Politics of California to 1899
Encyclopedia
Statehood (1850)
Following the declaration of the independent California RepublicCalifornia Republic
The California Republic, also called the Bear Flag Republic, is the name used for a period of revolt against Mexico initially proclaimed by a handful of American settlers in Mexican California on June 14, 1846, in Sonoma. This was shortly before news of the Mexican–American War had reached the area...
in 1846, and the armed conquest of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
by United States military forces and American volunteers during the Mexican-American War, California was administered by the U.S. military from 1846 to 1850. Local government continued to be run by alcades (mayors) in most places, as they had been under Mexican control; but now some were Americans.
The last military governor, Bennett Riley, called a constitutional convention to meet in Monterey
Monterey, California
The City of Monterey in Monterey County is located on Monterey Bay along the Pacific coast in Central California. Monterey lies at an elevation of 26 feet above sea level. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,810. Monterey is of historical importance because it was the capital of...
in September 1849. Its 48 delegates were mostly pre-1846 American settlers; eight were Spanish-speaking Californios, who were being displaced by the Americans. The Convention unanimously outlawed slavery and set up an interim government which operated for 10 months before California was given official statehood by Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
on September 9, 1850 as part of the Compromise of 1850
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five bills, passed in September 1850, which defused a four-year confrontation between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War...
.
State constitution
The state constitution first adopted in 1849, before statehood, remained the operational constitution following statehood, until it was superseded in 1879, after a new constitutional convention adopted a new state constitution. Both the original constitution and the 1879 constitution provided for the election of a governor, and set up a bicameral state legislature; the state Assembly was the larger house, with districts based on population, and the State Senate, the smaller house, with districts which followed existing political boundaries (analogous to the structure of the United States House of RepresentativesUnited States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
and the Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
). The terms of the governor and state senators was set at four years, and of the members of the Assembly at two years.
State capitals
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
. The city did not have facilities ready for a proper capital, and the winter of 1850 - 1851 was unusually wet, causing the dirt roads to become muddy streams. The legislature was unsatisfied with the location, so former General and State Senator Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo was a Californian military commander, politician, and rancher. He was born a subject of Spain, performed his military duties as an officer of Mexico, and shaped the transition of California from a Mexican district to an American state...
donated land in the future city of Vallejo
Vallejo, California
Vallejo is the largest city in Solano County, California, United States. The population was 115,942 at the 2010 census. It is located in the San Francisco Bay Area on the northeastern shore of San Pablo Bay...
for a new capital; the legislature convened there for one week in 1852 and again for a month in 1853.
Again, the facilities available were unsuitable to house a state government, and the capital was soon moved three miles away to the little town of Benicia
Benicia, California
Benicia is a waterside city in Solano County, California, United States. It was the first city in California to be founded by Anglo-Americans, and served as the state capital for nearly thirteen months from 1853 to 1854. The population was 26,997 at the 2010 census. The city is located in the San...
, located just inland from the San Francisco Bay on the Carquinez Strait
Carquinez Strait
The Carquinez Strait is a narrow tidal strait in northern California. It is part of the tidal estuary of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin rivers as they drain into the San Francisco Bay...
. The strait links San Pablo Bay to Grizzly and Suisun Bays in the Sacramento River Delta
Sacramento River Delta
The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, or California Delta, is an expansive inland river delta and estuary in northern California in the United States. The Delta is formed at the western edge of the Central Valley by the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and lies just east of...
area. A lovely brick statehouse was built in old American style complete with white cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
. Although strategically sited between the Mother Lode
Mother Lode
Mother lode is a principal vein or zone of veins of gold or silver ore. The term probably came from a literal translation of the Spanish veta madre, a term common in old Mexican mining...
territory of the Sierra Nevada and the financial port of San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, the site was too small for expansion. The capital was moved one last time, further inland past the Sacramento River Delta area to the riverside port of Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
.
Sacramento was the site of John Sutter
John Sutter
Johann Augus Sutter was a Swiss pioneer of California known for his association with the California Gold Rush by the discovery of gold by James W. Marshall and the mill making team at Sutter's Mill, and for establishing Sutter's Fort in the area that would eventually become Sacramento, the...
