Constitution Making
Forty-eight prominent Californians assembled in Monterey's Colton Hall early in September 1849. Their task was to draft a constitution for California. Eight of the delegates were Spanish-speaking members of the old rancho elite, including Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo of Sonoma. A majority of the delegates had lived in California more than three years; about half were less than 35 years old.
Perhaps the most pressing issue facing the delegates was whether to petition Congress for admission as a territory or as a state. Because the gold rush had already brought in such a large population, the delegates understandably resolved to skip the territorial stage and apply immediately for statehood. Another issue of great importance was the question of slavery. By a unanimous vote, the delegates decided to seek California's admission to the union as a free state.
The delegates also voted to include in the constitution a provision for the separate ownership of property by a married woman. All property of a wife, owned before she got married or acquired afterward, would remain her property. Such had been the practice in Mexican California, but no other American state yet allowed women this privilege.
The question that gave the delegates the most trouble was the issue of California's eastern boundary. After considerable discussion, the boundary was set at its present location along the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada.
The prospect of admitting the state of California to the union sparked one of the great debates in our nation's history. California's admission as a free state would upset the equal balance in the number of free and slave states, a balance that had long allowed the south to protect its "peculiar institution."
The controversy was resolved when northern senators agreed to pass a stringent new fugitive slave law. Southern senators, thus mollified, agreed to the admission of California as a free state. President Millard Fillmore signed the bill for the admission of California on September 9, 1850.
News of the momentous event did not reach California for about five weeks. On the morning of October 18, the S.S. Oregon sailed into San Francisco Bay with all flags flying in celebration of the exciting news it bore. Soon a parade was organized down Market Street. City marshals in crimson scarves led the festivities, marching along with a brass band of buglers and a troupe of Chinese revelers carrying bright blue silk banners. That night, huge bonfires on Twin Peaks and other hills around the city lit the evening sky.
One of the important issues left unresolved by the California constitutional convention was the location of a permanent state capital. In a remarkable display of fiscal responsibility, they left its location open to future bids from rival towns. They hoped thereby to acquire land and buildings for the capital without cost to the state treasury.
San Jose was the first city to enter the capital sweepstakes. The state legislature assembled in San Jose for its inaugural session on December 15, 1849. The proceedings were not altogether as stately as one might have hoped. Contemporary critics dubbed it "the legislature of a thousand drinks."
In June 1851 the legislators moved to Vallejo, but were then lured back to San Jose, back to Vallejo, to Sacramento, back to Vallejo again, and then to Benicia. There the legislators took a breather, enjoying for several months the splendid accommodations at the new Benicia City Hall. But even this was not to be their final resting spot. At last, in 1854, the legislators settled on Sacramento as their permanent headquarters. They met in the Sacramento County Courthouse until construction of the present capitol building was nearly completed in 1869.