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MAKING AND BREAKING THE GOVERNOR: HOW THE STRONG GOVERNOR SURVIVED RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA BUT NOT IN TEXAS

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Date Issued:
2024
Abstract/Description:
When former Confederates and their conservative allies retook power in the South after Reconstruction, they rewrote state constitutions. Lawmakers in the individual states gave their governors different powers based on their state’s experience throughout Reconstruction and Redemption. The Texas Constitution of 1876 created a weak governor, producing a state governed by elected county leaders and court judges. The Florida Constitution of 1885 on the other hand, kept a strong executive but placed it underneath the power of a private organization, the Democratic State Executive Committee – the Democratic Party. The state governments - and governors – redeemers designed in the 1870s and 1880s still governed Texas and Florida well into the twenty first century. Reconstruction directly shaped the size and scope of these modern-day state executives.
Title: MAKING AND BREAKING THE GOVERNOR: HOW THE STRONG GOVERNOR SURVIVED RECONSTRUCTION IN FLORIDA BUT NOT IN TEXAS.
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Name(s): Prazan, Phil , author
Engle, Stephen, Thesis advisor
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Department of History
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Created: 2024
Date Issued: 2024
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 169 p.
Language(s): English
Abstract/Description: When former Confederates and their conservative allies retook power in the South after Reconstruction, they rewrote state constitutions. Lawmakers in the individual states gave their governors different powers based on their state’s experience throughout Reconstruction and Redemption. The Texas Constitution of 1876 created a weak governor, producing a state governed by elected county leaders and court judges. The Florida Constitution of 1885 on the other hand, kept a strong executive but placed it underneath the power of a private organization, the Democratic State Executive Committee – the Democratic Party. The state governments - and governors – redeemers designed in the 1870s and 1880s still governed Texas and Florida well into the twenty first century. Reconstruction directly shaped the size and scope of these modern-day state executives.
Identifier: FA00014507 (IID)
Degree granted: Thesis (MA)--Florida Atlantic University, 2024.
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Includes bibliography.
Subject(s): Governors
Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)--Florida
Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877)--Texas
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00014507
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
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Host Institution: FAU