From then on, Broderick effectively had political control of San Francisco, which under his "utterly vicious"[2] rule soon became notorious for municipal corruption.

At a forthcoming election a number of offices were to be filled; those of sheriff, district attorney, alderman, and places in the legislature.

At that time, just prior to the start of the American Civil War, the Democratic Party of California was divided between pro-slavery and "Free Soil" factions.

Terry, considered even by his friends as caustic and aggressive,[7] made some inflammatory remarks at a party convention in Sacramento, which Broderick read.

"[8]Passions escalated; on September 13, 1859, former friends Terry and Broderick, both expert marksmen, met outside of San Francisco city limits at Lake Merced for a duel.

The pistols chosen for the duel had hair triggers, and Broderick's discharged prior to the final "1-2-3" count, firing prematurely into the ground.

Broderick died three days later, and was buried under a monument erected by the state in Lone Mountain Cemetery in San Francisco.

He expressed the widely held belief that Broderick was killed because of his anti-slavery stance: His death was a political necessity, poorly veiled beneath the guise of a private quarrel.

"[9]Some maintain that in his death Broderick became a martyr to the anti-slavery cause, and the episode was part of a national spiral towards civil war.

[11] About thirty years later, Terry was shot to death by Deputy United States Marshal David Neagle while threatening Supreme Court Justice Stephen Johnson Field, a friend of Broderick.

[13] In 1963, Carroll O'Connor was cast as Broderick, with Brad Dexter as Justice Terry, in "A Gun Is Not a Gentleman" on the syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews.

... And not even his most adoring worshippers have been able entirely to conceal the plain fact that in the final analysis he must, more than any one man, shoulder responsibility for the municipal corruption which was the basic cause of the second uprising of a tormented and enraged citizenry.

Broderick's political income from these and other sources was probably several hundred thousand dollars a year, and with such sums at his disposal he not only maintained his hold upon the city but furthered his ambition to be United States Senator, despite the slashing onslaughts of several of the newspapers.