CALIFORNIA’S ADMISSION DAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1850

As early as 1835, the U.S. under President Andrew Jackson had been trrying to acquire California and Texas by purchase or any other means. When the War with Mexico broke out in 1846 over boundaries between Texas and Mexico, the whole idea of “Manifest Destiny” came to the forefront. Under President Polk, the idea that the .U.S. should encompass all the territory between the Atlantic and the Pacific became popular. We were already in contention with the British over the Oregon Country, which we won by sending young pioneers west where they proceeded to out populate the British trappers of the area.

As early as 1842, Commodore Thomas ap Catesby Jones, Commander of the American Pacific Fleet had sailed into Monterey harbor and claimed the land. Discovering that he was ahead of the diplomats, with the sealed orders he had received from Washington a year earlier, he had to take down the American Flag, apologize and leave on the following day, but he had tipped our intent

Until gold was discovered on January 24, 1848, westward seeking pioneers were looking at the Oregon country,. Once the word got out about the gold discovery, thousands headed for the “something for nothing’ promises of gold lying abundantly on the ground. The ‘48’ers were mostly from areas around the Pacific, who could get to the promised land more quickly. The big migration began in 1849 and continued through the 1850’s. They came by sea and by land, from South America, Asia, Europe and the east coast by ship, around the horn or across the Isthmus of Panama. Many more came the long arduous trip across the continent by wagon train, usually a 6 months trip.

Mining camps were not under any specific laws. California was under military rule which incorporated some of the existing Mexican laws with American. It was never declared a territory because the nation was caught up in the pre-Civil War fights over slavery and where the boundary lines should be in the newly acquired southwest of the continent. Should the Mason-Dixon line be carried straight west. That would have bisected California into southern and northern divisions. The Senate of the United States was divided equally at that time with 15 states for slavery and 15 against. Neither would give, and allow California to break the tie. Meanwhile, groups of miners took the law into their own hands, setting up laws to regulate mining claims. Even if they had been under U.S. law at the time, there were no regulations on gold mining. Each camp set up its own laws, often with restrictive covenants regarding the natives and the resident Mexicans. Spanish-Mexican mining codes influenced the decisions as well as those from the lead and tin mines of Cornwall and other parts of England. Titles were recorded for the use of mining, not to own the land. As we all know, oftentimes perceived justice was swift, if not always short of vigilantism and lynching.

Many of the newly arrived soon discovered there was a great deal of hard work with out much recompense. Where the real money was in mining the miners. Many of the early Americans in our valley came here to farm and ranch and supply those grubbing in the creeks and hillsides for gold. By the end of 1848, about 6,000 miners had found some $10 Million dollars worth of gold. By the end of 1849, there were some 40,000 miners and in 1852, some 100,000. The share per head was much smaller.

Bancroft wrote that the kind of people who came early to California includedthe toiling farmer, whose mortgage loomed above the growing family, the briefless lawyer, the starving student, the quack, the idler, the harlot and the gambler, the hen-pecked husband, the disgraced plus many earnest, enterprising, honest men and devoted women.”

At first the women were few, but soon they came with their men and set about making a society decent enough to raise a family.

On February 12, 1849, a public meeting in Portsmouth Square in San Francisco elected 15 members to make up a Legislative Assembly. They met in March and tried to be recognized by the military governors. Other towns also elected representatives with the thought of calling for a Constitutional Convention. Discouraged as time and again, congress would adjourn without providing for a territorial government in California, General Bennett Riley issued his own call for a Constitutional Convention to meet at Colton Hall in Monterey on September 1, 1949. He had no real authority to do this, but he had not been forbidden to do it, either. President Zachary Taylor ‘s attitude was that if California presented Congress with an accomplished fact, it might break the congressional deadlock. The President sent an emissary, T. Butler King of Georgia to California in the summer of 1849 to travel in the mining areas, urging the busy miners to take an interest in the upcoming elections of delegates to the convention. Another personage also came west, William M. Gwin of Tennessee who had served in Congress and also served in other Federal offices for Presidents Jackson and Polk. He came to assist in the process and of returning as a Senator from California.

