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visit www.owlandtwine.com to sign up for our newsletter and see the images discussed in the podcast.A for kids history podcast in 10 minutes. This week the emperor of America, Edward Norton. Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle to the New York Times. Edward Norton was a visionary of the gold rush who made decrees from equal rights to building the Bay Bridge. Lauded as the only emperor to shed no blood.Emperor Norton the King of AmericaDid you know America had a king? This is one of my favorite stories in history and it happened in San Francisco California in the late 1880’s. The reason this is one of my favorite tales from history is that usually when someone decides they are going to grab for power they are usually doing it for POWER. There is a fight of varying degrees of awful for everyone involved. This is not that story. Emperor Norton was a visionary and you will see his vision for this country and the state of California was ahead of its’ time. This is a story of a fortune lost, some very good ideas, a two VERY good dogs, and a dear friend named Mark TwainJoshua Norton was born in 1818 or 1819 in Britain migrating to San Francisco for the gold rush in 1849. He invested heavily in real estate growing a $40,000 investment into a quarter of a million dollars. Due to a bad deal in rice he became bankrupted and disappeared for a small while.When he came back he came bak in a big way. On September 17, 1859, a most unusual decree appeared in the San Francisco Bulletin newspaper. In grandiloquent fashion, the message stated, “At the peremptory request and desire of a large majority of the citizens…I, Joshua Norton…declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these United States.” It went on to command representatives from all the states to convene in the Bay Area, “to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring.” The edict was signed, “NORTON I, Emperor of the United States.”Mr. Norton was usually dressed in an epaulette-adorned Navy coat, an ostrich feather-plumed hat and occasionally carrying a military saber, the delightfully eccentric “Emperor Norton I”He lived by the kindest of restaurants that would take the currency he made. Many of the citizens would bow and tourists would collect his currency as a keepsake. There were Emperor Norton dolls. Theatre owners would save him a seat for opening nights. San Francisco’s directory listed his occupation as Emperor.The San Francisco newspapers knew they had found gold and would print each of the emperor’s proclamations with great fanfare. . When an overzealous police officer once dared to arrest the Emperor on charges of vagrancy, the city’s newspapers responded with outrage. One writer defended him as a local institution, arguing, “since he has worn the Imperial purple [he] has shed no blood, robbed nobody, and despoiled the country of no one, which is more than can be said for his fellows in that line.” The Emperor was quickly released, and from then on, the city’s lawmen saluted whenever they encountered him on the street.In October 1859, declared, “fraud and corruption prevent a fair and proper expression of the public voice…in consequence of which, we do hereby abolish Congress.”"He's talking about how African-Americans should have the right to attend public schools, ride public streetcars. How the Chinese should be able to have their testimony heard in court," Lumea says. Norton also argued for the rights of Native Americans and against political corruption. (KQED)In the 1870’s he asked for funds to build a bridge between San Francisco and Oakland. The Bay Bridge was built in 1936.During Edward Norton’s reign Mark Twain worked as a journalist for the San Francisco papers. Mr. Twain was inspired by the emperor modeling the “king” in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn after him.The emperor was said to spend his days in the library, playing chess, at religious services , or going for walks with the cities most famous dogs: Bummer and Lazarus. If you hav not yet heard I Can’t Believe That Happened episode on Bummer and Lazarus go to our show notes and click on the link.When Emperor Norton dies in 1880 he was hailed as far as The New York Times as The great emperor of America for more then 20 years. The headline of his obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle read, "Le roi est mort." More than 10,000 people attended his funeral.Resourceshttps://www.history.com/news/the-strange-case-of-emperor-norton-i-of-the-united-statesEmperor Norton’s Decreeshttp://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/norton.htmlBay Curious Podcast: America's Emperor, San Francisco's Treasure: Who Was Emperor Norton?https://www.kqed.org/news/11652705/americas-emperor-san-franciscos-treasure-who-was-emperor-norton See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.