Florida Ceded to the United States
The cession of Florida to the United States is a significant historical event that traces back to the early 16th century when Juan Ponce de León claimed the region for Spain in 1513. Over the next two centuries, Florida changed hands several times amid European rivalries, particularly between Spain, Great Britain, and France. Following the Seven Years' War, the 1763 Treaty of Paris resulted in British control over Florida, a period marked by its division into East and West Florida. After the American Revolution, Florida was retroceded to Spain, yet its hold weakened as American expansion intensified, especially post-Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
As American settlers moved into the region, tensions grew, culminating in various military incursions, including those led by General Andrew Jackson. Ultimately, the situation was resolved with the Adams-Onis Treaty in 1819, wherein Spain ceded both East and West Florida to the United States in exchange for financial compensation. This transition not only reshaped Florida's governance but also marked a pivotal moment in the expansion of the United States. The cession reflects broader themes of colonialism, territorial disputes, and the changing dynamics of power in North America.
Florida Ceded to the United States
Florida Ceded to the United States
Florida was claimed for Spain on Easter Day in 1513 by Juan Ponce de León. During the next half century, the peninsula was explored by other Spaniards, such as Pánfilo de Narváez, who perished by shipwreck in the Gulf of Mexico after he fled from natives in northwest Florida. There was also Hernando de Soto, who landed on Florida's west coast and explored 4,000 miles to the north and west before he, too, perished. Tristán de Luna founded Pensacola on Florida's Gulf Coast panhandle, and Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded the city of St. Augustine on Florida's east coast.
Two centuries passed before the rivalries of European powers for North American lands reached their peak. However, a foreshadowing of what was to come took place after a group of French Huguenots established a fort at the mouth of the St. Johns River, above St. Augustine in 1564. In two bloody battles, the Spanish under Menéndez drove the French out the following year. With the threat of foreign competition thus removed, Spanish control of Florida remained uninterrupted until 1763.
The year 1763 marked the conclusion of the Seven Years' War in Europe, of which the French and Indian War was the American aspect. Peace became official with the 1763 Treaty of Paris between victorious Great Britain on the one hand, and France and Spain on the other. One of the provisions of that document was that Havana, Cuba, which the British had conquered, would be returned to Spain in exchange for Florida. Great Britain also received from France additional land that extended the area of Florida from that state's present border at the Perdido River all the way to the Mississippi, though it did not include strategically located New Orleans.
The treaty marked the start of two decades of British rule in Florida. It was a period of prosperity, during which the British separated the region into East and West Florida with the Apalachicola River as the dividing line. East Florida was similar to, but somewhat smaller than, the present state of Florida.
It was during Britain's 20-year control of the Floridas that the 13 American colonies revolted. The Floridas remained loyal to Britain during the American Revolution and were a haven for Loyalists, who flocked there from the rebelling colonies. When the American Revolution formally ended with the 1783 Treaty of Paris between Great Britain and the new United States, relations between European powers again influenced the fate of the Florida region. Related treaties that Britain signed respectively with France (an ally of the United States) and Spain (an ally of France) became effective simultaneously with the Treaty of Paris. In accordance with the Anglo-Spanish agreement, the Floridas were retroceded to Spain in return for the abandonment of Spanish hopes for gaining British-occupied Gibraltar.
Spain was to have control of the Floridas until 1821. This time, however, its grasp was not so firm and it was to weaken even more as time went on. For years after the United States acquired the vast Louisiana Purchase territory from France in 1803, debate raged as to whether West Florida (or at least that portion between the Perdido and Mississippi Rivers) had been included in the transaction as the United States claimed. The Louisiana Purchase, meanwhile, served as an impetus for the ever-continuing westward thrust that would eventually carry American settlers all the way to the Pacific Ocean. They were already moving into West Florida and neighboring areas.
In 1810 President James Madison declared West Florida to be under the jurisdiction of the United States. Two years later, portions of West Florida were lopped off by the United States Congress, which annexed the area west of the Pearl River to the new state of Louisiana and incorporated the land between the Pearl and Perdido Rivers into the Mississippi Territory. The latter strip of Gulf Coast was subsequently divided between Mississippi, which became a state in 1817, and Alabama, which became a state in 1819.
Control of West Florida by the Spanish, who still claimed the disputed region, became even more tenuous after the outbreak of the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain. Part of the area, including the Spanish fort at Mobile and the land between Mobile and the Perdido, was occupied by American general James Wilkinson's forces in 1813. Late in 1814, Andrew Jackson captured Spanish Pensacola en route to his triumph in the battle of New Orleans. Jackson, again without authorization, took Pensacola for a second time in 1818.
Negotiations that the United States hoped would end the Florida controversy were going on between the United States and Spain, but were interrupted by what the Spanish regarded as the warlike nature of Jackson's incursion. Nevertheless the Spanish, preoccupied by difficulties at home and revolutions in South America, were willing to settle. The result was the Adams-Onis Treaty, by which Spain abandoned its claim to West Florida and ceded East Florida to the United States in return for $5 million that the United States agreed to credit towards claims of its citizens against Spain .