Title: Mexican secularization act of 1833 - Wikipedia
Headings: Mexican secularization act of 1833
Mexican secularization act of 1833
Contents
Background
Proclamation of Emancipation
Secularization Act
Failed distribution to indigenous people
Mission lands confiscated
Sub-missions also lost
Rancho period
Statehood
Abraham Lincoln and the return of ownership
Current status
See also
References
External links

Content: In 1831, the number of Indians under missionary control in all of Upper-Alta California was about 18,683, while garrison soldiers, free settlers, and "other classes" totaled 4,342. New immigration, of both Mexican and foreign origins, increased pressure on the Alta California government to seize the Church-controlled mission properties and dispossess the natives in accordance with Echeandía's directive. Despite the fact that Echeandía's emancipation plan was met with little encouragement from the newcomers who populated the southern missions, he was nonetheless determined to test the scheme on a large scale at Mission San Juan Capistrano. To that end, he appointed a number of comisionados (commissioners) to oversee the emancipation of the Indians. The Mexican government passed legislation on December 20, 1827, that mandated the expulsion of all Spaniards younger than sixty years of age from Mexican territories. Spaniards could pose a threat to Mexico because Spain did not recognize Mexican independence and attempted to regain control over its former colony. Governor Echeandía nevertheless intervened on behalf of some Franciscans in order to prevent their deportation once the law took effect in California. Secularization Act
Governor José Figueroa, who took office in 1833, initially attempted to keep the mission system intact, but after the Mexican Congress passed its Decree for the Secularization of the Missions of the Californias on August 17, 1833, he took action to start secularization enactment. In 1833, Figueroa replaced the Spanish-born Franciscan padres at all of the settlements north of Mission San Antonio de Padua with Mexican-born Franciscan priests from the College of Guadalupe de Zacatecas. In response, Father-Presidente Narciso Durán transferred the headquarters of the Alta California Mission System to Mission Santa Bárbara, where it remained until 1846.