The Constitutional Convention at Monterey adopts California’s Great Seal on October 2, 1849. The debate over the final design is lengthy. One senator thinks the…
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Stories about government and power in California
On the evening of February 24, 1942, an anti-aircraft barrage of more than 1,440 rounds is launched at what is initially thought to be a…
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Lt. Gov. Romualdo Pacheco becomes the first – and so far only – Latino or Hispanic to hold the state’s highest office since statehood in…
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On February 25, 1854, Gov. John Bigler ends California’s five-year game of musical capitals by signing legislation making Sacramento California’s permanent seat of government. Over the…
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On February 10, 1863, state lawmakers choose Assemblyman John Conness, a strong opponent of slavery, as California’s U.S. Senator, succeeding his slain political mentor and…
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Defying state and federal law, then San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, in office just over one month, orders the city clerk to begin issuing marriage…
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On February 17, 1925 Florence Prag Kahn wins a special election to fill the San Francisco congressional seat previously held by her late husband, Julius.…
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Near Copperopolis in Calaveras County, Wells Fargo’s poetry-writing nemesis “Black Bart” – English-born Charles Boles– steps out from behind a rock with a shotgun to…
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President Herbert Hoover issues Proclamation 2028 preserving some 2 million acres of “scenic, scientific and educational interest” in southeastern California that also happen to be…
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Segregation is prohibited in California schools when a federal judge agrees with Gonzalo and Felicita Mendez that their daughter, Sylvia, was unfairly denied enrollment at…
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