The California Land Act of 1851 (), enacted following the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ( es, Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo), officially the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, is the peace treaty that was signed on 2 ...
and the admission of
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
as a state in 1850, established a three-member Public Land Commission to determine the validity of prior
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
and
Mexican
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
land grant
A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...
s.
It required landowners who claimed title under the Mexican government to file their claim with a commission within two years. Contrary to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which guaranteed full protection of all property rights for Mexican citizens, it placed the burden on landholders to prove their title.
While the commission eventually confirmed 604 of the 813 claims, almost all of the claims went to court and resulted in protracted litigation. The expense of the long court battles required many land holders to sell portions of the property or even trade it in payment for legal services. A few cases were litigated into the 1940s.
Legislation
California Senator
William M. Gwin
William McKendree Gwin (October 9, 1805 – September 3, 1885) was an American medical doctor and politician who served in elected office in Mississippi and California. In California he shared the distinction, along with John C. Frémont, of bein ...
presented a bill that was approved by the Senate and the House and became law on March 3, 1851.
The Act established a three-member Board of Land Commissioners, to be appointed by the President for a three-year term (the period was twice extended by Congress, resulting in a five-year total term of service). The Act required all holders of Spanish and Mexican land grant
A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...
s to present their titles for confirmation before the commission. Unless grantees presented evidence supporting their title within two years, the property would automatically pass into the public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work
A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
.[
This requirement was contrary to Article Eight of the ]Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ( es, Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo), officially the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, is the peace treaty that was signed on 2 ...
, under which the United States agreed to respect the hundreds of land grants, many quite substantial, granted by the Spanish and Mexican governments to private landowners.[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, , , (1850).] Articles Nine and Ten guaranteed the property rights of Mexican nationals.
Hearings
The land commission opened its sessions at San Francisco on January 2, 1852. It then consisted, by appointment of President Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore (January 7, 1800March 8, 1874) was the 13th president of the United States, serving from 1850 to 1853; he was the last to be a member of the Whig Party while in the White House. A former member of the U.S. House of Represen ...
, of Hiland Hall
Hiland Hall (July 20, 1795 – December 18, 1885) was an American lawyer and politician who served as 25th governor of Vermont and a United States representative.
Biography
Hall was born in Bennington, Vermont. He attended the common schools, s ...
, Harry I. Thornton
Harry Innes Thornton Jr. (c. 1834 – February 25, 1895) was a United States Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician and attorney in California.
Born in Greene County, Alabama, Thornton followed his family to California. In ...
, and James Wilson James Wilson may refer to:
Politicians and government officials
Canada
*James Wilson (Upper Canada politician) (1770–1847), English-born farmer and political figure in Upper Canada
* James Crocket Wilson (1841–1899), Canadian MP from Quebe ...
as commissioners. In 1853 President Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...
changed the board by the appointment of Alpheus Felch
Alpheus Felch (September 28, 1804June 13, 1896) was the fifth governor of Michigan and U.S. Senator from Michigan.
Early life
Felch was born in Limerick (in modern-day Maine, then a part of Massachusetts). He was left an orphan at the age of th ...
, Thompson Campbell
Thompson Campbell (1811 – December 6, 1868) was a U.S. Representative from Illinois.
Life
Born in Ireland, Campbell immigrated to the United States with his parents, who settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania. He attended public schools, stu ...
and R. Augustus Thompson as commissioners. Their commissions would, in accordance with the terms of the act, have expired in March, 1854; but previous to that time the operation of its provisions as to their power to act was extended for one year longer and afterward for another year. In 1854 Peter Lott was appointed commissioner in place of Campbell; and in 1855 S. B. Farwell was appointed commissioner in place of Lott. On March 3, 1856, five years after the passage of the original act, the board finally adjourned sine die
Adjournment ''sine die'' (from Latin "without a day") is the conclusion of a meeting by a deliberative assembly, such as a legislature or organizational board, without setting a day to reconvene. The assembly can reconvene, either in its presen ...
