When San Francisco Crowned Its Own King

In 1859, a broke businessman named Joshua Norton declared himself Emperor of the United States, and amazingly, the entire city of San Francisco just went with it. For 21 years, Norton I issued decrees (like ordering a bridge to be built exactly where the Bay Bridge stands today), printed his own money that stores actually accepted, and was treated like real royalty by everyone from police officers to Mark Twain. When he died in 1880, 10,000 people attended his funeral, and the city gave him a royal burial, proving that sometimes a community's decision to embrace harmless eccentricity can create more joy and lasting good than most "real" authority ever does.

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