Historic California Capitals
The state of California is a great state. Lots of rivers, fresh air, flowers and mountains. But did you know that it has many capitals? Yes, it does. And I am going to tell you what they are.
In the early days of California, when it was ruled by Mexico, the official seat of government was Loreto in Lower California and Alta in upper California. Soon, the “Alta Californiaâ€, or northern California, gained in importance and the capital got changed to Monterey in 1777. This was before California was a state.
Then, in 1849, The capital got shifted even north, to San Jose. Here people voted for California to be a state. The counters counted and counted and finally, California became the way it is today. Imagine if California wasn’t a state then! (We would still be living, but not living in this great place.) San Jose also became the site of the first meeting of the state’s governing body, known as the Legislature of 1,000 Drinks.
Soon, time passed and it became 1851. A no one-knows-who person dropped a slip on the govenor’s table while walking out of the building. It talked about making the capital Vallejo for some time. Why not? Council members thought. Let’s approve it. But when facilities there were found to be insufficient, they changed it again to Benicia.
Benicia was kind of a success, but it soon occoured that it had the same problem. Exactly. The council was not so happy. It was 1854. People were tired and annoyed. Every time they changed, it wasn’t right. What could they do?
Soon someone came up with a better idea. “It’s a place that everyone knows that won’t have problems.†The had a discoussion and It was done. “Sacramento it shall be!†they concluded. Everyone cheered.
Sacramento it was, and Sacramento it is. Sacramonto is a bustling city, full of cars and buses. You can see the great capitol building. It also contains the train museum and the state history museum. Someday you can come to this great state’s capital.
Class project by David Xie, 2006.11.08, before going to Sacramento field trip, visiting State Capitol and Musuems.