0:04 [SPEAKER_00]: As well as you know U.S. history, you probably don't know that the U.S. Congress was officially abolished in 1859. 0:14 [SPEAKER_00]: After decades of corruption, its powers were stripped, and its members were effectively banned from governing the people of the United States. 0:25 [SPEAKER_00]: All former members of Congress were told to evacuate the capital, effective immediately 0:32 [SPEAKER_00]: all who did not comply with this request would be forcibly removed from the premises by the commanding general of the United States Army when filled Scott. 0:44 [SPEAKER_00]: In a critique that will sound very familiar to you, Congress was denounced for all of its fraud and corruption that prevented a fair and proper expression of the public voice. 0:57 [SPEAKER_00]: It was scolded for the nation's growing civil unrest, which had promoted with its own open violation of the law. 1:06 [SPEAKER_00]: This decree condemned all of the government chaos, caused by mobs, parties, factions, and the undoing fluids of political sex, so that the citizen has not the protection of person, and property, which he is entitled. 1:25 [SPEAKER_00]: and reading this document today, which was originally released in October, 1859, it sounds as relevant as ever. 1:34 [SPEAKER_00]: When Congress refused to disperse, and the integrity of the nation appeared to have crossed a point of no return, the Republic itself was dissolved. 1:44 [SPEAKER_00]: Just 84 years after the founding of America, the Republic of these United States was 1:55 [SPEAKER_00]: Whereas, it is necessary for our peace, prosperity, and happiness, as also to the national advancement of the people of the United States, that they should dissolve the Republican form of government in established and its dead and absolute monarchy. 2:13 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, therefore, we, norton the first, by the grace of God Emperor, of the 33 states and the multitude of territories of the United States of America, do hereby dissolve the Republic of the United States, and it is hereby dissolved. 2:35 [SPEAKER_00]: The reason you've never heard of this decree, and the reason the American Republic survived, 2:40 [SPEAKER_00]: is that the only person who ever acknowledged the sovereign monarchy of Emperor Norton, the first, was Norton himself. 2:51 [SPEAKER_00]: Though he never acquired any official power, the Emperor became the unofficial mascot of the young city of San Francisco, which had been incorporated only 10 years earlier in 1850. 3:07 [SPEAKER_00]: The gold rush of 1849 had grown the population from 1,000 to 25,000 in a single year. 3:17 [SPEAKER_00]: In a large cast of colorful characters began to fill the city in their search for gold, sailors and adventurers from around the world changed to the identity of that region overnight. 3:31 [SPEAKER_00]: The mood of the city was defined by the frenzy that had populated it so quickly. 3:37 [SPEAKER_00]: with the kind of people who would risk everything for a fortune. 3:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Ships full of speculators would dock in San Francisco and empty out into the California Hills. 3:49 [SPEAKER_00]: At one point, there were more than 500 abandoned ships in San Francisco Harbor. 3:56 [SPEAKER_00]: Left there by treasure hunters who had gone all in on the prospect of becoming millionaires. 4:03 [SPEAKER_00]: Many of these ships were eventually sunk, and others were cleaned by squatters. 4:08 [SPEAKER_00]: But the point is, simply, that San Francisco, in the 1850s, was a crazy place filled with fanatical people. 4:18 [SPEAKER_00]: It may be that no city in the world was so well-suited to celebrate a man like Emperor Norton as this California boom town, at the very limits of western civilization. 4:31 [SPEAKER_00]: You can't chase gold as recklessly, as the people of San Francisco, without developing a pretty good sense of humor. 4:40 [SPEAKER_00]: you can't live on that knife's edge between bankruptcy and millions, for very long, without realizing the absurdity of human existence. 4:52 [SPEAKER_00]: In a setting like that, the arbitrary nature of things like success and failure, and even of institutions like government authority comes into focus and everything starts to feel 5:08 [SPEAKER_00]: So, when Joshua Norton, a failed English businessman, who lost his fortune on Peruvian rice speculation, declared himself by the power vested in himself by himself, the first emperor of a nation. 5:24 [SPEAKER_00]: Currently led by one of the worst presidents in American history, James Buchanan. 5:31 [SPEAKER_00]: The people loved it. 5:33 [SPEAKER_00]: As far as they were concerned, North and South Coronation made about as much sense as anything the actual government was doing. 5:43 [SPEAKER_00]: So they celebrated it as a form of outrageous political commentary. 5:49 [SPEAKER_00]: The actual declaration of Norton's monarchy was distributed to a handful of local newspapers and ran as follows. 5:58 [SPEAKER_00]: At the request and desire of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Josh Wooden-Norton of San Francisco, California, declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these United States. 6:14 [SPEAKER_00]: And in virtue of the authority thereby in me, vested, to hear by order and direct the representatives of the different states of the Union to assemble in musical hall of this city. 6:26 [SPEAKER_00]: On the first day of February, next, then and there to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union, as may ameliorate, the evils underwitch the country is laboring. 