SPANISH MISSIONS IN CA.   Term Paper ID:22894 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Mission system as failed effort to colonize state, convert Native Amer., control land & labor through religion, politics & economics.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Mission system as failed effort to colonize state, convert Native Amer., control land & labor through religion, politics & economics. Paper Introduction: The California mission system was an attempt to create an infrastructure for a society that never arrived. But the system did perform an important role in California's participation in "a major expansion of the capitalist world economy" during the 65 years of the missions' existence. From 1769 to 1834, when the missions were operational, the world-market involvement of the area grew extensively until, by the time of the secularization of the mission properties around 1834, California was an important "peripheral area within the economic world-system." The missions established food-production centers near the best ports. In 1786 the first capital ventures, the export of sea otter pelts, began under private license from the Spanish crown. Quite rapidly the area developed, under the mission system, the initial stages of participation in the world economy; Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. As for the NativeAmericans, some of the English believed they should be converted but mostmerely believed they should be "removed by treaty from the lands the whitesdesired or, if necessary, exterminated."[8] The Spaniards believed thatthe Indians needed to be converted, but also saw them as having "bodiescapable of performing useful labor."[9] According to the general plan, the missions would be established bythe priests, the natives would be converted, food supply for colonistswould be assured by the mission establishments, the Indians would mergewith the arriving colonists in new settlements and the missions would besecularized with their chapels remaining as the parish churches. Rolle, California: A History, 3d ed., (ArlingtonHeights, Illinois: Harlan Davidson, 1978), 71. At this time the Spanish king appointed Josй de Gбlvez as his agentfor reforming the "corrupt an inefficient colonial" effort in Mexico.[6]It was Gбlvez who developed the mission-based plan for colonizingCalifornia at least as far as San Diego and Monterey. [14]Ibid., 1 8-114. The Englishsettlers were looking for a life away from the repression of Englishsociety and were usually interested in securing their religious freedom.They received little government support from Europe and largely did thework of beating back the wilderness on their own (with the later exceptionof the importation of slave labor from Africa). "Purchasing Patterns of the California Missions in ca. [13]Michael LaRosa, "Food Supply and Native American Conversion atFour Alta California Missions, 181 -183 , Journal of the West 33 (1994),1 8. But the system didperform an important role in California's participation in "a majorexpansion of the capitalist world economy" during the 65 years of themissions' existence.[1] From 1769 to 1834, when the missions wereoperational, the world-market involvement of the area grew extensivelyuntil, by the time of the secularization of the mission properties around1834, California was an important "peripheral area within the economicworld-system."[2] The missions established food-production centers near the best ports. W. Quite rapidly the areadeveloped, under the mission system, the initial stages of participation inthe world economy; that is, "some production process integral to largercommodity chains and responsive to market factors."[3] Exports ofagricultural and animal products grew during the period 18 -181 . But abasic conflict emerged between the missionaries' and the governments' viewof the Indians. 18 5." Historical Archaeology 26 (1992): 59-66.Hutchinson, C. He held that the integration ofthe Indians into the new colony was essential, especially sincecolonization was turning out to be unappealing to the residents of Spainand Mexico. The Indians were subjected to"floggings and other corporal punishments" and priests used "nativestrength" as the means of developing flourishing centers of agriculturalproduction that made them nearly self-sufficient and slowly produced "asurplus of meal, wine, oil, hemp, hides, or tallow" that could be shippedto Mexico in trade for needed items.[16] They established irrigationsystems, the early cultivation of semi-tropical fruits, and even began theplanting of cotton.[17] The missions were ready but the colonists never came. But in the second half ofthe eighteenth century the government was afraid that the English mightmove on California by coming down from Canada and, if the English were notinterested, Russian traders might want to claim the land for that country.Some kind of defensive measures were needed for this otherwise unwantedarea. 3d ed. California: A Bicentennial History. As LaRosa points out, in reference to one mission thatfollowed the general pattern, "San Gabriel's half-million acres of landcertainly must have infringed upon native communities and forced thenatives into the mission."[15] There just was no place else for them togo. Arlington Heights, Illinois: Harlan Davidson, 1978.----------------------- NOTES [1]Julia G. The priests, however, treated the Indians with a combinationof paternalism and coercion that they saw as the only way to deal withthem. Journal of the West 33 (1994): 1 6- 115.Lavender, David. The California mission system was an attempt to create aninfrastructure for a society that never arrived. [8]Lavender, 18. The seventy-five years of Spanish and Mexican control of the area had produced onlythis small beginning of a society "which had no chance of maintaining itscultural identity against" the new owners.