"Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo," photographed by I. W. Taber, 1880-85. Larger.
History tells us that one of the first deeds of the American settlers who led the 1846 Bear Flag Revolt was seizing prominent Californios and proclaiming their republic beneath the banner of the Bear Flag.
One of the men detained by the Americans was Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, a prominent land holder and military leader. Vallejo knew that the United States would eventually have California, but as an eyewitness to the Bear Flag Revolt, Vallejo seemed unimpressed.
After the reading of the Commander-in-chief's proclamation, they proceeded with great ceremony to hoist the flag by virtue of which those who had assaulted my home and who had by that time appropriated to themselves two hundred fifty muskets and nine cannon proposed to carry on their campaign.
This flag was nothing more nor less than a strip of cotton stuff with a red edge and upon the white part, almost in the center, were written the words "California Republic." Also on the white part, almost in the center, there was painted a bear with lowered head. The bear was so badly painted, however, that it looked more like a pig than a bear. . . . Of course, both the bear and the star were very badly drawn, but that should not be wondered at, if one takes into consideration the fact that they lacked brushes and suitable colors.
Vallejo was detained for two months at Sutter's Fort. After his release, he worked to ease California's entry into the United States, and he served as a member of California's Constitutional Convention. He published his Historical and Personal Memories Relating to Alta California in 1875.
Immoral Persons
From Recuerdos Historicos y Personales Tocante a la Alta California, 1931.
"The death of General Warren at the battle of bunker hill," painted by John Trumbull, 1786. Larger.
When California became a part of the United States, it was a boon for American proponents of Manifest Destiny but a sad outcome for some of the Californios who lived here.
Though he could admire American ideals, General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo in an 1875 memoir lamented the results when Americans did not live up to their promises.
. . . I say that in my humble opinion the change in government which took place in California on July 7, 1846, has resulted in benefit to the commerce and agriculture of the young state, but in damage to the morale of the people, whose patriarchal customs have broken down little by little through contact with so many immoral persons who came to this my country from every nook and corner of the known world.
The time has not yet come to make a final judgment of the actions of the authority which now governs the country, but the coming generation will perform this task and I have no doubt that it will agree with me when I assert that, in carrying out the treaty of Guadulupe Hidalgo, the North Americans have treated the Californians as a conquered people and not as citizens who voluntarily joined to form part of the great family dwelling beneath the glorious flag which flamed so proudly from Bunker Hill, and braved the attacks of the European monarchs, who, from their tottering thrones, cast covetous eyes toward California and the the other territories which compose the great federations of the sons of liberty.
Mariano Vallejo was elected to California's Constitutional Convention and served in the first state senate.
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