Ossian Bingley Hart served his native state of Florida as pioneer, lawyer, entrepreneur, prosecutor, town and county official, legislator, supreme court justice, and--from January 1873 to March 1874--governor. Throughout his mature life he enjoyed respect for his honesty, integrity, and diligence. These accomplishments might not seem unusual for the son of an affluent and influential southern planter family. Hart's actions and values, though, defied many of the stereotypes associated with his background. He stood against secession in 1860 and 1861 and for the Union throughout the Civil War; he emerged from that conflict committed to the grant of full civil rights to freedmen; he acted as catalyst for the Florida Republican party's creation; and he forged a coalition of blacks and southern whites to oust the state's carpetbag leadership, reform its government, and extend the guarantee of civil rights through state law. / This study delves into the history of Florida and of the Hart family to explore the background against which a life such as Ossian Hart's--and, by extension and reflection, the lives of his contemporaries--can be measured and better understood. It permits a careful examination of the evolution of Florida's society, economy, race relations, and politics during the territorial, antebellum statehood, Civil War, and Reconstruction eras. And, it argues for an understanding of the human factors of history while underscoring the diversity, divisions, and complicated interrelationships which molded personalities, issues, and events of the times. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-09, Section: A, page: 2960. / Major Professor: William Warren Rogers. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1994.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_77235 |
| Contributors | Brown, Canter, Jr., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 631 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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