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California politics in the first years after Congress approved statehood on September 9, 1850, were ever-changing and confusing — and occasionally violent to a degree that’s hard to imagine. In fact, the single word which best describes those days would be implausible. The driving forces behind this unlikely story were the massive influx of young arrivals from the East seeking gold and glory in the foothills. There was a sudden need for laws and civil government as military authorities turned over the administration of California almost before the state government was ready.

In the first weeks of the war between the United States and Mexico, California was captured by U.S. forces, with only small skirmishes in the south continuing for another six months. The next three years saw the occupation of California by the U.S. military, with the governing of the territory led by a rapidly changing series of generals. During this time, news of the discovery of gold had reached the eastern states and young men started heading west by every route possible.

By the end of summer 1849, the continued federal occupation of California had become untenable. General Bennet C. Riley, California’s seventh military governor in less than three years, knew that the few soldiers under his control were simply not sufficient to maintain law and order. Having seen enough, Riley issued a proclamation calling for Californians to elect representatives, who would travel to Monterey to write a constitution defining the boundaries of California and creating a minimal framework for the formation of a permanent government.

The legislature that first convened at San Jose was unlike the modern institution we know today. In 1850, the average age of California’s lawmakers was 32 – 20 years younger than the legislators of today. Like the population of the state, most had come to California within the previous few months in pursuit of riches from the soil. Only two had been born in California while it was still part of the Spanish empire, and most of the rest were recent arrivals from the East Coast. Not counting the two native Californians, the farthest west birthplaces for the first lawmakers were Assemblymen John S. Bradford and William M. Shepherd from Illinois.

“Of the thirty-six members of which the Assembly then consisted, over two-thirds never made their appearance without having knives or pistols upon their persons, and frequently both. It was a thing of everyday occurrence for a member, when he entered the House, before taking his seat, to take off his pistols and lay them in the drawer of his desk. He did it with as little concern and as much a matter of course, as he took off his hat and hung it up.”

One notable figure was state Sen. Thomas J. Green of Sacramento, a traveler who never stayed put for long. California was his fourth legislature. Green donated some of his own books to be part of the new collection at what would grow into the California State Library and introduced a bill to establish and endow a state university. However, with California’s government facing significant financial challenges, Green’s bill was seen as a bit premature and didn’t pass. In fact, it would be another decade before the state would approve funding for a humble “normal school” for training teachers that would eventually become the California State University.

Not all the early bills were so forward thinking. Assemblyman Isaac S. K. Ogier of San Joaquin, a native of Charleston, South Carolina, introduced a bill to “prevent the immigration of free Negroes and persons of color into this state.” Ogier’s bill passed the Assembly with a strong majority but was killed the next day in the state Senate on a motion by Sen. David C. Broderick of San Francisco.

Broderick’s star continued to rise, and he was elected to the United States Senate in 1857. Given this national platform, Broderick continued along the lines of his earlier state Senate service, becoming a vocal member of the “Free Soilers” and strongly calling for an end to slavery. Broderick’s opposition to slavery brought him into conflict with David Terry, chief justice of the California Supreme Court, and after an exchange of harsh words, the two agreed to settle their differences in a pistol duel. Broderick was fatally injured in the exchange and died three days later.

After the alleged suicide of state Sen. William D. Fair, who had served with Crittenden in the first legislature, Crittenden began an affair with his widow Laura. After nearly a decade-long entanglement between the two, Crittenden broke off his relationship with Laura Fair in favor of a renewed relationship with his wife. It was clearly not an amicable split, because Laura would soon after murder Crittenden in front of his wife and children.

The pace didn’t slow for more than a decade, and because there were far better opportunities to earn a living elsewhere, almost no legislators served more than a single term. By the end of the State of California’s first decade, more than 700 people had served in the legislature, approximately the same number that we’ve seen in the past 50.

It would be entirely reasonable to imagine that this sounds like an overly imaginative plot for a daytime drama. Indeed, to use a modern phrase, it would be entirely accurate to say that California politics “jumped the shark” during its first season and never looked back. We still do only rarely.

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