President Norton Research Paper
The United States for over twenty years was ruled by some old nut who went bankrupt. And if you know anything about American history or are paying attention at all you know he wasn’t an elected president. No US president has served for twenty years, nor are they allowed to by law. Presidents also have a tendency to be rich. So do emperors, but this one was another matter.
Joshua Abraham Norton was born around 1818 in England and made a failed bid in the San Fransisco rice market. He went bankrupt, and on September 17th of 1859, after five years of lying low, he marched into the San Francisco Bulletin office and had them print an announcement declaring himself Emperor of the United States. Surprisingly, the newspaper went ahead and printed …show more content…
He was soon released with apologies, it being said that: “he had shed no blood; robbed no one; and despoiled no country; which is more than can be said of his fellows in that line."
He died on Friday, January 8, 1880, and 10,000 to 30,000 people came to his funeral two days later. Numbers vary. The newspapers of course, having in a sense given him his office through their acquiescence of his requests, mourned him profusely, along apparently with nearly every other one of his “subjects” in San Francisco. Flags were lowered to half-mast and businesses closed. While originally he was buried in the Masonic Cemetery he was later moved to Woodlawn Cemetery Colma, CA in 1934.
We don’t know why for sure Joshua Abraham Norton made himself Emperor, nor why the people of San Francisco, given every opportunity and reason to chuck him in the loony bin did no such thing, but Morrie Greenberg summarizes the relationship thus: “For Joshua Abraham Norton, becoming an Emperor was a way of making life bearable again. For the people of San Francisco, having an emperor was a delightful but harmless way of poking fun at things people take too seriously.” It was a beautiful and unusual relationship
Joshua Abraham Norton was born around 1818 in England and made a failed bid in the San Fransisco rice market. He went bankrupt, and on September 17th of 1859, after five years of lying low, he marched into the San Francisco Bulletin office and had them print an announcement declaring himself Emperor of the United States. Surprisingly, the newspaper went ahead and printed …show more content…
He was soon released with apologies, it being said that: “he had shed no blood; robbed no one; and despoiled no country; which is more than can be said of his fellows in that line."
He died on Friday, January 8, 1880, and 10,000 to 30,000 people came to his funeral two days later. Numbers vary. The newspapers of course, having in a sense given him his office through their acquiescence of his requests, mourned him profusely, along apparently with nearly every other one of his “subjects” in San Francisco. Flags were lowered to half-mast and businesses closed. While originally he was buried in the Masonic Cemetery he was later moved to Woodlawn Cemetery Colma, CA in 1934.
We don’t know why for sure Joshua Abraham Norton made himself Emperor, nor why the people of San Francisco, given every opportunity and reason to chuck him in the loony bin did no such thing, but Morrie Greenberg summarizes the relationship thus: “For Joshua Abraham Norton, becoming an Emperor was a way of making life bearable again. For the people of San Francisco, having an emperor was a delightful but harmless way of poking fun at things people take too seriously.” It was a beautiful and unusual relationship