Norton I, Emperor of the United States

Did you know that there was an Englishman ruling over America in 1859? No, me neither. That was until whilst indexing for the second part of our American History resource I came across the colourful character of Joshua Abraham Norton, Emperor of the United States.
 
Norton was born in England between 1817 and 1819, then emigrated to San Francisco in 1849 after becoming considerably wealthy following a bequest from his father’s estate. However, he swiftly lost his fortune after investing the lot in the Peruvian rice trade and, following a lengthy court case, was left penniless.

This court case, presumably, played a large role in his disillusionment with American legal and political systems. In 1859 he decided to take matters into his own hands, declaring himself Emperor of the United States.

As an Emperor he was no slacker, issuing numerous proclamations and even abolishing the United States Congress, deeming it fraudulent and corrupted. He called in the Army for assistance in this matter but both they and congress ignored his orders.
As seen in the image below from our forthcoming collection, Emperor Norton adorned himself in an elaborate uniform. He spent much of his time out on the streets of San Francisco and far from being a crazed nuisance he came to be a well-recognised and beloved friend to the people of the city.

Emperor Norton © The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Further reproduction prohibited without permission

The second Emperor Norton related item in our collection is the fifty cent interest bearing note issued by Norton. It seems that these were a good solution to his bankrupt state as amazingly they came to be accepted as local currency in the San Francisco area. 

Fifty-cent interest-bearing note from the Imperial Government of Norton I © The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Further reproduction prohibited without permission

He was even well acquainted with the international royal crowd, reportedly exchanging letters with Queen Victoria and meeting Emperor Pedro II of Brazil.

Although it soon became clear that he died penniless, the people of San Francisco lined the streets for his funeral procession to honour a man who had become a local and national hero. Despite being a whimsical character who is often seen as a bit of a joke, Joshua Norton has left his mark on American History. It is said that Emperor Norton was Mark Twain’s inspiration for the character of the King in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and one of his proclamations, for a bridge connecting Oakland and San Francisco later came into fruition, with construction starting years after his death in 1933. 

American History, 1493-1945 is being published in two modules. Module 2: Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945 is due for publication in June 2015. Module 1: Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859 is available now.