Cal Hist Midterm

Front 1

Plate Tectonics

Back 1

where earthquakes originate – CA formed by them – big earthquakes throughout hist

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Sierra Nevada

Back 2

East side of State- other side of central valley – Mt. Whitney – Donner Party – have to cross to get to CA

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Mojave Desert

Back 3

large desert triangle

Front 4

Mediterranean climate

Back 4

hot then cool - cool wet mild winters; hot dry summers – appeals to many people – able to grow citrus (commercial ag)

Front 5

Acorns

Back 5

natives had to adapt to the environment and discover what edible – acorns = staple food - gathers

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rancherías

Back 6

part of community organization for natives – Rancherias (what Spanish called them) – located near food and water sources

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Yuma massacre

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active resistance against Mission system - conflict between whites and natives - bad relationships

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Juan Cabrillo

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one of the first explorers of CA – sent by Cortez (God, Glory, Gold) found San Diego peninsula

Front 9

Junípero Serra

Back 9

leader of Sacred Expedition - seen as European father of CA - leader of the mission system - stayed at several missions

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The Sacred Expedition

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1st expedition that comes to CA to establish settlements - Accomplishments - beginning of European settlement - Bautista - pioneer Anza trial - go into SF and found mission (bay discovered by first expedition, but not settled)

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Franciscans

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responsible for est missions in CA - Roman Catholic - want to spread Catholicism, not Protestantism
Beliefs: Sense of responsibility for others, completely ignore and reject the Native Americans' views and beliefs, Indians seen as inferior (children) - need to be trained and brought Goals: Conversion - building Spanish-Catholic community; Education - agriculture and tools, civilize them (vocational training), some reading and writing

Front 12

missions

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religious and economic center – conversion of Indians

Front 13

presidios

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Presidios: military protection - missions provide food for them - they were the consumers/the market - military fort
helped transition from missions

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Fort Ross

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former Russian establishment – farthest penetration S of Russians – sold to Sutter

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Helen Hunt Jackson

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wanted to help the situation of the Indians - trying to draw attention (social activist)

Front 16

secularization

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taking control of the land, the livestock and was provided to various Mexican individuals - doing away with mission system and transferring land, resources, people into individual hands - church reduced to local parish
in theory – missions->local parishes, Indians = taxpaying locals
reality – missions->political cronies

Front 17

Ramona

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Protestant romanticizing missions, not Spanish - sense of identity – Spanish past – Mediterranean paradise
caused people to come out West to see place of the Ramona
romance/heroism of W

Front 18

CA bank note

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dried steer hide - econ based largely on raising cattle - hides sent to New England used in new factories, then get manufactured goods – helped aid industrial rev -> necessary trade w/ US

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Jedediah Smith

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involved in fur trade – explorer – came overland from the Salt Lake frontier, the Colorado River, the Mojave Desert, and finally into California – discovered South Pass – way to get to Oregon – helped open up West

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John C Fremont

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"the path finder" - man of the enlightenment - Kit Carson was his guide - found paths for "home seekers"

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Two Years Before the Mast

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Dana – trade w/ NE and CA – gave insight into life in CA and mission period

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Donner Party

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American pioneer families moving out W - try to take shortcut which ends up killing most of their party esp in Sierra Nevadas - deterred people from coming out W till Gold Rush

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Bear Flag Revolt

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white settlers declare CA’s independence while still under Mexican rule begins war in CA

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Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

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ended US/Mex War -> CA becoming a state, apart of US - Mexicans see US as imperialistic, land hungry

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John Sutter and Sutter's Mill

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- Sutter - came during Mexican period - had land grant - wanted to sell it (colonizer) - setting up lumber mill – where discovered gold

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Sam Brannan

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announced finding of gold - sold the tools – promotion of business – became rich – Mormon – CA became more tolerant
big figure in beginning business in W

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Forty-niners

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wave of miners that came in 1949 – came from would the world – brought huge wave of people to CA – caused people to move West – helped lead to CA becoming state (quickly)

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Hydraulic mining

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improved mining – able to find more gold bc able to process more gravel - > mining industry

Front 29

Foreign Miners’ Tax Law of 1850

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– tax for foreign miners to be in CA – discrimination towards foreigners bc saw them as stealing their jobs and resources or working for less so making them work for less - >further racism

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Committee of Vigilance in San Francisco (1851 and 1856)

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– purpose was to combat crime – part of vigilante tradition in W -> law and order being instituted in CA

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Joaquin Murieta

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forced off claim by Foreign Miner tax – prey on those who displaced him - became legend Mexican or Chilean Robin Hood

Front 32

Bret Harte

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American author and poet – pioneering CA accounts

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Theodore Judah

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engineer - wanted to see transcontinental RR built – seeking investors – gets big 4

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The “Big Four” (Mark Hopkins, Charles Crocker, Collis Huntington, and Leland Stanford)

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fund Transcontinental RR
pave the way for BIG business and domination of W economy
Central Pacific Railroad of California

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Land Commission of 1851

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set up to evaluate the validity of Spanish and Mexican land grants – obstacles for proving up title - didn't have the original documents, Californios don't know American legal system - how to prove that you own it - hire lawyers cost $$ - paid in portion of the land - perfect title

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Luther Burbank

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experimental farmer - father of CA vegetable industry - what grows well here

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Henry Huntington

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and the Pacific Electric Railway – facilitated growth in LA basin

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Sunkist

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oranges were not a luxury (usually hard to get) wanted to make orange a necessity – Mediterranean paradise

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The People’s Party of California

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farmer’s political 3rd party, populist – vs. RR corruption and its control of politics and local economy -> Progressives (direct democracy)

Front 40

The image of the “Octopus”

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reaching arms of the RR into all forms of society – domination -> BIG business supremacy

Front 41

David Colton and the Colton letters

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letters between SoPac leaders revealed corruption – helped to end their power

Front 42

Los Angeles Harbor Fight

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legal fight over LA harbor – Huntington got warf wanted to make port in Santa Monica to continue monopoly instead of port in San Pedro – people oppose – port at San Pedro – Free bc free of SoPac RR

Front 43

Heney-Webb Alien Land Act

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alien ineligible for citizenship and therefore right to own or lease land

Front 44

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

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passed to keep Chinese laborers out of US – taking jobs – too diff racial than rest of US

Front 45

William Randolph Hearst

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media increase - Philanthropist –San Francisco Examiner -> funds of culture

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Harrison Gray Otis

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leader of business community - got RR at San Pedro - power from LA times - wrote opinion pieces

Front 47

Jack London

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brutal side of nature - strong surviving - criticism of BIG business - Muir = one w/nature

Front 48

Henry George

Back 48

political economist - treatise on inequality, the cyclic nature of industrial economies, and the use of the land value tax as a remedy