1852 California Gold Coin

Posted onJanuary 13, 2012 - 6:23 am by Admin | 0 Comments

Just over 150 years ago, on September 17, 1859, a San Francisco newspaper published an unusual announcement: that a certain Joshua Norton, a resident of the city for the past ten years, had proclaimed himself Norton I, Emperor of the United States. The people and press of San Francisco, already well accustomed to eccentrics, accepted the proclamation with little fuss; and for the next twenty years, until Norton’s death in January of 1880, they treated him with the respect due a person of his station. Every restaurant in the city allowed him to dine without charge; he rode free on all the ferries and streetcars; the best theater seats were reserved for him; and in the United States census of 1870, his occupation was listed as “emperor.”

Norton’s Arrival in Gold Rush California

Joshua Abraham Norton was born in Great Britain, around 1818. In 1820 the Norton family were part of a group of about 5,000 emigrants to South Africa, where Joshua’s father became a leader of the Jewish community and a successful business man. Upon his death, Joshua inherited the family estate, worth about $40,000. In 1849 Joshua joined the rush to California and its gold. In San Francisco, he enjoyed considerable success. By 1852 his fortune had grown to about $250,000. But over the next few years, the economic slowdown resulting from the end of the gold rush, combined with a failed attempt to corner the market in imported rice, reduced Joshua Norton to poverty.

The Emergence of the Emperor Norton

It seems likely that Norton’s financial disaster pushed him into madness, giving rise to his imperial delusions. And yet it was said of him that he could talk rationally and intelligently about any topic – except himself and his empire. Many of his proclamations, unrealistic as they may have been, seemed to have a solid basis in sanity. One of his first edicts after his “accession” noted: “that fraud and corruption prevent a fair and proper expression of the public voice; that open violation of the laws are constantly occurring, caused by mobs, parties, factions and undue influence of political sects; that the citizen has not that protection of person and property which he is entitled to … in consequence of which, We do hereby abolish congress....”


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