Andrew Jackson Pettigrew (June 1845 − December 18, 1917) was an American politician and a member of the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

from 1907 to 1909. Pettigrew is the only socialist to have served in the Florida Legislature. He served in the 1907 session. Jackson was born June 1845 and raised in

Brown County, Illinois Brown County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,244. Its county seat is Mount Sterling. Siloam Springs State Park is located partly in this county. History Brown County was formed ...

for a time. During his teenage years, his family moved to

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. Pettigrew himself relocated to

Manatee County, Florida Manatee County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 399,710. Manatee County is part of the Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, North Por ...

in 1883. He took work as a farm laborer on a citrus farm before earning enough wealth to purchase forty acres of his own land on which to farm. He became involved with the citrus trade in Florida. An avowed socialist, Pettigrew ran for the Florida House of Representatives in 1904 as a member of the Socialist Party of Florida against Democratic candidate A.J. Cornwall. He ran again in 1906 against Democratic candidate John Graham. While a member of the House, he introduced bills to implement an income tax, the direct election of

United States Senators The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

, and reforming juries to a majority-vote system versus the existing unanimous vote system. In 1908, the Florida Socialist Party nominated Pettigrew as its candidate for

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in that year's gubernatorial election. He outperformed the Republican nominee in several areas of the state, but finished third to Democratic nominee Albert W. Gilchrist and Republican nominee John Cheney. In 1912, Pettigrew was the Socialist Party's candidate for

Florida Commissioner of Agriculture The commissioner of agriculture is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of Florida that heads the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS). Elected for a four-year mandate that is ...

finishing second to the Democratic nominee and defeating the Republican nominee that year. Pettigrew died December 18, 1917, at age 72.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pettigrew, Andrew Jackson 1845 births 1917 deaths 20th-century members of the Florida Legislature Florida socialists People from Bradenton, Florida Members of the Florida House of Representatives 19th-century American farmers