's large agricultural colony and his fort. While the elder Sutter was away, the town of Sacramento was founded by John Augustus Sutter, Jr.
John Augustus Sutter, Jr.
John Augustus Sutter, Jr. was the founder and planner of the City of Sacramento, California, a U.S. Consul in Acapulco, Mexico and the son of Swiss born American pioneer, John Augustus Sutter, Sr.-Biography:...
, at the edge of the Sacramento River
Sacramento River
The Sacramento River is an important watercourse of Northern and Central California in the United States. The largest river in California, it rises on the eastern slopes of the Klamath Mountains, and after a journey south of over , empties into Suisun Bay, an arm of the San Francisco Bay, and...
and downhill from Sutter's Fort
Sutter's Fort
Sutter's Fort State Historic Park is a state-protected park in Sacramento, California which includes Sutter's Fort and the California State Indian Museum. Begun in 1839 and originally called "New Helvetia" by its builder, John Sutter, the fort was a 19th century agricultural and trade colony in...
. Sutter Sr. was indignant since this new site, shaded by water-needy cottonwood trees, was often flooded during Spring high water. (Indeed, every hundred years or so, the whole Great Valley from Chico to Bakersfield, was one great freshwater sea. However, lots had already been sold, and there the town of Sacramento stayed. Interestingly at the end of the 19th century, the streets were raised a full story, so buildings in Old Town are now entered through what were once doors to the balconies shading the sidewalks below.
The current California State Capitol building in Sacramento (above) was constructed between 1861 and 1874 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Vigilantism
Early state and local governments struggled with the massive influx of immigrants from around the world who came during the California Gold Rush
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
. Efforts to establish basic government services and law and order were often overwhelmed. In 1851 and 1856, the rise of "Committees of Vigilance"
San Francisco Vigilance Movement
The San Francisco Committee of Vigilance was a popular ad hoc organization formed in 1851 and revived in 1856. Their purpose was to rein in rampant crime and government corruption. They were among the most successful organizations in the vigilante tradition of the American Old West.These militias...
(vigilantes) challenged local government as these vigilantes responded to a perceived lack of lawful authority and staged a number of public hangings and expulsions in San Francisco and elsewhere. While the stated intent was the punishment of criminals, the victims were often immigrants, including Irish and Chinese.
The Civil War
California fought on the Union side of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. However, because of the distance factor, California played a minor role in the war. Although some settlers sympathized with the Confederacy, they were not allowed to organize and their newspapers were closed down. Former Senator William Gwin
William Gwin
William Gwin may refer to:* William M. Gwin , American medical doctor and politician* William Gwin , officer in the United States Navy during the American Civil War...
, a Confederate sympathizer, was arrested and fled to Europe to escape trial. Nearly all the California men who volunteered as soldiers for the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
stayed in the West to guard facilities. Some 2,350 men in the California Column
California Column
The California Column, a force of Union volunteers, marched from April to August 1862 over 900 miles from California, across the southern New Mexico Territory to the Rio Grande and then into western Texas during the American Civil War. At the time, this was the longest trek through desert terrain...
marched east across Arizona in 1862 to expel the Confederates from Arizona and New Mexico. The Californians spent most of their time fighting hostile Indians and guarding the Southwest against a possible Confederate invasion.
Nativist sentiment and labor politics
After the Civil War ended in 1865, California continued to grow rapidly. Independent miners were displaced by large mining operations. Railroads began to be built, and both the railroad companies and the mining companies began to hire large numbers of laborers. The decisive event was the opening of the transcontinental Central PacificCentral Pacific Railroad
The Central Pacific Railroad is the former name of the railroad network built between California and Utah, USA that formed part of the "First Transcontinental Railroad" in North America. It is now part of the Union Pacific Railroad. Many 19th century national proposals to build a transcontinental...
railroad in 1869; six days by train brought a traveller from Chicago to San Francisco, compared to six months by ship.
