John Bigler

John Bigler ( born January 8, 1805 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, † November 29, 1871 in Sacramento, California ) was an American politician and the third Governor of the State of California.

Biography

Youth

Bigler was born into a German family. Early on, he worked in a newspaper publisher. Since neither he nor his brother William had ever enjoyed a regular education, he taught himself and his brother at the bare minimum. 1831 attracted both brothers to Bellefonte in Centre County. There they were publishers of the Centre Democrat, a newspaper that was close to Andrew Jackson and the Democratic party. 1835 John left the newspaper to receive a law degree.

As the news of the California gold rush mid 1848 reached the East Coast, the now graduated as a lawyer Bigler also decided to go to California to become a legal business there. When he arrived in Sacramento in 1849, he soon realized that there were no vacancies. As a result, he took various jobs embarrassment to keep financially afloat. As the first general elections in California queuing, he made ​​the decision to go into politics. He ran as a Democrat for the City of Sacramento and was elected.

Entry into politics

After he had first gained a foothold in politics, he quickly made a career. In February 1850 he was elected President ( Speaker) of the California State Assembly and thus known nationwide. His personal use during a cholera epidemic promoted its brand awareness further. In May 1851, he was set up by the Democratic Party as a candidate for the gubernatorial election. His opponent was the Whig candidate Pierson B. Reading, Bigler abqualifizierte as unpolished Northerners and grumpy Yankee while he presented himself as an educated Southerner. Bigler won the election with just over 1,000 votes ahead. To date, this election result is the scarcest in the history of the California gubernatorial election.

Time as governor

On January 8, 1852 John Bigler took up his new post. His main focus was on the protection of California's profitable mines with foreign monopolists. Another concern Biglers was the acceleration of the industrialization of the country. Unlike his immediate predecessor John McDougall, who had encouraged immigration from China, he rejected this strictly. Gradually he introduced a head tax for Chinese to make immigration more difficult. Most recently, he demanded a 50 dollar bounty from any new immigrants from China, which had to be paid within three days. Later this law was from the country's Supreme Court rejected as unconstitutional.

As in the aftermath of the discovery of gold in Australia and the simultaneous decline of the California gold production in the early 1850s an economic crisis broke out, it was in California to racist attacks on the remaining Chinese who were made ​​scapegoats for the crisis. Governor Bigler used this anti-Chinese sentiment in order to increase its popularity. As of 1853, California also became involved in the American dispute over slavery. Biglers Democratic Party broke up over the question into two opposing camps. Bigler and his followers founded the so-called Free Soil faction of the Democratic Party, the Free Soil Party similar to the resultant at the federal level was formed and wanted to prevent the spread of slavery. Presented for the next elections both factions of the Democratic Party on its own candidates. Bigler was nominated by his group and was able to put against his opponents. He remained until 1914 the only governor of California, who had made a direct re-election. In his second term, he continued the already chosen path. A new problem was to determine the capital of California. They had only a few years before the capital was moved from San Jose to Vallejo. However, this city did not meet the requirements of a government seat. There were hardly any buildings, furniture or other equipment in Vellejo. Given these conditions suggested Bigler plans to transfer the seat of government temporarily to Sacramento, while Vallejo should be the actual capital. Storm destroyed parts of both towns, so that the seat of government was first moved to Benicia. But even there, there was a lack of the necessary infrastructure. When then Sacramento offered again to take over the function of the capital, the governor signed on February 25, 1854 approval of the Parliament a law that finally moved the capital to Sacramento.

Deselection Biglers

1855 Bigler was nominated for a third term. However, his popularity had now suffered. The anti-Chinese immigration policies no longer found the same agreement as in previous years. You now made responsible for economic problems and rising government debt Governor. Finally, he was defeated in the elections the candidate of the Know-Nothing Party, John Neely Johnson. Bigler was thus the first California governor, who was voted out.

After retiring from office he entered the diplomatic service of the federal government. On the advice of his brother William, who had become governor of Pennsylvania, President James Buchanan John Bigler appointed Ambassador of the United States in Chile. In 1863 he made ​​a vain attempt to be elected to Congress. In 1868, he finally acquired the newspaper Capitol reporter, which he edited until his death in 1871.

Appreciation

For a time, was named in his honor Lake Bigler today's Lake Tahoe in California. However, the name could not sit down and was no longer used after 1862.