Emperor Norton, however, was not ignored.
Though he was considered insane, or at least highly eccentric, the citizens of San Francisco celebrated his regal presence and his proclamations, most famously, his "order" that the United States Congress be dissolved by force (which Congress and the U.S. Army ignored) and his numerous decrees calling for a bridge and a tunnel to be built across San Francisco Bay (which both happened long after his death in the form of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge and the Transbay Tube).His real name was Joshua Abraham Norton. For a while he was a successful businessman, but when he lost all his money in a bad deal for Peruvian rice, he completely flipped and declared himself Emperor:
At the peremptory request and desire of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for the last 9 years and 10 months past of S. F., Cal., declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these U. S.; and in virtue of the authority thereby in me vested, do hereby order and direct the representatives of the different States of the Union to assemble in Musical Hall, of this city, on the 1st day of Feb. next, then and there to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and abroad, in our stability and integrity.
NORTON I, Emperor of the United States.
The above was distributed to the newspapers of San Francisco, and amazingly the San Francisco Bulletin published it (as a joke, of course). Thus began the 21 year "reign" of Norton I, Emperor of These United States and Protector of Mexico.
He began issuing decrees, chief among them being the order to dissolve the United States Congress. It was no longer necessary to have such a thing now that there was an Emperor, of course. He attempted to order General Winfield Scott (a real person) to kick Congress to the curb by force.
After his decree failed, he began focusing on domestic matters. One of the more famous decrees was to issue fines of $25 for anyone who would dare "utter the abominable word 'Frisco', which has no linguistic or other warrant." It's hard not to agree with that. There were even a few decrees that made a lot of sense:
For all of his quirks and regardless of the precise nature of his psychological condition, Norton was on some occasions a visionary, and a number of his "Imperial Decrees" exhibited a profound foresight. Among his many edicts were instructions to form a League of Nations, and he explicitly forbade any form of discord or conflict between religions or their sects. Norton also saw fit on a number of occasions to decree the construction of a suspension bridge or tunnel connecting Oakland and San Francisco ...
In 1919, decades after his death, the League of Nations, a precursor to the UN, was formed. As for the bridge, someone did that too.
It's one thing to be a crazy guy who decrees this and that, but it's an entirely different thing to actually be noticed, and in most cases respected, by the people of your city. Though San Franciscans didn't believe he had any actual Imperial authority, they did nonetheless vest him with a certain respect and credibility.
It was during one of his inspections that Norton is reputed to have performed one of his most famous acts of "diplomacy." During the 1860s and 1870s, there were a number of anti-Chinese demonstrations in the poorer districts of San Francisco. Ugly riots, some resulting in fatalities, broke out on several occasions. During one such incident, Norton allegedly positioned himself between the rioters and their Chinese targets, and with a bowed head started reciting the Lord's Prayer repeatedly until the rioters dispersed without incident.
Norton was much loved and revered by the citizens of San Francisco. Although penniless, he regularly ate at the finest restaurants in San Francisco; these restaurateurs then took it upon themselves to add brass plaques in their entrances declaring "[b]y Appointment to his Imperial Majesty, Emperor Norton I of the United States." By all accounts, such "Imperial seals of approval" were much prized and a substantial boost to trade. Supposedly, no play or musical performance in San Francisco would dare to open without reserving balcony seats for Norton.
They even went so far as to honour currency he made himself as legal tender!
He collapsed and died on a sidewalk in 1880. He was penniless, and owned little more than the clothes on his back. Nonetheless, he was given a funeral befitting a high ranking dignitary, which was attended by an estimated 30,000 people.
The thought of someone like Emperor Norton existing today is impossible. I can't imagine a reputable newspaper (if there is such a thing in 2010) printing a decree from a crazy man. If anything, a person who publishes an order to forcibly dissolve the United States Congress would probably be considered a terrorist and locked up. If Emperor Norton were alive today, he'd be a run-of-the-mill homeless man, perhaps one of the more eccentric ones, but he certainly would not be receiving special treatment.
It kind of makes me sad that we will never see anything like Emperor Norton in the modern world. Even if you view the treatment of Norton in San Francisco as a big joke that everyone in the city was in on, it's still a positive. He was eccentric, and probably delusional, but he represented something we sorely lack today. He was not loved for what he looked like, where he came from, what he built, or what he owned. The respect for Emperor Norton was genuine; it was for his words and his deeds.
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