The 48 delegates assembled in Monterey in September, 1849, 11 from the south,37 from the northern districts including 7 from San Jose. Some of those elected from mining districts did not show up. A large majority of the delegates had been in California more than 3 years.. About half were under the age of 35. 8 were native Californios including Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo of Sonoma and Jose Antonio Carrillo of Los Angeles. More of the Americans were from the north than the south. The largest single occupation group was the 14 lawyers. One man from the San Joaquin area gave his occupation as “elegant leisure.”

The first question was should the new government be a territory or a state. The second was on the question of slavery. The overwhelming vote was against the institution. Miners did not want to work with a man’s slaves while he sat on a log by the stream. Most of the miners believed in the dignity of hard work and were offended by the notion they were doing slave work. the provision “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crimes, shall ever be tolerated in this state.”

They also tried to exclude free Negroes as well as slaves. In an uneasy compromise, they declared that suffrage should be extended to white, male citizens, only.

The most troublesome problem was where should the eastern boundary be, at the top of the Sierra Nevada and the Colorado River, or should it include all land east to the borders of the United States which would have included Nevada, Arizona, and Utah. All were in favor of not leaving any big decisions for Congress to make, and it would have been unfair to the Mormons in Salt Lake, who were not represented. Finally, the 42^nd parallel was taken on the north and on the east, the120th Meridian south to a point in Lake Tahoe at the 39^th parallel, then in a straight southeasterly line to the intersection of the 35^th parallel, then down the Colorado River to the point where the Gila River flows into it and the boundary with Mexico.

Much of the constitution was original with a majority taken from the constitution of Iowa which Gwin had arranged to have copied and some from that of New York.

The design for the state seal was quite original and distinctive. Minerva, the Roman goddess of political wisdom and handicrafts and the guardian of cities is in the foreground. At her feet is a grizzly bear feeding on bunches of grapes. A miner working with a rocker and bowl, ships plying the Sacramento River and in the distance, the Sierra Nevada. The Greek motto “Eureka” and 31 stars are at the tip. General Vallejo objected to the bear as it reminded him of the indignities he had suffered in the Bear Flag Revolt unless it had a lasso around it held by a vaquero. He was assured that bear was not an insult to the Californios.

A month after the convention adjourned, the first state officials were elected on November 13, 1849 and the first constitution was ratified, 12,061 to 811. Peter Burnett was elected Governor and John McDougal, Lt. Gov. They began to gather in San Jose for the first session of the legislature on December 15, 1849. In a joint session of the two houses, Fremont and Gwin were elected as U. S. Senators The first Representatives were Edward Gilbert and George W. Wright. They were sent on their way to Washington with a copy of the Free state Constitution in their hands.

Congress was divided into two hostile camps pro-slavery and free. Admission to the Union was not an easy task. In his State of the Union Message, President Taylor recommended a speedy admission to California. Before the session ended, the legislators had battered each other with words, fists and guns. A disaster was prevented by the great triumvirate of John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay and Daniel Webster. The House pasd the bill on August 13, 1850. The Senate finally, on September 7, 1850, arrived at the compromise of 1850 which admitted California as a free state, organized New Mexico and Utah as territories without action on slavery, adjusted the western boundary of Texas and paid them $10 Million dollars for the land they lost, prohibited slave trade in the nation’s capitol and passed a strict fugitive slave law. The date was September 9, 1850 when the President signed the bill making California the 31^st state and the 16^th Free state. There were no telegraph lines across the country as yet, no cell phones, no TV, so Californians met every ship that entered the Golden Gate with the same question. It took weeks for the news to arrive by ship. When the steamer the Oregon arrived on October 18, the governor and some other dignitaries were waiting at the wharf.

Governor Burnett ordered a stagecoach drive, bob Crandall of the firm Hall & Crandall, to head to San Jose. A stagecoach from a competing line, Ackley & Mourison, made it a drag race. Neither of the two coaches stopped during the 60 mile trip. Burnett’s coach won by a slim margin & the Governor jumped out in front of the San Jose State House to announce the news that California was a state.

You may have noted some similarities to today. There was no money. We, as a state were in a fiscal pickle. Legislators split into two factions, both t the state level and the national, neither wanting the other to win, even at the ultimate cost to the electorate.

But here we are today celebrating the event 159 years later.