When California was admitted to the Union in 1850, the estimated Indian population of this state numbered some 150,000. One of the first statutory acts of this legislature was to offer a bounty on Indian scalps. From 1850 to 1863, state law provided for the indenture of California Indians. Indian property was free for the taking because Indians weren’t permitted to testify in court. It was impossible to prosecute any crimes against them. In this very body, State Senator J.J. Warner spoke for many at the time when he said: “... there is no place within the territory of the United States in which to locate them ... better, far better, to drive them at once into the ocean, or bury them in the land of their birth. And by the mid-1870’s, the Indian population had fallen to less than 30,000.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Jan 2014 03:46:06 +0000
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