History Of California example essay topic

In Douglas Monroy's essay "The Creation and Re-creation of California Society", the thesis is that studying history of California is not just about changes in state's political concerns but is more about relation with human existence. First, he talks about land and liberty and how Californians settled at the landscape. Second, Douglas explains about the life in present day California. Last, he talks about Californios and Indios. Douglas Monroy's purpose in writing this essay is to inform readers of how California and the inhabitants were in the 1800's by showing detailed life style.

The author provides a couple of interesting evidences about land and liberty in California. The first thing that I found interesting is a story about Governor Echeandia and his administration. He arrived in California and formed study groups back in 1825. This actually got some young men involved and excited about the ideas of liberty and equality. An ironic fact is that male children born to original settlers and presidia l soldiers maintained control over the concerns in California, which in today's society is hard to believe. The life on the Ranchos was perhaps the most interesting out of all, because of how one family took care of Sonoma area, Mariano Vallejo, which husbanded twenty-five thousand cows, twenty-four thousand sheep and two thousand horses.

It is unbelievable to a present day Californian like me. There was one sentence that actually surprised me. I thought that boys were more important in the society back than however, I found out that California men guarded nothing more closely than their daughter's honor, which by extension, meant their family's honor. This left me a little curious.

Why were daughters so special back than? How does their honor represent their family's honor? What was surprising about this was that boys were to sleep outside in the porches and daughters got to sleep in locked rooms. "Californios and Indios" talk about how Californio society was based on the work of others. The author states that the Indios did most of the work such as slaughtering of cows, building of palatial homes and digging of ditches. Not only that they had to wash, cook, sweep, etc for the dona.

It is just like a labor that immigrants are doing these days. The fact that Californios had someone else do the work is quite interesting. It was also interesting to find out that labor on the rancho's was hard but not constantly demanding. Laborers received food, clothing, or few hides for their labors. This essay by Douglas Monroy is informative because it gets in to details and had many examples. He does support his thesis pretty well by bringing up evidences that are relevant.

They are from quotes of different people or just straight facts. The essay is well organized into three different sections depending on the topic: land and liberty, life on the rancho's, and Californios and Indios. The author gives many specific ironic examples which make the essay interesting. However, since this essay was about Californio society, it had many Spanish words, which made it difficult to comprehend. The essay gave me ideas of the lifestyle, culture, and how changes were made gradually in California in 1800's, which I did not get to learn in class. What I learned in class discussion and through reading is that United States wanted California because of rapid growing population, pacific trade with Asians, and because they believed that God had told them that they are the ones who will populate the continent.

Mexico didn't want to negotiate with United States for California land so the war started. I wanted to learn more about how California was when it was Mexico's land and the essay definitely helped me increase my knowledge in the California history of the past. I think Zinn would have liked the essay. Douglas and Zinn have similar perspective on history.

They are both interested in group of people than individual and their point of view is on people without power. Douglas shows how California had made progress throughout time, which would earn Zinn's favor because he always questions idea of progress.