Peter Hardeman Burnett

Peter Hardeman Burnett (* November 15, 1807 in Nashville, Tennessee, † May 17 1895 in San Francisco, California ) was an American politician and the first regular Governor of the State of California.

Youth

Burnett came from a family of subclass and grew up in rural Missouri. He received no regular education. Therefore, he brought a lot of things in themselves. His particular interest was the judiciary and the government's work. First he tried, however, as shopkeepers; then he became a lawyer. In this role, he defended, among others, a group of Mormons, who was also Joseph Smith. He was charged with treason, arson and robbery. Burnett asked for a transfer of negotiating local, and thus created pause utilize the accused to flee. 1843 Burnett left Missouri in the direction of Oregon to its growing debt to escape. He was politically active. Between 1844 and 1848 he was a member of the provisional parliament of the region. During this time he also converted to Catholicism.

Policy

As a parliamentarian, he was known as a conservative racist. He successfully lobbied for a law that forbade African Americans to live in Oregon. There, remaining as long as blacks were whipped and abused until they finally went voluntarily or were expelled. This law remained in Oregon until 1926, valid, and only in 1927 were African American vote there.

In 1848, gold was discovered in California, also Burnett made ​​his way to the south. After only moderate success in gold mining, he turned back to the judiciary and politics. On behalf of Johann August Sutter, he sold land parcels on which the city of Sacramento was built. 1849, the transition from military to civil administration was completed in California. Burnett was elected the first civilian governor of the state and introduced on 20 December 1849 in San José in his new office. Now he began to build a new administrative structure. The country was divided into 27 districts ( counties ). The cabinet was launched and with John C. Frémont and William M. Gwin two senators were determined for the Congress in Washington. Ironically, at this time, California officially not a state of the United States. In Washington, followed by long discussions on this topic. It was not just about the admission of California, but of the dispute, whether in the newly admitted states of the Union, slavery should be allowed or prohibited. This conflict was solved with the so-called Compromise of 1850. One result of this compromise was the admission of California as a state on September 9, 1850.

By now it had come to California to tensions between Governor Burnett and the State Assembly. This is discussed included the status of the cities of Los Angeles and Sacramento; Another point of contention was the question of race. Burnett wanted, as in Oregon prohibit the immigration of blacks or other minorities to California, what the supporters of the Southern mustered against him, because they wanted to transfer the slavery system on the West Coast. Burnett's proposals did not have a majority in the House. He also wanted to taxing foreign immigrants to California strong and tougher laws against felony drastically, as well as expand the definition of capital crimes by This included, among other things simple theft. The opposition Burnett quickly gained strength, and its legislative proposals found no majority. As a consequence of the lack of success of his policy, he resigned in January 1851 after more than a year in office, ostensibly for personal reasons.

Age

A year after his resignation, he was finally able to pay his old debts in Missouri. He was briefly active in various fields. Among other things, he was from 1857 to 1858 Judge of the Supreme Court of California, then City Council in Sacramento, Attorney in San Jose and eventually president of the Pacific Bank in San Francisco. In 1882 he joined again briefly political limelight as a proponent of a law against Chinese immigrants. He died in 1895 at the age of 88 years in San Francisco.

Itemization

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