After Mexico secularized the missions, Native Americans were slightly better than they had been before.
During the late eighteenth century, missions were struggling. The Spanish government provided little aid and priests were insufficient. Eventually, with the independence of Mexico, the mission system ended. Missions were secularized, and the land was sold to private citizens. A small number of Native Americans benefitted from this, as they received some of the land. However, the majority of Native Americans received little or no land. Many were instead put to work by peonage, which was a similar system to indentured servitude.
