The missions of California, like the missions on all
Spanish colonial frontiers, were intended to be temporary institutions.
When the work of Christianization and acculturation was finished,
the missionaries were to be replaced by secular clergy and the mission
lands distributed among the former neophytes. This process was known
as secularization.
Following the establishment of Mexican independence
in 1821, demands for the secularization of the missions intensified.
The constitution of the Republic of Mexico endorsed the equality
of all Mexicans regardless of race. Mexican liberals concluded that
the missions--which denied basic liberties to the Indians--were unconstitutional.
The Indians themselves were becoming increasingly restive
under mission rule. A coordinated revolt broke out in 1824 among
Chumash neophytes at three of the missions along the Santa Barbara
Channel. Meanwhile, Native-born Californios saw the missions as an
obstacle to the economic development of the province; they believed
that the missions' control of prime agricultural lands and the indigenous
labor force retarded the growth of private ranches and farms.
In 1834 Governor José Figueroa issued a proclamation
ordering the secularization of the California missions.
