Source

State Archives of Florida, Series S577

Description

Letter from Governor Harrison Reed to Colonel John T. Sprague, Union military official supervising the occupation of Florida, informing him that Florida had met the requirements set forth by Congress for readmission into the Union.

Date

1868-07-02

Creator

Reed, Harrison, 1813-1899

Format

Letters (correspondence)

Coverage

Reconstruction Era Florida (1865-1877)

Topic

Politics and Government

Subjects

Florida--Governor (1868-1873 : Reed)
Reconstruction (US history, 1865-1877)
Sprague, J. T. (John Titcomb), 1810-1878

Geographic Term

Florida

General Note

As a result of the Military Reconstruction Act, passed on March 2, 1867, congressional Republicans effectively took control of Reconstruction away from President Andrew Johnson. The Act's provisions divided the ex-Confederate States (except Tennessee) into five military districts, required black suffrage and ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, and called for conventions to establish new constitutions in each of the affected states. Delegates to the Florida Constitutional Convention were elected in November 1867. The bitterly divided convention met in Tallahassee the following January, and after much controversy, a new constitution, with black suffrage, was adopted and approved by the voters in May 1868. Republican Harrison Reed was elected governor, and on July 2 he wrote a letter to the military commander of Florida, Colonel John T. Sprague, informing him that Florida had completed the requirements to be readmitted to the Union.