Spanish Florida - Second Spanish Period

Second Spanish Period

Spain followed the British in governing West Florida and East Florida as separate territories during its second period of possession. The lack of specified boundaries led to a border dispute, known as the West Florida Controversy, with the newly formed United States. The two 1783 treaties that ended the American Revolutionary War had differences in boundaries. The Treaty of Paris between Britain and the United States specified the boundary between West Florida and the newly independent U.S. as the 31st parallel north. In the companion Peace of Paris between Britain and Spain, West Florida was ceded to Spain without its boundaries being specified.

Spain held that West Florida extended north at least to the 32° 22′ boundary established by Britain in 1764 after the Seven Years War, while the United States claimed the boundary to be 31°. The British line at 32° 22′ was close to Spain's old claim of 32° 30′, which dated to the 1670 Treaty of Madrid.

After the American Revolution, Spain claimed far more land than the old British West Florida, including the east side of the Mississippi River north to the Ohio and Tennessee rivers. This expanded claim was based on Spain's successful military operations against the British in the region during the war. Spain occupied or built several forts north of the old British West Florida border, including Fort Confederación, Fort Nogales (at present-day Vicksburg), and Fort San Fernando (at present-day Memphis). Spain tried to settle the dispute quickly, but the U.S. delayed, knowing that time was on its side. In the Treaty of San Lorenzo of 1795 with the United States, Spain recognized the 31st parallel as the border.

In the early 19th century, Spain offered generous land packages in Florida as a means of attracting settlers, and attracted substantial numbers, both from Spain and from the United States. After settler attacks on Indian towns, Indians based in Florida began raiding Georgian settlements, purportedly at the behest of the Spanish. The United States Army led increasingly frequent incursions into Spanish territory, including the 1817–1818 campaign against the Seminole by Andrew Jackson that became known as the First Seminole War. Following the war, the United States effectively controlled East Florida. By this time, the United States was also concerned about the armed blacks in Spanish Florida, who became known as the Black Seminoles. Slaveholders wanted to reclaim fugitive slaves and slave raiders entered the territory.

The Adams-Onís Treaty was signed between the United States and Spain on February 22, 1819, and took effect on July 17, 1821. According to the terms of the treaty, the United States acquired Florida, and, in exchange, renounced all its claims to Texas. Hundreds of Black Seminoles escaped from Cape Florida to the Bahamas in the early 1820s to avoid US slave raiders.