V.O. Key’s Florida: Why it’s an outlier Titled “Every Man For Himself,” V.O. Key is to ensure the reader that his chapter about Florida is considerably different than any of the other eleven southern states he writes about. With Florida’s land size only being second to Texas in the twelve southern states, Key says “it is almost literally every candidate for himself,” making it relatively simple to recognize why Key names the chapter so. Describing Florida as “an incredibly complex mélange of amorphous factions,” he is asserting that because of its complexity, it is demonstrating the diversity of the Southern Democratic party. So, what does Florida’s geographical size have to do in terms with its politics? In the early to mid-nineteenth century, Florida was a large state, but about half its population came from only five cities, all scattered randomly throughout the state. One city, Pensacola, is located in the most North-West section of the state, while another city, Miami, is located at the tip of the peninsula, on the complete opposite side of the state. According to Key, trying to govern both cities is like trying to govern both Lansing, Michigan, and Huntington, West Virginia. The fact that Florida is not only the most urbanized state of the south, being the only state over fifty percent urban, but also that these urban cities are scarce and separated, makes the job of being an elected…show more content… As most Southern states were over-growing cotton or replanting one crop in the same field, Florida was ensuring that they would regularly switch out their crops to keep their soil fertile for a longer period of time. Florida also did not focus solely on farming. Mining, fishing, cattle raising and especially tourist attractions were vital in Florida’s income use of the land. In fact, Florida’s out of state income was nearly double the amount of other states due to this polar use of the
