Introduction
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00-- Introduction R. Boyd MuRphRee n JUly 17, 1821, Spain transferred British acquired Florida in 1763, they divided Ocontrol of its colony of West Florida the colony along the Apalachicola River into to the United States. In a similar ceremony two colonies, East and West Florida, with a week earlier, Spain had turned over East separate governors for each area. When the Florida, ending over 300 years of Spanish Spanish returned in 1783, they kept the same influence in the territory that now belonged administrative division. While the United to the young American republic. The ap- States and American settlers had made sig- proaching bicentennial of this event in July nificant inroads into Spanish East and West 2021 presents an opportunity to explore Florida before 1818, when Gen. Andrew Jack- how Florida has been governed over the last son conquered the Spanish colonies, the end 200 years through the lives of the men who of Spanish rule in 1821 divides Florida’s co- held the governorship from 1821 to 2019 (as lonial past from its American future. This of 2019, only men have served in the office). division, the length and complexity of the There have been numerous histories of the colonial period, and the existence of a large state and biographies of individual gover- number of expert histories of the era dis- nors. In addition, such publications as The couraged a combined history of Florida’s co- Florida Handbook and a few other reference lonial and American governors. works contain biographical sketches of most The next consideration was whether to of the governors, including a recently pub- begin the study in 1845, with Florida state- lished photographic study. There has never hood and the state’s first governor, William been, however, a published work devoted to D. Moseley, leaving behind Florida’s six ter- an in-depth examination of all of Florida’s ritorial executives: Andrew Jackson (military chief executives. This volume attempts to fill commissioner and governor), William Pope that gap.1 DuVal, John Eaton, Richard Keith Call, The question of scope was the first con- Robert Raymond Reid, and John Branch. sideration in the conception of the work. We included them. The careers and person- Beginning with Pedro Menéndez de Avilés alities of these men mark them as some of in 1565 and ending with José María Callava the most colorful and influential individuals in 1821, there were approximately eighty-one in Florida’s line of governors. Their decisions full, acting, and interim Spanish and Brit- impacted the formation of Florida’s territo- ish colonial governors of Florida. When the rial government and influenced the creation 1 2 | r. boyd MUrPhree of Florida’s first state government embodied absence from the capital could require an in the constitution of 1838. acting governor), the president of the Sen- What about acting governors? Should ate or the speaker of the House of Repre- they be included? Before making that deci- sentatives, in that order, became acting gov- sion, we had to identify those who served ernor. It fell to Abraham K. Allison to serve as acting governors and what they did. The twice as acting governor during this period. number of Florida’s acting governors is dif- As speaker of the House in 1853, he became ficult to determine, but at least thirteen men acting governor from September 16 to Oc- have served in that position: fifteen if you tober 3, when both Gov. Thomas Brown include two Reconstruction “acting gover- and Senate president Robert J. Floyd were nors” whose right to the office was contested. out of state. In 1857, Senate president Philip During the territorial period, the secretary of Dell was acting governor while Gov. James E. the territory served as acting governor in the Broome traveled to Washington, DC. Unlike governor’s absence. Robert Butler was the Allison, who was sworn in as acting governor first acting American governor in Florida. He in 1853, Dell assumed the post without cer- oversaw the transfer of Spanish East Florida emony after a court ruling determined that to the United States in a ceremony on July the post did not require a separate swear- 10, 1821, in St. Augustine in the absence of ing in; the Senate president was in position Andrew Jackson, who carried out the trans- to act as governor if called on to do so in the fer of West Florida in Pensacola on July 17. governor’s absence. Allison assumed the post John R. Bell and William G. D. Worthing- again, this time as Senate president, on April ton succeeded Butler as acting governors in 1, 1865, when Gov. John Milton died. The col- East Florida. George Walton Jr., the secre- lapse of Confederate Florida on May 19, 1865, tary for West Florida, served as acting gov- ended Allison’s time in