Secularization of the Missions / Mexican Era / American Era

1. What  impact  did  Native/Spanish  relations  have  on Native/U.S. relations in  the  years following 1849?

2. How does the Spanish period of California differ from the Mexican period?

3. When the missions  system declined what happened to the natives who had converted and left their tribal groups?

4. What were the effects on the Mission Indians, padres, and others living at the missions during and after Secularization?

5. What happened with the missions and mission lands after Secularization?

6. Why were the Spanish, and later the Mexicans, ultimately unable to hold onto this territory?

7. Was it simply military might on the part of the US, or were there other, hidden factors, that played a role in this major loss of territory?

8. With  the  land  grants  and  secularization  of  the  mission  properties,  how  did  so  many  of  the missions get returned to the church?