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FLORIDA. the Union in 1845. Between 1835 and 1843 a bitter warfare was waged against the Seminoles, and it resulted in the removal of the greater part of them beyond the Mississippi. On January 10, 1861, the State passed an ordinance of secession. Three days previously the State authorities had seized Fort Marion and the arsenals at Saint Augustine and Apalachicola; and on the 12th the navy yards and forts at Pensacola were taken possession of. Jacksonville, Fernandina, and Saint Augustine were taken by the Federal forces in 1862; but at the battle of Olustee, February 20, 1864, the State was lost to the Union. The ordinance of secession was repealed in October, 1865, and a State Government was organized in 1866; but it was not till June, 1868, after a new constitution had been adopted and the Fourteenth Amendment ratified, that Florida was readmitted into the Union. For a number of years after the war, the State was in difficult financial conditions, and the burden of taxation was heavy. Elaborate plans for the building of new railroads failed to be carried out, and many old roads went into bankruptcy. Between 1875 and 1880, a period during which the political power was passing from the Republicans to the Democrats, election contests were close and bitter, and appeals from the ballot-box to the courts were frequent. The part played by the electoral vote of Florida in the disputed Presidential election of 1876 was important. (See .) After 1882 the reclamation of swamp lands in the south of the peninsula was carried on on a large scale, and led to the development of the sugar industry. The discovery of rich phosphate deposits in 1889 improved economic conditions greatly, and the growing popularity of eastern Florida as a winter resort has further enhanced its prosperity. The present Constitution was adopted in 1886. In politics, both State and National, Florida since 1876 has been invariably Democratic.

Consult: Mrs. Stowe, Palmetto Leaves (Boston, 1873); Barbour, Florida (New York, 1884); Norton, A Handbook of Florida (New York, 1892); Cory, Hunting and Fishing in Florida (Boston, 1896); Ward, The English Angler in Florida (London, 1898); Bush, “History of Education in Florida,” United States Bureau of Education, Circular of Information, 1888, No. 7;

Fairbanks, History of Florida (Philadelphia, 1871).  FLORIDA. The first of the Confederate privateering vessels, built at Liverpool by Laird, a member of Parliament. She sailed from Liverpool in March, 1862, under the name of the Oreto; was equipped at Nassau, Bahamas, with an armament of two seven-inch and six six-inch guns, and in September ran the blockade into Mobile Harbor. On January 6, 1863, she ran out as the Florida. In the Brazilian port of Bahia she was captured by the Wachusett, under Capt. Napoleon Collins (October 7, 1864). Her seizure was a violation of the neutrality laws, and gave rise to much excitement. The Florida was taken to Hampton Roads, where she was sunk not long after.  FLORIDA AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE. An educational institution organized at Lake City, Fla., in 1884 under the Congressional act of 1862, granting lands to the several States for the establishment of colleges of agriculture and mechanic arts. From this act and from a further act of 1890, the college receives an income of about $21,000. In addition, the ‘Hatch Bill’ of 1887 permits the maintenance of an agricultural experiment station. The college offers courses leading to the degrees of B.A. and of B.S. in agriculture, chemistry, engineering, and literature. Women are admitted on equal terms with men. The student enrollment is about 200.  FLORIDA-BLANCA,, , Count of ( 1728-1808). A Spanish statesman. He was born in Murcia, was educated for the law at Salamanca, and became the principal prosecuting official to the Council of Castile. In this capacity he was the author of the decree for the expulsion of the Jesuits, in 1767, and in 1772 he was sent by the Marquis Esquilache, the Prime Minister, on a mission to Rome to confer with Pope Clement XIV., and was created Count of Florida-Blanca on his return to Spain. In 1777 he succeeded Grimaldi as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and also became president of the Council of Ministers. Florida-Blanca's long ministerial career, lasting from 1777 to 1792, was one of the most brilliant and successful in Spanish history. In foreign affairs his administration, although not so completely successful, was marked by true statesmanship. He is said by some writers to have suggested the famous ‘’ (q.v.) in 1780, and it was during his administration of the Foreign Office that Spain joined with France, in accordance with the provisions of the Family Compact of 1761, in the war against England, though Florida-Blanca steadfastly opposed any recognition of American independence. A treaty was negotiated with the Sultan of Turkey, and Algiers bombarded, and the Algerine pirates were brought to terms. On the accession of Charles IV., in December, 1788, Florida-Blanca sought to retire from his position, but at the urgent request of the King retained his office three years longer. In 1792 an intrigue at Court resulted in his retirement and the elevation of Aranda. Absurd and unsubstantiated charges of the malversation of funds were brought against him, and he was imprisoned for a short time in the fortress of Pamplona. On the fall of Aranda, and the appointment of Godoy as Prime Minister, he was