Editing Leland Stanford (section)

===Governor of California===
[[File:Portrait of Leland Stanford Trim.jpg|thumb|right|Stanford {{circa}} 1860s]]
He was elected the eighth [[List of California Governors|Governor of California]], serving from January 1862 to December 1863, and the first Republican governor. Due to the [[Great Flood of 1862]], the governor was said to have needed to row in a boat to his own inauguration. A large, slow-speaking man who always read from a prepared text, he impressed his listeners as being more sincere than a glib, extemporaneous speaker.<ref>{{cite book| first=Cleveland| last=Amory| title=Who Killed Society?| page=430| location=New York| publisher=Harper & Brothers| year=1960}}</ref>{{sfn|Wheeler|1973|p=56}}

During his gubernatorial tenure, he cut the state's debt in half and advocated for the conservation of forests. He also oversaw the establishment of California's first state [[normal school]] in San Jose, later to become [[San Jose State University]]. Following Stanford's governorship, the term of office changed from two years to four years, in line with legislation passed during his time in office.

====Native Americans====
The ongoing [[California genocide|eradication of the Native Americans living in California]] continued under his administration.<ref name="madley">{{cite book |last1=Madley |first1=Benjamin |title=An American genocide : the United States and the California Indian catastrophe, 1846-1873 |date=2016 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |isbn=9780300230697}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.history.com/news/californias-little-known-genocide| title=California's little known genocide| date=July 11, 2023}}</ref> He did sign into law an act reversing part of the 1850 [[Act for the Government and Protection of Indians]] that allowed the enslavement of Native Americans.<ref name="magliari">{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1525/phr.2012.81.2.155| volume = 81| issue = 2| pages = 155–192| last = Magliari| first = Michael F.| title = Free State Slavery: Bound Indian Labor and Slave Trafficking in California's Sacramento Valley, 1850–1864| journal = Pacific Historical Review| accessdate = 2022-02-08| date = 2012-05-01| url = https://online.ucpress.edu/phr/article/81/2/155/66851/Free-State-Slavery-Bound-Indian-Labor-and-Slave}}</ref>  However, he also continued the prosecution of the [[Bald Hills War]] in Northern California.

====Chinese immigrants====
The gold strike in California had brought a large influx of newcomers into the territory, including Chinese immigrants, who faced persecution.<ref>{{cite book| last=Asbury| first=Herbert| title=The Barbary Coast| publisher=Basic Books| year=2008| page=143}}</ref> Anti-Chinese sentiment became a political issue over time. In a message to the legislature in January 1862, Governor Stanford said:

{{blockquote|text=To my mind it is clear, that the settlement among us of an inferior race is to be discouraged by every legitimate means. Asia, with her numberless millions, sends to our shores the dregs of her population. Large numbers of this class are already here; and, unless we do something early to check their immigration, the question, which of the two tides of immigration, meeting upon the shores of the Pacific, shall be turned back, will be forced upon our consideration, when far more difficult than now of disposal. There can be no doubt but that the presence among us of numbers of degraded and distinct people must exercise a deleterious influence upon the superior race, and to a certain extent, repel desirable immigration.<ref>{{cite book| first=Elmer Clarence| last=Sandmeyer| title=The Anti-Chinese Movement in California| publisher=University of Illinois Press| isbn=978-0252062261| year=1991| pages=[https://archive.org/details/antichinesemovem00sand/page/43 43]–44| url=https://archive.org/details/antichinesemovem00sand| url-access=registration| quote=The presence of numbers of that degraded and distinct people would exercise a deleterious effect upon the superior race.| via=Internet Archive}}</ref>}}

Stanford was initially acclaimed for such statements, but lost support when it was revealed that his Central Pacific Railroad was also importing Chinese workers to construct the railroad.{{sfn|Asbury|2008|p=145}}