Commentary: California's first attempt to pass anti-immigrant laws dates back to the gold rush
California was not always the progressive state we know today, where political leaders praise diversity and file lawsuits defending immigrants. Its history is filled with clashes over race and identity, including a little-known episode just after its birth.
On Sept. 14, 1850, five days after California gained statehood, John Charles Fremont introduced a bill in Congress. Fremont, one of California's first two U.S. senators, wanted to regulate the gold rush. His proposal required the thousands of prospectors who had been swarming California for the previous two years to buy federal mining permits. But the permits would be available only to citizens.
A shockingly frank Senate debate revealed the true purpose
