The history of early organized education in Florida is one of none, followed by failed and sporadic efforts by state and local officials until just before the twentieth century. The first real effort came with the post-Civil War Constitution commonly remembered as the “carpet bagger Constitution”. In 1885 a new Constitution used much of its predecessor’s language, adding separate but equal schools for black students and establishing new institutes of higher learning for the training of teachers. Through such foundations the beginning of educational development in the state began....