.[
]
Land records
American officials acquired the provincial land records of the Spanish and Mexican governments in the capital at Monterey. The new state's leaders soon discovered that the Mexican government had given a number of grants to Californios just before the Americans gained control. The Mexican governors had rewarded faithful supporters and hoped to prevent the recent American arrivals from gaining control of the land.
Indefinite maps
The commission required grantees to prove the validity of the grants they had received, including whether the grantee had fulfilled the requirements of the Mexican colonization laws. This included establishing a home in the land within one year. Grantees also had to establish their grant's exact boundaries. The early diseños or maps available were often little more than sketches. Land had until the gold rush been of little value and boundary locations were often quite vague, referring to an oak tree, a cow skull on a pile of rocks, a creek, and in some cases a mountain range.
Even in cases where the boundaries were more specific, many markers had been destroyed before accurate surveys could be made. While the Land Commission confirmed 604 of the 813 claims it reviewed, most decisions were appealed to US District Court
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
and some to the Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
. The confirmation process required lawyers, translators, and surveyors, and took an average of 17 years (including the Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, 1861–1865) to resolve. It proved expensive for landholders to defend their titles through the court system. In many cases, they had to sell a portion of their land to pay for defense fees or gave attorneys land in lieu of payment.
Conflicting claims
Land under Spanish and Mexican land titles that were rejected by the courts entered the public domain. This resulted in conflicting claims by the grantees, squatters, and settlers seeking the same land. Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
was pressured to change the law. Under the earlier Preemption Act of 1841
The Preemption Act of 1841, also known as the Distributive Preemption Act ( 27 Cong., Ch. 16; ), was a US federal law approved on September 4, 1841. It was designed to "appropriate the proceeds of the sales of public lands... and to grant 'pre-empt ...
, squatters were able to pre-empt others' claims to land and acquire clear title by paying $1.25 an acre for up to a maximum of . After the federal Homestead Act of 1862
The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of th ...
was passed, anyone could claim up to of public land. This resulted in additional pressure on Congress, and beginning with Rancho Suscol Rancho Suscol was an Mexican land grant in present day Sonoma County, California, Napa County, California, and Solano County, California, given in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. In a significant land la ...
in 1863, it passed special acts that allowed certain claimants to pre-empt their land without regard to acreage. By 1866 this privilege was extended to all owners of rejected claims.
Mexican grants
A number of ranchos remained in whole or part in the sliver of Alta California that Mexico retained under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which became part of Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
. Rancho Tía Juana
Rancho Tía Juana, or Ti Juan was a land grant made to Santiago Arguello on March 4, 1829, by Governor José María de Echeandía. It covered 26,019.53 acres in what is now Tijuana in the Tijuana Municipality of Baja California, Mexico and parts ...
lost the title to its land in San Diego County but the balance of the rancho in Mexico was confirmed by the Mexican government in the 1880s. Rancho El Rosario Rancho El Rosario, subsequently renamed Rancho Rosarito, was a land grant made to José Manuel Machado, one of the first soldiers stationed at the Presidio of San Diego. The grant was made in 1827, by Governor José María de Echeandía. It covere ...
, Rancho Cueros de Venado
Rancho Cueros de Venado ("Hides of Deer") was an 1835 land grant in the vicinity of the Pueblo of San Diego of Alta California, and whose site is in present-day Tijuana in Baja California, Mexico.
An ''expediente'' was submitted on August 29, 183 ...
and Rancho Tecate Rancho Tecate, or Rancho Cañada de Tecate was a land grant made to Juan Bandini in 1829, by the Mexican governor of Alta California, José María de Echeandía. He granted 4,439 acres (18 km2) of land in the valley of Tecate. A grant to Juan Band ...
were each granted to citizens of San Diego in the 1820s or 1830s and lay wholly in what is now Baja California as was the Rancho San Antonio Abad
Rancho San Antonio Abad, a land grant in what is now the western part of Tijuana in the Tijuana Municipality of Baja California, Mexico. The name of the rancho derives from Saint Anthony the Abbot.
