William D. Bloxham

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox officeholder William Dunnington Bloxham (July 9, 1835 – March 15, 1911) was the 13th and 17th Governor of Florida in two non-consecutive terms. Prior to his first term as governor, he served in the Florida House of Representatives. He was a Democrat.

His family had a plantation and he attended boarding schools in Virginia. He served in the Confederate army and opposed Reconstruction policies. As governor he sold off land for development.

In between his terms as governor, he served as state Comptroller when Francis P. Fleming was Governor. Bloxham was only the second governor of Florida to be born in the state.

Early life and career

Bloxham was born on a plantation in Leon County, Florida, the son of William and Martha (Williams) Bloxham.<ref name="AmericanBio">The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, p. 382.</ref><ref name="Headley695">Headley, p. 695.</ref><ref name="Douglas281">Douglas, p. 281.</ref> His great-grandfather had migrated from England to manage George Washington's plantation and his grandfather endured adversity due to the War of 1812.<ref name="AmericanBio" /><ref name="Douglas281" /> His father was from Alexandria, Virginia, and moved to Leon County to run a plantation in 1825, becoming one of few white settlers in a Native American-dominated area. The elder William served in the Seminole Wars.<ref name="AmericanBio" /><ref name="Headley695" /> Martha Bloxham was born in Twiggs County, Georgia, and moved to Florida as a child.<ref name="Headley695" />

The younger Bloxham went to county school in Florida before being sent to preparatory school in Virginia at age 13. For the next seven years, he attended Virginian schools, including Rappahannock Academy where his teachers included eventual U.S. Senator William Mahone.<ref name="Headley695" /> Bloxham graduated from The College of William & Mary in 1855 and acquired a law degree from the college.<ref name="AmericanBio" /> He was admitted to the Florida Bar but, when his health declined, he travelled to Europe and chose the more active life of a planter when he returned. In November 1856, he and Mary C. Davis travelled to her home city of Lynchburg, Virginia, to be married.<ref name="Headley695" />

Bloxham became interested in politics and actively campaigned for James Buchanan in the 1856 presidential election.<ref name="Headley6956">Headley, pp. 695-696.</ref> In 1861, he was elected to the Florida House of Representatives without opposition.<ref name="Headley696">Headley, p. 696.</ref><ref name="GovAssoc">Florida Governor William Dunnington Bloxham from National Governors Association web site. Accessed April 1, 2008.</ref> With the Civil War raging in 1862, Bloxham organized a company of infantry from Leon County which he commanded for the duration of the war. After the war, he staunchly opposed Reconstruction and, using his popularity as a speaker, was a leading voice among Florida Democrats.<ref name="AmericanBio" /> He served as a Presidential Elector for the Horatio Seymour/Francis Preston Blair Jr. Democratic ticket in the 1868 election.<ref name="Headley696" />

1870 election controversy

In 1870, Bloxham was at the center of a political firestorm during one of Florida's most violent periods. The Republican "carpetbaggers" were attacked in Florida, often violently, by groups like the Ku Klux Klan. On Election Day of 1870, the most violent counties were inundated with federal troops at the request of Governor Harrison Reed. The chaos of that day included constitutional convention member, William Capers Bird, pointing a handgun at African American state senator Robert Meacham on the courthouse steps in Monticello, reportedly warning, "no damned nigger shall vote here."<ref name="Supreme244">Manley, p. 244.</ref>

When the voting finally ended, it appeared that Bloxham had won the Lieutenant Governor race.<ref name="Supreme244" /> Republicans used the chaos of the day as an excuse for rejecting the votes of nine largely Democratic counties, but Bloxham sought an injunction from the Florida Circuit Courts to prevent tainted results from being announced.<ref name="Headley696" /><ref name="Supreme244" /> A circuit judge granted the injunction but a federal grand jury indicted the judge. With the circuit judge in jail, the Republican-led board of canvassers rejected enough ballots to overturn Bloxham's victory in favor of Republican Samuel T. Day.<ref name="Supreme244" />

Bloxham pushed the election dispute to the Florida Supreme Court, filing for a writ of mandamus on January 10, 1871, to force a recount.<ref name="Supreme244" /> While the Florida Attorney General disagreed that a recount could be ordered, the Supreme Court Chief JusticeTemplate:Who sided with Bloxham. Republican legislators countered by repealing the law which created the board of canvassers in the first place and the Supreme Court was unable to compel the board to recount when the board effectively ceased to exist.<ref name="Supreme245">Manley, p. 245.</ref> Bloxham applied to the supreme court for a writ of quo warranto on February 20, 1871, to challenge Day's victory, but the case did not begin until November 15.<ref name="Supreme2456">Manley, pp. 245-246.</ref> On June 1, 1872, the court finally ruled that Bloxham had won the 1870 election, by which time he had missed every state senate session in the term, meaning the term was effectively concluded.<ref name="Supreme246">Manley, p. 246.</ref> Although he took the oath of office on June 3, he could not perform the lieutenant governor's only duty, which was to preside over the Senate.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Thus, he is not named in lists of Florida's lieutenant governors.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The ruling was the first win for the Florida Democratic Party since the war.<ref name="Headley696" />

