In 1817, Florida was under Spanish rule, but the Spaniards exerted very little authority over it's inhabitants including Indian nations, fugitive slaves and illegal slave traders. Florida had become a thorn in America's side. Native American's living there were able to stock pile weapons and plan attacks on neighboring Georgia. In 1817, over a land dispute with the commander of Fort Scott. At the battle of Horseshoe Bend, the Creek Indians signed the Treaty of Fort Jackson giving up their lands in Georgia The Mikasuki Indians who did not consider themselves Creek Indians, refused to leave and were forcibly driven from their village by General Gaines and 250 men. One week later, the Mikasuki retaliated, attacking a boat carrying supplies for Fort Scott. Most of the 50 passengers on the boat were killed by the Indians. When news of this reached Washington D.C. General Andrew Jackson, the hero of 1812 was sent to lead an invasion of Florida. General Jackson and about 4000 men including friendly Lower Creek warriors marched into Florida and burned more than 300 Mikasuki homes. Jackson continued his march and seized the Spanish fort at St. Marks (Castillo de San Marcos Fort) in St. Augustine. There he found illegal slave trading, and the selling of guns to the Indians. When Jackson returned he reported to congress that the Indians were gathering and being supplied with weapons by the Spanish.
General Jackson's actions raised serious concerns in Congress. At issue was not his treatment of the Indian tribes, but rather his attack on a Spanish fort, and what amounted to an unauthorized act of war. President Monroe defended Jackson's actions as a calculated battlefield decision that was moral, but unauthorized by the President. Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams issued a letter blaming the war on the British, Spanish and Indians. In this letter he apologized of the seizure of West Florida, and offered to give St. Marks and Pensacola back to Spain, but he also demanded that Jackson's actions were necessary. He then resumed negotiations with Spain over the purchase of Florida, and demanded that Spain either control the inhabitants of East Florida or cede it to the United States. An agreement was then reached whereby Spain ceded East Florida to the United States and renounced all claims to the West.
On February 22, 1819 the Adams-Onis Treaty was signed. This treaty also known as the Purchase of Florida gave Florida to the United States and set out a boundary between the U.S. and New Spain (now Mexico). The Adams-Onis treaty also called the Transcontinental treaty ceded the entire territory of Florida to the United States and defined the boundary line between the two countries Wet of the Mississippi to begin at the Gulf of Mexico, at the mouth of the River Sabine continuing up to the 32 degree North then heading Northwest across to the Pacific Ocean. While the United States, did not technically "purchase" Florida, it did promise to pay for all existing United States indemnity claims against the Spanish governments, up to $5 million.
In his 1819 annual address, James Monroe explained why Spain had to give up Florida. Events, such as the Capture of Amelia Island where foreign adventurers had set up illicit slave trade operations and the failure to abide by Pinkney's treaty which required Spain to maintain peace in the Floridas, were proof that Spain must cede Florida to the United States. Repeating a message delivered in his 1818 State of the Union address, President Madison explained that "Spain had lost her authority over it", and was now Spain's obligation to reliever herself of obligations stipulated by Pinkney's Treaty and give all of Florida to the United States.
"Other considerations of great weight urged the cession of this territory by Spain. It was surrounded by the Territories of the United States on every side except on that of the ocean. Spain had lost her authority over it, and, falling into the hands of adventurers connected with the savages, it was made the means of unceasing annoyance and injury to our Union in many of its most essential interests. By this cession, then, Spain ceded a territory in reality of no value to her and obtained concessions of the highest importance by the settlement of long- standing differences with the United States affecting their respective claims and limits, and likewise relieved herself from the obligation of a treaty relating to it which she had failed to fulfill, and also from the responsibility incident to the most flagrant and pernicious abuses of her rights where she could not support her authority."Shown above is Castillo de San Marcos Fort (Fort St. Mark) in St. Augustine Florida. Still standing, it is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States.
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