Our Introduction Theater, located right off the main Rotunda, is currently showing “Florida in the Balance.” This eight minute award winning video will give you an overview of Florida’s political history. Learn how the state government and its leaders serve citizens through programs that meet the diverse needs and interests of Floridians.
Also in this room are historic photographs depicting Florida’s Capitols from the Territorial era through the building of the new Capitol in the 1970s.
This room was also the Attorney General’s Office during the early 1900s. In Florida, the Attorney General is part of the Cabinet and is an “elected,” not an “appointed” position. In 1902, Florida’s Cabinet consisted of six elected members and the Governor. Starting in 2003, Florida’s Cabinet consisted of three elected members along with the Governor. William Bailey Lamar, Florida’s 16th Attorney General from 1889 to 1903, was from Monticello in Jefferson County. His father was a Colonel in the Confederate Army and William was educated at the University of Georgia and Cumberland University in Tennessee. William Lamar was re-elected three times as Florida’s Attorney General. Lamar served until 1903 when he then became a U.S. Congressman from Florida. In 1902, the Attorney General’s salary was $1,500 a year.