Constitution of Florida
Florida's first constitution as a U.S. territory was written and implemented in 1838. On March 3, 1845, Florida was granted admission into the Union as the 27th state. The current Constitution of Florida was ratified on November 5, 1968, and has been modified by initiative and referendum several times since.
Tallahassee Police Department
With Reconstruction and civil rights bestowed on black citizens, for several years during the 1870s, much of the Tallahassee City Council and the entire police force -- including the City Marshal -- were black. Also during this period, the only two blacks ever to serve as Leon County Sheriff until November 2016 occupied that post. But, the era of the black Southern public official was short lived and, with passage of Florida's 1885 Constitution (replacing the 1868 "carpetbagger" Constitution), black suffrage was effectively quashed. Control of public offices became white-only (until the 1964 Civil Rights Act).