University:
Arizona State University
Course:
HST 200 | Historical Themes
Academic year:

2024
Views:

190

Pages:

2
Author:

Thuyoul US

Spanish Florida and Adams-Onis Treaty The limits of the Louisiana Purchase were still up for debate after the Lewis and Clark expedition. The expansionists decided to think that Spanish Texas and other large areas of territory were included in the acquisition. But the Spanish government thought otherwise. With the signing of the Adams-Onis Treaty in February 1819-which was primarily meant to settle the Florida problem-this issue was first attempted to be resolved. Since the initial North American colonies were settled, first by England and then by the United States, Spanish Florida has caused problems for its neighbors. By 1819, militant elements within the Creek and Seminole Nations were raiding Georgia and retreating to the relative safety of the Florida wilderness, so American settlers no longer feared invasion by Spanish forces garrisoned in Florida. Additionally, some tribes provided refuge to freed slaves, frequently marriaging them and assimilating them into their communities. It was nearly difficult for the Spanish government to maintain authority over the Florida border, which was sparsely inhabited by Spanish colonists and located distant from both Mexico City and Madrid. Frustrated that he was unable to bring Creek and Seminole raiders to justice, General Andrew Jackson followed them into Spanish Florida in March 1818, crossing the international boundary. Under Jackson's leadership, American forces, supported by Creek and Cherokee people, routed militant Seminoles and Creek people, took control of other Florida communities, and murdered two British nationals who were thought to be working against the US. The Spanish government, infuriated by the American invasion of its land, insisted that Jackson and his forces leave. Nonetheless, in consenting to the withdrawal, the U.S. John Quincy Adams, the secretary of state, also made a purchase bid for the colony. Spain chose to hand up the Spanish colong to its northern neighbor after realizing that hostilities would persist between the United States and the Creek and Seminole fighters. The cession of Florida was formalized and the boundary between the United States and Mexico was established at the Sabine River by the Adams-Onis Treaty, named for both Adams and the Spanish envoy, Luis de Onís. Adams accepted Spain's $5 million debt to the United States in return for the United States renouncing its rights to territory west of the Sabine. Many American expansionists were incensed by the Adams-Onis Treaty because they thought Adams had given up on Texas, which they thought was part of the Louisiana Purchase. Planter James Long of Natchez, Mississippi, became a private, unofficial military explorer in the summer of 1819 when he led three hundred men on an expedition over the Sabine River to seize possession of Texas. Long was known as a filibuster: Nacogdoches was taken by Long's soldiers, who also managed to draft the Declaration of Independence (see below) and establish a republican system of government. A month later, they were driven out by Spanish soldiers. After making a much smaller army return in 1820, Long was captured, imprisoned, and eventually executed by the Spanish government. Long was only one of several American filibusters from the 19th century who sought to conquer land in the Caribbean and Central America.