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Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, Technically you're getting two days in history today

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Speaker 1: because we're running two episodes from the History Vault. I

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Speaker 1: hope you enjoy. Hello, Welcome to this day 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: The day was June eighty six. Tensions had been rising

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

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Speaker 1: organizing to prepare for rebellion against the Mexican government. So

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Speaker 1: on this day, a group of more than thirty Americans

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Speaker 1: invaded Sonoma, a Mexican outpost north of San Francisco. After

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Speaker 1: capturing Sonoma, the rebels declared California an independent republic and

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Speaker 1: raised the Bear flag, a flag with a white background

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Speaker 1: the words California Republic at the bottom, a red star

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Speaker 1: in a drawing of a grizzly bear. The California Republic

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Speaker 1: only lasted for about three weeks. In eighteen forty six, California,

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Speaker 1: then known as Alta California, was part of Mexico. Alta

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Speaker 1: California was a territory that included the present day states

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Speaker 1: of California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona, Wyoming, New Mexico,

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Speaker 1: and Colorado. For years, Americans and other non Mexican nationals

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Speaker 1: have been moving to Alta, California. The non Mexican immigrants

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Speaker 1: often clashed with Mexican residents and Mexican government officials. Americans

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Speaker 1: and other non Mexicans were distrustful of Mexican authority, and

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Speaker 1: Mexican leaders were fearful that the Americans would ignore Mexican

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Speaker 1: authority and demand Alta, California be annexed to the United States.

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Speaker 1: Many of the foreigners who moved to Alta, California moved

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Speaker 1: to the Sonoma Napa area or north of setter Sport

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Speaker 1: Mere present day Sacramento, but most of them did not

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Speaker 1: get land grants from the Mexican government. In April of

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Speaker 1: eighteen forty six, Commanding General Jose Castro said that any

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Speaker 1: foreigners who were not naturalized as Mexicans who had purchased

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Speaker 1: or acquired land could be expelled from Mexico and the

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Speaker 1: transaction could be deemed null and void. Word went around

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Speaker 1: that this rule would be enforced in that Native Americans

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Speaker 1: have been told to destroy foreigners crops, and there were

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Speaker 1: rumors of war between Mexico and the United States. In fact,

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Speaker 1: on a May thirteenth, eighteen forty six, US Congress voted

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Speaker 1: to approve a declaration of war against Mexico, but this

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Speaker 1: news did not reach out to California until a couple

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Speaker 1: of months later. Pel Pico, the Mexican governor from eighteen

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Speaker 1: forty five to eighteen forty six, viewed Americans as intruders

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Speaker 1: and wanted them sent out of California. General Marianne Vajejo,

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Speaker 1: who was a fan of Americans and thought that California

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Speaker 1: should be in the hands of the United States, was

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Speaker 1: more sympathetic to the Americans. But in eight US Captain

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Speaker 1: John C. Fremont and a small mapping expedition were in California.

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Speaker 1: Fremont was a Lieutenant of Engineers in the Army Topographical Service,

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Speaker 1: but on this trip he was also encouraging rebellion. It's

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Speaker 1: not clear whether this was an order handed down to him. Regardless,

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Speaker 1: Fremont was headquartered at Sutter's Sport in Sacramento Valley, and

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Speaker 1: from there he convinced a group of immigrants and Californias,

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Speaker 1: or Spanish speaking people native to California, to rebel against

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Speaker 1: Mexican rule in Alto California. Once Castro issued his proclamation

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

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

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Speaker 1: but he did agree to stay and advise anyone who

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Speaker 1: wanted to put up a fire against Mexican authorities, and

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Speaker 1: he encouraged resistance. In early June of eighty six, a

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Speaker 1: group of rebels allegedly stole horses that were being sent

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Speaker 1: to Castro. The horses were supposedly going to be used

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Speaker 1: to drive foreigners out of Alta, California, and on June

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Speaker 1: a group of more than thirty of the rebels, led

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Speaker 1: by William Id and Ezekiel Merit, reached Sonoma around dawn

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Speaker 1: to take control of the town. Sonoma was not garrisoned,

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Speaker 1: but retired Mexican general Mariana bay Jejo lived there, and

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Speaker 1: the rebels proceeded to his home to take him as

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Speaker 1: a prisoner of war. Since Bayejo supported American annexation of California.

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Speaker 1: Negotiations were initially cordial, but the rebels thought Bayejo may

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Speaker 1: unite finding Mexican factions against them. They took Bayejo as

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Speaker 1: prisoner and transported him to Setter's Fort and what is

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Speaker 1: now Sacramento within the next few day, as the rebels

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Speaker 1: created the Bear Flag, declaring an independent California Republic. The

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Speaker 1: men who took part in the revolt became known as

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Speaker 1: the Bear Flaggers. The Bear Flag revolt was short lived.

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Speaker 1: On July seven, U. S. Navy forces under Commodore John D.

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Speaker 1: Sloat invaded California and captured Monterday, raising the U. S.

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Speaker 1: Flag over California. The Bear Flaggers mission was basically accomplished.

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Speaker 1: The Bear Flag was taken down at Sonoma two days later.

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Speaker 1: In eighteen forty eight, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended

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Speaker 1: the Mexican American War when Mexico ceded California and recognized

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Speaker 1: the Rio Grande and Hila River as the border between

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Speaker 1: the US and Mexico, and in eighteen fifty California joined

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Speaker 1: the Union. I'm Eve Jeff Coo and hopefully you know

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Speaker 1: a little more about history today than you did yesterday.

