Woman of Old California, Research Paper Example

Naturally, the right place to begin any enquiry into the lasting history of the state of California both from pre-historic spanning into contemporary times is to gauge back to the several millenniums that witnessed the advent of the arrival of the first group of indigenous American people. However, this essay for good reasons has chosen not to begin from that point largely because in the first instance it is beyond the scope of the central thesis that will be addressed by this thesis coupled with the constraint of space that limits the ability to carry out an exhaustive analysis of a topic that is a wide and all encompassing as tracing the pre-historic mobility dynamics of the early indigenous American folks.

Thus far, suffice to conduct a brief recollection of relevant episodes that characterized significant moments in the evolution of old California into its present state. In doing this, the goal of this writer is to use this as a base to establish an orientation that will usher in all the dynamic and contending issues that have worked to craft and develop once again the thesis of this essay. Notwithstanding the fact that this essay opened by acknowledging that the actual history of present day California can be traced back to thousands of years back into the pre-historic ages. It is also prudent to acknowledge and continue this essay for obvious reasons from the sixteenth century by highlighting significant events that worked into the development of the history of the state of California as it stands today.

From this vantage point, it is recorded that the sixteenth century significantly represents the historic period that witnessed the arrival of the adventurous European explorers onto the coastland and eventually extending into the inland valleys of what is old California. Central to this essay is the fact that this time in history constitutes the significant turning point in the historical edifice and all its attendant facets. Writing from a Hispanic perspective, my main contention is built on strong premise that in the most absolute sense the political move by the United States government to financially, if you like, coerce the Mexican government to cede California to the United States following the former been vanquished in the American-Mexican War, did in no way practically improve the lot of the Hispanic population within then old California.

Drawing such a blanket conclusion achieves one of two goals: Women as a social group are included within the broad banner of the Californian Hispanic society. In other words, reference to the Hispanic society in the preceding paragraph does so with the consciousness that all social components of what constitutes the Hispanic people in California by then have been fully represented in this whole. Narrowing down further, history reports that not until the middle parts of the twentieth century, women remained a highly repressed and socially insignificant within the milieu of society. The situation of Hispanic women cannot be in any way better given the context of the above assertion, moreover within the context of the focus of this essay. In principle, the cession of California to the United States government amounted to subtle fulfillment of an exogenous policy of gerrymandering by the United States (Sucheng et al 1996; Rice et al 2001).

My view is supported by subsequent historical developments that characterized this process such as the infamous California Gold Rush. The robust economic activities that made California an attractive hotspot to the world did not in strategic terms transform the general socioeconomic position of the state of California by the close of the nineteenth century. Clearly, the state remained primitively in a lowly state of agrarian under-development with a swelling population (Rice et al, 2001).

Prior to important events of 1769, Californian was effectively an extension of the Spanish empire ruled by the central monarchy. The Spanish colonialist policy at that time was heavily centered on Christianizing their colonies, thus drawing a blur line between church and political power. Evidence of this is seen in the fact that California, one of the many Spanish controlled territories in the world was reported to be home to over twenty Roman Catholic Christian missions and settlements that spread from Sonoma to San Diego by the mid parts of the nineteenth century. Indeed, the consolidation of Spanish role in California can be seen in yet what can be described as the traditional policy of church-state alliance to achieve Spanish colonialist goals, when Gaspar de Portola, a high ranking Spanish military officer in partnership with clergyman Junipero Serra, a Roman Catholic priest of the Franciscan ordinance, to set up Spanish colonial control in the San Diego area (Sucheng et al 1996). This also took place in 1769.

For strategic reasons, the Spanish colonial policy through out the California area revolved around using the introduction of Christianity to strengthen their grasp on territorial space. Over time, coping with the increasing territorial area became a tusk that had overrun their capacity hence the indigenous Christianized citizens became the most viable alternative that could be employed to assist in the task of subduing and subjugating the territorial areas in California that was under their control (Rawls & Walton, 2003). The presence of the Spanish missions was symbolic gestures of Spanish administrative and political control. Going by this saying, the logical deduction is that the over twenty Spanish missions dotted across California from Sonoma to San Diego were legitimately under Spanish administrative and political influence.

This system witnessed a reversal after landmark political events in Mexico proper begun to steer the Spanish colonial policies into a different course. Recall that, the colonial policy was inherently wrought in Christianization, therefore, nationalist elements in Mexico after succeeding in breaking the shackles of Spanish colonial rule in 1821 found the church and its political policies as a potent source of attack if the Spanish imperialist force had to be brought to a halt. Consequently, events in Mexico following this period endorsed the popular imprint of secularization to counter the Christian offshoot of the abhorred imperialism. A wave of mass confiscation and redistribution of mission controlled commercial lands were handed over to the indigenous people of California. Technically, this can be interpreted as a restoration of wealth and traditional land tenure legitimacy to the indigenous people of California.  The indigenous people by their acquisition of former mission controlled land were poised to becoming economically empowered. Contrary to this expectation, this never materialized due to a number of reasons chiefly among them is the cessation of California to the United States by the Mexican government after the war.

As stated earlier in this essay, the “gold rush” brought in a new wave of immigrants from other parts of the United States who exploited a series of legal and political schemes to dispossess the indigenes off their lands.

Critically speaking, much of the dispossession of indigenous lands in California took place after the area was ceded to the United States, which triggered a trend in which influential individuals and families either completely took over lands or pursued gradual annexation of indigenously owned lands. The acquired lands served mainly agrarian and animal husbandry purposes (Hurtado, 1999). Animal husbandry eventually became a lucrative business because of the bustling hide-and-tallow business that fed huge industries in the east coast and other parts of the Americas.

Some observers are of the view that the Treaty if Guadalupe Hidalgo that officially marked the end of the hostilities of the American-Mexican War, did very little to protect the lands of the indigenous people from external takeover. Much of the argument is premised on the fact that, the land redistribution that was characterized by land taken from the Spaniard colonial missions were distributed in a manner that failed to establish a corresponding legal base of ownership by beneficiaries of the exercise. Title deed thus exposed the legal weakness herein, further exacerbating the vulnerability of the already impoverished indigenous citizens of California (Hurtado, 1999).

The Mexican government by its decision to cede control of California to the government of the United States had progressively laid the ground for California to be assimilated into the political fabric of the United States. As it is today, clearly this became successful as recorded between the periods of 1847 till date. Before officially entering the Union of States, California was momentarily administered by the United States military command supported by a decentralized political system under the oversight responsibilities of mayors.

.Among some of the important precursors to its full assimilation into the Union of States included the abolishment of slavery and the institution of a state government system that ushered it into the status of statehood on September 9, 1850 by the United States Congress.

Finally, in summing up, it is worth reiterating that the cardinal thesis of this essay which seeks to among other things prove that the indigenes of California have been on the disadvantaged side within the context of the historical analysis of this essay has been explicitly demonstrated. Other contending issues within this complex historical trail have been addressed especially those that have direct bearing with the subject under discussion.

Reference

Albert Hurtado. Intimate Frontiers: Sex, Gender, and Culture in Old California (Histories of the American Frontier). University of New Mexico Press. 1999.

Rawls, James and Walton Bean. California: An Interpretive History. McGraw-Hill, New York; McGraw-Hill Publishers, 2003.

Rice, Richard B., William A. Bullough, and Richard J. Orsi. Elusive Eden: A New History of California 3rd ed (2001).

Sucheng Chan; Spencer Olin & Thomas Paterson. Major Problems in California History. Wadsworth Publishing; 1996.