A History of California and an Extended History of Los Angeles by James Miller Guinn

Author:James Miller Guinn [Unbekannt]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Geschichte
Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
Published: 2015-11-20T00:00:00+00:00

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . For vs. Against.

Los Angeles county . 1,407 vs. 441

San Bernardino . 441 vs. 29

San Diego . 207 vs. 24

San Luis Obispo . 10 vs. 283

Santa Barbara . 395 vs. 51

Tulare . 17 vs. 0.

Total . 2,477 vs.828

The bill to create the county of Buena Vista from the southern portion of Tulare failed to pass the legislature, hence the name of that county does not appear in the returns. The result of the vote showed that considerably more than two-thirds were in favor of a new state. The results of this movement for division and the act were sent to the president and to congress, but nothing came of it. The pro-slavery faction which with the assistance of its coadjutors of the north had so long dominated congress had lost its power. The southern senators and congressmen were preparing for secession and had weightier matters to think of than the division of the state of California. Of late years, a few feeble attempts have been made to stir up the old question of state division and even to resurrect the old "Pico law."

For more than a decade after its admission into the Union, California was a Democratic state and controlled by the pro-slavery wing of that party. John C. Fremont and William H. Gwin, its first senators, were southern born, Fremont in South Carolina and Gwin in Tennessee. Politics had not entered into their election, but the lines were soon drawn. Fremont drew the short term and his services in the senate were very brief. He confidently expected a re-election, but in this he was doomed to disappointment. The legislature of 1851, after balloting one hundred and forty-two times, adjourned without electing, leaving California with but one senator in the session of 1850-51. In the legislature of 1852 John B. Wilier was elected. He was a northern man with southern principles. His chief opponent for the place was David Colbert Broderick, a man destined to fill an important place in the political history of California. He was an Irishman by birth, but had come to America in his boyhood. He had learned the stone cutters' trade with his father. His early associations were with the rougher element of New York City. Aspiring to a higher position than that of a stone cutter he entered the political field and soon arose to prominence. At the age of 26 he was nominated for Congress, but was defeated by a small majority through a split in the party. In 1849 he came to California, where he arrived sick and penniless. With F. D. Kohler, an assayer, he engaged in coining gold. The profit from buying gold dust at $14 an ounce and making it into $5 and $10 pieces put him in affluent circumstances.

His first entry into politics in California was his election to fill a vacancy in the senate of the first legislature.

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