office. Under Union ernor in Pensacola after Jackson returned military administration, Florida did not have to Tennessee in October 1821. He remained a chief executive until President Andrew in that post until the arrival of Gov. Wil- Johnson’s appointment of William Marvin as liam P. DuVal in June 1822, which marked provisional governor on July 13, 1865.2 the formal end of the dual administration Florida did not create the office of lieuten- of the territory. Under DuVal’s long tenure, ant governor until 1865, when William W. three territorial secretaries acted as governor J. Kelly became the first person to hold that in his absence: George Walton Jr., William office under the 1865 constitution. The 1868 M. McCarty, and James D. Westcott Jr. Two constitution continued the position. Three other DuVals, John P. DuVal, the governor’s men became or claimed to be acting gover- brother, and Thomas H. DuVal, the gover- nors under its provisions: Lt. Gov. William nor’s son, served as territorial secretaries and H. Gleason claimed the office in 1868 during acting governors for brief periods. In Decem- impeachment proceedings against Gov. Har- ber 1835, Acting Governor George K. Walker rison Reed, Lt. Gov. Samuel T. Day pro- mustered the territorial militia in reaction to claimed himself acting governor in 1872 dur- the Seminole attack on the command of Maj. ing another Reed impeachment crisis, and Francis Dade, an attack that launched what Lt. Gov. Marcellus L. Stearns became the became known as the Second Seminole War. legal acting governor from March 18, 1874, to During early statehood (1845–1865), when January 2, 1877, after the death of Gov. Os- a governor had been removed from office, sian B. Hart. died, resigned, or was absent from the state The 1885 constitution did away with the (during the territorial period the governor’s office of lieutenant governor. It was not res- introdUction | 3 urrected until the 1968 constitutional revi- Florida governor who has been written about sion. There have been twenty lieutenant the most. There are also biographies on Wil- governors, three of them women. Only one liam P. DuVal, Richard Keith Call, Ossian B. person, Charley E. Johns, served as acting Hart, Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, Sidney governor in the period 1885–1968. As presi- J. Catts, LeRoy Collins, Claude Kirk, Reu- dent of the Senate, Johns became acting gov- bin Askew, Bob Graham, Lawton Chiles, and ernor on September 28, 1953, when Gov. Dan Jeb Bush. Buddy MacKay and Charlie Crist McCarty died. Johns served as governor until have written autobiographies. These gover- January 4, 1955, when LeRoy Collins entered nors are the exceptions. The majority of the the office after being elected to fill out Mc- governors do not have any published biogra- Carty’s term. After 1968, the constitution phies beyond short encyclopedia-type pieces. required that the lieutenant governor become While these brief biographies contain useful the governor and abolished the term “acting reference information, they in no way give a governor.” Therefore, even though he only reader insight into what the governors were served for three days after the resignation like as individuals or why they made the de- of Gov. Bob Graham on January 2, 1987, Lt. cisions they did. This volume seeks to ad- Gov. Wayne Mixson was an official governor, dress those aspects of each governor. not an acting chief executive. Each chapter devotes most of its cover- Given this background, the book devotes age to the respective governor’s time in of- chapters to three acting governors: Allison, fice because that is when their actions, with Stearns, and Johns. Both Stearns and Johns some exceptions, had the greatest impact on had terms of substantial length. Allison is the state and the nation. However, the book included because of the dramatic circum- does not exclude their earlier or later careers. stances of his entry into office—the violent Some governors had notable business and death of Governor Milton and the fall of legal careers. Many served in the military and Confederate Florida. There are also chapters fought in wars. Several governors served as on Governors Mixson and Buddy MacKay, county and municipal officials. Most served even though their time in office was fleet- in the territorial or state legislatures be- ing: MacKay was in office from Decem- fore their governorship. One governor, John ber 12, 1998, to January 5, 1999, and Mixson Branch, Florida’s last territorial governor, was served from January 3 to January 6, 1987. the governor of North Carolina before com- Arguably, some of the acting governors per- ing to Florida. Some governors were state formed more important acts in office than judges and served on the Florida Supreme Mixson and MacKay, but the two executives Court.