 From 1847 to 1850, California had military governors appointed by the senior military commander in California.This arrangement was distinctly unsettling to the military, as they had no inclination, precedent, or training for setting up and running a government.President James K. Polk in office from March 4, 1845 – March 4, 1849, tried to get the 1848 Congress to make California a territory with a territorial government and again in 1849 but was unsuccessful in getting Congress to agree on the specifics of how this was to be done—the issue was the number of free states vs. slave states.