[5] The gold rush of 1849brought a total of 115, Americans to California and, thirty-five yearslater the land booms in the Southern part of the territory finishedeliminating the struggling society. But they could survive very welland the priests were forced, therefore, to resort to more coercive means ofgetting the Native Americans to participate in the new economic system theywere developing. Alan Hutchinson, Frontier Settlement in Mexican California: TheHнjar-Padrй Colony and Its Origins, 1769-1835 (New Haven: Yale UniversityPress, 1969), 44. New York: W. AfterMexican independence the markets for animal fats and hides expanded andproduction grew when Spanish controls over shipping were removed. [3]Ibid. Military baseswere to be established nearby and the population of settlers, formersoldiers, and Native American laborers would eventually take control of thelands as the Church withdrew to concern itself solely with the spiritualwelfare of the people. [12]Hutchinson, 48. By 1846 theUnited States had possession of California and the colonists there onlyamounted to 8, people -- 6, of them women and children. [5]David Lavender, California: A Bicentennial History (New York: W. [18]Lavender, 29. Under this plan the primary purpose of the Catholic priests, though"not their only one, was to convert the pagan Indians to Christianity andthereby save their souls in the next world."[7] But the missionaries werealso intent on aiding the colonization plans. "Food Supply and Native American Conversion at Four Alta California Missions, 181 -183 . Instead,following Mexican independence, the government engaged in increasingefforts to get their valuable lands away from the missions. Costello, "Purchasing Patterns of the California Missionsin ca. [17]Ibid. [6]Ibid., 18. The Indians were not starving and were not drawn to themissions by the promise of food.[14] The priests simply could notcomprehend how anyone not engaged in the production of food along linesfamiliar to them could manage to survive. If the colonization plans of thegovernment and the Church proceeded at the same pace as the growth of thecattle export industry Mexico would have been far more reluctant to give upthe territory. [7]C. 18 5," Historical Archaeology 26 (1992), 59. Frontier Settlement in Mexican California: The Hнjar- Padrй Colony and Its Origins, 1769-1835. [9]Ibid. [2 ]Ibid., 31. [16]Andrew F. They lived as hunter-gatherers and wereperfectly content to go on as they had been -- they were, in fact,"unusually happy."[11]. California: A History. From the beginning of the missionary effort the government of Spainmade the system a part of its official policy of colonization. In 1786 the first capital ventures, the export of sea otter pelts, beganunder private license from the Spanish crown. [1 ]Hutchinson, 53. In the end all the mission system left behind was the organizationof the territory's prime sites as population centers, numerous place names,and an agricultural establishment that was exploited by the arriving Anglo-Americans. [15]Ibid., 114. A flourishing culture there would either have aided Mexicoin defeating the United States and retaining California or would have beenbetter able to withstand the influence of the new American settlers andleft a much greater mark on the new culture. The great difference betweenthe British colonization of the East coast of North America and the Spanishapproach to colonization is found in this mission plan. The newgovernment had immediately "opened California's ports to foreign traders"and beef tallow and cowhides for new England's and Britain's factoriesbecame a strong commercial proposal.[18] The missionary plan hadoriginally included the idea of eventual secularization. [11]Lavender, 23. In order to create a food problem for any group of hunter-gatherers all that is needed is to take away the territory they roam insearch of food. At thetime of secularization, the production of animal products for export was aflourishing industry -- in a stagnant culture.[4] The missions had been intended for the creation of agriculturalcenters that would serve as the basis for colonial communities. The NativeAmericans were to be converted and brought into the emerging societies andwithin a few decades Spain would have established itself firmly inCalifornia. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1969.LaRosa, Michael. Alan. Norton, 1976.Rolle, Andrew F. At one time, for instance, Galvez "ordered that the Indians were tobe given possessions of their own, presumably as a stimulus to make themwork for themselves" but the priests followed his orders onlysuperficially.[1 ] Their approach was very different. In 1834 the missions wereplaced under secular control. [4]Ibid. Though the prevailing idea of the Indians was that theywere sub-human, Galvez believed otherwise. It was an excellent idea in many ways but no one followed upon it. W.Norton, 1976), 15. BIBLIOGRAPHYCostello, Julia G. As Hutchinson puts it, "the Indiansembarrassed the white men by declining to work because they did not wantmoney, having nothing they desired to buy."[12] The missionaries' approach, therefore, was to "use food production tolure Native Americans into their fold, both as converts to Christianity andas agricultural workers."[13] Yet the priests had misunderstood theIndians' lives and statistical analyses of food production and rates ofIndian conversion have begun show how much of a failure this strategyprobably was. The Indians were to live in the settlementswhile the livestock and equipment were to be managed for their benefit.[19] Instead, of course, a system of private enterprise developed and theranchero culture which developed flourished economically but neverdeveloped to any degree beyond the basics of production for export andconspicuous consumption with their enormous profits. But when the colonists failed to materialize a fewenterprising people had seen the potential of the cattle industry andcoveted the mission's excellent grazing lands. [19]Ibid. But the priests were shocked by the un-Europeanattitude of naked people who thought nothing about the accumulation of foodas a means of engaging in trade. [2]Ibid. Coercion eventually worked for the missions and they began toflourish with the aid of the Indian labor. The Americans whobegan to arrive in the 184 s looked on this static culture as "benighted,wasteful, vain, undependable, and immoral" much as the priests had seen theNative Americans.[2 ] And, as the priests had, the Americans took whatthey liked of the economic structure and resources and began to replace theculture with one more to their own liking. The Spanishhad never been very interested in California. The unwillingness of the people of the two nations toemigrate and the unwillingness of the Native Americans to cooperate fullywith the plan caused the preparations to come to nothing. In spite of good planning and the hard work of the missionaries thepreparations for Spanish and, later, Mexican colonization of Californianever paid off. They had found aNative American population that had enough water, food, and good weather tomake agriculture unimportant. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.