6:41 [SPEAKER_00]: and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and abroad, in our stability and integrity. 6:51 [SPEAKER_00]: Signed, Norton the First, Emperor of the United States. 6:57 [SPEAKER_00]: The comedy of Norton, drawing his authority from this tiny loop of circular reasoning, along with his suggestion that he was only taking the role of Emperor, at the request and desire of a large majority of the citizens of these United States made him an immediate hit with the local population. 7:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Additionally, the thought that the leader of the United States would come from this 7:27 [SPEAKER_00]: all San Franciscoans enjoyed. 7:30 [SPEAKER_00]: The gold rush had brought the city a wave of criminal activity and a large criminal class. 7:36 [SPEAKER_00]: San Francisco was the wildest of the wild west and right behind the people who came to find gold for people who came to rob and murder the people that found gold. 7:48 [SPEAKER_00]: And then of course, gamblers, pimps, and prostitutes who came to profit of all of this 7:58 [SPEAKER_00]: This rather surreal city, immediately understood that this surreal humor of Norton's brash proclamations, he became a kind of mascot for this city, and a kind of symbolic middle finger to the rest of the country, who was poorly governed and quickly spiraling into the chaos of civil war. 8:22 [SPEAKER_00]: An unlike the actual officials of government, 8:25 [SPEAKER_00]: Norton was accessible every day of the week without appointment. 8:30 [SPEAKER_00]: Due to the fact that he had no office or actual work to which to attend, he could be found on any given day wandering the city, inspecting sidewalks and street lamps, and just about every other aspect of public life. 8:46 [SPEAKER_00]: He was especially fond of inspecting the police force, at least, among those officers who were good-natured enough to play along. 8:56 [SPEAKER_00]: And even if you had never met Norton, or seen his picture, he was easy to spot, as he actually dressed like an emperor. 9:05 [SPEAKER_00]: As one historian describes him, he was always, clad in a blue military uniform, 9:12 [SPEAKER_00]: with the pallets of exaggerated size, and he wore a tall beaver hat at the front of which was a brass rosette holding a gorgeous plum of gray colored feathers. 9:25 [SPEAKER_00]: There was always a rose bud in his lapel and a regal sword at his belt, stalky of build with the heavy mustache and a finely pointed beard. 9:35 [SPEAKER_00]: He was truly the sight of a benevolent monarch. 9:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet Norton ate soup kitchens in full imperial garb having lost his fortune on financial speculation in order to solve his cash shortage he found one invaluable way of making money which was simply to make money as and he actually created his own money as every emperor has a right to do 10:08 [SPEAKER_00]: He printed his own American currency with his image on it, and backed by the imperial government of North and the First. 10:17 [SPEAKER_00]: Better yet, many businesses around the city actually accepted these notes as legal tender, but only from him. 10:26 [SPEAKER_00]: On a side note, some of these notes are still around, and when they surface at auctions, they draw heavy bidding and huge prices. 10:34 [SPEAKER_00]: 150 cent note can sell for tens of thousands of dollars, but while many were happy to support the unofficial mascot of San Francisco, not everyone was in on the joke. 10:48 [SPEAKER_00]: In 1867, Norton was arrested by a private security force on charges of madness. 10:55 [SPEAKER_00]: for the purposes of committing him to what was called in those days in asylum for the insane. 11:01 [SPEAKER_00]: The public response to this arrest was swift and overwhelming. 11:05 [SPEAKER_00]: The citizens of San Francisco demanded Norton's release and put so much pressure on law enforcement that the San Francisco police chief not only released Norton but also issued a formal apology. 11:24 [SPEAKER_00]: pointed out that Norton had never robbed or beaten anyone, which was more than could be said for the actual government. 11:33 [SPEAKER_00]: As they put it, he had shed no blood, robbed no one, and dispoiled no country, which is more than can be said of his fellows in that line, and Norton knew how to play to the home crowd. 11:48 [SPEAKER_00]: In one proclamation, he made it illegal to refer to his hometown 11:54 [SPEAKER_00]: a name the locals found annoying, in the same way that people from Orange County tend to hate references to the O.C. 12:02 [SPEAKER_00]: The condemnation read, whoever after due improper warning shall be heard to utter the abominable word for sco. 12:11 [SPEAKER_00]: which has no linguistic or other warrant shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor and shall pay into the imperial treasury as penalty the sum of twenty five dollars. 12:26 [SPEAKER_00]: But there were also times when Norton the first behaved, like an actual visionary leader, as in his dealings with the immigrant population of his city. 12:36 [SPEAKER_00]: In the late 19th century, anti-Chinese sentiment in California was at an all-time high. 12:43 [SPEAKER_00]: vast numbers of Chinese had settled in California, and especially San Francisco during the Gold Rush, and their presence in the region led to widespread resentment. 