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DAWN AND THE DONS 162 It had another flutter when the Argonauts of California assembled at Monterey in September, 1849, to frame

a constitution preliminary to seeking statehood for the new Eldorado. There were forty-eight delegates, and they went about their work with dignity and ability.

This is the more surprising as they were mostly young men, and were overwhelmed with the generous hospitality of Monterey. There were a few native Californians among the delegates, the most notable being General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo of Sonoma, born at Monterey. He was a man of exceptional ability, and had long been a staunch and loyal friend of the United States. Captain John A. Sutter of Sutter’s Fort was a delegate, and Dr. Robert Baylor Semple, a towering Kentuckian of Bear Flag fame, presided.

Bayard Taylor, world-famous

traveler, was in Cali-

fornia on one of his extensive tours, and went to Monte-

rey to witness the deliberations of this unusual assemblage. In his account of what he saw and heard he expressed surprise at the dignity and ability displayed, the parliamentary decorum observed, and the generous yielding of individual, racial and sectional differences. Of the delegates composing the convention, some had come from the free states of the north, some from the

slave states of the south, some from the frontier western prairies, and some were native Californians. Commenting after adjournment upon the convention, Taylor says, “Where was there ever a body convened under such