Analysis of California History - Research Paper Example

California History California is a on the west coast of Northern America, and it is the most populous state in America. It is home to fifty of America’s most populous states that include Oakland, San Francisco, Sacramento, and San Diego. The center of the state is the Central Valley, which is mainly an agricultural productive region. It also boasts of having the third largest coastline after the Alaska and Florida coastlines. However, this region experiences major earthquakes because of it bordering the Pacific Ocean. In addition, this region records the largest number of wild fires as compared to the other states in America. The climate of this region is mainly cool with rainy winters and hot summers. Moreover, it was the home of a great n umber of America’s natives and the indigenes communities. It had unique cultural and linguistic traits due to the inter existence of almost seventy different groups of Native Americans. In this regard, this essay will delve on the political organization of the Native Americans. The political organization of the Native Americans had unique attributes due the lifestyle of these people1. For instance, political organization of a society is the collective provision of guidance to a community or society in either a formal or an in formal way. The natives were mostly hunter-gatherers hence settled down in groupings that matched their way of life. Their political organizations were diverse in that they had further divisions according to tribe, chiefdoms, bands, and states. In essence, the band political form of the organization was a small group of closely related relatives from the household in a particular region who came together on different occasions but did not answer to any superior authority. Ideally, this form of governance was not complex since the number of those under the ruler ship was a manageable number. This system did not have a central political structure hence making this form of governance to be informal. Moreover, communities under the band2 form of had autonomous extended family groupings that formed the political set up. Bands were unable to compete for community resources since they were not complex in the execution of leadership. They had two clusters, one being the simple bands and complex bands. Simple bands were the smallest groupings, which were narrow to the level of the extended families. Ion the other hand, composite bands had larger families totaling to hundreds in numbers. Sequentially, this political form was easier due to the constant moving of the families in these communities because of their hunter-gatherer state. On the contrary, this leadership was definitive in that it had Leaders who acquired positions of leadership by virtue of portraying leadership abilities. In addition, they became leaders through their ability to influence their societies to act in certain ways. They stayed in the position of leadership until the community no longer had confidence in them. In essence, the leaders in charge of bands were the peace chiefs. They had wisdom, kindness, and abilities in leading the community in to successful battles3. This oldest form of political organization4 was essential in the solving of community problems because the leader knew the ones in the dispute quite well. Therefore, the delivery of judgment was fair according to the community. Other forms of political organization came about due to intermarriages between communities. Secondly, the Native Americans had tribes, which were groups of independent people that occupied a specific region and shared a common language. In addition, the tribes had common cultural practices applied by certain unifying factors. Additionally, a tribe composed of different people from bands and villages integrated in to lineages and clans. This form of the organization was a temporal and formal because of the frequent attacks by other bordering communities. Remarkably, there was no central authority hence making it an inform way of ruler ship5. Mostly, tribal societies constituted of semi autonomous integrated communities that formed alliances in order to achieve certain societal goals. These societies were also sodalities that had large clans and lineages as part of their composition. Like the bands, tribes had formalized concepts in that hey had one leader who had to have influential qualities. They facilitated economic enhancement within these Native American communities since they involved the interaction of many other communities. Tribal authorities also had the mandate of settling inter communal disputes between bands and villages. Moreover, the tribal leaders were also in charge of organizing raids on other tribes in order to accumulate wealth and riches for their tribes. Tribes in the early Native America were a common feature that characterized governments in the ancient times. On the other hand, there were chiefdoms as forms of organized political setups in ancient Native America6. Chiefdoms were multi-communal political divisions with hereditary chiefs ruling sizeable integrated regions7. These kingdoms were common in prehistoric Native America as forms of sociopolitical organizational structures. They were permanent structures formed under tribal societies. They were centralized regional groupings where power and governance had origin from one single chief. The chiefs in this setting drew leadership from a hierarchal concept bestowed on a family within the same society. The families, in which power and leadership rested upon, had immense influence in the way the society functioned. They received preferential treatment from the other people in the same community since their families associated wealth and superiority to their family name. Substantively, the chiefs in charge of these communities