In the early 1800’s the United States stretched form the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River.
Many Americans wanted to move into lands west of the Mississippi River that was claimed by
several other Nations. Some believed that it was a natural fate for these lands to be acquired for
the United States. This right to take over territories from other nations was the Manifest Destiny or
natural outcome of Americans desire to move into these lands.
The leaders of America used a variety of methods to acquire territory for the United States.
Sometimes they bought territory or made agreements with the leaders of other countries. One time
territory was added after a war.
Most of the land we know today as Florida was at one time under Spanish rule but Americans
living in the Southeast wanted the United States to take over Florida. Â
Slaves in Georgia would run away to Florida settlements or hide with the Seminoles, a tribe of
Native Americans in Florida. The Seminoles and runaway slaves often attacked the Georgia
landowners and then fled back into Florida. To end these Seminole raids, General Andrew
Jackson and his army came to Florida in 1817.
Seminoles from Florida and run away Slaves attacking a settlement in Georgia.
Andrew Jackson not only put an end to the Seminole raids but also went on to capture two Spanish
forts including the one at Pensacola, which was the capital of Spanish Florida. They realized that
they could not keep the United States from talking over the Florida territory so in 1819 Spain
agreed to sell Florida to the United States. The Adams-Onis Treaty was approved by Spain and
the United States in 1821.
Andrew Jackson served as the military governor of the newly acquired territory of Florida. After
Florida became a territory of the United States, big changes followed. A new capital was built in
Tallahassee and new farms were started. Within 10 years many white Americans moved to
Florida. The Seminoles were ordered by the government to move out of Florida to reservations in
the west, but many Seminoles refused. The Seminole Indian War was fought against the United
States and most of the Seminoles were either killed or forced to leave their homeland and settle in
the west. A few fled to the south and hid in the Everglades
Explanation:
or Spanish minister Do Luis de Onis and U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams sign the Florida Purchase Treaty, in which Spain agrees to cede the remainder of its old province of Florida to the United States.
Spanish colonization of the Florida peninsula began at St. Augustine in 1565. The Spanish colonists enjoyed a brief period of relative stability before Florida came under attack from resentful Native Americans and ambitious English colonists to the north in the 17th century. Spain’s last-minute entry into the French and Indian War on the side of France cost it Florida, which the British acquired through the first Treaty of Paris in 1763. After 20 years of British rule, however, Florida was returned to Spain as part of the second Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution in 1783.
Spain’s hold on Florida was tenuous in the years after American independence, and numerous boundary disputes developed with the United States. In 1819, after years of negotiations, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams achieved a diplomatic coup with the signing of the Florida Purchase Treaty, which officially put Florida into U.S. hands at no cost beyond the U.S. assumption of some $5 million of claims by U.S. citizens against Spain. Formal U.S. occupation began in 1821, and General Andrew Jackson, the hero of the War of 1812, was appointed military governor. Florida was organized as a U.S. territory in 1822 and was admitted into the Union as a slave state in 1845.
