Rosalia Vallejo. Prior to the Bear Flag Revolt, which occurred in 1846, Californio Women lived at peace with the white population. In many cases, these women disregarded the concept of race as an essential definer of their lifestyle, as has been exemplifi

Teresa De la Guerra serves as another example of a Californio woman who married a business Englishman by the name of Edward Petty Hartnell. However, this marriage was arranged by her father and Hartnell with the purpose of binding together two business enterprises. Once again the Californio elite class had joined forces with the Anglos to expand their wealth. De la Guerra’s family had anticipated an increase in power through the marriage of the eldest daughter with and Englishman; however, the businessman soon became a burden to the family. The family had arranged the marriage, and the arrangement had not turned out as expected.

These Californio Women’s attitudes towards the white men population during the period prior to the Bear Flag Revolt demonstrate that race did not necessarily play a prominent role in the determination of these men’s characters. White men were considered both respectable and unscrupulous depending on their actions, not race. Those who proved to be worthy of admiration effectively gained the admiration of these women, and on the contraire those who appeared immoral received such a treatment. The later Bear Flag Revolt served these women as a major event through which their conception of white men was severely altered, usually in a negative manner.

It was in 1846 that the Bear Flag Revolt took place, and with it came fear, violence, and deception. Prior to the incident, American settlers had developed a mindset in which they regarded Californios as inferior to the Anglo race. Richard Henry Dana exemplifies this view of American settlers who encouraged Americans to take California from the Mexican Government. He perceived the Californio population as lazy, ignorant, and stupid. These ideas encouraged, others to develop a similar understanding of the race. Americans also regarded the Californios as evil and blood thirsty Catholics whose laziness did not please the wishes of God. According to these settlers, California should become American, because no one else was politically capable of running the land. These ideas encouraged Captain John C. Fremont along with his fellow settlers to take over California calling themselves, “The Bear Flag Party.” The Revolt began the morning of June, 14 of 1846 in Sonoma outside the Vallejo home. They violently captured General Mariano Vallejo’s mansion in Sonoma. They captured Vallejo and three other men including Rosalía Vallejo’s husband Jacob Leese, and decided to take them back to Sutter’s Fort. Afterwards they created an actual flag, which contained a bear and star. They raised it up in the Sonoma Plaza as a sign of their newly acquired victory.  The republic lasted only twenty-six days. On , , Fremont arrived with sixty soldiers and took command in the name of the United States. The Bear Flag was replaced by the American flag. Suddenly Mexico’s neglectful rule of California led to an immense change in the previously tranquil days before the intrusion of Anglo- Americans.

After Fremont’s arrival and conquest of California, the perspective that Californio Women had of white males was severely tainted. Rosalía Vallejo, who had previously admired and even married to a white man, now perceived these men as cruel, and full of greed. Vallejo witnessed as her husband, father, and brother were captured by these inhumane Anglos. She had instantly gone from being an elite Californio Woman to become a prisoner for the Bear Flag Party. Vallejo holds an opinion filled with hatred against Fremont who had claimed his presence would help protect everyone from extortion and oppression. Rosalía goes as far as calling him a coward. Rosalía was forced by Fremont to write a letter asking that those attempting to rescue her retract themselves; after he had threatened to burn down the Vallejo home with them inside.

 Vallejo’s suffering exemplifies the circumstances that many other Californio women of the time underwent. During her interview, Cerruti attempted to smooth out the prejudices that Vallejo held towards Americans, but his efforts were in vain. Vallejo had seen too much, she had lived through too much to forget. Although Vallejo’s daughters have received an American education to the fullest of their abilities, Vallejo in no way has wanted to assimilate to this culture which was brutally enforced upon her people, “I have not forgotten the insults heaped upon me and not being desirous of coming in contact with them. I have abstained from learning their language.” The harm brought upon this woman and her family during the time of the American acquisition has followed her endlessly.

Dorotea Valdez, held similar views to Vallejo’s regarding these newly appeared white men. Dorotea’s testimony against the white men is once again reflected in her opinion regarding Fremont, as she states, “Bear Flaggers were worse than the despised troops of Governor Manuel Michelterona.”  She regards Fremont’s actions as more like those taken by thieves rather than people who sought to better the territory they were attempting to invade. Once again Valdez responds to Fremont’s promise to make things better, by stating that this promise was in vain. All he and his troops did was bring chaos upon the Californio lifestyle as she recalls, “His men stole horses, saddles, aguardiente, and anything they could lay their hands on.”  Fremont’s men abused the power they had obtained through their hostile attitudes towards the Californio people. Throughout her interview, Dorotea Valdez compares Fremont’s men to the disliked troops of Governor Michelterona; however, although Michelterona’s troops were disliked, in comparison to Fremont’s men Michelterona had gentlemen on his side.

