Florida's Constitution of 1885, its fifth, was drawn up by the Constitutional Convention of 1885. The convention was held from June 9, 1885 until August 3, 1885 in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the populatio ...

"for the purpose of reforming the "

Carpetbag A carpet bag is a top-opening travelling bag made of carpet, commonly from an oriental rug. It was a popular form of luggage in the United States and Europe in the 19th century, featuring simple handles and only an upper frame, which serve ...

" Constitution of 1868", according to course literature from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

. It was Florida's fifth constitutional convention and restored the election of many public officials, reduced the salaries of the governor and other state officers, made the governor ineligible for reelection, abolished the office of lieutenant governor, and provided for a legislature of fixed numbers. The agreed-upon constitution added a residency requirement, forbade a second consecutive term for the office of governor, made the cabinet elected instead of appointed, and made many state and local offices elective. It also gave the legislature the option of requiring the payment of a Poll tax (United States), poll tax as a requirement for voting (Article VI, Section 8). This was a compromise between smaller "black belt" counties who wanted more offices elected and those from larger and more prosperous counties. The poll tax disenfranchised African-Americans, and anyone else too poor to pay the tax. Racial segregation in schools was mandatory (Article XII, Section 12). The constitution also prohibited marriage between "a white person and a person of negro descent" (Article XVI, Section 24). The constitution ratified at the convention passed with a vote of 31,804 to 21,243. It was "the model" of Florida's government until 1968 and "represented the regression to racial discrimination which was occurring throughout the South in the post-Reconstruction era period.""Rise And Fall of the Slave South," University of Virginia The Constitution was weighted in favor of counties. Each new county was entitled to one to three representatives according to population. Every ten years the lower house was automatically reconstructed on a basis of these members for each of the five largest counties, two members for each of the next eighteen, and one for each remaining county. In 1930, the big counties of the time, containing Florida’s largest cities, Jacksonville, Tampa, and Miami, had a combined population of 451,977, and had nine representatives and three senators. The four smallest counties had a combined of population of only 30,000, but had four representatives and three senators. This overrepresentation of rural, conservative areas led to increasing tension in twentieth-century Florida politics, as central and then south Florida grew. It was a major factor leading to the current Constitution of Florida, Constitution of 1968, which changed apportionment.

Delegates

Delegates included seven African Americans.Florida's Black Public Officials, 1867-1924 by Canter Brown Jr. University of Alabama Press (1998) page 145 * Henry C. Baker - Nassau County, Florida, Nassau * Thomas N. Bell - Hamilton County, Florida, Hamilton * William A. Blount - Escambia County, Florida, Escambia * Daniel Campbell (Florida politician), Daniel Campbell - Walton County, Florida, Walton * Wallace B. Carr - Leon County, Florida, Leon, an African American * Lewis D. Carson - Liberty County, Florida, Liberty * Syd L. Carter - Levy County, Florida, Levy * Henry W. Chandler - Marion County, Florida, Marion, an African American * Thomas E. Clark - Jackson County, Florida, Jackson * Thomas L. Clarke - Jefferson County, Florida, Jefferson * Simon Barclay Conover, M.D. - Leon County, Florida, Leon * James Wood Davidson - Dade County, Florida, Dade * Henry H. Duncan - Sumter County, Florida, Sumter * George P. Fowler - Putnam County, Florida, Putnam * F. B. Genovar - St. Johns County, Florida, St. Johns * Thomas Van Renssalaer Gibbs - Duval, an African American * James D. Goss - Marion * Jonathan C. Greeley - Duval County, Florida, Duval * William F. Green - 4th district * Robert Henderson (Florida politician), Robert Henderson - Taylor County, Florida, Taylor * John R. Herndon - 28th district * Henry Clay Hicks - Franklin County, Florida, Franklin * William A. Hocker - Sumter County, Florida, Sumter * Samuel E. Hope - Hillsborough County, Florida, Hillsborough * Joseph H. Humphries - Polk County, Florida, Polk * John B. Johnson (Florida politician), John B. Johnson - Alachua County, Florida, Alachua * John Newton Krimminger - Santa Rosa County, Florida, Santa Rosa * John T. Lesley - Hillsborough County, Florida, Hillsborough * Austin S. Mann - 22nd district * Augustus Maxwell - Escambia County, Florida, Escambia * Daniel M. McAlpin, First Assistant Secretary * Alex. L. McCaskill - Walton County, Florida, Walton * James F. McClellan - Jackson * A. Douglas McKinnon - Washington County, Florida, Washington * Hugh E. Miller - Marion * William Hall Milton - Jackson * John W. Mitchell (Florida politician), John W. Mitchell - Leon, an African American * John Neel - Holmes County, Florida, Holmes * B.F. Oliveros - St. Johns * William T. Orman - 5th district * Henry L. Parker - Brevard County, Florida, Brevard * John Parsons (Florida politician), John Parsons - Hernando County, Florida, Hernando * Samuel Pasco, President - 9th district * John C. Pelot, M.D. - Manatee County, Florida, Manatee * Samuel Petty - Nassau County, Florida, Nassau, an African American * Theodore Randell - Madison County, Florida, Madison * William H. Reynolds (Florida politician), William H. Reynolds, Secretary * John C. Richard - Bradford * Robert Furman Rogers - Suwannee County, Florida, Suwannee * Norman T. Scott - Gadsden County, Florida, Gadsden * James Gamble Speer - Orange County, Florida, Orange * James B. Stone - Calhoun County, Florida, Calhoun * Thomas F. Swearingen - 7th district (Wakulla County, Florida, Wakulla-Liberty County, Florida, Liberty) * William F. Thompson - Leon County, Florida, Leon, an African American * Joseph M. Tolbert - Columbia County, Florida, Columbia * John William Tompkins - Columbia * Samuel J. Turnbull - Jefferson * Burton Daniel Wadsworth - Madison * David Shelby Walker, Jr. - 8th district * William T. Weeks - Bradford County, Florida, Bradford * John Westcott - St. Johns County, Florida, St. Johns * Charles Cooper Wilson - Polk * James E. Yonge, 1st Vice President - Escambia

References

External links

Florida Constitution of 1885

Additional sources

*Charles W. Tebeau, A History of Florida (Coral Gables: University of Miami Press, 1971), 288-290. *Michael Gannon, The New History of Florida (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1996), 263-264, 272, 275, 304. *"The Florida Convention," New York Times, June 18, 1885, 1. *"Florida's Constitution," New York Times, August 18, 1885, 11.
Journal of the proceedings of the Constitutional Convention of the state of Florida: which convened at the Capitol, at Tallahassee, on Tuesday, June 9, 1885
{{Constitutions of the United States 1885 in Florida American constitutional conventions Florida law Government of Florida Legal history of Florida Anti-black racism in the United States Defunct state constitutions of the United States History of racism in Florida

Delegates

See also

References

External links

Additional sources