3: Mexican Californios- Conflict and Culture, 1821–1846

Main Topics

• A New Political Order
• The Rise of the Ranchos
• Social Relations in Mexican California
• California and the World
• Summary

In 1877, a Californio ranchero named José del Carmen Lugo
recalled life during the Mexican era for Thomas Savage, one
of historian Hubert Howe Bancroft’s research assistants.
His memory about the work routine provides important details
about the reality of rancho life in Mexican California—specifics
that contradict the vision of an idyllic, lazy, pastoral existence
that has often been depicted in literature and film. The romance
of the rancho has become a staple for California promoters and
writers. Seldom do people consider the mundane and harsh
realities that surrounded rancho life in the Mexican era.
The Californian way of life in my early years was as follows:
at eight o’clock in the evening the entire family was occupied
in its prayers. In commending themselves to God, they
recited the rosary, and other special prayers which each one

addressed to the saint of his or her name or devotion. Husband
and wife slept in the same room, and nearly always in
the same bed. The children—if there were any, and the
dwelling had conveniences and separate apartments—slept,
the men in the galleries outside in the open-air, and women
in an enclosed quarter of which the parents kept the key, if
there was the key, a thing that was not very common.
At three o’clock in the morning the entire family
was summoned to their prayers. After this, the women
betook themselves to the kitchen and other domestic
tasks, such as sweeping, cleaning, dusting, and so on.
The men went to their labor in the field—some to the
cattle, others to look after the horses. The milking of the
cattle was done by the men or the Indian servants.
Ordinarily some women had charge of the milking, to
see that the milk was cleaned and strained. The women
and the Indian servants under them made the small,
hard, flat cheeses, the cheese proper, butter, curds, and a
mixture made to use with beans.

The women’s labors last until seven or eight in the
morning. After that they were busy cooking, sewing, or
washing. The men passed the day in labor in the fields
according to the location—some preparing the ground for
sowing the seed, bringing in wood, sowing the seed, reaping,
and so on. Some planted cotton, some hemp, some planted
both. This was done by those who had facilities for it; they
planted and harvested in the things they needed most for
the benefit of their families, such as rice, corn, beans, barley,
and other grains, squash, watermelons, and cantaloupes.
The lands in the immediate vicinity of Los Angeles
were set to fruit trees such as grapes, pears, apples, pomegranates,
here and there an olive, cactus fruit, peaches, and
other minor fruits. The owners of fields who could not
obtain seeds of oranges, lemons, or producing fruits were
found at the missions because the Padres selfishly refused
to allow them to grow elsewhere than at their missions.

In José del Carmen Lugo’s memory, the Mexican era of California’s history was one in which industry and labor were transforming the land. Prosperity seemed to be less an automatic result of climate than the result of family and individual efforts. Indeed, this was a major change from the Spanish era. The mission no longer had a monopoly on the land and labor. Now, private rancheros rather than mission friars shaped the economic and the political destiny of California. To be sure, there was much continuity in everyday life, but the older order was passing away and in its place a Mexican Californio way of life emerged.

Questions to Consider

• What were the main characteristics of Mexican political life in Alta California?
• How did the creation of the ranchos change the social and economic development of the province?
• How did secularization of the missions affect the California natives?
• To what degree did these changes lead to greater foreign influence?
• What kind of impact did these foreigners have on the Mexican and Indian peoples?