On Jan. 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation declared slavery ended in the states which had seceeded from the Union. In California, the Proclamation gave momentum to the fight against the right of testimony and franchise laws.   Gov. Leland Stanford signed legislation which restored the right of testimony to African-Americans, Native Americans and Asian-Americans in 1864.

The right to vote was restored with the 15th Amendment in 1870.  

The background of the exhibition panels contains the resolution from the 1865-66 session of California legislature adopting the 13th Amendment.  The measure was considered so momentous that each member of the legislature signed it.   A copy of the resolution is presented as part of this exhibition.

The actual freeing of slaves took place by the bayonet as Union troops occupied areas of the South.  That war effort would not have been possible without the gold from California, which doubled the world’s supply by 1880.