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Record Group Number: 001000
Series/Collection Number: .S 535
Creator: Florida. Constitutional Convention (1838)
Title, Dates: Minutes, 1838-1839.
Amount: 1.00 v.
Medium Included:
Organization/Arrangement: Chronological.
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Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:     With the possibility of being admitted to statehood, an Act was passed by the Territorial Council in 1838, approved by Governor Richard Keith Call, calling for the election of delegates in October of 1838, to a convention to be held at St. Joseph, West Florida. The delegates were to draft a constitution and bill of rights for the Territory of Florida.
    The Constitutional Convention convened on December 3, 1838 with Robert Raymond Reid presiding as president and Joshua Knowles secretary.  The work of the Convention was carried out by eighteen committees, whose members were familiar with that particular area of government.  The process was a relatively simple one, since they used the constitutions of several other southern states as models. Only on the subject of banking did much debate take place.  The Convention adjourned sine die on January 9, 1839.
Summary:     The series contains a handwritten copy of minutes of the Constitutional Convention of 1838 from December 3 to December 26, 1838.  The last page stops in the middle of a sentence.  It appears that this copy of the minutes was never completed.  The minutes from December 27, 1838 to January 9, 1839, when the convention adjourned, are not included in this copy.  The location of the original minutes, if still extant, is not known.  The minutes reflect the debate on stringent banking rules and the pro-slavery sentiments of the delegates, most of whom were planters and lawyers.
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Publication Note: Florida becomes a state.  Tallahassee : Florida Centennial Commission, 1945.
General Note:
Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields: Constitutional conventions Florida
Statehood.
Territorial records. aat
Minutes. aat
Florida Constitution
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