Florida rose steadily in recent years on the annual Chief Executive Magazine business-friendly ranking, now second only to Texas for being the best state for business.

To put into perspective all that has happened since Florida entered the Union 165 years ago, consider this: After the president signed the Statehood Act on March 3, 1845, it took five days for the news to reach Tallahassee and 10 days for a copy of the act to be delivered to the state Capitol. Today, we can cross the country in mere hours and receive information almost instantly from around the globe, even from space.