California Prejudice Against Native Americans

The following quote and site is extremely valuable for demonstrating the historic prejudice against Native Americans. This site offers a lengthy description of the culture of the Native American tribes as well as a comprehensive history of the native peoples throughout history until the late 1900s.

"The formation of the state government proved to be an official instrument of the oppressive mentality of the miner's militia. In Governor McDougall's first address to the legislature he promised, 'a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the races until the Indian race become extinct.......' Despite guarantees in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Indians were denied state citizenship, voting rights and more important still, the right to testify in court. These acts effectively removed all legal redress for native peoples and left them to the mercy of anyone who chose to sexual assault, kidnap, even murder them. Despite entering the union as a free state in 1850, the California legislature rapidly enacted a series of laws legalizing Indian slavery. One of the laws sanctioned an indenture system similar to Mexican peonage in widespread practice throughout California prior to 1850. All levels of state, county and local governments participated in this ugly practice that evolved into a heartless policy of killing Indian parents and kidnapping and indenturing the victims children. Indian youth could be enslaved by the cruel act to the age of 30 for males and 25 for females. This barbarous law was finally repealed four years after President Lincoln's emancipation proclamation in 1863."

This site is exactly what I was looking for. It completely describes the corruption, the prejudice, and the treatment of the Native Americans in the 1800s. Even when the federal government did get involved, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs used his position to purchase most of the land he "set aside for the native peoples."

http://www.ceres.ca.gov/nahc/califindian.html