Junta of Monterey

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With the conquest of Monterey by the Americans in July 1846, the independence sought by the junta ended.

The Monterey Junta was a council and regional government convened in 1846 during the Mexican-American War by the Hispanic-Californian military and notables . It intended to detach Upper California (Alta California) from Mexico and keep it neutral during the war. The Californians were subject to the Republic of California and US troops, which were formed in parallel by US settlers, and California was finally conquered and annexed by the USA.

prehistory

Juan Alvarado was governor twice (1836-1837 and 1838-1842) and a close friend of Generals Castro and Vallejo

For the first time in 1822 a junta of regional military commanders and landowners had formed in the Californian capital Monterey , which had proclaimed the independence of California from Spain and the annexation to Mexico , which had become independent in 1821 . However, conflicts between the Mexican central government and the Hispanic population of California had developed shortly after the fall of the First Empire (1823). Against the will of the Californians, the mission stations that refused to take the oath to the republic were secularized, the remaining Spaniards were expelled and southern Mexican settlers were sent to the sparsely populated northern regions of California. In contrast, the Californians under Juan Bautista Alvarado rose up in an uprising in 1836, which eventually earned them autonomy and a governor from their own ranks. Against the influence of the central government, the Californians sought rapprochement with the United States and the promotion of American companies in the country, but became suspicious and even hostile in view of the Texan example of the influx of American settlers and prospectors. From 1841, France, Great Britain and the USA began to rival and intervene or prevent each other from intervening for the dominant influence in California (also in parallel in the Kingdom of Hawaii ). Mexico responded by trying to tie California more closely to the central government by appointing a new governor in 1842.

When, with the election of James Polk as US president from 1845 onwards, war between the USA and Mexico became apparent over Texas, the Californians drove their governor, who was too loyal to the Mexican central government, out. The new governor was Pío de Jesús Pico (who had already been governor for a short time in 1832), the new commander-in-chief José Castro (who had been commander-in-chief in 1836/37). Both tried to navigate between the United States and Mexico and to use the war for California's independence.

California's Options 1846

However, Pico and Castro had different ideas about which path California should go from now on. While Pico moved the capital to Los Angeles to the south and called an Asamblea Departamental there at the beginning of March 1846 , Castro called a Junta Departamental at the end of March 1846 in the previous capital, Monterey , to prepare military measures against an impending US invasion in the north . Both asked the Mexican central government for recognition. But President Herrera , who had confirmed Pico as governor, had since been overthrown by General Paredes . While Castro Paredes asked for troop reinforcements, Pico feared that Mexican troops would threaten the independence of California and cause high maintenance costs. The junta in Monterey spoke out in May 1846 for the imminent independence of California and began to discuss whether California should then be under the protectorate of a major European power or join the United States.

  • Governor Pio Pico favored the protection of Great Britain.

  • Military chief José Castro favored a protectorate of France.

  • General Mariano Vallejo campaigned for a connection to the USA.

  • Like Pío de Jesús Pico , who was not a member of the assembly in Monterey, the majority of the delegates in Monterey initially hoped for protection from the British fleet. Great Britain initially considered being able to simply buy Mexico off California as compensation for Mexican-Californian debts (£ 15 million). Great Britain already bordered directly on California via the Oregon area and maintained a stronger fleet than the USA off the North American Atlantic coast, but showed no tendency to be drawn into a conflict with the USA because of California. Instead, Great Britain and the United States agreed the Oregon Compromise in June 1846 , which divided the Oregon territory between the two states and Great Britain withdrew from the California border.
  • José Antonio Castro had repeatedly expressed sympathy for a French protectorate over California. Like Mexico and California, France was Catholic and part of the "Latin race". It had already waged war against Mexico once (1838) and from 1842 was discussed as a possible protective power for Johann Sutter's Californian New Helvetia . Numerous French and Franco-Canadians had already settled in California. But France was also more interested in good relations with the USA than in a commitment in California.
  • Influenced by the US Consul Thomas Larkin, the Californian General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (former Commander General 1841–1842) passionately spoke out in front of the delegates for a connection to the USA . Larkin initially thought of a joint independence of the Californians and the US settlers, a connection to the USA should take place at a later date (1847 or 1848). The US settlers did not want to wait that long, however , and even Vallejo and Larkin were surprised by their so-called Bear Flag Revolt .

While the Californians were still debating which state to give preference, the Americans created a fait accompli and proclaimed their own Republic of California .

defeat

Outline map of the war with operations in California (in light color)

At the same time as the beginning of the war, from April 1846 Castro's few troops were fighting with the invading US settlers under John Frémont , and in May the Americans advanced on Sacramento . However, when Frémont's settlers occupied Sonoma , captured Vallejo, and proclaimed a Republic of California in June 1846 , the junta in Monterey authorized Castro to declare martial law and a state of siege. In contrast, Pico convened a rival junta in Santa Barbara in mid-June to decide California's independence or the annexation of California to another state. The non-intervention of the French and British as well as the internal division of the Californians and their conflict with the Mexican central government made the victory of the Americans possible.

Meanwhile, Castro advanced towards Frémont, but was defeated. Together with regular US troops, Frémont conquered Monterey in July 1846, Castro withdrew to the south. Pico and Castro's successor was José María Flores . In August, US troops also occupied Los Angeles, although Californian and Mexican troops were able to briefly recapture it. In December 1846 the US troops conquered San Diego, and in January 1847 the last Californian-Mexican troops surrendered in Los Angeles (Cahuenga Treaty of Surrender). The French consul in California had tried in vain for his home country to intervene, but France was already preoccupied with the social unrest that led to the outbreak of the February Revolution in 1848 .

With the peace treaty of 1848 California was finally annexed by the USA. Castro remained in Mexico and in 1853 General Commander of the Mexican remained Baja California (Baja California). Vallejo, however, stayed in Upper California and became a member of the California Senate in 1850 . Pico and Alvarado also stayed in California, Pico was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 1853.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Harlow, pp. 4 and 53
  2. ↑ Harlow, pp. 4 , 35, and 55
  3. ^ Harlow, 122

literature

  • Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo: Being a brief sketch of Don Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, with his address before the Junta at Monterey in the year of 1846 . San Francisco 1927
  • Neal Harlow: California Conquered - The Annexation of a Mexican Province 1846-1850 . University of California Press, Berkeley 1989
  • Letter From the Secretary of the Treasury: Reports upon the mineral resources of the states and territories west of the Rocky Mountains , pp . 312-318 . Washington 1867
  • William Deverell, Greg Hise: A Companion to Los Angeles , 34 . Chichester 2010

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