12:55 [SPEAKER_00]: white residents began to feel threatened by the success of these outsiders, and an actual anti-Chinese political party emerged. 13:05 [SPEAKER_00]: The working men's party of California WPC. 13:10 [SPEAKER_00]: The party slogan was simply the Chinese must go. 13:15 [SPEAKER_00]: Norton, as you might imagine, was having none of it. 13:19 [SPEAKER_00]: He would show up at WPC rallies to protest their violence and racist rhetoric, and to defend the Chinese. 13:29 [SPEAKER_00]: While he showed his character in these moments, his lack of official authority prevented him from effectively combating racial violence. 13:38 [SPEAKER_00]: as much as they loved Norton, San Francisco's hated Chinese even more. 13:44 [SPEAKER_00]: The murder and mistreatment of Chinese Americans, sadly continued, and two years after Norton's death, the infamous Chinese exclusion act would be implemented by the US government. 13:57 [SPEAKER_00]: prohibiting all Chinese immigration and naturalization to the United States, along with his opposition to government corruption, Northern also supported women's right to vote, and he demanded that African Americans be allowed to ride public street cars and that they'd be admitted to public schools. 14:18 [SPEAKER_00]: But here again, Northern was a lonely voice in a deeply troubled time, 14:28 [SPEAKER_00]: His most enduring legacy, beyond the memory of his larger-than-life personality, is his proposal for the construction of both a bridge and a tunnel between the cities of Oakland and San Francisco. 14:42 [SPEAKER_00]: More than 60 years later, his dream for a bridge would be realized in the form of this 14:51 [SPEAKER_00]: and more than a hundred years later, his tunnel would become the Trans Bay, tube. 14:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Because of his incredible foresight for these projects, there is currently a movement to rename the Bay Bridge in his honor. 15:07 [SPEAKER_00]: On January 8, 1880, Norton suffered a stroke on his way to a night lecture at the Academy of Natural Sciences. 15:17 [SPEAKER_00]: He died on the sidewalk while a passerby frantically 15:22 [SPEAKER_00]: The following morning, the San Francisco call reported his death as dramatically as he might have hoped. 15:30 [SPEAKER_00]: On the leaking pavement in the darkness of a moonless night, under the dripping rain, north in the first, by the grace of God, Emperor of the United States, and protector of Mexico, departed this life. 15:45 [SPEAKER_00]: The San Francisco Chronicle had lined its own obituary, with a simple phrase, they wore e-more, and English, the king is dead. 15:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Upon learning that their emperor had died in poverty, and was going to be buried in a simple coffin, the businessman of San Francisco, bought an ordinate casket, and paid for a stately funeral that was attended by more than 10,000 people. 16:13 [SPEAKER_00]: who lie in the streets for a funeral procession more than two miles long. 16:19 [SPEAKER_00]: According to the Chronicle, so many people attended the funeral that policemen were called in to regulate the entrance. 16:27 [SPEAKER_00]: In the words of that paper, the visitors included all classes from capitalists to the popper, the clergyman to the pick pocket. 16:37 [SPEAKER_00]: well-dressed ladies and those who's garb and bearing hinted of the social outcast, however, the garb of the laboring man predominated. 16:47 [SPEAKER_00]: Other major newspapers around the country reported on the funeral in the Cincinnati inquire, referred to Norton as an emperor without enemies, a king without a kingdom, supported in life by the willing tribute of a free people, 17:08 [SPEAKER_00]: on reading of Norton's death in the New York Times, Mark Twain, who knew Norton from his time in San Francisco, wrote to the editor of the Atlantic Monthly. 17:19 [SPEAKER_00]: What an odd thing, it is that neither Frank Sol nor Charlie Warren started, nor I, nor Brett Hart, the Immortal Bill 17:28 [SPEAKER_00]: nor any other professionally literary person in San Francisco has ever written up the Emperor Norton. 17:37 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh dear, it was always a painful thing for me to see the Emperor begging. 17:42 [SPEAKER_00]: For although nobody else believed he was an Emperor, he believed it. 17:48 [SPEAKER_00]: Though Twain never wrote a form of biography of Norton, he was the inspiration behind the character of the King, and the adventurers of Huckleberry Finn. 17:59 [SPEAKER_00]: other authors like Robert Lewis Stevenson and Neil Gaiman have also based characters on this king without a kingdom. 18:15 [SPEAKER_00]: Today, Norton is almost forgotten in the corruption of Congress which he tried and vained to abolish, continues, more or less unabated. 18:26 [SPEAKER_00]: and all of the national chaos that Norton campaigned against caused by mobs, parties, factions, and the undo influence of political sex is as prevalent as ever. 18:40 [SPEAKER_00]: But remembering the Emperor reminds us that our problems are not new, and that sometimes the only victories that emerge from troubled times, like our own. 18:50 [SPEAKER_00]: are not major political breakthroughs, but small, strange, and often inexplicable triumphs of the human spirit. 19:01 [SPEAKER_00]: In our next episode, we'll head in the opposite direction, to the God forsaken French showman and show eater Tarari who was a misfit of an all-together, different kind.
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