In the first weeks of his governorship, McDougall was pressured by miners and residents in Mariposa County to intervene in a growing conflict later known as the Mariposa War, with the local Miwok, Chowchilla, and Yokut tribes opposing encroachment on their land [REF].
While McDougall continued with the earlier policies of the Burnett administration in taking violent action against California Native Americans and supporting exclusion laws prohibiting African-Americans from entering California, he favoured Chinese immigration to meet the state's labor shortage and settle undeveloped lands.