Constitution Convention Museum State Park facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Constitution Convention Museum State Park
IUCN Category V (Protected Landscape/Seascape)
Constitution Convention Museum State Park Location in Florida
Location	Port St. Joe, Gulf County, Florida, USA
Area	14 acres (5.7 ha)
Governing body	Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Constitution Convention Museum State Park is a special place in northwestern Florida, located right outside Port St. Joe. It's a Florida State Park that helps visitors learn about an important time in Florida's past. The park covers about 14 acres (5.7 hectares) and has a museum.

Inside the museum, you can see what life was like in the 1800s in a town called St. Joseph. There are also life-sized figures that talk and tell the story of Florida's very first meeting to create its own rules, called a Constitutional Convention. This park is found at 200 Allen Memorial Way.

Discovering Florida's First Constitution

The town of St. Joseph was founded in 1835. It was a busy place for a short time, but by 1844, it was gone. However, St. Joseph is famous for one very important event. It was the site of Florida's first Constitutional Convention in 1838.

Why St. Joseph Hosted the Convention

You might wonder why this big meeting happened in St. Joseph and not in Tallahassee, which was the capital of Florida at the time. Town promoters worked hard to bring the convention to St. Joseph. There was also some disagreement between different parts of Florida.

People from Middle Florida, who were often wealthier, really wanted Florida to become a state. But people from East and West Florida thought Florida wasn't ready to be a state yet. They believed Florida couldn't afford to run its own state government. So, they wanted Florida to stay a territory, which meant it was governed by the United States, not by its own state government.

Creating Florida's First Rules

Despite these disagreements, a group of representatives from the territory met in St. Joseph. They worked from December 3, 1838, until January 11, 1839. During this time, they wrote the very first draft of Florida’s constitution. This document would be the basic set of rules for how Florida would be governed as a state.

After this first meeting, four more conventions were held in other places. Finally, Florida officially joined the United States as a state in 1845. But St. Joseph holds a special place in history because it's where the journey to Florida's statehood truly began.

Images for kids

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  Convention hall reproduction