Governorship and the Disston Land Purchase

In the summer of 1872, Bloxham was unanimously nominated at the Jacksonville Democratic Convention to run for Governor with Confederate General Robert Bullock as his running mate.<ref name="Headley696" /> In November, a severe Election Day storm reduced the vote count and Bloxham was defeated by Republican Ossian B. Hart by 1,200 votes.<ref name="Headley696" /><ref name="Supreme224">Manley, p. 224.</ref> Hart, who had tried to claim Abijah Gilbert's U.S. Senate seat two years earlier, died barely a year into his term.<ref name="Supreme224" /> Bloxham served on the State Democratic Executive Committee and actively participated in the successful gubernatorial campaign of George Franklin Drew, promising protection to African Americans who voted for him.<ref name="Douglas281" /><ref name="Headley696" /> Bloxham was named Secretary of State.<ref name="Headley696" />

In June 1880, Bloxham was nominated again to run for governor and so resigned as Secretary of State. In his second attempt, he won the election by over 5,000 votes and was inaugurated on January 4, 1881.<ref name="Headley696" /> Bloxham inherited a state debt of $1 million and a lawsuit that placed a lien on millions of acres of Florida land.<ref name="Grunwald72">Grunwald, p. 72.</ref> Before his first month as governor was complete, Bloxham and Florida signed an agreement with Philadelphia saw manufacturing heir, Hamilton Disston, whereby Disston would attempt to drain the Everglades and would receive half of the land he reclaimed.<ref name="Grunwald85">Grunwald, p. 85.</ref> With Disston actively planning his drainage efforts, Bloxham personally travelled to Philadelphia to make an even larger deal with him. On June 14, 1881, Disston signed a contract to purchase four million acres (16,000 km2) of Florida land, larger than the state of Connecticut, for $1 million, a purchase which made international news.<ref name="Grunwald86">Grunwald, p. 86.</ref> When Disston and a second buyer, Sir Edward James Reed, paid in full, the state was out of debt and the first land boom soon followed.<ref name="Grunwald867">Grunwald, pp. 86-87.</ref>

Towards the end of Bloxham's first stint as governor, in 1884, call for revision to the Florida Constitution increased, fueled by division among the state's Democrats. Supporters of Bloxham's predecessor, George Franklin Drew, criticized Bloxham for the Disston Land Purchase as well as his apparent commitment to Florida Panhandle development at the expense of the rest of the state. They rallied around Confederate General Edward A. Perry and a call for a Constitutional Convention. In 1884, Bloxham lost the Democratic nomination to Perry;<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> in 1885, voters approved the convention which led to the 1885 Florida Constitution.<ref name="Supreme2678">Manley, pp. 267-268.</ref>

Second term

On April 18, 1885, Bloxham was appointed Minister Resident and Consul General to Bolivia by President Grover Cleveland. Bloxham took the oath of office but declined to report for the post.<ref name="Bolivia">List of Ambassadors to Bolivia from the United States Department of State web site. Accessed April 1, 2008.</ref><ref name="NYTBoliv">Template:Cite news</ref> Instead, he accepted a November 1885 appointment to become the U.S. Surveyor General for Florida which he held until December 1889. When the state comptroller position became vacant on May 1, 1890, Governor Francis P. Fleming appointed Bloxham to fill it. Bloxham was unanimously nominated for the position in August 1890 and easily won the election, and was easily re-elected in 1892.<ref name="AmericanBio" />

Comptroller Bloxham ran for governor and was victorious in 1896, 12 years after leaving the office. Despite his conservative reputation, Bloxham left his mark in his second term by reinstating and expanding the powers of a railroad commission, restricting monopolies and creating a statewide auditor to eliminate government fraud and waste. Fire insurance company regulation was initiated and women served as public notaries for the first time during Bloxham's second stint as governor.<ref name="Supreme328">Manley, p. 328.</ref>

William Bloxham died on March 15, 1911, in Tallahassee, Florida.<ref name="GovAssoc" /> A planned Bloxham County, Florida, centered around Williston, Florida, was rejected by a referendum in 1915.<ref name="LevyCourt">Levy County Courthouse Template:Webarchive at the Florida's 10th Judicial Circuit web site. Accessed April 1, 2008.</ref>

Plantation

Bloxham was a cotton planter in Leon County, Florida, and from the late 1850s owned the William D. Bloxham Plantation. He had 52 slaves.

Notes

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References

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