The San Francisco Bulletin took the letter as a joke but one that would be sure to get attention for their paper so they reprinted it. It would be taken up by other papers who also saw the humor and later Norton would even add Protector of Mexico to his self-given title. Norton and the people of San Francisco took the printing of the letters as proof of his regal title and thus began his reign. He started to walk the city in regal attire and would stop for anyone that would wish to pay their respects to the great Emperor Norton I.
As Emperor, he even took to issuing proclamations and posting them in the city or printing them in the papers. On October 12th, 1859, he went as far as to abolish the United States Congress. He said that the fraud and corruption within congress prevented a “fair and proper expression of the public voice.”
In March of 1860 when the Congress was in session, in violation of his edict, he called upon the army to depose of the elected officials. His entreaties were largely ignored and he eventually decided to allow Congress to continue. But in 1869 he abolished both the Democratic and Republican parties because of “party strife now existing within our realm.”
While many of his proposals were outlandish there were some that showed that Emperor Norton I may not have been as crazy as many people thought. He called for a League of Nations and he forbade any conflict between different religions. He then called for a bridge or a tunnel that would connect Oakland to San Francisco – once it was determined which would be the best project. The Bay Bridge was completed in 1936 and the tunnel in 1969, long after the reign of the Emperor.
Emperor Norton I was beloved by the city of San Francisco. His regal appearance was welcomed at local restaurants who would let him eat free and put brass plaques on their doors stating “by Appointment to his Imperial Majesty, Emperor Norton I of the United States.”
Every play that opened would reserve balcony seats for the Emperor and Norton’s self-penned seals of approval were highly sought after and were even a boost to trade. He even printed his own money to pay his debts and it became accepted as local currency in San Francisco. When his regal attire started to look worn the San Francisco Board of Supervisors provided him with a new one.
He died a pauper in 1880 and the San Francisco Pacific Club took out a collection for a proper funeral. A many as 30,000 attended and he was buried in the Masonic Cemetery at the expense of the city. In 1934 the remains were transferred to Woodlawn Cemetery where a large stone is inscribed “Emperor Norton I, Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.”
Today there is a celebration every year on the anniversary of his death and since 1934 there has been a campaign to rename the bridge the runs from Oakland to San Francisco as the Emperor Norton Bridge. The Emperor’s Bridge Campaign works to memorialize the life of the great emperor and in 2018, the 200th anniversary of his birth they plan to proposition the state once again to add The Emperor Norton Bridge as a secondary name to the Bay Bridge.