It should go without saying that our country is embroiled in another brutal presidential election campaign.
I don”t know about you folks, but all this political talk simultaneously enthralls me and makes me want to turn my brain off.
I think we could all use a break from the year-and-a-half long campaign trail.
Allow me to pay homage to the only man in our country”s history to be recognized as Emperor.
On Sept. 17, 1859, Joshua Norton declared himself Emperor of the United States. He reigned for nearly 21 years before his death. Historians estimate as many as 30,000 people attended his funeral.
Why were you not aware of this, you might ask? Well, Norton was considered eccentric, even crazy, at the time.
Norton was born in England in 1819 and grew up in South Africa before making his way to booming San Francisco around 1850 with a $40,000 inheritance.
Norton achieved success in real estate in the city, racking up a fortune of approximately $250,000. But a business opportunity gone wrong changed Norton”s life.
A Chinese rice famine in 1857 caused the price of rice to skyrocket in the city. Norton got wind of a Peruvian ship carrying rice and purchased the entire shipment for $25,000 in an attempt to corner the market.
Shortly after, more ships from Peru came carrying rice, which eased the inflation and eventually bankrupted Norton.
Distraught, Norton fled the city and went into self-imposed exile. Upon his return, he declared himself emperor in the grandest sense.
“At the peremptory request and desire of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for the last nine years and 10 months past of San Francisco, California, declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these U.S.”
The declaration went on to direct representatives from every state in the nation to meet in order “to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exit, both at home and abroad, in our stability and integrity.”
He signed it “Norton I, Emperor of the United States.”
His announcement was reprinted, perhaps in jest, in the San Francisco Bulletin.
But Norton I, who later added Protector of Mexico to his title, took his self-appointed job quite seriously.
He inspected the streets of San Francisco in a blue uniform with gold-plated epaulets that was given to him by U.S. Army officers at the Presidio.
He would frequently wax philosophical on a variety of topics to anyone within earshot.
He issued numerous decrees, including one that abolished Congress, another that abolished the Democratic and Republican parties and one that fined people for use of the “abominable” name “Frisco” for his beloved city.
While his reign is seen as quirky, Norton did display signs of foresight.
In 1872, he delivered a decree that called for the construction of a suspension bridge or tunnel between San Francisco and Oakland. Of course, that bridge would not come along for another 64 years.
He was treated with reverence throughout his adopted city. He ate at the finest restaurants and always had a reserved balcony for play openings and musical performances.
All the while, he was essentially broke and even turned to printing his own money, which was accepted as currency within the city.
It warms my heart how much the city and its residents cared for this man, a character in his own right.
Upon his death in January 1880, the San Francisco Chronicle ran his obituary on its front page under the headline “the King is Dead.”
He is still honored to this day, most recently in 2004 when the San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution to rename the new span of the Bay Bridge in his name. It failed when the Oakland City Council expressed disapproval.
While this column was intended as a distraction from the election cycle, it is also important to remember where we came from as a country as we decide where we will go in our future.
I hope the United States continues to be the home of the brave, but also a home for oddballs such as Emperor Norton.
Kevin N. Hume can be reached at kevin.n.hume@gmail.com or call directly 263-5636 ext. 14. Follow on Twitter: @KevinNHume.
