Ruben we are here at the Carmel Mission. Its original founding date was 1770, june 3 in monterey after which the site moved. The initial mission is a should of what we call out the california or upper california with this devilish meant of the the establishment of the san diego mission. Joint military and religious expedition known as the sacred expedition. By commander was accompanied a friar who came to the monterey bay to establish the first site. Father serra was born and raised in a small community. This was the place that had been overrun and conquered by various groups, including the moores the moores. They have military bastions extending back all the way to the roman conquests. You have roman and islamic another traditions presented your one could argue that there was a very conservative trend in so far as catholic religious a wasf there, which serr inspired to bring into the americas. The evangelization of gentiles, in other words, people not christian should be ones life devotion. And father serra devoted his life to that. In 1749, he boarded a ship for mexico, arrived in east spain in veracruz. Spain was being transformed by enlightenment ideology. The notion of the enlightenment, which we continue to espouse, is central to our constitution and the United States. That all men are created equal. You know as well as i do, in reality, when he came down to, slavery was condoned. The indian wars were condoned under that. So things were not quite equal. So when we look at the missions thelta california, we have espouse meant of this ideology. Missions were looking for communities that could be built and transformed. The problem was, while the enlightenment ideology seemed noble, the reality is that releasing people from the mission so that they could be exploited by outsiders was one of the faults of that. So the franciscans were tasked with essentially evangelizing. Pper california their objective was basically bringing indigenous communities into the fold, into the church, into the worship of christ. That was the prime objective. They did that by i didnt by introducing skill sets, including music, reading, agriculture, the liturgy, etc. All of these things were new imports to the region. About serra was zealous that particular effort. But these did not grow up overnight. They were the result of decades of work. When father serra was here, there is a tendency to think that he lived in this palatial estate and you look at the nice buildings in the mediterranean architecture. But he lived in what we called cales, much structures with thatched roofs. He complains about the roof leaking like a sieve, his colleague dying of pneumonia, and he is housing a soldier who went awol. Radley the buildout of more substantial structures. This ultimately had seven churches. I have excavated one side. Ultimately, father serra built an adobe church. He died surely thereafter so he was buried in that church. Then that church was demolished. Where it comes to abuses, the primary allegation against father serra has much to do with the fact that he worked within a system which condoned Corporal Punishment. What is Corporal Punishment . The use of whips, sticks or other devices in order to punish individuals who had transgressed against the church or the state or the Indigenous Community of the mission. So that did occur. The one of the misunderstandings is that it was father serra doing it. Note. Father serra could order it done. But all Corporal Punishment, all administration within the mission site were conducted by native people who were selected by their own communities, it either to meet out punishment, Corporal Punishment, or to basically determined and administer resources that should be within the indigenous communities of the mission. But the reality is that father serra himself has never been documented to have laid a hand on any individual. You might say, well, he still order it. Yes, that was a fact. Punishment onhe Indigenous People and others. That was the way things were done in that time. Though sameis that kind of procedures occurred within much American History until relatively recently. Rras is to be condemned within that system, clearly, there is condemnation to go all around. Competingve two groups. Those who believe the father serra was not worthy of canonization and those who absolutely felt he had lived a life as a holy man. So began here. It wasnt until january of this year, 2015, that pope francis announced that he would be canonized and that it would happen on september 23. Right about that time, i was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times for a story on father serra and my work in the mission. That launched a series of [indiscernible] i was involved with the canonization as one of the scholars invited to rome to speak at augustinian. While there, i spoke with three other scholars, monsignor weber, for some timen about father serra, and then robert sienkiewicz. We did in overview on the strengthen the merits of the canonization. The media entered the picture. We dealt with that. Two days later, we basically participated in the second half, in which vatican scholars and friars and others were instrumental. We then conducted mass with the pope. That was an incredible experience. I was kind of on the ground floor to see a lot of that. But at the same time, i was aware, as i was there testifying to the merits of the canonization, there were people in california who were less than happy about it. But what i have seen as there has been a significant amount of rent of misrepresentation and even hate speech related to father serra, the Catholic Church and the hispanic catholic tradition. To