Peter Hardeman Burnett was an American politician who served as the first elected Governor of California from December 20, 1849, to January 9, 1851. Burnett was elected Governor almost one year before California's admission to the Union as the 31st state in September 1850.
Burnett c. 1860s
Portrait of Burnett by William F. Cogswell
Picture taken in his later years, when he served as president of Pacific Bank.
Recollections and opinions of an old pioneer (1880)
The California Statehood Act, officially An Act for the Admission of the State of California into the Union and also known as the California Admission Act, is the federal legislation that admitted California to the United States as the thirty-first state. Passed in 1850 by the 31st United States Congress, the law made California one of only a few states to become a state without first being an organized territory.
Todd's original Bear Flag, photographed in 1890
Zachary Taylor (1849)
Henry Clay