became beggars and theft .9 This scenario had driven this group of people to live separately from the Anglo-Americans .10

Conclusion

Due to California 's abundant resources , many Americans dwelled in the area which caused some problems among old settlers of California California was before a colony of Mexico but the United States ' interest of the area they made everything to conquer it through the initiative of President Polk . And this victory of the Americans paved the way for more U .S . citizens to possess vast portion of lands which most of them were originally owned by Hispanic speaking people

This change had a tremendous effect on the old settlers some of their lands were distributed among the new dwellers through deceitful way some had lost theirs and ended as beggars , tenants , and others committed crimes in to survive . Therefore , in the eyes of the indigenous Californios , the influx of the Americans was a grave offense on their part , a violation of their rights , and manipulation of their ignorance for the sake of the whites

Footnotes

1 Thompson , Kenneth . Insalubrious : Perception and Reality ' Annals of the Association of American Geographers , Vol . 59 , No . 1 (Mar , 1969 pp . 50-64

This article consists of 15 page (s http /links .jstor .org /sici ?sici 0004-5608 2959 3A1 3C50 3AICPA R 3E2 .0 .CO 3B2-O

2 Thompson , Kenneth . Insalubrious : Perception and Reality ' Annals of the Association of American Geographers , Vol . 59 , No . 1 (Mar , 1969 pp . 50-64

This article consists of 15 page (s http /links .jstor .org /sici ?sici 0004-5608 2959 3A1 3C50 3AICPA R 3E2 .0 .CO 3B2-O

3 California ' HYPERLINK "http /encarta .msn .com /text_9___54 /California .html http /encarta .msn .com /text_9___54 /California .html

4 California ' HYPERLINK "http /encarta .msn .com /text_9___54 /California .html http /encarta .msn .com /text_9___54 /California .html

5 California ' HYPERLINK "http /encarta .msn .com /text_9___54 /California .html http /encarta .msn .com /text_9___54 /California .html

6 Vallejo , Guadalupe . Ranch and Mission Day in Alta California ' The Century Magazine . Vol XLI , No . 2 (December , 1890 http /www .sfmuseum .org /hist2 /rancho .html

7 The History of Hispanic-American Migration http /cc .msnscache .com /cache .aspx ?q 86 lang en-SG mkt en-SG FORM CVRE4

8 The History of Hispanic-American Migration http /cc .msnscache .com /cache .aspx ?q 86 lang en-SG mkt en-SG FORM CVRE4

9 California ' HYPERLINK "http /encarta .msn .com /text_9___54 /California .html http /encarta .msn .com /text_9___54 /California .html

10 Vallejo , Guadalupe . Ranch and Mission Day in Alta California The Century Magazine . Vol XLI , No . 2 (December , 1890 http /www .sfmuseum .org /hist2 /rancho .html

Work Cited

California ' HYPERLINK "http /encarta .msn .com /text_9___54 /California .html http /encarta .msn .com /text_9___54 /California .html

Thompson , Kenneth . Insalubrious : Perception and Reality ' Annals of the Association of American Geographers , Vol . 59 , No . 1 (Mar , 1969 pp . 50-64

This article consists of 15 page (s http /links .jstor .org /sici ?sici 0004-5608 2959 3A1 3C50 3AICPA R 3E2 .0 .CO 3B2-O

The History of Hispanic-American Migration http /cc .msnscache .com /cache .aspx ?q 86 lang en-SG mkt en-SG FORM CVRE4

Vallejo , Guadalupe . Ranch and Mission Day in Alta California ' The Century Magazine . Vol XLI , No . 2 (December , 1890 http /www .sfmuseum .org /hist2 /rancho .html ...