address those characterizations. I am not going to minimize what happened as a result of european colonial interface in this region. It is clearly catastrophic on many levels. But there was a lot of it that allowed the native people to mexican era, and ultimately the american period. It was in 1846 through 1848 when the Americans First entered monterey that the first governor of california, peter burnet, basically ordered the annihilation and extermination of the california indians. He asked if a taxpayer money behind that effort to the extent that, within 12 years, a population documented to have existed of 150,000 native people at americana context bundle to less than 30,000. So over 120,000 people have been documented to have been killed during the period. That was truly genocide. I believe, based on anything i have seen, including recent publications and want to come out next year, that essentially native peoples have conflated the authority the atrocities of the early church with the shortfalls and the misgivings of the spanish oneill period and they blamed it all on father serra. I think has truly gotten a bum rap. And the demonization and the hate Speech Associated with father serra is really and called for and illegitimate. Obviously, history is used in a lot of different ways. We see that going on in our country right now. The reality is that i construe of thepanic tradition southwest, in fact all the way through south florida, as part of American History these are founding communities. Even jamestown was left out of many American History books. Ecause it was in the south at one point, after the civil war, jamestown was written out of the narrative in the pilgrims took the place. So the narrative changed and it became freedom from religious persecution versus a group of brits coming in and founding a military settlement and that becoming a disaster. That has now been reincluded in our history by the vert by the work of archaeologists. Rewriting the history of these mission sites, such that we now recognize them as those very traditions under the auspices of friscos franciscan friars who introduced many of the technologies that today we take for granted, including agriculture, stop raising, viticulture or the wine industry, metallurgy, architecture, all these things came in and are a direct byproduct of interdictions made by father serra and his compatriot. So to leave this dimension of this history out leaves us with no escalation why these massive sites exist which were in effect American Indian communities under the tutelage of franciscan or european friars. All weekend long, American History tv is featuring monterey california, home to a robust fish canning industry in the early 1900s. Together with our Comcast Cable partners, cspan cities to her staff recently visited many sites exploring the citys rich history. Learn more about monterey all weekend here on American History tv. Welcome to montereys old customhouse. This is state historic landmark number one in the state of health when you. The customhouse is significant to historians and should be to all californians because it is the first place that they government of mexico and ultimately the government of california did business. Entry the main port of 18 46. 1841 and the first flag of california was raised here at customhouse. The reason why monterey in it of trade in Alta California was really the precedent set during the Spanish Colonial years. Very first spanish expirations, when they were trying to colonize this area, included voyages by Juan Sebastian vizcaino who in 1602 found the harbor. Suitableoking for a port for spanish turning galleons. What they were looking along the coast, a suitable harbor. And they missed the best one, which was San Francisco. Speculation was that maritime people couldnt find San Francisco because of their notorious fog. So they found this harbor. Vizcainoly, sebastian named the harbor after the man who financed his expedition, the count of monterey of spain. Right now, we are inside the past amount customhouse. Theight now, we are inside custom house. Things, wagon wheels from england, vinegars from china, brandy from france, all of these big countries were it trade with monterey because of this embarrassment of riches that they had. They had tens of thousands of cow hides. Literally currency during the mexican era. In fact, used so often as trade, for trade, that they were called California Bank notes by sailors on trading vessels. One of those sailors was a very distinct one because he kept a very important journal. Richard henry dana junior. He referred to the highs as California Bank notes. He talked in great detail, wrote ascriptions of all the ports that they made along the coast about the california. They did confirm that this was the main port of entry and was the first place that they stopped. So the hides, you probably what makeshides, hides so valuable to the rest of the world. When you consider 19thcentury life, think about the horse and buggy. You got checks, bids, cells, bridles, ulcerative things made out a leather. Clothing. So that might be a good reason why the rest of the world wanted so much leather. But there was a more compelling reason. That was the timing. We are in the height of the industrial revolution. Things that used to be made by hand are now being made by machines. Big steamdriven by a wheel, a big camshaft going down the middle of the ceiling. And hoped to that shaft, a driveshaft, there would be leather belts. A typical factory in boston or new york would have thousand miles of leather belts. That is what drove the economy in california. Another thing that we might mention