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Colton Hall was the site of
California's first Constitutional Convention held in 1849. Today, Colton Hall
retains its historic character. Authentic items
and replicas recreate the room where the
delegates met, debated, and approved a remarkable document.
Colton Hall Museum
is located on Pacific Street, between Madison and Jefferson streets. The
museum is open daily 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., except Thanksgiving, Christmas
and New Years Day. Map
and directions.
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Between the first of September and the thirteenth of October, 1849, Colton Hall was the
site of a convention called by Governor Riley to draft
California's first Constitution. Bayard Taylor of the New York Herald-Tribune
reported that "...the building was
probably the only one in California suited to the purpose."
Forty-eight delegates elected from ten districts
debated complicated issues such as the location of the eastern boundary line -- the Sierra
Nevada Mountains or the Rocky Mountains. Slavery was forbidden in this historic document
and after some heated discussion, San Jose was chosen as the first State Capital. Before
voting, each resolution and article was translated into
Spanish for the benefit of the
eight delegates who spoke only that language.
More about the 1849 Constitutional Convention. |
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Bayard Taylor described the final day of the Convention in
the New York Herald-Tribune on
October 13, 1849:
"The members met this morning at the usual hour to
perform the last duty that remained to them -- that of signing the Constitution.
"They were all in the happiest humor, and the morning was so bright and balmy that no
one seemed disposed to call an organization. Eventually, they were called to order, and
they proceeded to affix their names to the completed Constitution. At this moment, a
signal was given; the American colors ran up the flagstaff in front of the Government
buildings, and streamed out on the air.
"A second afterward the first gun boomed from the fort, and its stirring echoes came
back from one hill after another, 'til they were lost in the distance. As the signing went
on, gun followed gun from the fort, the echoes reverberating grandly around the bay, 'til
finally, as the loud ring of the thirty-first was heard, there was a shout: 'That's for
California!'"
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