In between his terms as governor, he served as state Comptroller when Francis P. Fleming was Governor. Bloxham was only the second governor of Florida to be born in the state.
The younger Bloxham went to county school in Florida before being sent to preparatory school in Virginia at age 13. For the next seven years, he attended Virginian schools, including Rappahannock Academy where his teachers included eventual U.S. SenatorWilliam Mahone.[2] Bloxham graduated from The College of William & Mary in 1855 and acquired a law degree from the college.[1] He was admitted to the Florida Bar but, when his health declined, he travelled to Europe and chose the more active life of a planter when he returned. In November 1856, he and Mary C. Davis travelled to her home city of Lynchburg, Virginia, to be married.[2]
In 1870, Bloxham was at the center of a political firestorm during one of Florida's most violent periods. The Republican carpetbaggers were being resisted in Florida, often violently, by groups like the Ku Klux Klan. On Election Day of 1870, the most violent counties were inundated with federal troops at the request of Governor Harrison Reed. The chaos of that day included constitutional convention member, William Capers Bird, pointing a handgun at African Americanstate senatorRobert Meacham on the courthouse steps in Monticello, reportedly warning, "no damned nigger shall vote here."[7]
When the voting finally ended, it appeared that Bloxham had won the Lieutenant Governor race.[7] Republicans used the chaos of the day as an excuse for rejecting the votes of nine largely Democratic counties, but Bloxham sought an injunction from the Florida Circuit Courts to prevent tainted results from being announced.[5][7] A circuit judge granted the injunction but a federal grand juryindicted the judge. With the circuit judge in jail, the Republican-led board of canvassers rejected enough ballots to overturn Bloxham's victory in favor of Republican Samuel T. Day.[7]
Bloxham pushed the election dispute to the Florida Supreme Court, filing for a writ of mandamus on January 10, 1871, to force a recount.[7] While the Florida Attorney General disagreed that a recount could be ordered, the Supreme Court Chief Justice sided with Bloxham. Republican legislators countered by repealing the law which created the board of canvassers in the first place and the Supreme Court was unable to compel the board to recount when the board effectively ceased to exist.[8] Bloxham applied to the supreme court for a writ of quo warranto on February 20, 1871, to challenge Day's victory, but the case did not begin until November 15.[9] On June 1, 1872, the court finally ruled that Bloxham had won the 1870 election, by which time he had missed every state senate session in the term, meaning the term was effectively concluded.[10] Although he took the oath of office on June 3, he could not perform the lieutenant governor's only duty, which was to preside over the Senate.[11] Thus, he is not named in lists of Florida's lieutenant governors.[12] Regardless, the ruling marked the first win for the Florida Democratic Party since the war.[5]
Governorship and the Disston Land Purchase
In the summer of 1872, Bloxham was unanimously nominated at the Jacksonville Democratic Convention to run for Governor with Confederate General Robert Bullock as his running mate.[5] In November, a severe Election Day storm reduced the vote count and Bloxham was defeated by Republican Ossian B. Hart by 1,200 votes.[5][13] Hart, who had tried to claim Abijah Gilbert's U.S. Senate seat two years earlier, died barely a year into his term.[13] Bloxham served on the State Democratic Executive Committee and actively participated in the successful gubernatorial campaign of George Franklin Drew, promising protection to African Americans who voted for him.[3][5] Bloxham was named Secretary of State.[5]
In June 1880, Bloxham was nominated again to run for governor and so resigned as Secretary of State. In his second attempt, he won the election by over 5,000 votes and was inaugurated on January 4, 1881.[5] Bloxham inherited a state debt of $1 million and a lawsuit that placed a lien on millions of acres of Florida land.[14] Before his first month as governor was complete, Bloxham and Florida signed an agreement with Philadelphia saw manufacturing heir, Hamilton Disston, whereby Disston would attempt to drain the Everglades and would receive half of the land he reclaimed.[15] With Disston actively planning his drainage efforts, Bloxham personally travelled to Philadelphia to make an even larger deal with him. On June 14, 1881, Disston signed a contract to purchase four million acres (16,000 km2) of Florida land, larger than the state of Connecticut, for $1 million, a purchase which made international news.[16] When Disston and a second buyer, Sir Edward James Reed, paid in full, the state was out of debt and the first land boom soon followed.[17]
On April 18, 1885, Bloxham was appointed Minister Resident and Consul General to Bolivia by PresidentGrover Cleveland. Bloxham took the oath of office but declined to report for the post.[20][21] Instead, he accepted a November 1885 appointment to become the U.S. Surveyor General for Florida which he held until December 1889. When the state comptroller position became vacant on May 1, 1890, Governor Francis P. Fleming appointed Bloxham to fill it. Bloxham was unanimously nominated for the position in August 1890 and easily won the election, and was easily re-elected in 1892.[1]
Comptroller Bloxham ran for governor and was victorious in 1896, 12 years after leaving the office. Despite his conservative reputation, Bloxham left his mark in his second term by reinstating and expanding the powers of a railroad commission, restricting monopolies and creating a statewide auditor to eliminate government fraud and waste. Fire insurance company regulation was initiated and women served as public notaries for the first time during Bloxham's second stint as governor.[22]
