Title: Missions & Presidios of the United States – Page 2 – Legends of America
Headings: Missions & Presidios of the United States
Missions & Presidios of the United States
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Content: In the late 18th century, the missions began to change. The Spanish crown had begun to view the missions as a drain on Spanish finances, as the missions had not grown enough to give the money back to Spain. Also maintaining presidios to protect the missions became too expensive. Before long, secularization — turning the settlements into civil rather than religious communities — began. The Spanish government withdrew much of its financial support and ordered mission lands and livestock to be divided among the mission Indians who had been converted to Christianity. In 1824, after Mexico achieved independence from Spain, secularization swept across the missionary communities. The Mexican authorities cared little for continuing the objectives of the missions and viewed them as the Natives’ salvation and saw the missionary system as economically inefficient. The Native Americans also wanted increased control over their land and livestock that the Franciscans had so stringently regulated. Settlement of the new Spanish frontier had significant and far-reaching effects on the development of the United States, both politically and culturally. The missions were directly involved in the military, religious, and cultural development, influencing policy­making across the entire Southwest.