In 1859, the US had it’s first, greatest, and only emperor. And it was glorious. His name was Joshua Norton. And he wasn’t even born in America.

The Beginning

Before I can tell you the story, I need to start by telling you how I first heard about it.

I was on the internet stumbling down a rabbit hole of articles that linked to other articles when I came across this random quote.

“Everybody understands Mickey Mouse. Few understand Hermann Hesse. Only a handful understood Albert Einstein. And nobody understood Emperor Norton.” - Malaclypse the Younger

I know, I know. I said it was random. But if you’re anything like me, you read through this quote like this…