Between the first of September and the thirteenth of October, 1849, Colton Hall was the site of a convention called by Governor Riley to draft California's first Constitution. Bayard Taylor of the New York Herald-Tribune reported that "...the building was probably the only one in California suited to the purpose." Show
Forty-eight delegates elected from ten districts debated complicated issues such as the location of the eastern boundary line -- the Sierra Nevada Mountains or the Rocky Mountains. Slavery was forbidden in this historic document and after some heated discussion, San Jose was chosen as the first State Capital. Before voting, each resolution and article was translated in Spanish for the benefit of the eight delegates who spoke only that language. Today, Colton Hall retains its historic character. Authentic items and replicas recreate the room where the delegates met, debated, and approved a remarkable document. Forty-eight delegates, of interesting and diverse backgrounds, met in Colton Hall for the convention. Thirty-six of the men were born in the United States; six were native-born Californios, and the remaining came from Spain, Ireland, Scotland, France, and Switzerland. Their backgrounds varied, but law, ranching and merchandising predominated. Because not all the delegates spoke English, the proceedings were translated into Spanish by English merchant of Monterey, William Hartnell. For six weeks the men worked on creating California’s first constitution. They met in the small schoolrooms of the first floor of Colton Hall on specific issues, then came together in the large second story hall to debate and vote. The work was completed and the final constitution, written in both English and Spanish, was signed on October 13, 1849. Important issues were debated during the convention. Article XII, which dealt with the placement of the new states’ eastern boundary, took up many days of debate. The Sierra Nevada was finally settled upon because it was felt the mountain range made not only a natural boundary, but also a defensible border. A unanimous vote proclaimed California as a free state, a decision that was of vital importance to the balance of power between the slave-owning states and those, which stood against slavery. The first capital of California was designated to be San Jose. Rights of suffrage, who could hold an elected office, education, and women’s property rights were some of the issues that were settled during the convention.When the constitution was signed, General Riley addressed the assembled delegates with these words: "I am satisfied now that the people have done right in selecting delegates to form a constitution. They have chosen a body of men upon whom our country may look with pride; you have formed a constitution worthy of California. And I have no fear for California while her people choose their representatives so wisely. Gentlemen, I congratulate you upon the successful conclusion of your arduous labors; and I wish you all happiness and prosperity."After the people of California approved the new constitution it was sent to the United States government. It took nearly a year for Congress to deliberate over the question of admitting California into the Union. Finally, on September 9, 1850, President Millard Fillmore signed the documents declaring California the 31st state. Bayard Taylor described the final day of the Convention in the New York Herald-Tribune on October 13, 1849: They were all in the happiest humor, and the morning was so bright and balmy that no one seemed disposed to call an organization. Eventually, they were called to order, and they proceeded to affix their names to the completed Constitution. At this moment, a signal was given; the American colors ran up the flagstaff in front of the Government buildings, and streamed out on the air. A second afterward the first gun boomed from the fort, and its stirring echoes came back from one hill after another, 'til they were lost in the distance. As the signing went on, gun followed gun from the fort, the echoes reverberating grandly around the bay, 'til finally, as the loud ring of the thirty-first was heard, there was a shout: 'That's for California!'”
The signers of the original California Constitution were the 48 delegates to the constitutional convention. The convention met from September to November 1849 at Colton Hall in Monterey, California. The Constitution was written in both English and Spanish and provided that all major legislation was to be written in both languages. This requirement was dropped when a new constitution was formulated in 1878--1879. The California State Archives includes images of the title page and the signature pages, as well as the text of the original Constitution.
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Identifier: FF-SIGNERS
“Signers of the Original California Constitution.” History of California. Hubert Howe Bancroft. San Francisco, A.L. Bancroft, 1884-90. Volume VI, p. 288. SCPL Local History. https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/items/show/4532. Accessed 30 Oct. 2022.
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Published originally in 1867, this second edition included events that transpired during the intervening years (1867-1883). Topics covered included, but not limited to, were a eescription of California, it’s discovery, the sufferings of Cortez and his Followers, Spaniards neglect of California, the commerce of Spain disrupted by Privateers, Viscaino’s second expedition, Father Salva-Tierra at San Dionysio, the insurrection of the Pericues, earliest settlements in Upper California, the Discovery of the Bay of San Francisco, establishment of missions, Mission Delores, the state of the converted Indians, Captain John A. Sutter, Stockton subjugation of California, California ceded to the United States by Mexico, discovery of gold, California towns, Indian wars, descriptions of California landscape, mining, establishment of the Vigilance Committee, land claims, establishment of schools and churches, trade with China and other countries, railroads, Chinese, Hoodlum Riots, Pickhandle Brigade, Kearney, organization of Workingmen’s Party, the Amador War, Modoc War, development and exportation of wheat, hydraulic mining, interference with farmers’ occupation by slickens (unproductive sludge from the mining process).
United States Library of Congress
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"1883 - A popular history of California _ from the earliest period of its discovery to the present time, Lucia Norman" (2019). Miscellaneous Documents and Reports. 102. Page 21
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Hittell devotes the first portion of Volume 2 to the Mexican Governors of California including Pablo Vicente de Sola, Luis Antonio Arguello, Jose Maria de Echeandia, Manuel Victoria, Pio Pico, Jose Figueroa, Mariano Chico, Nicolas Gutierrez. Juan Bautista Alvarado, Jose Manuel Micheltorena, Hittell also describes the people and circumstances leading up to the war between the United States and Mexico: John C. Fremont, Bear Flag Revolution, Texas Revolution, and Florida Treaty. The final portion of Hittell's book addressed the social and cultural aspects of life in Alta California, missionaries, physical geography, geology, botany and zoology of Alta California, Americans in Alta California, Commodore Sloat, Eugene McNamara, Robert F. Stockton, Stephen W. Kearny, Richard B. Mason, gold discovery, Bennet Riley, land titles, September 1, 1849 California Constitutional Convention, organization of the State of California, first State of California Legislature, and admission of California into the Union,
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"1885 - History of California, Volume 2, Theodore Henry Hittell" (2019). Miscellaneous Documents and Reports. 96. |
Who wrote when the first California Constitution was written?
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