276 THE MINING CAMPS; FORMATION OF CONSTITUTION. Flat, Mad Mule Gulch, Rat Trap Slide, Slap Jack Bar, etc.* Started by companies, associations or individuals, these camps sometimes grew until they contained 500 or more people according to the stories of success which came from them. The government of these places, if such it could be called, was of a primitive sort. Justice was meted out by rules and regulations enforced by officers chosen by each community. Sometimes an alcalde was elected and given power to maintain order, punish crime, and redress injuries; sometimes the government was intrusted to a committee of justice and sometimes to a miners' court. On the whole the region was bordering on a state of anarchy. The habit of carrying weapons was universal; drunken brawls became common; ruffians united in bands to rob, the convoys from the mines being their special prey; murders were every-day affairs for which lynch law was frequently invoked; the Indians. raided the settlements and stole horses and cattle; the vineyards and orchards of San José and Santa Clara were destroyed by emigrants; San Luis Obispo was said to be "a complete sink of drunkenness and debauchery"; and murder was deemed a lesser crime than theft.t As yet Congress had provided no form for Territorial government. The *McMaster, p. 608. Bancroft, Pacific States, vol. xviii., pp. 229268. For a short description of camp life see Elson, Side Lights on American History, p. 254 et seq. military government which existed since the ratification of the treaty was unsuited to the public needs.* Meetings were held at many places in the territory and a convention to frame a government was called to meet on May 6, 1849, in case Congress adjourned on March 4 without making provision for a Territory. But the meeting of the convention was postponed from time to time and the people began to lose interest in the movement. Meanwhile in April General Bennett Riley landed at Monterey with troops and orders from the Secretary of War to take up the duties of civil governor under the de facto government which Polk held was in existence. When it became known that Congress had adjourned without organizing California as a Territory, Riley, on June 14, 1849, ordered the election of 37 delegates to frame a State constitution and plan of government.‡ This was done, and on September 1 delegates met at Monterey and framed a constitution.|| This forbade imprisonment for debt, save in cases of fraud; no lotteries. and no banking charters were to be authorized or granted by the legis *On this subject see David Y. Thomas, A History of Military Government in Newly Acquired Territory of the United States (1904). Bancroft, Pacific States, vol. xviii., p. 282. Von Holst, Constitutional and Political History, vol. iii., p. 463. For which see Thorpe, Federal and State Constitutions, vol. i., pp. 391-407. See also R. D. Hunt, The Genesis of California's First Constitution, in Johns Hopkins Studies, series xiii., vol. viii. (1895). DESERET AND NEW MEXICO. lature; nor could a bill, check, certificate, ticket, promissory note or other paper issued by any association circulate as money. The State credit could never be pledged in any manner to aid an individual, association or corporation. The State debt was never to exceed $300,000 unless the act authorizing it made provision to pay the interest and the principal within twenty years. To the astonishment of the Northern men little objection was made to the clause in the bill of rights which forever prohibited slavery in the State.* The convention finished its work on October 13 and the constitution was ratified by the people on November 13, receiving 12,066 votes against 811.† After the constitution was ratified the people chose State officers and a legislature, and by a compromise arrangement John C. Frémont and William M. Gwin were elected Senators, the former holding anti-slavery and the latter pro-slavery opinions.‡ Meanwhile, east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the people had taken steps looking toward Statehood. When Brigham Young chose the Salt Lake basin for the new Mormon home he was beyond the jurisdiction of the United States, but when the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was proclaimed Bancroft, Pacific States, vol. xviii., p. 290; McMaster, vol. vii., p. 611. Von Holst, Constitutional and Political History, vol. iii., p. 465. James Ford Rhodes, History of the United States from the Compromise of 1850 to the Final Restoration of Home Rule in the South in 1877, vol. i., pp. 115-116. 277. the Mormons once again came under our jurisdiction. As submission was necessary, Young determined to form a State and seek admission into the Union. In February of 1849 the citizens of the country east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains were summoned to attend a convention at Salt Lake City in March. Many responded, and a constitution was adopted for the Territory of Deseret.* Young was made governor and a legislature was chosen, but no Representatives or Senators were elected. A delegate was appointed and sent to Washington with a memorial requesting admission for the Territory of Deseret into the Union, or any other form of civil government which Congress in its wisdom. and magnanimity might award to the people of Deseret. As planned by the Mormons, the Territory of Deseret included the greater part of New Mexico, but the people of the latter Territory in turn marked out a State which embraced the greater part of Deseret. When Congress adjourned without providing civil government for the Territory, the acting governor of New Mexico called a convention to frame a plan of government which would satisfy the needs of the people. This convention met at Santa Fé in September of 1849 and adopted a Territorial constitution, elected a delegate to the coming Congress, and defined the boundaries of New Mexico as the Indian Territory on the North, Cali *This will be found in House Misc. Doc. No. 18, 31st Congress, 1st session. 278 DESERET AND NEW MEXICO. fornia on the west, Mexico on the south, and Texas on the east, though the western limit of Texas was already in dispute. The delegate to Congress was instructed to urge the need of troops in the Territory to protect the settlers against the raids and robberies of the Navajo Indians, the need of money for schools, public highways, post-roads, and county buildings.* * McMaster, vol. vii., pp. 613-614. SERIES ELEVEN LECTURES FIFTY-ONE AND FIFTY-TWO Tendencies to Disunion: The Free Soil Controversy: Slavery and Abolition, 1849-1861 |