History
Origin
The origin of this rancho is ...
, whose origin and title is more obscure. Their titles were never subjected to dispute in U.S. courts.History of California, Volume 20
Hubert Howe Bancroft, Henry Lebbeus Oak, Frances Fuller Victor, William Nemos, , History Company, Chicago, 1886, pp. 611-612 n.7
Lengthy legal action
The Commission eventually confirmed 604 of the 813 claims received. John Bautista Rogers Cooper filed a claim for Rancho El Sur
Rancho El Sur was a Mexican land grant in present-day Monterey County, California on the Big Sur coast given in 1834 by Governor José Figueroa to Juan Bautista Alvarado. The grant extended from the mouth of Little Sur River inland about 2.5 m ...
with the Public Land Commission in 1852 but he only received the legal land patent
A land patent is a form of letters patent assigning official ownership of a particular tract of land that has gone through various legally-prescribed processes like surveying and documentation, followed by the letter's signing, sealing, and publi ...
after years of litigation in 1866.[ While the majority (97%) of these cases were resolved by 1885, a few cases were litigated into the 1940s.] Jose Castro filed a claim for Rancho San Jose y Sur Chiquito
Rancho or Ranchos may refer to:
Settlements and communities
*Rancho, Aruba, former fishing village and neighbourhood of Oranjestad
*Ranchos of California, 19th century land grants in Alta California
**List of California Ranchos
*Ranchos, Buenos Ai ...
in 1853. He sold his land before his claim was decided. Before his case was decided, 32 others filed claims with the court that they owned a portion of his rancho. His successors litigated the claim for years. In 1882, Castro's original claim was finally validated by the court, and President Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
signed the land patent
A land patent is a form of letters patent assigning official ownership of a particular tract of land that has gone through various legally-prescribed processes like surveying and documentation, followed by the letter's signing, sealing, and publi ...
on May 4, 1888, 35 years after Castro's initial filing.
Restoration of Catholic missions
One of the more significant sets of claims was filed on February 19, 1853 on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
by Archbishop
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...
Joseph Sadoc Alemany
Joseph Sadoc Alemany y Conill, O.P. (Spanish: José Sadoc Alemany y Conill; July 3, 1814 – April 14, 1888) was a Spanish Catholic clergyman, who served most of his career in California. He served as the first Bishop of Monterey (1850–53) a ...
, wherein he sought the return of all former mission
Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to:
Organised activities Religion
*Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity
*Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
lands in the State. Ownership of (for all practical intents being the exact area of land occupied by the original mission buildings, cemeteries, and gardens) was subsequently conveyed to the Church, along with the '' Cañada de los Pinos'' (or College Rancho) in Santa Barbara County
Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria.
Santa Barba ...
comprising , and ''La Laguna
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...
'' in San Luis Obispo County
San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo.
Junípero Serra founded the Mission ...
, consisting of .
See also
* Ranchos of California
The Spanish and Mexican governments made many concessions and land grants in Alta California (now known as California) and Baja California from 1775 to 1846. The Spanish Concessions of land were made to retired soldiers as an inducement for ...
* United States Court of Private Land Claims
The United States Court of Private Land Claims (1891–1904) was an ad-hoc court created to decide land claims guaranteed by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in the territories of New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, and in the states of Nevada, Color ...
Notes
References
* U.S. Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
. ''Recommendation of the Public Land Commission for Legislation as to Private Land Claims'', 46th Congress
The 46th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1879, ...
, 2nd Session, 1880, House Executive Document 46.
{{California history
Defunct agencies of the United States government
Geography of the United States
Geography of California
Aboriginal title in the United States