are the two prominent americans here that really helped drive the economy with the import export business as they established in monterey in the 1820s and 30s. This is captain john rogers larkin. Nd Thomas Oliver you see their names on some of the cases up here. Was an John Robert Cooper sea captain from boston who heard news that mexico was about to open up its port for international trade. So he sailed in with his own sailing ship and he stays with the vallejo family. Maria on of alejo mario know before it wasnt long they married. This happened a lot here in california, where people coming in to do business with the Mexican Government would find a home here and intermarry with the californians who were already here. It wasnt long before captain cooper called his halfbrother, Thomas Oliver larkin, to help him with his import export business. With inside of a year, larkin was on his own making quite a success for him so. These two americans living in mexican california really helped drive the mexican economy during the californiatalon years. We are in the customhouse officials office. He was the person who assessed the value of all the cargo, determined what rate to charge the trading company, and he did that by examining the cargo as it came in. During the mexican era, there was a very strong sentiment among some of the imperialistic powers, that this country wasnt able to defend itself adequately and had a very shaky government. The Mexican Government was renowned for corruption, political disputes. There were disagreements between the southern part of Alta California, an area we call a and us now, and the northern part of Alta California about who the governor should be. A one point, they shift at governor they did not like. This political upheaval, that seemed characteristic of the region, certainly was noticed by the rest of the world. Finally, it came to a point obvious thatme almost anybody could sail in and take the area. But the thing that tilted at the last straw was the declaration of war between mexico and the United States. This is really the result or tension inn of the texas. That discouraged general santana for making any kind of a deal. Ventually, war was declared they got to the point in fact where tensions were so high between the two countries that to warships commissioned guard the American Trading vessels off the coast of Alta California were given standing orders. War break out between mexico and the United States, you must sail into monterey and claim the territory and bring it under United States protection. That actually happened twice. The first time it happened was a mistake. A rather young suave, welleducated but somewhat hasty commander of the pacific squadron of warships had heard a rumor of war. Remember, tensions were running very high. He was sailing off the coast of south america when he hears war has broken out between mexico and United States. He also knows that the french have warships offshore. He did not want monterey to follow into french hands. So he sailed into monterey very quickly and almost immediately raised the stars and stripes over the custom house right outside this building and claimed the territory for the United States. There is only one problem. War had not been declared between mexico and the United States. So jones was faced with a dilemma and the embarrassment of having to lower the stars and stripes and apologize to the Mexican Government. Four years later, wars eventually declared between mexico and the United States. 1846, a more well seasoned, veteran and perhaps more patient commander of the also order toon protect American Trading interests was given the order to sail into monterey. But not wanting to repeat the mistake of his predecessor, he immediately goes to the american consulate. This is Thomas Oliver larkin. So he goes to larkins house and the two of them confirm that war has broken out. Larkin had collected several messages that had indicated that very thing. So the to them crafted a proclamation that would be read to the citizens of monterey here, right on the beach outside the custom house. The messagecony, was read to the citizen saying they were now under u. S. Protection that their lives would remain unchanged. They could choose to fight for their country ors are or remain here under u. S. Protection. That was the proclamation. It didnt exactly work out that way for the mexicans who lost their lands over this class of cultures clash of cultures. Back at what would have been a listen to the stories of people who lived here, they give nyssa found it gives us a foundation for where we are now and where we should be going. I think the customhouse stands as testimony to a very important casting off when you should not be forgotten. We bring thousands of school kids through this business this building, many learning about how to for the first time, many of them finding out the context for their own culture, many of them latino who did not even know that this was the capital of mexican california. And if we are not here to tell them that and show them with the physical evidence and show them that we care enough about that past, then they wont have a context. They wont care. And they may be among those who think that time starts now. Announcer all weekend, American History tv is featuring monterey, california. The Carmel Mission was founded by father Junipero Serra to bring the catholic faith to the native evils. Carmel was one of Nine Missions in spanish california established by father serra. By our Comcast Cable partners, cspan cities to her staff recently visited many sites showcasing the citys history. Learn more about monterey all weekend h