Ossian Bingley Hart was the tenth Governor of the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, and the first governor of Florida who was born in the state. Born in Jacksonville

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

 to Isaiah Hart

Isaiah Hart

Isaiah David Hart was an American plantation owner and the founder of Jacksonville, Florida. Originally from Georgia, he began setting out the plans for the town in 1822 after moving to the area named Cowford. The Isaiah D. Hart Bridge over the St. Johns River in Jacksonville is named after...

, one of the city's founders, he was raised on his father's plantation along the St. Johns River

St. Johns River

The St. Johns River is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant for commercial and recreational use. At long, it winds through or borders twelve counties, three of which are the state's largest. The drop in elevation from the headwaters to the mouth is less than ;...

. He was lawyer in Jacksonville. He moved to a farm near Fort Pierce in 1843. in the 1845, became Florida State Representative for St. Lucie County. In 1846 he moved to Key West where he resumed his law practice. In 1856, he moved to Tampa.

Despite his upbringing, Hart was a Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

 and openly opposed secession

Secession

Secession is the act of withdrawing from an organization, union, or especially a political entity. Threats of secession also can be a strategy for achieving more limited goals.-Secession theory:...

 from the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, causing some difficult times for him during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. Following the war, he helped reestablish the governments of the state and of the city of Jacksonville. In 1868, he was appointed a justice of the Florida Supreme Court

Florida Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the State of Florida is the highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. The Supreme Court consists of seven judges: the Chief Justice and six Justices who are appointed by the Governor to 6-year terms and remain in office if retained in a general election near the end of each...

. In 1870, he ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Congress, only to be elected governor two years later on January 7, 1873. He appointed Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs

Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs

Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs, II was a Presbyterian minister and a prominent African-American officeholder during Reconstruction...

 as Florida's first African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

 Superintendent of Public Instruction. Following the campaign, he fell ill with pneumonia and died in Jacksonville. He was succeeded by lieutenant governor Marcellus Stearns

Marcellus Stearns

Marcellus Lovejoy Stearns was an American politician. He served as the 11th Governor of Florida, from 1874 to 1877.Born in Lovell, Maine on April 29, 1839, he attended Colby College and in 1861 left to join the Union Army. He lost an arm during the war, after which he was sent by the army to...

, Florida's last Republican governor until 1967.