Mexican California

In 1821, Mexico gained independence from Spain, which ended the period of Spanish colonization (see the Spanish Colonization section). During the 11-year war, California was mostly uninvolved because it was a remote northern province. Life after Mexican independence changed slowly for Central Californians. The missions had never been meant as permanent institutions and under the constitution of the Republic of Mexico, all races were equal; therefore, the missions' use of Natives as laborers was considered unconstitutional. In response to public demands, the missions slowly became secularized as they lost land and power to the new government.

News of Mexico's 1821 independence from Spain did not reach Santa Cruz until 1822. In 1827, the Mexican government declared Santa Cruz a port of entry, and between 1820 and 1830, foreigners of all types – trappers, traders, and adventurers – came through the port.

The missionaries held onto their land and power for twelve years after the independence of Mexico from Spain (Hynding 1982). By 1833, anti-mission sentiment among settlers and politicians had reached a high point, and the Mexican Congress passed a secularization law that allowed the government to seize church lands and distribute them to private individuals.

In 1834, the government issued an order for all missions to secularize. During the next twelve years, the government gave away more than 500 grants totaling about 13 million acres. Many multiple grants were given to single owners and others were granted in excess of a stipulation limiting single families to less than 76 thousand acres. These ranchos were granted to a few wealthy families who became California's rancho elite. Although Mexican administrators had been directed to give the former Mission Native laborers one half of the mission resources, this did not occur. Surviving Natives who had lived and worked at the missions were now laboring for the rancho owners. Ranchos employed from about 20 Natives to several hundred per ranch, with a total of about 4,000 throughout the region. Workers received only food, clothing, and shelter in return for tending fields and herds. They were coerced to stay through persuasion, economic pressure, and violence. During the 1830s, the Santa Cruz Mission lands were given over to authorities at the Villa de Branciforte. In 1845, an earthquake destroyed the Mission tower, and in 1886 remaining buildings were leveled to make room for new development (Koch 1973).

Politics in California during this time were turbulent. An appointed governor from Mexico City ruled the territory and although there was a legislature in Monterey, its powers were strictly limited. Native-born Californios (Spanish and other European descendants) were restless under Mexican rule and wanted greater self-governance. A short-lived secession occurred in 1836 in Monterey. Meanwhile, the economy of California was predominantly based on cattle produced by the huge rancheros.

Mexican authorities made many large land grants in Santa Cruz County. In what would later be called Aptos, Soquel and the surrounding areas, over 55,000 acres of land was granted to members of the Castro family (Koch 1973). The first large scale timber harvest is believed to have occurred during the Mexican occupation from the land grant areas of Rancho Corralitos, Rancho Aptos, and San Andres Rancho in the southern half of the future county.

On the San Mateo Peninsula, ranchos were tiny compared to elsewhere. The largest was about thirty five thousand acres, and no others were more than twenty thousand acres. The former mission lands were divided into 18 private ranchos. Many new landholders (rancheros) were of Mexican peasant stock. Some were Mestizos (mixed Native and Spanish) who were descended from the pioneers who had arrived with the Spanish (Hynding 1982). The rancheros had mostly been born and raised on the Peninsula and had no strong ties to Mexico or Spain. Their allegiance was to family and fellow Californios. These ties were strengthened by intermarriage and established a ruling elite. Many rancheros obtained and occupied land years before they actually gained title.

The local population declined because there was no new influx of settlers and disease had killed most of the Natives. Because the area was so remote, there were not many women, and local births were few. The Mexican government was too far away to govern effectively, so locals predominated. There were few new colonists. Government involvement in infrastructural development on the peninsula dwindled and the area became vulnerable to foreign influence. Mexico did not spend money to build cities, roads, hospitals, or to develop agriculture further. By 1845, there were probably fewer than 500 people including Natives on the San Mateo Peninsula (Hynding 1982). The cattle actually outnumbered the people. There was no room for other agriculture because the cattle needed grasslands to graze. Ranchos became dependent on trade to secure provisions, and trade became their chief activity. Life centered on rodeos, cattle slaughtering days, and trade. Although the rancheros were land-rich, they had little money.

United States settlers were constantly arriving, lured by reports of California's bountiful natural resources and agreeable climate. Both the Spanish and the Mexicans had used one of the ranchos, Rancho Canada Raymundo, to produce timber, but not excessively. It became very active in the early 1840s when foreign men who had deserted their ships in Monterey and San Francisco Bays populated it. Two small ports were developed during this time to help handle the transport of lumber at Ravenswood (today's East Palo Alto) and Redwood City. The sawyers used oxen for power and dragged the timber to the slough where it was tied together to form rafts. The rafts of lumber floated out with the tide and were escorted by boats to San Francisco (Hynding 1982).

The growing foreign population and lumber trade in Rancho Canada Raymundo worried Mexican officials, so they taxed sales and prohibited exports. As tensions with the United States increased, Mexican officials tried to drive the foreigners out. They arrested at least 100 and deported more than 40 foreigners, but did not deport any Americans. The community continued to grow until the outbreak of the Mexican War. By the 1840s, the US was openly interested in obtaining California, and in 1846 the United States formally declared war on Mexico. United States policy and public opinion had been driven by the notion of "manifest destiny," that it was the right and duty of the United States government to extend its sphere of influence west to the Pacific Ocean. At that time, United States Marines, assisted by volunteers from the American settlers, invaded Rancho Canada Raymundo.

Hostilities in California were over in 1847 and the war officially ended in 1848 with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In it, Mexico ceded 525,000 square miles to the United States government. This land was further subdivided to become California, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona and New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. Thus, in 1850, the era of California Statehood began (go to the section on California Statehood).

References

Hynding, A. 1982. From Frontier to Suburb: The Story of the San Mateo Peninsula. Belmont, CA: Star Publishing Company.

Koch, M. 1973. Santa Cruz County Parade of the Past. Santa Cruz, CA: Otter B Books.

General Reference

Rawls, J.J. 2000. California History Online [Web site]. California Historical Society [cited October 22, 2003]. View on-line source.