Manuscript/Mixed Material Letter, California vigilante committee to John Stephens, 5 September 1856.

Title

• Letter, California vigilante committee to John Stephens, 5 September 1856.

Created / Published

• 5 September 1856

Headings

• -  Bluxome, Isaac D
• -  California
• -  Gold Rush
• -  San Francisco (Calif.)
• -  San Francisco Committee of Vigilance of 1851
• -  San Francisco Committee of Vigilance of 1856
• -  Manuscripts

Genre

• Manuscripts

Notes

• -  Reproduction number: A15 (color slide)
• -  San Francisco in the 1850s epitomized the turbulence of California's Gold Rush era. The discovery of gold in 1848 transformed what had been a small Spanish settlement into a boom town, as thousands of young men flocked to California to make their fortunes as miners or by supplying goods and services to gold seekers. Rapid population growth (from approximately eight hundred residents in 1848 to nearly twenty-five thousand in 1851) brought increased crime typical of other mid-nineteenth century American cities. In response to the seeming incapacity of the young city's institutions to deal with urban disorder, San Francisco merchants established a "Committee of Vigilance" in 1851.
• -  The seven-hundred-member organization declared San Francisco's elected government incapable of protecting the life and property of the city's citizens, claiming that role for itself. Its primary target was Australian immigrants, whom committee members considered responsible for much of the city's crime. In addition to preventing undesirable Australians from landing in San Francisco, the committee deported more than two dozen other individuals for various crimes and hanged four men accused of murder. The 1851 vigilance committee disbanded after sixty days, but the organization reemerged in 1856.
• -  Numbering eight thousand and run by members of the city's business community, the 1856 committee expanded its mission to stamping out perceived political corruption in San Francisco as well as bringing criminals to justice. Like its predecessor, the 1856 committee turned over individuals accused of minor crimes to law enforcement authorities but otherwise had a contentious relationship with elected officials. The committee hanged four men for murder, including two who were forcibly removed from the local jail, and deported thirty others, most for alleged political impropriety. The latter targets were largely Democratic Party supporters, political opponents of the Whig and Know Nothing Party members who generally comprised the vigilance committee. Despite its popularity with most San Franciscans, the 1856 committee dissolved within three months. But its former members created the People's Party, which dominated city politics for the next decade.
• -  Shown here is an example of the kind of document employed by the vigilance committees in pursuing their goals. Both the 1851 and 1856 groups were highly organized and operated according to defined procedures, which included trials for those accused of crimes. Most of the quasi-legal documents issued by the committee were drafted by Isaac Bluxome, Jr., secretary of the executive committees of both the 1851 and 1856 organizations. Rather than signing his name, Bluxome endorsed committee papers with "33 Secretary," indicating his serial number and office. This high degree of organization and adherence to procedure distinguished the San Francisco vigilance committees from popular avenues of justice like lynch mobs. Historians have been divided in their overall assessment of the committees. Many historians, especially in the nineteenth century, considered the vigilance committees legitimate alternatives to a corrupt government that failed to protect its citizens. Other historians portrayed the committees as politically motivated, anti-immigrant, and thirsty for power. Whatever their nature, the committees were imitated throughout the West during the second half of the nineteenth century and helped to shape both nineteenth- and twentieth-century conceptions of the American West.

Source Collection

• Isaac D. Bluxome Collection

Repository

• Manuscript Division

Online Format

• pdf
• image

IIIF Presentation Manifest

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