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California Statehood & Establishment of Tuolumne County
In late 1849 the acting Governor of
California, General Bennett Riley, called on John Sutter to participate in
writing a state constitution, even though California was not yet a state
or even a territory. The United States Congress usually decided
which lands were acquired from countries had adjourned without organizing
a territorial government for California. California contained more
people than required for statehood and thousands more were arriving
weekly. Riley realizing the institutions left over from the Mexican
era of government was inadequate, organized a convention without
authorization from the United States Congress to cope with the large and
growing population. Seeking statehood in September 1849, forty-eight
delegates, representing the diversity of Californians from all walks of
life, gathered in Monterey.
The delegates adopted a bill of rights
based on the federal Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence.
The California Bill of Rights also included a ban on slavery. They
debated many aspects of the boundaries of the state and settled on the
present day boundary. After six weeks, on October 12, 1849, they
completed their work. In November 1849, the first general election was
held in California and voters approved the State of California
Constitution. Four senators and nine assemblymen were elected to
represent the area in the first State Legislature located in San Jose.
The next month the legislature met and selected Colonel John Fremont to be
California’s first senator.
On February 18, 1850, Tuolumne County was
established by the California Legislature and was given its name and
divided into the six townships of Sonora, Mormon Camp, Jacksonville, Don
Pedro’s Bar and Tuolumne City. Tuolumne is translated by some as a Me-Wuk word “Talmalamne”
meanin g a cluster of stone dwellings. At the first California Legislature
meeting in 1848-1849, the town of Sonora, named after the Mexican state of
Sonora, became the county seat of Tuolumne County, only under a different
name. When Malcolm M. Stewart, who represented the San Joaquin district
in the Assembly, went to that first meeting, he called the town “Stewart,
formerly known as Sonoranian Camp.”
The name was changed back to Sonora by petition and an amendment approved
by the State Senate on April 18, 1850. By May 1851, the city of Sonora
was incorporated.
In March 1850, Fremont and the other elected members of
the California congressional delegation arrived in Washington, D.C.
Intense debates over slavery ensued for the next six months by many
notable statesmen—Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster. It
was Senator Benton, John Fremont’s father-in-law, and Stephen Douglas who
finally guided the passage of the Compromise of 1850. California
became the thirty-first state of the Union in September 1850 and was
admitted as a “free” state. Along with the its great increase in
wealth, the pressing need for government,
law and order and financial institutions, California skipped the normal
process of becoming a territory first.
Tuolumne County completed a new brick courthouse,
replacing the original wooden structure. Today the courthouse is
still in use and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
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