Thousands of Chinese men arrived from Asia both to build the railroad and to prospect for gold. As resentment against foreigners grew, they were expelled from the mine fields. Most returned to China after the Central Pacific was built. Those who stayed mostly moved to the Chinatown in San Francisco and a few other cities, where they were relatively safe from violent attacks they suffered elsewhere.
From 1850 through 1899, anti-Chinese nativist sentiment resulted in the passage of many laws, many of which remained in effect well into the middle of the 20th century. The most flagrant episode was probably the creation and ratification of a new state constitution in 1879. Thanks to vigorous lobbying by the anti-Chinese Workingmen's Party, led by Dennis Kearney (an immigrant from Ireland), Article XIX, section 4 forbade corporations from hiring Chinese coolies, and empowered all California cities and counties to completely expel Chinese persons or to limit where they could reside. It was repealed in 1952.
The 1879 constitutional convention also dispatched a message to Congress pleading for strong immigration restrictions, which led to the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. The Act was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1889, and it would not be repealed by Congress until 1943. Similar sentiments led to the development of a Gentlemen's Agreement with Japan, by which Japan voluntarily agreed to restrict emigration to the United States. California also passed an Alien Land Act which barred aliens, especially Asians, from holding title to land. Because it was difficult for people born in Asia to obtain U.S. citizenship until the 1960s, land ownership titles were held by their American-born children, who were full citizens. The law was overturned by the California Supreme Court as unconstitutional in 1952.
In 1886, when a Chinese laundry owner challenged the constitutionality of a San Francisco ordinance clearly designed to drive Chinese laundries out of business, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in his favor, and in doing so, laid the theoretical foundation for modern equal protection constitutional law. See Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 356 (1886). Meanwhile, even with severe restrictions on Asian immigration, tensions between immigrant workers and native-born laborers persisted.
Novelist Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
writes of the struggles of workers in the city of Oakland
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
in his visionary classic, Valley of the Moon.
Tensions in California politics
From the post-Civil War period up to 1899, perhaps the predominant tension in California politics was the struggle between a controlling group of railroad companies and large businesses, on the one hand, and small farmers and businesses on the other. In an era when politics and politicians were routinely viewed as corrupt, the railroads, banks, and wealthy land-owners were seen to be able simply to purchase legislators and legislation to their liking.While the excesses of this era led to the populist reforms of the early 20th century, the ability of this powerful group of interests to control California politics was seldom successfully challenged in the 19th century.
California governors
The following is a list of American governors of California, elected to office by 1899.
- Peter Burnett (1849-1851) Independent DemocratIndependent DemocratIndependent Democrat is a term occasionally adopted by American politicians to refer to their party affiliation. Several elected officials, including members of Congress, have identified as " Independent Democrats."...
- John McDougall (1851-1852) Independent Democrat
- John BiglerJohn BiglerJohn Bigler was an American lawyer, politician and diplomat. A Democrat, he served as the third Governor of California from 1852 to 1856 and was the first California governor to complete an entire term in office successfully, as well as the first to win re-election...
(1852-1856) DemocratDemocratic Party (United States)The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous... - J. Neeley Johnson (1856-1858) American (Know-Nothing)
- John Weller (1858-1860) Democrat
- Milton LathamMilton LathamMilton Slocum Latham was an American politician, and served as the sixth Governor of California and as a member of the federal U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. Latham holds the distinction of having the shortest governorship in California history, lasting for five days between...
(1860-1860) Lecompton Democrat - John G. DowneyJohn G. DowneyJohn Gately Downey was an Irish-American politician and the seventh Governor of California from January 14, 1860 to January 10, 1862. Until the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003, Downey was California's only foreign-born governor...
(1860-1862) Lecompton Democrat - Leland StanfordLeland StanfordAmasa Leland Stanford was an American tycoon, industrialist, robber baron, politician and founder of Stanford University.-Early years:...
