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American
Interest and the Bear Flag Revolt
Official American interest in California dates back
to Andrew Jackson's administration. In 1835, Jackson
offered Mexico half of a million dollars for the
San Francisco Bay and the territory north of it,
but Mexico refused. Jackson also sent exploratory
parties into California, often uninvited. In 1842,
another attempt to purchase land from Mexico was
made when Daniel Webster, Secretary of State under
President Johnson, created a plan where the United
States would pay Mexico's debts in return for northern
California, Texas and Oregon. The deal was denied
by Mexico. When President Polk took office in 1844,
he made it clear that he wanted the California territory.
He offered to buy it, but the Bear Flag Revolt and
the Mexican-American War made that unnecessary.
The story of the Bear Flag Revolt begins with the
expeditions of John C. Fremont. Fremont was a western
explorer who wrote reports about the frontier that
stirred the interest of many Americans. He made
a number of expeditions to California, and his reports
of the San Joaquin Valley, Mojave Desert, and the
Sierras became instant successes and primary sources
for other western explorers.
On Fremont's third expedition into California, he
crossed the Rockies, went up the Truckee River,
over Donner Pass, and arrived at Sutter's Fort.
In January of 1845, he traveled to Monterey in search
of supplies. The visit ended in a misunderstanding
between him and the comandante general, Jose Castro.
Fremont thought he was free to move about California,
while Castro thought he was leaving for Oregon.
Fremont ran into more trouble when he was accused
of stealing horses by the mayor domo of Mission
Santa Clara. Instead of continuing north, Fremont
turned south, crossed the Santa Cruz Mountains,
and stopped at Hartnell's ranch. Castro found out
about his arrival, and ordered him to return to
the Central Valley. Fremont refused and constructed
a fortification in the Gabilan Mountains, near present-day
Fremont's Peak, and raised the American flag. The
string of events that followed signaled the end
of Mexico's control of California. Fremont's actions
and the mounting rivalry with Pio Pico in the south
prompted Castro to organize a military junta in
Monterey and fortify the northern towns. In the
south, Governor Pico saw Castro's actions as a precursor
to an attack. There was also a rumor spreading through
the north that Castro was going to throw out all
of the Americans. The rumor prompted the Americans
to form a resistance movement and called for Fremont's
leadership. Fremont heard of the resistance movement
and returned to Sutter's Fort, which became the
rallying place for Americans. They decided to overtake
Alta California and create an independent republic.
They adopted the bear as their mascot and created
the Bear Flag. At this point, the United States
remained neutral, making the Bear Flag movement
completely independent. Castro raised troops to
counter the Bears, and a battle at Sonoma broke
out. The Bears soon gained 300 more men, as well
as American support when the United States entered
into war with Mexico on May 13 of 1846. The Americans
were able to push Castro's army south, signaling
the end of Mexican control of California. In 1848,
as the Mexican-American War drew to a close, the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo made California officially
part of the United States.
Gold!
The discovery of Gold in California changed the
territory dramatically. Immigrants flocked to California
from across the United States and the world, quickly
creating a cosmopolitan society in the gold-saturated
hills of California. The discovery came during the
construction of John Sutter's and James Wilson Marshall's
sawmill. On January 24, 1848, Marshall found gold
in a water ditch near the mill construction site.
He went to Sutter with the discovery and they decided
to keep it a secret. Interest did not come quickly;
it intensified slowly over the course of the year.
The locals got gold fever first, and during the
first half of 1848, locals dominated the mining.
As more gold was discovered, the news spread further.
By the end of 1848, the news had reached Hawaii,
Mexico, South America, and China.
Travel to California during the Gold Rush was a
difficult task because of the isolation from the
east coast. There were only two options, over land
or by sea. Many travelers from the east coast chose
to take the sea route, of which there were two options.
The traveler could stay on the ship as it went around
South America, or the traveler could get off the
ship in Panama and travel across the short strip
of land and catch a ship on the other side. The
journey by land was much different. The expedition
started in the spring with the hope of crossing
the Rocky and Sierra Nevada Mountains before winter.
Leaving too soon or too late could have dangerous
results. Most traveled in large groups, which was
safer and yielded a higher success rate. Despite
the difficulty and length of the trip, between 1849
and 1850, nearly 30,000 people crossed the United
States for California. During the decade of the
1850s, 200,000 more people came to California by
land.
The sudden increase in California's population led
to the need of a proper government. Between 1847
and 1849, the Californian government was a combination
of American territorial government and leftover
Mexican institutions. In 1849, the residents and
citizens demanded a proper government and statehood.
In September of that year they held a constitutional
convention in Monterey. The two most controversial
issues of the convention were slavery and where
to place the border. It was decided that slavery
was to be outlawed because they did not want the
competition of slave labor in the mines. A debate
ensued on which mountain range to be the boundary,
the Sierra Nevada Mountains, or the Rockies. The
inclusion of the Mormon state of Deseret also had
to be decided on. They ultimately decided on the
present border. They also decided to retain certain
Mexican laws that gave property rights to women.
For further issues they used other state constitutions
as models. Californians approved the document in
November, and Peter H. Burnett was elected the first
governor. California became part of the union under
the Compromise of 1850. This compromise brought
California into the union in order to keep the delicate
balance between pro-slavery and anti-slavery states.
According to the compromise, California was admitted
as a free state, Utah and New Mexico Territories
were to decide the issue of slavery by popular sovereignty,
the slave trade was abolished in Washington DC,
and the Fugitive Slave Law was enacted. The law
went into effect on September 9, 1850.
By
Rickie Lazzerini
Historian
BA History
University of California, Santa Barbara
Index
of Historical Reviews
© 2006 Rickie Lazzerini,
All Rights Reserved
This page may be freely linked to but may not
be reproduced
in any form without prior written consent from
the author.
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