Charles H. DuPont was a 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...

 lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

, planter

Plantation

A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

, businessman, and Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 politician who served as a 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...

 justice from 1854 to 1868. He was Chief Justice

Chief Justice

The Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Court of Final Appeal of...

 from 1860 to 1868. He was born on January 27, 1805. He died on October 14, 1877.

DuPont was born in Beaufort District, South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

  on January 27, 1805. His family were cousins of the Du Pont family

Du Pont family

The Du Pont family is an American family descended from Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours . The son of a Paris watchmaker and a member of a Burgundian noble family, he and his sons, Victor Marie du Pont and Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, emigrated to the United States in 1800 and used the resources of...

. His father died when he was young, and his mother sent him to Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

 where he worked on a farm and attended the common schools. He graduated from Franklin College

Franklin College of Arts and Sciences

The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences is the founding college of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, United States. The college was named in honor of Benjamin Franklin.-History:...

 in Georgia in 1826. The same year, he moved to Gadsden County, Florida

Gadsden County, Florida

Gadsden County is a county located in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2000 census, the population was 45,087. The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 estimate for the county is 46,428 . Its county seat is Quincy, Florida. Gadsden County is the only predominantly African-American...

 where he opened a legal practice and became a planter. At one time he held over 5000 acres (20.2 km²) in Gadsden County and owned more than 100 slaves.

In 1833 Governor William Pope DuVal

William Pope Duval

William Pope Duval was the first civilian governor of Florida Territory, serving from April 17, 1822 until April 24, 1834.-Early life:...

 appointed him appraiser for the Union Bank. He became a trustee of the Central Bank in 1834. That same year, Governor DuVal appointed him judge for the Gadsden County Court. Duval also appointed him to the legislative council in 1834 and 1835, where he was involved running the militia, making internal improvements

Internal improvements

Internal improvements is the term used historically in the United States for public works from the end of the American Revolution through much of the 19th century, mainly for the creation of a transportation infrastructure: roads, turnpikes, canals, harbors and navigation improvements...

 to infrastructure, and setting up the judiciary. He was elected by Florida's Middle District in 1838 to the territorial senate, where he advocated for Florida statehood. He left the Senate in 1841, but continued to serve in the Florida Militia.

He was chosen to serve as a member of the Electoral College in 1848. He was a delegate to the Nashville Convention

Nashville Convention

The Nashville Convention was a political meeting held in Nashville, Tennessee, on June 3 – 11, 1850. Delegates from nine slave holding states met to consider a possible course of action if the United States Congress decided to ban slavery in the new territories being added to the country as a...

 of 1850 and became an advocate for Secession. In 1853, his campaign for election as a Florida Supreme Court Justice was successful, as was his bid to succeed Thomas Baltzell

Thomas Baltzell

Thomas Baltzell was an American lawyer and politician who was the first popularly elected chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court...

 as Chief Justice in 1860. His salary was $2,500 in 1861.

After the end of the 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...

, he was reappointed by Governor Walker

David S. Walker

David Shelby Walker was the eighth Governor of Florida.Walker was born near Russelville in Logan County, Kentucky. He attended private schools in Kentucky and Tennessee and studied law. He moved to Florida in 1837, settling in Leon County...

. As chief justice, he was instrumental in developing and promoting Florida's black codes

Black Codes in the USA

The Black Codes were laws put in place in the United States after the Civil War with the effect of limiting the basic human rights and civil liberties of blacks. Even though the U.S...

, laws that for all intents and purposes returned Florida Blacks to slavery. Before Reconstruction brought an end to the black codes and DuPont's career on the Bench in 1868, he was instrumental in forming the Agricultural and Immigration Association of Florida. This association sought to create a source of cheap labor by promoting immigration from other countries to Florida. He continued to innovate and advocate for Florida agriculture until his death.

He became despondent after the death of his beloved wife, Mary Ann DeGraffenreid Hobson on July 10, 1877, and his health began to decline. Nevertheless, he traveled to the Midwest to recruit immigrant labor to Florida, and became seriously ill in Minneapolis. He died at the home of his daughter in Quincy, Florida

Quincy, Florida

Quincy is a city in Gadsden County, Florida, United States. The population was 6,982 at the 2000 census. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 6,975...

on October 14, 1877, a day after returning home.