geeky
potus_geeks post might be in order.
Allow me to begin with a little Floridian history. Florida was first discovered in 1513 by Juan Ponce de León who claimed it as a possession of Spain. The first settlement was at St. Augustine, which is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement on the continental U.S. It was founded in 1565. Florida remained a Spanish possession until the end of the Seven Years' War when Spain ceded it to Great Britain in 1763 in exchange for the release of Havana. But it only part of the British Empire for two decades, and in 1783, after the American Revolution, Great Britain ceded Florida back to Spain.
The second Spanish rule was marked with conflict with some of the southern states. There were border disputes along the boundary with the state of Georgia and there were also issues when Spain tried to prevent American use of the Mississippi river. The boundary dispute was temporarily resolved in 1795 by the Treaty of San Lorenzo which fixed the boundary of Florida and Georgia along the 31st parallel.
But there were other festering issues. One of these was that Florida was a safe haven for Seminole and other First Nations who would attack settlers in Georgia and then retreat into Spanish territory. Slaves escaping their captivity would also seek refuge in Florida. These slaves reached an accord with the Seminoles in which the Seminoles protected the escaped slaves in return for a share crop arrangement in which the former slaves worked the land and shared the result of their labor with the Seminoles. The slaveholders in Georgia and the rest of the South found this to be an intolerable state of affairs as slaves continued to escape to Florida.
In 1812, United States forces and Georgia "patriots" under General George Mathews invaded Florida to address these issues under the guise of protecting American interests. This 1812 invasion of East Florida did not have the support of President James Madison, who promised the Spanish authorities a speedy exit of the American troops.
But the issue continued to remain unresolved and in 1818, after ongoing conflicts involving the Seminoles, fugitive slaves, and settlers, General Andrew Jackson wrote to President James Monroe, informing him that he was invading Florida. Jackson's force left from Tennessee and marched down to the Florida panhandle. Spanish officers surrendered coastal fortifications at Fort San Marcos, Fort Barrancas and Pensacola. Monroe sought the advice of his cabinet, many of whom wanted the president to reprimand Jackson. But it was then Secretary of State John Quincy Adams who supported Jackson's actions (ironically, given that the two men would become enemies following the election of 1824). Adams believed that the laws of diplomacy supported Jackson, given the threat posed to American security by Spain's refusal to address the issue.
Adams pursued a diplomatic resolution with Spain and on February 22, 1819, the Adams-Onís Treaty (also known as the Transcontinental Treaty) was signed by Adams and his Spanish counterpart, Luis de Onís y González-Vara. The treaty not take effect until after it was ratified, first by Spain on Oct. 24, 1820 and then by the United States on February 19, 1821. Under the treaty, the U.S. received Florida and also inherited Spanish claims to the Oregon Territory. In return, the United States ceded all of its claims on Texas to Spain. (In 1821, when Mexico became an independent nation, Texas became Mexican territory). Spain also pledged to indemnify up to $5,000,000 in claims by American citizens against Spain, and Spanish goods received exclusive most favorable nation tariff privileges in the ports at Pensacola and St. Augustine for twelve years.
Following ratification of the treaty, President James Madison was authorized to take possession of Florida for the United States and provide governance. Andrew Jackson served as military governor of the newly acquired territory briefly, until William Pope Duval became the first official governor of the Florida Territory on March 30, 1822.
The problem of the claim of the Seminoles remained. When Andrew Jackson became President in March of 1829, he and Congress agreed that it was desirable to have all Florida Indian tribes, including the Seminoles, migrate further West. On May 28, 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act requiring all native Americans to move west of the Mississippi River. On May 9, 1832, the controversial Treaty of Paynes Landing was signed by a council of Seminole chiefs. This treaty required all Seminole inhabitants of Florida should be relocated by 1835, giving them three years.
The famous Seminole warrior Osceola (actually a Scotsman born under the name Billy Powell) opposed this treaty, claiming that the chiefs who had signed it did so without proper authority. Beginning in late 1835, Osceola and a number of other Seminole allies began a guerrilla war against the U.S. forces. Osceola had a territorial advantage as heat and disease as well as lack of knowledge of the land hampered American forces. In 1836, Jackson sent a force led by General Thomas Jesup to capture many of the key Seminole chiefs, including Osceola, who died in captivity in 1838 from malaria.
The capture of the chiefs ended Seminole resistance and they were eventually forced to migrate. On March 3, 1845, the day before John Tyler left office as President, Florida joined the Union as the 27th state. By this time, almost all of the Seminoles were gone, except for a small group living in the Everglades.