Both the city and county suffered corruption scandals, following virtual one-party rule by Democrats since the turn of the 20th century, when the state legislature had disenfranchised most African Americans and effectively hollowed out the Republican Party, with which most blacks had been allied since they were granted the franchise as freedmen following the Civil War.
In the 1960s, a grand jury indicted 11 Jacksonville and Duval County officials on 142 counts of bribery and larceny including: The city tax assessor took the Fifth Amendment, refused to testify, and resigned.
That year Congress had passed the Civil Rights Act that ended legal racial segregation of public facilities, and the state was working to adapt to other changes.
On January 19, 1965 Yates called a lunch meeting of the chamber at the Robert Meyer Hotel to decide on a course of action for the region.
Hills, Jacob F. Bryan III, B. N. Nimnicht, James R. Stockton Sr., J. T. Lane, J. H. Coppedge, Gen. Maxwell Snyder, Harold Meyerheim, Joseph W. Davin, Thompson S. Baker, Richard Lewinson, Henry M. French and S. Kendrick Guernsey.
These business and civic leaders signed a 45-word petition to the Duval County legislative delegation, consisting of State Senator John E. Mathews and Representative Fred Schultz, that would later be dubbed as the "Yates Manifesto".
[9] Claude Yates was among the 50 business and civic leaders invited to participate; elected officials and government employees were intentionally excluded.
[11] Lower taxes, increased economic development, unification of the community, better public spending and effective administration by a more central authority were all cited as reasons for a new consolidated government.