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Speaker 1: Get more notes from history on Twitter, Instagram, UM and

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Speaker 1: Facebook at T D I h C podcast. But if

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Speaker 1: you haven't yet gotten your fill of history, you can

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Speaker 1: listen to a podcast that I host called Unpopular. Unpopular

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Speaker 1: is about people in history who were billed and we're

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Speaker 1: sometimes persecuted for it. You can listen anywhere you listen

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Speaker 1: to This Day in History Class. Thanks again for being

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Speaker 1: here and we'll see you tomorrow. Hey everyone, I'm Eves

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Speaker 1: and welcome to This Day in History Class, a podcast

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Speaker 1: that flips through the book of history and tears out

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Speaker 1: of page every single day. The day was Dune fourteen,

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Speaker 1: eighteen seventy two, Parliament passed the Trade Unions Act in Canada,

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Speaker 1: legalizing unions. Laborers in Canada have been striking for better

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Speaker 1: living and working conditions for decades. By the time that

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Speaker 1: was passed. In the mid nineteenth century, industrial workers labored

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Speaker 1: ten to twelve hours a day, six days a week.

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Speaker 1: Unions were growing and spreading, but they were not legally recognized.

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Speaker 1: Strikes were illegal, and unionists could be charged with crimes,

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Speaker 1: including conspiracy and sedition. Some strikes inside it progress, but

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Speaker 1: many were unsuccessful. Railway workers, printers and shoemakers were some

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Speaker 1: of the people who struck for shorter work days in

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Speaker 1: the eighteen hundreds. Printers formed the Toronto Typographical Union in

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Speaker 1: the eighteen forties. They kept up with politics across North

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Speaker 1: America and in Britain. They were aware of workers movements

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Speaker 1: happening in the United States in the mid eighteen hundreds

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Speaker 1: as they rallied and petitioned for better conditions. In August

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Speaker 1: of eighteen seventy one, news of a strike in Newcastle,

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Speaker 1: England over reduced working hours made its way to Canada.

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Speaker 1: Canadian workers were encouraged by the strike in England and

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Speaker 1: by the immigrant workers who moved from England to Canada

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Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy one. In January of eighteen seventy two,

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Speaker 1: an international effort known as the Nine Hour Movement began

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Speaker 1: in Hamilton, Ontario. Skilled and unskilled workers gathered to form

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Speaker 1: the Nine Hour League, an organization that sought a nine

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Speaker 1: hour work day through collective protests and strikes. The demand

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Speaker 1: for the nine hour day soon spread to groups in Montreal,

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Speaker 1: as well as Toronto and other towns in Ontario. It

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Speaker 1: also emerged in places as far as Halifax, but the

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Speaker 1: movement in these places operated relatively independently from the movements

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Speaker 1: in Ontario and Quebec. The movement gained a lot of

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Speaker 1: support and saw meetings that sometimes involved hundreds of people,

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Speaker 1: but thus not to say there weren't divisions and hostilities

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Speaker 1: within the movement. Racism sexism, prejudices against unskilled workers, and

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Speaker 1: religious hostilities all affected the workers involved, and it was

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Speaker 1: hard to coordinate a movement that was growing so rapidly,

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Speaker 1: But some people did emerge as leaders in the movement,

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Speaker 1: including printer J. S. Williams, Cooper, John Hewitt, engineer James Ryan,

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Speaker 1: and railway mechanic James Black. They helped establish local nine

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Speaker 1: hour chapters, worked to develop coordinated strategies, and helped build

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Speaker 1: connections across Canada. The Toronto Typographical Union passed emotion in

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Speaker 1: favor of a fifty five hour work week, informed a

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Speaker 1: strike committee. It also petitioned Toronto's newspaper owners for nine

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Speaker 1: hour days. Their demands weren't met, and the printers went

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Speaker 1: on strike on March. The strike made headlines and garner

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Speaker 1: support and opposition. In April, around ten thousand people marched

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Speaker 1: in Toronto in support of the nine hour movement. George Brown,

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Speaker 1: owner of the newspaper The Globe and the Master Printers

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Speaker 1: Association that he had organized, went up against the demonstrators,

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Speaker 1: but Prime Minister John A. McDonald introduced legislation to legalized unions.

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Speaker 1: The Trade Unions at passed into law on June fourteenth,

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Speaker 1: was modeled on British legislation that had passed in eighteen

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Speaker 1: seventy one. The Act said that unions would not be

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Speaker 1: considered associations that obstructed trade. The right to strike was recognized,

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Speaker 1: but picketing remained a criminal offense. The Nine Hour Movement

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Speaker 1: proved largely unsuccessful due to a lack of coordination, employer hostility,

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Speaker 1: waning prosperity in Canada, and divisions within the working class,

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Speaker 1: but the legalization of unions was a win for the movement.

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Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy three, the Canadian Labor Union was formed.

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Speaker 1: Throughout the next couple of decades, Canadian workers organized more

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Speaker 1: trade unions and participated in more strikes. I'm each Deathcote

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Speaker 1: and hopefully you know a little more about history today

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Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. And if you have any comments

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Speaker 1: or suggestions, you can send them to as via email

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Speaker 1: at this day at iHeart media dot com. You can

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Speaker 1: also hit us up on social media at E D

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Speaker 1: I HC. Podcast. Thanks again for listening to the show

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Speaker 1: and we'll see you tomorrow. For more podcasts from I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or

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Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows,