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{SPEAKER name="Maya Foo"}
Norton's proclamations and edicts including when he abolished the California Supreme Court because he had felt slighted by them.
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Also when John Brown, who was also in the exhibition "Faces of the Frontier", was hanged for leading the attack at Harpers Ferry,
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Norton disagreed with the Virginia governor Henry Wise's decision.
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Norton thought that John Brown was insane and should have been sent to an insane asylum instead,
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and he was so upset that Norton fired Governor Wise and appointed John C Breckinridge of Kentucky in his place even though Breckinridge was then busy being the Vice President of the United States.
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In 1862, Norton decided to expand his title to Protector of Mexico when Louis Napoleon invaded that country.
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And his title from them on became Norton the First Emperor of the United States and the Protector of Mexico.
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His popularity increased and politicians courted him in order to gain public favor and votes.
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He was so popular that rival newspapers began printing fake proclamations attributed to Norton and businesses decided to cash in on this Norton mania and they realized they would get good and quick publicity if Norton was involved.
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In one instance a haberdashery gave Norton an old and out of style hat so he could reference Norton in his ads and the haberdasher became known as the Haberdasher to the Emperor.
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Restaurants also tried to do this and they had the Emperor's Wine List if they offered him one glass of wine and usually the favors did not extend past one- one time.
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Norton lived off the kindness and charity of others and he would only accept money from people under the guise that he was collecting taxes from them.
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He would remind them that the imperial treasury was in need of funds.
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His clothing on formal occasions, as seen in this photograph, included a Union officer's coat, tarnished gold epaulettes, a beaver hat with a ostrich plume, and a cavalry sword. And he usually carried a wooden cane.
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Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-03-30 15:57:41 ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-03-30 11:56:51