had the responsibility of distributing land, and other communal resources to society members due to their wealth in wisdom. Moreover, the community chiefs also had the responsibility of appointing community warriors in to joining the community army. These warriors had to portray the ability to defend the community when a raid by neighboring communities occurred. The community chiefs also had the responsibility of preparing the appointed warriors through proper training that they would become the pride of the community when it came to war. In contrast, the chiefs were a symbol of selfish amassment of communal wealth since they were not subject to any other authority except them serves. This was because their titles were evidence enough of their titles and status in society. In some instances, the chiefs had councils of elders who guided them in to making the right communal decisions. Ideally, some communities accepted chiefdom way of government because of the colonial rule that later took form in Native America. States were the last form of political systems in ancient America, which were the most powerful leadership systems. It became a permanent and centralized government system with properly established and recognizable territories8. In essence, the state’s legitimacy in power implied that the state had the right to invoke any powers to ensure citizens adhere to laws. Their economical and financial attributes were higher than other forms of organizations. Their populations were dense hence contributing to the economic stability of the states. In the state kind of organization, there existed regulations that assisted in the governing of the society’s way of life. The Native states of California had organized military establishments that w ere effective in wars involving these states. In the process of war, the states kept the territories as part of the larger territory instead of destroying their territories and wealth9. Power in these states was central in that a few elite had power bestowed upon them. Essentially, power was a tool that the state used to employ as a way of maintaining order the communal enterprises. The states became avenues of exploitation to the people conquered since the states made them inferior in terms of power. Just like in the bands and tribes, the state and power formulated wide scale communal enterprises. States majorly encompassed the attacking of bordering communities as part of its expansion process. However, the state may fail to expand if it lacks the motivation and need to do so. In essence, national unity is a concept that which involves the constant contact and communication between bands and tribes. It is also a concept that which involves the coming together of tribes and bands through complimentary traits to make the whole. States are large corporations that draw sense from the individual contributing factors10. Sequentially, the many states within the California area grew mainly through the conquest of the minute states. Over the years, states have become the sovereign concept of leadership since the pre historic time. Their organizational structures were distinctive in that they involved the citizens in the choosing of elite leaders. Unlike in other organizational forms, the leadership involves the citizens directly in that they participated in elections that proved democratic. Therefore, states were a liberal form of governance where leadership did not denote imposition of leaders. The states were also vast regions in which the common bond was the rule of law that existed with a particular state. In Native America, the rise of states marked the beginning of civilized and more organized organizational forms that had uncultured traits. It depicted a sophisticated way of governance since those in powers had to be those with proper education to ensure the proper accountability of accumulating resources. In summary, the Native American form of governance underwent an evolution process to make to be in its current state. Ideally, the political evolution process began from non-centralized forms to more centralized forms like the state rule of law. The chiefs in that time were a symbol of strength and unity that effective at the time. However, their in selfishness and lack of consultation in their governance bore fruit to animosity between tribal members11. Remarkably, their immense wealth in wisdom proved essential in that they were able to solve communal disputes amicably. Sequentially, they gave rise to modern day delivery of justice in that the decision made had to be impartial and non-bias. In this regard, the shaping of Californian history drew originality from the initial ways of uncivilized political structures to one that has repute world over. Finally, the political way of life of California may be different but its contribution to the general governance of the United Sates became a substantial part of development. Bibliography Francis, J. Michael. Iberia and the Americas culture, politics, and history: a multidisciplinary encyclopedia (Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2005) Harrison, Brigid C. Power and society: an introduction to the social sciences. (Wadsworth: Cengage learning, 2011). Harrison, Brigid C., and Thomas R. Dye. (Power and society: an introduction to the social sciences (Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth, 2008). Luebering, J. E. Native American history, (New York: Britannica Educational Pub. in association with Rosen Education Services, 2011). Peoples, James G., and Garrick Alan Bailey. Humanity: an introduction to cultural anthropology (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2012). Saikku, Mikko. This delta, this land: an environmental history of the yazoo-Mississippi floodplain, (Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 2005). Read More