The early discoverers won a great part of the
kingdom because the zeal, devotion, and valor of the troops were of a
different sort. In the beginning one Spaniard was a match for twenty or
thirty Indians. Now one Indian is a match for ten and twenty
soldiers.
Fray Joseph Soler to Fray Romualdo Cartagena,
Pitiquito, August 12, 1773
With regard to the advancement of these heathens
and of those previously reduced I say that the surest way to attain the
worthy goals expressed by the Fiscal is to destroy and reform as useless
and prejudicial the system up to now observed in the missions.
Captain Juan Bautista de Anza to Viceroy
Antonio María Bucareli,
Tubac, December 15, 1772
| August 5, 1772 | Catherine the Great,
Frederick the Great, and Empress Maria Theresa join in the first
partition of Poland. |
| September 1 | Fray Junípero
Serra founds San Luis Obispo, fifth mission in Alta
California. |
| June 1, 1773 | A treaty with the Creek
Indians moves Georgia's boundary farther west. |
| July 21 | Under pressure from Charles
III of Spain, Pope Clement XIV issues Dominus ac redemptor noster
dissolving the Society of Jesus. In October the viceroy of New Spain
warns the Franciscans not to "speak, write, or debate about its
suppression, or about the reasons that motivated it." |
| December 16 | The Boston Tea
Party. |
| June 10, 1774 | Gov. Dunmore of
Virginia declares war on the Shawnee Indians to clear Kentucky for
settlement. |
| August 15 | In New Mexico, Comanches
attack Pecos pueblo. |
| September 5 | The First Continental
Congress convenes in Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia. |
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