The Transition Period Of California

Excerpt from The Transition Period of California: From a Province of Mexico in 1846 to a State of the American Union in 1850 The writer's home was in Monterey in 1849. It was then the capital of the territory and the head quarters oi the United States army. The governor and his staff resided there, and there were the offices of the civil government. The officers and their employees constituted the larger part of the English-speaking portion of the population, and among them the very important questions concerning a Civil government to take the place of military rule, which was now at an end, were constantly discussed. Although my vocation as a clergyman left me little time to look into these things, I became very much interested in them, and in all that pertained to the history of this new country to which I had come. I took every Opportunity to gather information from those who had been long residents here, and carefully preserved such historical papers and documents as fell into my hands. All the events that led up to the calling of the convention which formed the state constitution in September, 1849, were familiar to me, and being connected with that body as chaplain, all its proceedings were familiar also. I never had time, however, in a busy life that followed, to make any use of the historical materials that had accumulated by the way, till within a few years past. Then, in looking over events in the past perspective, it seemed clear to me that the transition of California from its connection with Mexico to become one of the United States of America, especially at the time at which this took place, and under the unprecedented circumstances which surrounded it, and in view of the amazing consequences that followed, made it an event that ought to be considered by itself. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER II. Thomas O. Larkin?Gives Information to Washington ?Is Appointed United States Consul ?His Description of the Country ?Fremont's Exploring Expedition, 1844?Mormons Look toward California?The MacNamara Colonization Scheme?Wide Interest in California at Home and Abroad. At the same time, every means was used to keep up an intimate acquaintance with California affairs, especially with its political condition, and the disposition of its more influential citizens toward other nations in case of a change of flag. This was done more particularly through Thomas 0. Larkin, who came to California from Boston in 1832, and lived in Monterey, conducting there an extensive business. Mr. Larkin was an unusually alert and observing man, and took a particular interest in keeping himself thoroughly acquainted with the political situation. He communicated information concerning these matters to the authorities at Washington. In 1844 Mr. Larkin was appointed United States consul for California. He took particular pains to get accurate information concerning the political preferences of the leading Cali- fornians and communicated it to his government. Therefore, when, later, the prospect of a change seemed to be near, this information proved to be of very great value. He was intrusted with the very delicate business of presenting to influential men of the country the advantages that California would derive from becoming a territory of the United States.1 It is interesting now, after all the great changes that have taken place, to review his representation of California as he then made it to the government at Washington. First as to its boundary. He says that the territory extends eastward to the Rocky Mountains, although but a narrow strip is inhabited alo...

Situated at the disciplinary boundary between prehistory and history, this book presents a new synthesis of Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age Greece, from the rise and fall of Mycenaean civilization to the emergence of city-states in the Archaic period. These centuries saw the growth and decline of varied political systems and the development of networks across local, regional, and Mediterranean scales. As a groundbreaking study of landscape, interaction, and sociopolitical change, Societies in Transition in Early Greece systematically bridges the divide between the Mycenaean period and the Archaic Greek world to shed new light on an often-overlooked period of world history. “This book reconfigures our understanding of early Greece on a regional level, beyond Mycenaean 'palaces' and across temporal boundaries. Alex Knodell's sophisticated arguments enable a fresh reading of the emergence of early Greek polities, revealing the microregions that put to the test overarching 'Mediterranean' models. His detailed study makes a convincing return to a comparative framework, integrating a 'small world' network and its trajectory with the larger picture of ancient complex societies.” SARAH MORRIS, Steinmetz Professor of Classical Archaeology and Material Culture, University of California, Los Angeles “A comprehensive, thoughtful treatment of the time period before the crystallization of the ancient Greek city states.” WILLIAM A. PARKINSON, Curator and Professor, The Field Museum and University of Illinois at Chicago “An important and must-read account. The strength of this book lies in its close analysis of the important different regional characteristics and evolutionary trajectories of Greece as it transforms into the Archaic and, later, the Classical world.” DAVID B. SMALL, author Ancient Greece: Social Structure and Evolution.