Another Californio lady who showed hatred towards the Americans was a fine woman by the name of Teresa De la Guerra. Prior to the American invasion, the De la Guerras held the title of an elite family in California. However, their financial situation was greatly affected by the intrusion of the American people into Californian soil. Soon her family’s business had deteriorated due to the unfair competition that Americans were bringing forth. In various attempts to save the family business, her family was eventually dispersed throughout the state. As her testimony reads, “Teresa de la Guerra’s testimonio reveals the struggles of her difficult life and testifies the tensions Californio families experienced as they tried to maintain their position in the years following the American invasion and takeover.”  The De la Guerra’s were one of the many families who lost much if not all of what they had earned. Many of the elite families throughout California had suddenly been pushed down on the hierarchical ladder; they had suddenly become the equivalent of any ordinary family. Aside from that, De la Guerra had encountered a Frenchman named Eugene Duflot de Mofras, who visited and stayed at her house for a couple of weeks. This man did not see the Californios as civilized as the people back in France. As Teresa continued to learn more about this Frenchman, she did not think much about him at all; she stated this about him “He was an ungracious and boorish interloper.” Eventhough, she may have been formally speaking about de Mofras, her comments were meant to target all Americans. Teresa held a strong anger against the outsiders who had come to her land with the philosophy that regarded the Californian people as inferior.

In addition to all these women who behaved in a hostile manner against Americans, Apolinaria Lorenzana also disliked the outsiders. After the  revolt was over with, many of the Californios lost their land and properties under the Land Act of 1851 which was created by the U.S. Land Commission in 1852. The Californios had to show up to court and provide the judge with proof of documents in which the land appeared under their names. These trials were very expensive, and they forced most of the Californios to borrow money from the bank. Most of the Californios did not have enough money to fight their case in court, so they ended up losing their properties and land to the American Squatters. By 1880 the majority of Californios had lost their land. Apolinaria was one of those Californios who was affected by this Land Act of 1851, as she lost her land through a series of legal maneuvers. The loosing of her land made her very upset, and affected her perspective regarding Americans. One day an Anglo by the name of Senor Magruder came and asked her if he could borrow or purchase her ranch, so he could leave his horses there. She refused to sell him the ranch but later somehow ended up loosing her property, without knowing how it had happened. She sadly states, “ So, after working for so many years and after owning property, which I did not sell or give up by any other means, I find myself living in dire poverty.” This passage signifies that she was slowly facing poverty and that truly made her real depressed. Apolinaria was facing the same problem that a number of Californios were dealing with from the 1850s through the early 1880s. Apolinaria was not happy with the outcome of the American takeover. She was very angry about the fact that she had lost her land to the foreigners and could not do anything about it. She strongly continued to argue the fact that she had never sold the ranch to the outsiders to the judge, but there was nothing she could do about it.

After the incident of the Bear Flag Revolt, a number of Californio ladies began to detest Anglo Americans, but some ladies referred towards the Americans in a positive manner for what they had done in California. Maria Antonia Rodriguez was one of the few ladies, who saw the Bear Flag Revolt in a good way. When asked to compare the actions taken by Michelterona’s soldiers to those taken by the Bear Flag Party, she responded by referring to Michelterona’ soldiers as cholos, meanwhile referring to the Americans as soldiers who had worked to earn their titles.  Rodriguez also admits to her excitement after hearing that Monterey, her home town would become a town, where railroads would be constructed. She was also happy to hear that the Americans were going to reconstruct Monterey. Even though, the Americans had stolen most of her terrain, she did not have a feeling of resentment against these people; for indeed she states, “It is the law of nature that the poor should steal from the rich. We Californians in 1846 owned every inch of soil in this country, and our conquerors took away from us the greater part.” In this quote Maria describes the poor as the Americans and the rich as the Californios, and it is the law of nature that the Americans should rob from the Californios.  Maria’s attitudes towards the Anglos were less unfriendly, than the ones of Rosalía Vallejo and Dorotea Valdez. Rodriguez viewed the entrance of these Anglo-Americans as an opportunity for California to industrialize its cities. Industrialization often times lead to improvement, an improvement which Rodriguez perceived would benefit the majority of the Californio population. Maria Antonieta’s quote also highlights the extensive riches found within California and the manner by which the arrival of the Anglo-race made better use of these resources. Prior to the involvement of the American settlers, Californios along with the Mexican Government had not made sufficient use of the resources the state had to offer. Aside from industrializing California, the newly-arrived settlers, being fully aware of the abilities that this state offered through its resources, began utilizing these resources to aide the state’s economic status.

Although Dorotea Valdez really disliked the Anglo Americans, she actually saw the taking over of California as a positive thing. She explains that Californio leaders would have arguments about who would become the next leader of Alta California, and that brought problems between each other. She states “…I will conclude by saying that if the Americans had not taken the country in 1846, by 1847 every Californio would have been killed in a civil war due to the bitter hatred that existed.” She is trying to say that in one way the conquest of Americans actually benefited the people of California. If the Anglos wouldn’t have come, there would have been the possibility of a corrupt Mexican government system within California. Valdez does not excuse the actions taken by the members of the Bear Flag Party, she does however, understand that California at the time was undergoing troubles economically, and government-wise and as a result the initial intrusion by this party and the eventual intrusion by the United States gave the state a higher level of stability.

        Prior to the Bear Flag Revolt the relationship between Californian women and Anglo-Americans had been like any other. Some of the ladies throughout California even married Anglo Saxon men, but after the Anglo take-over occurred; these marriages no longer meant that those same ladies justified the actions taken by those who formed a part of their husbands’ race. Most of the women talked about in this essay did not approve of the American take over of California, for a variety of reasons. However, some ladies did see the take over as good thing for California. What would have happened if the Americans wouldn’t of taken California from Californios? How would this land be today? At the end of the day, the majority of Americans believed that conquering California was part of their Manifest Destiny, unfortunately there was nothing the Ladies of California could do about it.

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