|
Showing 1 - 2 of
2 matches in All Departments
The California gold rush of 1849 created fortunes for San Francisco
merchants, whose wealth depended on control of the city’s docks.
But ownership of waterfront property was hotly contested. In an
1856 dispute over land titles, a county official shot an
outspoken newspaperman, prompting a group of merchants to
organize the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance. The committee,
which met in secret, fed biased stories to the newspapers,
depicting itself as a necessary substitute for incompetent law
enforcement. But its actual purpose was quite different. In Dirty
Deeds, historian Nancy J. Taniguchi draws on the 1856 Committee’s
minutes—long lost until she unearthed them—to present the first
clear picture of its actions and motivations. San Francisco’s
real estate comprised a patchwork of land grants left from the
Spanish and Mexican governments—grants that had been appropriated
and sold over and over. Even after the establishment of a federal
board in 1851 to settle the complicated California claims, land
titles remained confused, and most of the land in the city belonged
to no one. The acquisition of key waterfront properties in San
Francisco by an ambitious politician motivated the thirty-odd
merchants who called themselves “the Executives” of the
Vigilance Committee to go directly after these parcels. Despite the
organization’s assertion of working on behalf of law and order,
its tactics—kidnapping, forced deportations, and even
murder—went far beyond the bounds of law. For more than a
century, scholars have accepted the vigilantes’ self-serving
claims to honorable motives. Dirty Deeds tells the real story, in
which a band of men took over a city in an attempt to control the
most valuable land on the West Coast. Ranging far beyond San
Francisco, the 1856 Vigilance Committee’s activities affected
events on the East Coast, in Central America, and in courts
throughout the United States even after the Civil War.
The California gold rush of 1849 created fortunes for San Francisco
merchants, whose wealth depended on control of the city's docks.
But ownership of waterfront property was hotly contested. In an
1856 dispute over land titles, a county official shot an outspoken
newspaperman, prompting a group of merchants to organize the San
Francisco Committee of Vigilance. The committee, which met in
secret, fed biased stories to the newspapers, depicting itself as a
necessary substitute for incompetent law enforcement. But its
actual purpose was quite different. In Dirty Deeds, historian Nancy
J. Taniguchi draws on the 1856 Committee's minutes - long lost
until she unearthed them - to present the first clear picture of
its actions and motivations. San Francisco's real estate comprised
a patchwork of land grants left from the Spanish and Mexican
governments - grants that had been appropriated and sold over and
over. Even after the establishment of a federal board in 1851 to
settle the complicated California claims, land titles remained
confused, and most of the land in the city belonged to no one. The
acquisition of key waterfront properties in San Francisco by an
ambitious politician motivated the thirty-odd merchants who called
themselves ""the Executives"" of the Vigilance Committee to go
directly after these parcels. Despite the organization's assertion
of working on behalf of law and order, its tactics - kidnapping,
forced deportations, and even murder - went far beyond the bounds
of law. For more than a century, scholars have accepted the
vigilantes' self-serving claims to honorable motives. Dirty Deeds
tells the real story, in which a band of men took over a city in an
attempt to control the most valuable land on the West Coast.
Ranging far beyond San Francisco, the 1856 Vigilance Committee's
activities affected events on the East Coast, in Central America,
and in courts throughout the United States even after the Civil
War.
|
You may like...
Loot
Nadine Gordimer
Paperback
(2)
R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
|