1/9Real estate & politicsThe whole development around the state has been based on real estate and tourism. Florida has a natural bounty, which something can be made of it.Development was also driven by transportation. Beginning with steamboats on the St. Johns riverRailroads also aided in developmentHurt some towns that were driven by boat travelFirst theme park in Florida was Crystal SpringsIn the 1880’s the state was broke. They sold 4 million acres of swampland to Hamilton Diston, which paid off the state debt. His idea was to build a big resort down there and he was relying on a railroad to be built. He created Tarpon springs, which never got a railroad, while St. Petersburg grew very large because of its railroad.Disston was headquartered in Kissimmee and began to drain the Kissimmee River basin. This marked the end of the open range in FL dooming the cattle industry. People began to settle in fort MyersDisston lowered Okeechobee by 4.5 feet. During the period from 1881-1892 250 railroads were built to get or travel over Disstons reclaimed land.Cities and towns began to spring up around the railroad lines. Hotels and tourist destinations were along these railroads. The railroad boom in Florida was finally completed with the railway connecting to Key West.In the 1920s there was huge land boom because of the production of cars. The increase of cars lead to shopping centers, large national chain businesses etc. People were now mobile.This lead to investment frenzy. People were investing 9in the stock market, in anything. People would buy land and turn around and sell it for higher profits.Rather than wealthy railroad builders such as Henry Flagler make money, average people were able to make money by investing in land.Draining the everglades reclaimed a lot of the land in South Florida.Depression in Florida was really bad it began in the 20s and didn’t end until WWIIIn the 40s military bases began popping up throughout Florida, which has also had a huge effect on the state economy.In the 1950’s the building boom in US also happened in Florida. Development happened primarily because of the Interstate system in Florida. Towns now began to spring up along the highways.Florida has had a unique experience as a state.There are many things that determine how the government worksLocal politics, history, demographics, legislature, governor, judicial, economy, constitutionEvery state in the union has a bicameral legislature (House and senate) except Nebraska.Federalism and what the feds have effect on the state government.Different states have different environments and the different elements affect the Legislature, governor and the judiciary.Legislature, Gov, Jud effected byPolitical parties, interest groups, public opinion, electoral system, mediaThese are classified as input entitiesEducation, Executive orders are outputs of the formal institutions of the governmentFlorida HistoryIn the beginning people began coming to northern Florida from South Carolina, NC, AL, MS, GA and the old south using north FL as a place for their plantations etc. The new residents extended down up until about Ocala and across the panhandle.Not until the early 1900’s people began heading to central and south Florida.Over the years many different kinds of people began to come over to Florida.History & Florida PoliticsFlorida was isolated, and the first people were in north Florida, they brought with them old south traditions. They influenced the nature of politics for a long period of timeMovement of people into the state, people moving in and outSize of the population that was moving into Florida from the 1920s onward into south Fl.Average of 1.8 million people per year came into the state in the 60s & 70s. the large numbers of people focused politics locally rather than state wideThere began to be the retiree’s moving into Florida beginning in the 40s-60sThey were coming here to retire. They didn’t want to pay taxes. That created a particular orientation for what they wanted the government to do. “keep the peace and don’t bother me”Cincinnati Factor –Bob Grahm, when old people would die their money would be sent back to their kids up north.Cubans which are split Democratic and Republican moved into Florida.Puerto Ricans vote strongly democratic.Mexicans and Haitians democraticAnother big liberal influence concentrated in south Florida was the Jews from New York, they dominated Miami politics and have a broad effect statewide.As people began to come into the state new economies began to develop.Other than northern farming, there was fruit and vegetables, sugar was also produced.Tourism, fishing industry, cattle industryThe diverse economy cut down on the fact that one group would be dominant politically.The diversity of the state and size made for factionalized politics.The dominance in the northern part of the state lasted from 1960-67.The phenomenon that bob gram referred to as the cincinatti factor. So many people came down here for a nice place to live but don’t have commitment to the state. They are not willing to help out the future generations of Florida.Political CultureTraditions or practices, how you behave toward each other. They have strong effects on people. It is an orientation about the norms in government, the bureaucracy, and toward politics in the sense of who should participate in politics. US has 3TradionalisticIndividualisticMoralisticEach has been effected by streams of immigration from other countries to the United StatesThese cultures are situated throughout the united statesFlorida History Cont.Reapportionment:People started out in the Northern part of the state and had control of the state legislature. The legislature drew lines on who would represent the population. Can do it on several different basisNumbers- everybody gets equal representationGeography- each county has x amount of representativesEthnicity, Population, etcIn 1889 it was represented by geographyAs people begin coming into the state and the population grew, the north still dominated the legislature.This created a problem because the numbers came into the southern part of the state and the north had control.The legislature was in control of the reapportion process and they needed a constitutional change which was hard.Multi member districts- divide the districts with multiple members in itSingle member district- 120 members in one districtFlorida in the 1950’s was the most mal apportioned