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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello, Welcome to this Day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: where we dust off a little piece of history every day.

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Speaker 1: Today is June nineteen. The day was June eighty six.

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Speaker 1: Tensions had been rising between Mexicans and Americans in California,

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Speaker 1: and Americans had been organizing to prepare for rebellion against

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Speaker 1: the Mexican government. So on this day, a group of

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Speaker 1: more than thirty Americans invaded Sonoma, a Mexican outpost north

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Speaker 1: of San Francisco. After capturing Sonoma, the rebels declared California

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Speaker 1: an independent republic and raised the Bear flag, a flag

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Speaker 1: with a white background the words California Republic at the

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Speaker 1: bottom a red star in a drawing of a grizzly bear.

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Speaker 1: The California Republic only lasted for about three weeks. In

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Speaker 1: eighteen forty six, California, then known as Alta California, was

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Speaker 1: part of Mexico. Alta California was a territory that included

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Speaker 1: the present day states of California, Nevada, Utah, and parts

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Speaker 1: of Arizona, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Colorado. For years, Americans

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Speaker 1: and other non Mexican nationals have been moving to Alta, California.

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Speaker 1: The non Mexican immigrants often clashed with Mexican residents and

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Speaker 1: Mexican government officials. Americans and other non Mexicans were distrustful

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Speaker 1: of Mexican authority, and the Mexican leaders were fearful that

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Speaker 1: the Americans would ignore Mexican authority and demand Alta, California

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Speaker 1: be annexed to the United States. Many of the foreigners

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Speaker 1: who moved to Alta, California moved to the Sonoma Napa

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Speaker 1: area or north of Sutter Sport Mere present day Sacramento,

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Speaker 1: but most of them did not get land grants from

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Speaker 1: the Mexican government. In April of eighteen forty six, Commanding

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Speaker 1: General Jose Castro said that any foreigners who were not

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Speaker 1: naturalized as Mexicans who had purchased or acquired land could

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Speaker 1: be expelled from Mexico and the transaction could be deemed

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Speaker 1: null and void. Word went around that this rule would

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Speaker 1: be enforced in that Native Americans have been told to

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Speaker 1: destroy foreigners crops, and there were rumors of war between

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Speaker 1: Mexico and the United States. In fact, on a May thirteenth,

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Speaker 1: eighteen forty six, US Congress voted to approve a declaration

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Speaker 1: of war against Mexico, but this news did not reach

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Speaker 1: out to California until a couple of months later. Pel Pico,

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Speaker 1: the Mexican governor from eighteen forty five to eighteen forty six,

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Speaker 1: viewed Americans as intruders and wanted them sent out of California.

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Speaker 1: General Mario I. Vajejo, who was a fan of Americans

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Speaker 1: and thought that California should be in the hands of

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Speaker 1: the United States, was more sympathetic to the Americans. But

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Speaker 1: in eight US Captain John C. Fremont and a small

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Speaker 1: mapping expedition were in California. Fremont was a Lieutenant of

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Speaker 1: Engineers in the Army Topographical Service, but on this trip

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Speaker 1: he was also encouraging rebellion. It's not clear whether this

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Speaker 1: was an order handed down to him. Regardless, Fremont was

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Speaker 1: headquartered at Sutter's Fort in Sacramento Valley, and from there

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Speaker 1: he convinced a group of immigrants and Californias, or Spanish

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Speaker 1: speaking people native to California, to rebel against Mexican rule

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Speaker 1: in Alta, California. Once Castro issued his proclamation to send

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Speaker 1: foreigners out of Alta, California, Fremont did not agree to

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Speaker 1: send US forces to assist the American immigrants, but he

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Speaker 1: did agree to stay and advise anyone who wanted to

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Speaker 1: put up a fight against Mexican authorities, and he encouraged resistance.

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Speaker 1: In early June of eighty a group of rebels allegedly

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Speaker 1: stole horses that were being sent to Castro. The horses

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Speaker 1: were supposedly going to be used to drive foreigners out

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Speaker 1: of Alta, California, and on June four, a group of

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Speaker 1: more than thirty of the rebels, led by William Id

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Speaker 1: and Ezekiel Merit, reached Sonoma around dawn to take control

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Speaker 1: of the town. Sonoma was not garrisoned, but retired Mexican

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Speaker 1: general Mariana Bajejo lived there, and the rebels proceeded to

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Speaker 1: his home to take him as a prisoner of war.

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Speaker 1: Since Bajejo supported American annexation of California. Negotiations were initially cordial,

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Speaker 1: but the rebels thought Byejo may unite fighting Mexican factions

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Speaker 1: against them. They took Bayejo as prisoner and transported him

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Speaker 1: to setter Sport and what is now Sacramento. Within the

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Speaker 1: next few days, the rebels created the Bear Flag, declaring

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Speaker 1: an independent California Republic. The men who took part in

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Speaker 1: the revolt became known as the Bear Flaggers. The Bear

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Speaker 1: Flag revolt was short lived. On July seven, U. S.

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Speaker 1: Navy forces under Commodore John D. Sloat invaded California and

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Speaker 1: captured Monterday, raising the U. S. Flag over California. The

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Speaker 1: Bear Flagger's mission was basically accomplished. The Bear Flag was

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Speaker 1: taken down at Sonoma two days later. In eighteen forty eight,

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Speaker 1: the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican American War,

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Speaker 1: when Mexico ceded California and recognized the Rio Grande and

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Speaker 1: Hila River as the border between the US and Mexico,

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Speaker 1: and in eighteen fifty California joined the Union. I'm Eve

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Speaker 1: Jeff Coo and hopefully you know a little more about

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Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. Get more notes from

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Speaker 1: history on Twitter, Instagra Graham and Facebook at T D

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Speaker 1: I h C podcast. But if you haven't yet gotten

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Speaker 1: your fill of history, you can listen to a podcast

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Speaker 1: that I host called Unpopular. Unpopular is about people in

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Speaker 1: history who were built and we're sometimes persecuted for it.

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Speaker 1: You can listen anywhere you listen to this day in

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Speaker 1: History class. Thanks again for being here and we'll see

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