CALIFORNIA. The eighteenth state ad mitted to the Union.
In 1534 a Portuguese navigator in the Spanish service discovered the Gulf of California and pen etrated into the mainland, but no settlement was made until about a century, afterwards, when the Franciscan Fathers planted a mission on the site of San Diego ; other settlements soon followed, and in a short time the country was entirely under the control of the priests, who accumulated great wealth. The Spanish power in the territory now constituting California was overthrown by the Mexican revolu tion in 1822, and the secular government by the priests was abolished. By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo,, May 30, 1848, terminating the war between the United States and Mexico, the latter country ceded to the United 'States for $15,000,000 a large tract of land including the present states of Cali fornia, Nevada, and Utah, and part of .Colorado and Wyoming, and of the present territories of Arizona and New Mexico, and the whole tract was called the territory of New Mexico.
The commanding officer of the U. S. forces exer cised the duties of civil governor at first, but June 3, 1849, Brigadier-General Riley, then in command, issued a proclamation for holding an election Au gust 1, 1849, for delegates to a general convention to frame a state constitution.
The convention met at Monterey, Sept. 1, 1849 ; adopted a constitution on October 10, 1849, which was ratified by a vote of the people, November 13, 1849. At the same time an election was held for governor and other state officers, and two members of congress.
The first legislature met at San Jose, December 15, 1849. General Riley, on December 2D, 1849, re signed the administration of civil affairs to the newly elected officers under the constitution, and shortly thereafter two United States senators were elected.
In March, 1850, the senators and representatives submitted to congress the constitution, with a me morial asking the admission of the state into the American Union.
On September 9, 1850, congress passed an act ad mitting the state into the Union on an equal footing with the original states, and allowing her two repre sentatives in congress until an apportionment ac cording to an actual enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States. The third section of the act provides for the admission, upon the express con dition that the people of the state, through their legislation or otherwise, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the public lands within its limits, and shall not pass any law or do any act whereby the title bf the United States to any right to dispose of the same shall be impaired or ques tioned; and that they shall never lay any tax or assessment of any description whatsoever upon the public domain of the United States, and that in no case shall non-resident proprietors who are citizens of the United States be taxed higher than residents; and that all the navigable waters within the state shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the state as to the citizens of the United States, and without any tax, impost, or duty therefor, Congress passed an act, 'March 3, 1851, to ascertain and settle the private land claims in the state of California. By this act a board of commissioners
was created, before whom every person claiming lands in California, by virtue of any right or title derived from the Spanish or Mexican governments, was required to present his claim, together with such documentary evidence and testimony of wit nesses as he relied upon. From the decision of this board an appeal might be taken to the district court of the United States for the district in which the land was situated. Both the board and the court, on passing on the validity of any claim, were re quired to be governed by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the law of nations, the laws, usages, and customs of the government from which the claim was derived, the principles of equity, and the de cisions of the supreme court of the United States. A large part of the best agricultural lands of the state was claimed under Spanish and Mexican grants. The evidence in support of these grants was in many instances meagre and unsatisfactory, and the amount of litigation arising therefrom was enormous and has not yet wholly ceased. The board of commissioners, having completed its work, went out of existence.
By an act passed September 28, 1850, congress de dared all laws of the United States, not locally in applicable, in force within the State.
The constitution adopted in 1849 was amended November 4, 1856, and September 3, 1862, and on January 1, 1880, was superseded by the present con stitution, which had been framed by a convention March 3, 1879, and adopted by popular vote May 7, 1879. It was further amended in 1898, 1902 and 1906. Section 1, article IV amended in 1911 by providing for initiative, referendum and recall; section 1, ar ticle II, amended by giving right of equal suffrage to women in 1912.