DBQ #1:
Was life on the CA Mission more positive or negative for the CA Natives?
Meghan Avrett
LBS 375
Professor Cheek
February 17, 1015
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Pre-European exploration and colonization, Native Californians had been living
peacefully off the land for thousands of years. They were a sophisticated and resourceful
community of human beings who did not take from nature but instead gave back to it. However,
in 1769, when rumors about Russia establishing colonies in North America made their way to the
Spanish, the Spanish decide they must colonize the Alta Californian land they had previous laid
claim to. It was then that the Spanish started settling the coast of California by implementing a
system of missions, presidios, and pueblos as they went. Colonization of Alta California was
beneficial to the Spanish in terms of expanding their empire and gaining more wealth. But as for
the natives, numerous primary and secondary sources prove that Spanish colonization
permanently devastated the lives of millions. Thus, it is my assumption that life on the missions
deemed more negative than positive for the California Natives because they were forced to adopt
Catholicism, exploited for their labor, and were victims of brutal treatment.
The first reason why California Natives had an abysmal experience living on the missions
is that they were stripped of their own religion and forced to become Catholics. Indian religion
was sophisticated and deeply rooted in nature. However, the Spanish believed their religion was
the genuine faith. Although it would be difficult, the Spanish claimed they needed to “take
[natives] out of the error in which they live and give them to understand the true religion, and to
teach them the true way to their salvation.”i This way of thinking, helped the Spanish rationalize
their unjust actions, and the natives suffered because of it. Also, while attending church, the
natives were essentially held captive against their own will. The natives were threatened “with
whips, canes and goads or sharp, pointed sticks…to keep the congregation in their
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kneeling posture…[and] the end of the church was occupied by a guard of soldiers under
arms with fixed bayonets.”ii Fearing for their lives and being forced to pray to a foreign God was
no way for the natives to live.
The Spanish not only robbed the natives of their beliefs, but they also reaped the rewards
while the natives did most of the labor, which is a second reason why life on the missions was a
negative experience. Before the Spanish colonized, the natives lived in a resourceful manner that
did not change the land in which they lived on. In this way of living, “each group’s population
was in equilibrium with the carrying capacity of its local environment.” iii In other words, the
natives were used to hunting and gathering as much food as their environment provided each
season. However, life on the missions proved to be starkly different. The missions were the
epicenter of daily life, and “played a large part in turning native peoples from a hunter-gatherer
society toward an agricultural one.” iv Not only were the natives forced to abandon their
traditional means of providing for themselves, but they also did not receive any benefits from
their hard work either. In fact, it is specifically noted that “many missions grew quite wealthy,
thanks to the hard work of the Native Americans.” v
Lastly, life on the California missions was filled with brutality and abusive punishment
directed at the natives. Sources prove that soldiers took advantage of their status and power by
“seizing and raping the [native] women.” vi It was even acknowledged by a Spanish priest that
many of the soldiers should be hanged because of their behavior. vii One can only imagine the
type of fear natives were subjected to during this time. In addition, the treatment of the natives
can be defined as that of slavery. It was noted that “for the slightest things, they received heavy
flogging, are shackled, and put in stocks, and treated with so much cruelty that they are kept
whole days without water.” viii Because they were able to treat the natives with such viciousness,
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the Spanish must have believed the natives to be inferior, uncivilized savages, which yet again
demonstrates how life on the missions was a horrible existence.
Perhaps viewing colonization of Alta California from a 1700’s Spanish perspective
would conclude that the establishment of missions helped natives escape their barbaric ways and
become a civilized group of people. But, in my opinion, the provided sources support a complete
and opposite argument. Religious enforcement, labor exploitation, and abusive treatment that
ultimately led to the destruction of a once peaceful society, cannot be justified in any way.
Therefore, my initial assumption that life on the missions was negative for the California natives
remains.
Father Geronimo Boscana . “Describes the San Juan Capistrano Indians, 1832” Major Problems in California History1997,
ed. Sucheng Chan and Spencer Olin63-68. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning 1997.
ii
Beechey, Frederick William. Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Beering's Strait to Co-operate with the Polar
Expeditions Performed in His Majesty's Ship Blossom, under the Command of Captain F.W. Beechey ... in the Years 1825, 26,
27, 28 ... London: H. Colburn and R. Bentley, 1831.
iii
McEvoy, Arthur F, from The Fisherman’s Problem: Ecology and the Law in California Fisheries, 1850-1980. (Cambridge
England: Cambridge University Press, 1986), pp. 26-32.
iv
Ansary, Mir Tamin (2003). California History. Heineman: Chicago, IL.
i
v
Ibid
vi
Maynard Geiger, trans. and ed. Letter of Luis Jayme, O.F.M.: San Diego, October 17, 17772. Los Angeles: San Diego Public
Library, 1970, pp. 38-42.
vii Ibid.
viii Doak, Robin S., and Andre Ndez. Voices from Colonial America: California, 1542-1850. Washington, D.C.: National
Geographic Society, 2006. 42-43.
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Work Cited
Ansary, Mir Tamin (2003). California History. Heineman: Chicago, IL.
Maynard Geiger, trans. and ed. Letter of Luis Jayme, O.F.M.: San Diego, October 17,
17772. Los Angeles: San Diego Public Library, 1970, pp. 38-42.
Beechey, Frederick William. Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Beering's Strait to Cooperate with the Polar Expeditions Performed in His Majesty's Ship Blossom, under the
Command of Captain F.W. Beechey ... in the Years 1825, 26, 27, 28 ... London: H.
Colburn and R. Bentley, 1831.
Boscano, Father Geronimo. “Describes the San Juan Capistrano Indians, 1832” Major Problems
in California History1997, ed. Sucheng Chan and Spencer Olin63-68. Boston:
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning 1997.
Doak, Robin S., and Andre Ndez. Voices from Colonial America: California, 1542-1850.
Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2006. 42-43.
McEvoy, Arthur F, from The Fisherman’s Problem: Ecology and the Law in California
Fisheries, 1850-1980. (Cambridge England: Cambridge University Press, 1986), pp. 2632.