Title: 
Headings: Mexican California:  The Heyday of the Ranchos
Mexican
 
California:
  
The
 
Heyday
 
of
 
the
 
Ranchos
 

Life
 
in
 
Mexican
 
California
  

Mexican
 
Independence
  

Secularization
 
of
 
the
 
Missions
  

Dividing
 
the
 
Spoils
  

The
 
Rancho
 
Elite
  

Native
 
American
 
Serfs
 

Provincial
 
Autonomy
 

Trading
 
Hides
 
and
 
Tallow
  

Bull
 
and
 
Bear
 
Fights
 

California
 
Wedding
 

Harbingers
 
of
 
Change
 

Sea-Otter
 
Hunters
 

Jedediah
 
and
 
the
 
Beaver
 

Richard
 
Henry
 
Dana
 

The
 
Donner
 
Party
 

The
 
Jones
 
Incident
 

Mexican
 
American
 
War
 

The
 
Bear
 
Flag
 
Revolt
 

Lances
 
at
 
San
 
Pascual
 

Treaty
 
and
 
Transfer
 


Content: "Viva
 
la
 
independencia
 
Mexicana!" Secularization
 
of
 
the
 
Missions
  
The
 
missions
 
of
 
California,
 
like
 
the
 
missions
 
on
 
all
 
Spanish
 
colonial
 
frontiers,
 
were
 
intended
 
to
 
be
 
temporary
 
institutions. When
 
the
 
work
 
of
 
Christianization
 
and
 
acculturation
 
was
 
finished,
 
the
 
missionaries
 
were
 
to
 
be
 
replaced
 
by
 
secular
 
clergy
 
and
 
the
 
mission
 
lands
 
distributed
 
among
 
the
 
former
 
neophytes. This
 
process
 
was
 
known
 
as
 
secularization. Following
 
the
 
establishment
 
of
 
Mexican
 
independence
 
in
 
1821,
 
demands
 
for
 
the
 
secularization
 
of
 
the
 
missions
 
intensified. The
 
constitution
 
of
 
the
 
Republic
 
of
 
Mexico
 
endorsed
 
the
 
equality
 
of
 
all
 
Mexicans
 
regardless
 
of
 
race. Mexican
 
liberals
 
concluded
 
that
 
the
 
missions--which
 
denied
 
basic
 
liberties
 
to
 
the
 
Indians--
were
 
unconstitutional. The
 
Indians
 
themselves
 
were
 
becoming
 
increasingly
 
restive
 
under
 
mission
 
rule. A
 
coordinated
 
revolt
 
broke
 
out
 
in
 
1824
 
among
 
Chumash
 
neophytes
 
at
 
three
 
of
 
the
 
missions
 
along
 
the
 
Santa
 
Barbara
 
Channel. Meanwhile,
 
Native-
born
 
Californios
 
saw
 
the
 
missions
 
as
 
an
 
obstacle
 
to
 
the
 
economic
 
development
 
of
 
the
 
province;