East Florida
East Florida ( English East Florida , Spanish Florida Oriental ) was originally part of the Spanish colony of Florida . Under the terms of the Treaty of Paris , which ended the Seven Years War in 1763 , Spain ceded all of its territories east and southeast of the Mississippi River to the Kingdom of Great Britain .
Great Britain divided the area into two parts, East Florida with the capital St. Augustine and West Florida with Pensacola as the capital.
Both Florida's remained loyal to Britain during the American Revolutionary War . Spain also took part in this war as an ally of France and took Pensacola in western Florida in 1781. In the Peace of Paris , which ended the war, Great Britain ceded both Floridas to Spain.
Spain provided excellent conditions for the acquisition of land, which attracted settlers from the newly formed United States, but the settlement of Spaniards failed and Anglo-Saxon culture gained the upper hand. Several territorial disputes arose between the United States and Spain, some of which led to military action. A US Army under Andrew Jackson invaded East Florida during the First Seminole War . Jackson's forces captured St. Marks on April 7, 1818 and Pensacola on May 24, 1818. James Monroe's Secretary of State John Quincy Adams set the US position on the matter. Adams accused the Spaniards of breaking the Pinckney Treaty of 1795 because they failed to keep the Seminoles under control. In the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, Spain ceded its Florida territories to the United States.
In 1822 the US Congress formed the East Florida from Florida Territory , 1845 was Florida admitted to the Union as the 27th state.
Web links
- University of Florida: A short history of Florida - Transfer of Florida , as of June 2003