Native+Americans+and+the+Mission+System

In 1540, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado began an expedition to explore the northern regions of the New Spanish Empire [1]. Searching for gold and silver, he found none of the bounty so abundant in Central and South America. For several years, the Spanish simply ignored the northern continent until other countries began to impose upon their empire. The exploration of other countries into the “New World” began after the defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English in the sixteenth century [2]. Each country’s presence in the new world resulted in a specific attitude toward the Native Americans living on the continent: the English simply wanted the Native’s lands, the French saw Indians as trading partners, and the devout Catholic Spaniards saw souls that needed saving [3]. The arrival of other nations increased pressure on the Spanish to further establish their territory. Even the Russians were a threat to the Spanish, as they had established Fort Ross just 80 miles north of San Francisco by 1812 [4]. The mission system was developed out of a need to further political, religious, and economic goals of the Spanish Empire[5]. The mission system was run by two separate orders of monks: the Jesuits and later the Franciscans. In 1572, the Jesuits founded Colegio Maximo in Mexico City and from there two bands of missions grew to the north, one on each side of the Sierra Madre mountain range [6]. The Jesuits also attempted to establish many missions in Spanish Florida and into Georgia, in largely unsuccessful attempts [7]. Nearly two hundred years later, the mission system was overturned to the Franciscans, when the Jesuit order was “expelled from all the Spanish dominions by King Charles III” [6]. Under Franciscan rule, the mission system expanded even farther into what would become the United States, stretching into Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, and other southwestern states. In California, Father Junipero Serra led mission establishment beginning in 1769 [8]. Over a period of 54 years, 21 missions would be established along the Camino Real in California [9] with the last mission being established near present-day San Francisco in 1823 [10]. Father Serra was said to be constantly working to improve the Natives’ living conditions even proposing what might be considered a “bill of rights” for Indians in Mexico in 1773 [11]. In Texas, a total of 26 missions would be built [5]. At one point in Florida and Georgia, 35 missions would be functioning with a total population of 26,000 converted natives [12].
 * Founding of the Missions**

Prior to the founding of missions, different tribes of Indians lived in different lifestyles, and each tribe reacted to the mission system in different ways. Californian Indians were typically nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes [13], who were very content and therefore it was hard for them to “see the wisdom of the conversion to Christianity and acceptance of a radically different lifestyle” [4]. Indians in Texas were split into two main groups: the “extremely hostile” Comanche and Apache tribes [1] and the other native groups who were driven to the safety of the missions by the Comanches and Apaches [14]. In Florida and Georgia, many tribes reacted well to the establishment of missions and the power given to the tribal chiefs through the mission system as the friars were politically subordinate to the Indian leaders [7]. The mission typically included a chapel, housing, shops, storage buildings, protective walls, and acres of land for agriculture [15]. A typical day at the mission started at five with early chapel, then breakfast, four hours of labor, lunch, four more hours of labor, dinner, religious instruction and then bed [1]. The missions were to be temporary institutions, existing under Franciscan rule for ten years [4], at which time the Indians would gain ownership of the mission and all be Christian Spanish citizens living in a self-sustaining matter [15]. However, this never happened as the padres did not feel that the missions were ever ready to be run by Indians [4].
 * Reaction of Indians and Mission Life**

Many factors led to the decline of the mission system. The largest issue facing missions was the depopulation of Native Americans [7]. In Georgia, for instance, the mission population “plummet[ed] well over 90 percent” [7]. Disease, overwork and exhaustion often led to this decline in population [7]. Indians also often escaped from the missions. In California, of the 81,000 Indians that had been baptized by 1831, over 3,500 had escaped [16]. Funding was also another issue. When Mexico gained its independence from Spain in the early 1800’s, the state could not afford to support missions any more. Eventually the secularization act was passed on April 19, 1834 [17]. This withdrew Franciscan rule from the missions and was intended to subdivide the mission land among the Native Americans [16]. In Mexico this was successful to a degree, but in the northern regions of Texas and California, however, many factors prevented this redistribution [18]. Mission lands were often sold to Spanish colonists instead of being given to Native Americans [16]. Indians who had received land often gave over the rights to speculators who paid them almost nothing [19]. Some Indians could simply not pay for the lands and fell into serfdom [20]. Many Indians simply withdrew from the missions finally being free to return to their tribes [16]. In fact, in California, the mission Indian population declined from over 30,000 to under 5,000 from 1834 to 1843 [16].
 * Decline of the Mission System and Secularization**

A large question that must be considered is how “successful” the mission system was. In the eyes of the Spaniards, they had failed to create “stable, self-sustaining Spanish populations of converted Native Americans” [18]. However, the missions had acted as a buffer zone for Central America for several hundred years, protecting the heart of the Spanish empire from other encroaching European groups [1]. In regards to the treatment of Native Americans, there are generally two schools of thought: those who regard the mission system as no better than slavery, and those who say that the Spanish certainly treated Indians far better than their American successors [4].
 * Evaluation of the Mission System**

1. ""The Missions and Mission System in Texas"" //Austin Community College - Start Here. Get There.// Web. 12 Apr. 2011. [] 2. “The Mission Period: California Indian History” //Mojave Desert.// Web. 12 Apr. 2011. [] 3. “16th Century Spanish Religious Views of American Indians” //Street Prophets.// 29 Oct. 2010. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. [] 4. "Califonia Missions." //U.S. National Park Service - Experience Your America//. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. [] 5. "SPANISH MISSIONS | The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)." //Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) | A Digital Gateway to Texas History//. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. [] 6. "Spanish Missions." //Discover Southeast Arizona, Cochise County//. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. [] 7. "Spanish Missions." //New Georgia Encyclopedia//. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. [] 8. "Spanish Mission System and California Wine | Calwineries." //Calwineries | California Wineries and Wine Tours//. Web. 13 Apr. 2011. [] 9. “California Missions.”//Betsy Malloy, About.com Guide//. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. [|http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/missioncalifornia/a/mission history.htm] 10. "Research Starters: Spanish Missions of California." //Teaching Resources, Children's Book Recommendations, and Student Activities | Scholastic.com//. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. [] 11. “Junipero Serra and the California Missions” //Brian Grisin//. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. [] 12. “A Spanish Mission’s Brutal Past” //Tallahassee Magazine.// Web. 12 Apr. 2011. [] 13. “Mission Santa Clara Asis” //Athanasius Schaefer//. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. [] 14. “The Mission San Antonio de Valero: Mission Life” //Texas A&M University.// Web. 12 Apr. 2011 [] 15. "Spanish and French Exploration - Mission System." //CCCOnline Media Server//. Web. 13 Apr. 2011. [] 16. “Indians and the Breakdown of the Spanish Mission System in California” //George Harwood Phillips//. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. [] 17. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. [] 18. “Mission San Juan Capistrano: FAQ – The Spanish Mission System” //Mission San Juan Capistrano//. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. www.missionsjc.com/learning/FAQ_SpanishMissionSystem.pdf 19. "Secularization." //MissionTour Home//. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. [] 20. "NATIVE AMERICANS in the MISSION ECONOMY." //FoundSF//. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. []
 * Webliography**