He issued his own currency, made proclamations, and was a beloved member of San-Fransisco's population. He has been deemed a saint and a prophet who called for both a "League of Nations" and what later became the Golden Gate Bridge.
Here's his first proclamation:
At the peremptory request of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for the past nine years and ten months of San Francisco, California, declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these U. S., and in virtue of the authority thereby in me vested do hereby order and direct the representatives of the different States of the Union to assemble in Musical Hall of this city, on the 1st day of February next, then and there to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union as may ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring, and thereby cause confidence to exist, both at home and abroad, in our stability and integrity. - Norton I, Emperor of the United States, September 17, 1859
Note the first line. Perhaps the last time the invocation of "pre-emption" was ever uttered with at least the slightest iota of sanity.