(1862-1863) RepublicanRepublican Party (United States)The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S... - Frederick LowFrederick LowFrederick Ferdinand Low was an American politician, US congressman and the ninth Governor of California.-Life:Born in Frankfort in 1828, Low attended the Hampden Academy in Hampden, Maine. Low moved to California, entering the shipping business in San Francisco in 1849...
(1863-1867) Republican UnionistUnionist Party (United States)The Union Party was a fusion political party conceived by Republicans in 1861 to combine people of all political affiliations into a single movement committed to the preservation of the Union and to war. Republicans wanted to project an image of wartime nonpartisanship and they also expected to... - Henry Huntly Haight (1867-1871) Democrat
- Newton BoothNewton BoothNewton Booth was an American politician.Born in Salem, Indiana, he attended the common schools. In 1841, his parents Beebe and Hannah Booth moved from Salem to Terre Haute, Indiana. Newton graduated from Asbury University, later renamed DePauw University, in nearby Greencastle, Indiana. He studied...
(1871-1875) Republican - Romualdo PachecoRomualdo PachecoJosé Antonio Romualdo Pacheco Jr. was an American politician and diplomat. Involved in California state and federal politics, Pacheco was elected and appointed to various posts and offices throughout his more than thirty-year career, including the California State Senate, the 12th Governor of...
(1875-1875) Republican - William Irwin (1875-1880) Democrat
- George PerkinsGeorge Clement PerkinsGeorge Clement Perkins was a U.S. Republican politician, who was the 14th governor of California from January 8, 1880, to January 10, 1883, and a United States senator from 1893 until 1915. He also served in the California State Senate...
(1880-1883) Republican - George StonemanGeorge StonemanGeorge Stoneman, Jr. was a career United States Army officer, a Union cavalry general in the American Civil War, and the 15th Governor of California between 1883 and 1887.-Early life:...
(1883-1887) Democrat - Washington BartlettWashington BartlettWashington Montgomery Bartlett was the 20th Mayor of San Francisco, California from 1883–1887 and was California's first and to date only Jewish Governor of California.- Life and career :...
(1887-1887) Democrat - Robert WatermanRobert Waterman (governor)Robert Whitney Waterman was an American politician. He served as the 17th Governor of California from September 12, 1887 until January 8, 1891.-Early years:...
(1887-1891) Republican - Henry MarkhamHenry MarkhamHenry Harrison Markham was a United States Representative from March 4, 1885 to March 3, 1887 and the 18th Governor of California from January 8, 1891 until January 11, 1895.Markham was born in Wilmington, New York...
(1891-1895) Republican - James BuddJames BuddJames Herbert Budd was an American lawyer and Democratic politician. Involved in federal and state politics, Budd was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for the 2nd California district from 1883 to 1885, and later elected as the 19th Governor of California from 1895 until...
(1895-1899) Democrat - Henry GageHenry GageHenry Tifft Gage was an American lawyer, politician and diplomat. A Republican, Gage was elected to a single term as the 20th Governor of California from 1899 to 1903. Gage was also the U.S. Minister to Portugal for several months in 1910.-Biography:Gage was born on Christmas Day, 1852 in Geneva,...
(1899-1903) Republican
See also
- Politics of CaliforniaPolitics of CaliforniaThe recent and current politics of the U.S. state of California are complex and involve a number of entrenched interests. .-Political issues:...
- History of California to 1899History of California to 1899Human history in California begins with indigenous Americans first arriving in California some 13,000-15,000 years ago. Exploration and settlement by Europeans along the coasts and in the inland valleys began in the 16th century...
- California Gold RushCalifornia Gold RushThe California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
- California and the railroadsCalifornia and the railroadsThe establishment of America's transcontinental rail lines securely linked California to the rest of the country, and the far-reaching transportation systems that grew out of them during the century that followed contributed to the state’s social, political, and economic development...
- Political party strength in CaliforniaPolitical party strength in CaliforniaThe following table indicates the party of elected officials in the U.S. state of California:*Governor*Lieutenant Governor*Attorney General*Secretary of State*Treasurer*Controller*Insurance Commissioner*Superintendent of Public Instruction...