Joshua A. Norton

Joshua Abraham Norton (1818There are a number of different claims regarding Norton's date of birth. Norton's obituary by the San Francisco Chronicle put him at 65 years old at the time of his death, which would suggest that he was born in 1814. But William Drury notes in his 1986 biography, Norton I: Emperor of the United States, that the Chronicle's report − a reference to the inscription mounted to Norton's casket − was based on a guess by his landlady. Many sources follow Robert Ernest Cowan's 1923 account and Norton's 1934 tombstone in pinpointing Norton's birth as being sometime in 1819; Cowan specified February 4, 1819. But later biographers − Allen Stanley Lane, in his 1939 biography, Emperor Norton: The Mad Monarch of America, and Drury − settle on 1818. Drury cites South African immigration records in which Norton's father, John, said that Norton was two years old when the family arrived South Africa on May 2, 1820. These records would put Norton's birth somewhere between mid 1817 and early 1818. In December 2014, The Emperor's Bridge Campaign reported on the rediscovery of an item in the February 4, 1865 issue of The Daily Alta California points to a birth date of February 4, 1818. The Campaign also showed that, in his 1923 account, Cowan doctored the original text of the Alta item to back his claim of February 4, 1819. – 8 Januari, 1880), juga dikenali sebagai Maharaja Norton, merupakan warganegara San Francisco, California, yang mana pada tahun 1859 telah mengistiharkan diri beliau "Norton I, Maharaja Amerika Syarikat" dan seterusnya "Pelindung Mexico".

Norton dilahirkan di England yang menghabiskan usia awal beliau di Afrika Selatan. Selepas kematian ibu beliau pada tahun 1846 dan bapa beliau pada tahun 1848, beliau berpindah ke San Francisco dengan harta pusaka daripada estet bapa beliau, tiba pada bulan November 1849 dengan kapal Hamburg Franzeska bersama dengan wang $40,000 (bersamaan dengan AS$1.1 juta pada tahun 2015).William Drury, Norton I: Emperor of the United States (Dodd, Mead, 1986), pp. 24-26. Asalnya, Norton menjadi seorang usahawan tetapi hilang kekayaan dalam pelaburan beras di Peru.

Selepas kalah dalam tindakan undang-undang untuk mengesahkan kontrak beras beliau, penguasaan Norton di khalayak mula merosot. Beliau muncul semula pada September 1859, dengan menuntut kedudukan sebagai Maharaja Amerika Syarikat. Meskipun beliau tidak mempunyai kuasa politik, dan beliau menjadi bahan jenaka oleh orang-orang di sekeliling beliau, akan tetapi beliau menerima layanan berbeza di San Francisco, dan matawang dikeluarkan di atas nama beliau.

Walaupun sesetengah orang menganggao beliau gila, penduduk San Francisco merayakan kehadiran dan pengistiharan beliau, seperti arahan  beliau agar Kongres Amerika Syarikat dibubarkan dengan paksaan dan beberapa dekri yang menuntut sebuah jambatan yang menghubungkan San Francisco dengan Oakland, dan sebuah terowong ddibina di bawah Teluk San Francisco. Struktur-struktur serupa dibina selepas kematian beliau seperti Jambatan Teluk San Francisco–Oakland dan Tiub Transbay, dan terdapat beberapa kempen untuk menamakan semula jambatan ini seebagai "Jambatan Maharaja Norton".

Pada 8 Januari, 1880, Norton jatuh di sudut jalan di California dan Dupont (kini Grant) dan meninggal dunia sebelum sempat menerima rawatan perubatan. Di majlis pengebumian beliau dua hari kemudian, hampir30,000 orang memenuhi jalan-jalan di San Francisco untuk memberi penghormatan terakhir.

Lihat juga

 Frederick Coombs, who believed himself to be George Washington and left San Francisco after a feud with Norton
 Nicolás Zúñiga y Miranda, self-proclaimed President of Mexico
 Frank Chu, modern day San Francisco eccentric
 Wizard of New Zealand
 José Sarria, self-proclaimed Empress José I, The Widow Norton
 Screaming Lord Sutch, founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party of the U.K.

Nota

Rujukan


 Cowan, Robert Ernest. "Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico (Joshua A. Norton, 1819–1880)" in Quarterly of the California Historical Society. San Francisco: California Historical Society, October 1923.
 Cowan, Robert E., et al. The Forgotten Characters of Old San Francisco. Los Angeles: The Ward Ritchie Press, 1964.






Pautan luar

 Two short radio episodes "Dissoving Parties " and "Royal Wardrobe " from proclamations by Emperor Norton I, 1862–69. California Legacy Project.
 Short radio episode Norton Imperator  a tribute poem by Dr. George Chismore,1880. California Legacy Project.
 Webcomic Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico by K. Beaton
Emperor Norton I at Find A Grave

Category:Kelahiran 1810-an
Category:Kematian 1880