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Read Online Textbook Fruit Crops Diagnosis and Management of Nutrient Constraints 1St Edition Anoop Kumar Srivastava Editor Ebook All Chapter PDF
Read Online Textbook Fruit Crops Diagnosis and Management of Nutrient Constraints 1St Edition Anoop Kumar Srivastava Editor Ebook All Chapter PDF
When I arrived in San Francisco, the causes had already been set in
operation which have worked out for California a state government; and
though they sprang out of a local question, the result was a general one. The
tracing of these causes may not be uninteresting to those who are looking
upon California now as a full-grown state.
As the town of San Francisco began to fill up with American citizens,
lovers of law and order, it was thought necessary that a better form of town
government than then existed was requisite to secure the rights of person
and property. Thus far the old Mexican system of alcaldes or chief-justices,
and ayuntamientos or town councils, had been retained, and the people were
living under a law which they did not understand; a law subject to great
abuses, in the hands of those who did not themselves comprehend it; and it
was determined that the system should be changed, and one which was
understood be substituted. In compliance with a call signed by a large
number of respectable citizens of the town, a mass meeting was held in
Portsmouth Square on the afternoon of February 12th, 1849, when, after
organizing in the usual form, and hearing the remarks made by several
gentlemen, a series of resolutions were offered and unanimously carried, by
which it was determined to form, for the government of the district of San
Francisco, a legislative assembly, which should enact laws, and that three
judges and other necessary officers should be elected to administer them.
On the 21st day of February, an election was held, in compliance with
the above resolutions, and a legislative assembly, consisting of fifteen
members, three judges, a register, and sheriff, was elected. One of the first
acts of the Legislative Assembly, which only claimed authority over the
district of San Francisco, was to abolish the office of alcalde, considering it
not only unnecessary, but incompatible with American institutions; and in
compliance with the act of the Assembly, Myron Norton, Esq., chief-
magistrate, directed a note to T. M. Leavenworth, late alcalde, requesting
him to deliver to the new government the records of the town. To this note
Mr. Leavenworth made no reply, and another one of the same tenor was
sent by Mr. Norton. This received the same treatment as the first. Trouble
appeared to be brewing, and, as is usual in such cases, many, who had been
the first to propose and aid the new movement, were found at this time most
wofully wanting. A code of laws had already been established by the
Assembly, and the wheels of the new local government were ready to be put
in operation, when it was found very difficult to procure a quorum for
business at the meetings of the Legislative Assembly, and it was decided
that additional members should be added thereto. On the 11th of May,
another election was held, at which a large and respectable vote was cast,
and ten members of the Assembly were chosen—and, some informality
having occurred at the previous election, a register, sheriff, and treasurer.
Among the newly-elected members was Peter H. Burnett, now governor of
the new state of California. Previous to this time, a letter had been
addressed by a committee of the Assembly to General Persifer F. Smith,
who was at the time principal military commander in California, to which
was received a decidedly non-committal reply. But it was understood that
Brevet Brigadier-General Riley, who had assumed the civil government of
the territory, would support the old authorities, and, if possible, crush the
Legislative Assembly.
California, and San Francisco in particular, were in a curious political
state of existence. From the time of the treaty of peace with Mexico until
the arrival of Generals Smith and Riley, Colonel R. B. Mason, who had,
during the war, been military commander and governor of California, had
continued in the exercise of his authority, and the country had been ruled by
the same laws and usages as during the war, when it was actually a territory
belonging to Mexico. In express contradiction of at least the intention and
understanding of the government at Washington, Colonel Mason had
appointed collectors, and collected revenue in the ports of California, and in
all respects the military government had been continued; and now, when the
people of San Francisco, in their sovereign capacity, had established a local
government for their own protection, they found themselves interfered with
by a military commander.
The Legislative Assembly, however, went on, receiving, as it did, the
support of the whole community. A court-house was established, and courts