A TL base upon an Interdependent California as I thought that sounded like a fun idea to play around with.
POD? : Earlier Gold Rush.
POD? : Earlier Gold Rush.
The Country of Gold and Bears
1841 (May-July)
The Republic of California owes its independence for two main reasons. The first was the total lack of political competence by the governors of Alta California or by those in Mexico regarding the situation that occurred in Alta California. The region was affected by numerous disputes between the local Mexicans and the immigrants, most of whom were either English or American. There was even trouble for the Mexican Military who would constantly have problems concerning pay, leaving many to be without pay for months or become disbanded from the army which happened on numerous occasions from 1836 to 1844. This created tensions with the government by that of the native Mexicans as well as the Immigrants needed the Military to look after them from their view of the threat caused by the Native Americans. The Second was the discovery of Gold in the Sierra Nevada region of California by Jake M. Browne in 1836 which would bring in a total of 350,000 immigrants into California by 1845 for the reason of the Gold alone. Although this would seem like a good occurrence for the Mexican Government which a source of Gold being discovered it however created problems mainly with the large influx of people into the region, mostly from the United States. The tensions that arose between Mexico and the United States during the Texan War of Independence and the sudden amount of Americans now travelling into the area forced the Governor of Alta California, Juan Bautista Alvarado, to put forward restrictions on the amount of Americans that were allowed into California as well as to stop allowing and retracting legal permits for immigrant settlers. Alvarado feared that the new stance on immigration would stir trouble with certain members of the settler community such as with Isaac Graham in which he had them arrested by the few remaining loyal members of his military. In total 200 people were arrests, almost entirely made up of the English speaking immigrants which caused outrage amongst the immigrant community.
People started to rise against the government mainly for it anti-immigration policies and tyrannical moves against the immigrant population. A meeting between the members of the Immigrant community which became to be known as the Committee of Californian Affairs, it was headed by George Marshal. It also included other figures such as Isaac Graham once he was released from prison due to the pressure put on Mexico by that of the United Kingdom and United states. They decided to push for the Mexican government to recognise the rights of the Immigrants coming into the nations and allow them to settle it was once the government of Mexico continued to refuse the demands they took up arms. May 2nd 1841 Alta California descended into rebellion once again, with much of the eastern half of California under the rebels control from the start due to the high number English speaking immigrants who heavily opposed the policies put forward by Alvarado. They had already been resisting being evicted by the Government before the rebellion had start. Alvarado fled the settlement of Monterey to the rebels on the 6th of May as they approached the town. He headed for Los Angles were he raised a makeshift militia mostly made up of Convicts to ride against the Rebels as much of the Military in Alta California was either disbanded or not wanting to partake in any more activity until they got paid. By late May the entire Bay area of Alta California was under the rebels control and with the ineffectiveness of Alvarado’s counter attack on the rebels leading him to be captured created a turning point in for Californian Independence. The rebels captured many of the disused military barracks around the bay area such as the Sonoma Barracks where they captured General Vallejo on June 2nd 1841. The Californian Affairs Community set up their headquarters in Monterey and attempted to gain support from the other nations and got responses both from the United Kingdom and the United States who both mentioned they would support Californian Independence but would not fully declare on Mexico on their behalf. Alvarado was replaced by Pio Pico who remained in Los Angles for the remainder of Rebellion and ultimately did very little to stop it.
Pico was personally willing for their grant of independence but seriously doubtful that the Mexican Government would allow them to have it. Pico wanted peace in the region. He was a businessman he knew that the situation was bad for business and he wasn’t too worried whether he would be conducting it in Mexico or California but he through his lot in with the Rebel regardless. His personal memoirs would give some clue into why he chose this, stating that he could see the determination in the actions of the rebels, akin to the American’s in their war of Independence leading to his famous quote of “Who am I to stop them”. The Mexican government was in dire trouble at the time. Issue with America and Texas as well as the rebellion in the California region. There were worries within the government in Mexico City too; rumours of a suspected coup began to drift around causing more panic within the government. Along with further rebellions across Alta California as news reached the settlers of the Capture of Monterey and Alvarado. This finally led to the Mexican Government accepting Independence of California on July 21st 1841 as they did not have the manpower nor the resources to retake what they had lost.
California independence was relatively strange as it came about relatively bloodless. It could be seen to have been helped by the Mexican army in the region refusing to fight without pay as many of them had been without for a considerably amount of time. This allowed for the Rebels to gain a foot hold in the region and spread the message of independence across the territory. It was also helped by the unwillingness of the Mexicans to pour troops into the regions, fearing that if they pulled troops away into California, it would leave Mexico undefended to the United States.
The Star of California Rose above settlements across Alta California, which now stretched from the pacific to the United States. The Californian Committee placed the named the first capital of California at Monterey and nominated George Marshal as their Governor-General, although they did have plans for an election to take place. Marshal invited both Vallejo and Pico to join him in the newly formed government both as he wanted people with certain experience as well as he felt that he wanted the Bring the Spanish speaking Mexicans and English speaking settlers closer together in the newly formed nation. And as predicted a few weeks after Mexico announced it had declared peace with California both the United Kingdom and United states, along with Prussia, France and Russia recognised the nation. Although peace over North America was not over, other issues now started to boil in the corners of the land.