Who can share tidbits of American history? Are you a history buff?

There was a nutty but interesting person by the name of Joshua A. Norton the First. He went mad after losing some large amount of money and then emerged to declare himself EMPEROR OF THESE UNITED STATES AND PROTECTOR OF MEXICO. Plus, he "dissolved" congress. People in San Francisco (or was it Sacramento?) humored him, calling him emperor and so forth. He once stopped a mob by reading to them from the bible until they all dispersed.