The Territory of Florida was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 30, 1822, until March 3, 1845, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Florida. Originally the major portion of the Spanish territory of , and later the provinces of East Florida and West Florida, it was ceded to the United States as part of the 1819 Adams–Onís Treaty. It was governed by the Florida Territorial Council.

Background

Florida was encountered by Europeans in 1513 by Juan Ponce de León, who claimed the land as a possession of Spain. St. Augustine, the oldest continually inhabited European settlement in the continental U.S., was founded on the northeast coast of Florida in 1565. Florida continued to remain a Spanish possession until the end of the Seven Years' War when Spain ceded it to the Kingdom of Great Britain in exchange for the release of Havana. In 1783, after the American Revolution, Great Britain ceded Florida back to Spain under the provisions of the Peace of Paris.

The second term of Spanish rule was influenced by the nearby United States. There were border disputes along the boundary with the state of Georgia and issues of American use of the Mississippi. These disputes were supposedly solved in 1795 by the Treaty of San Lorenzo which, among other things, solidified the boundary of Florida and Georgia along the 31st parallel. However, as Thomas Jefferson had once predicted, the U.S. could not keep its hands off Florida.

Pre-1821 American involvement 

In 1812, United States forces and Georgia "patriots" under General George Mathews unsuccessfully invaded Florida to protect American interests. The "Patriot War" was perceived as ill-advised by many Americans. President James Madison withdrew his support and the Spanish authorities were promised a speedy exit of the American troops.

The Spanish government offered runaway slaves freedom if they converted to Catholicism and agreed to a term of military service. Under heavy pressure from the U.S., Spain reversed this policy in the later 18th century, to little effect. Slaves continued to flee to Florida, where they were sheltered by the Florida natives, called Seminoles by Americans. They lived in a semi-feudal system; the Seminoles gave the Blacks protection, while the former slaves, who knew how to farm, shared crops with the natives. Although the escaped slaves were still considered inferior by the Seminoles, the two groups lived in harmony. The slaveholders in Georgia and the rest of the South became furious over this state of affairs as slaves continued to escape to Florida.

In 1818, after years of additional conflicts involving natives, fugitive slaves, and settlers, General Andrew Jackson wrote to President James Monroe, who had been inaugurated in March 1817, informing him that he was invading Florida. Jackson's force departed from Tennessee and marched down to the Florida Panhandle. Spanish officers surrendered coastal fortifications at Fort San Marcos (also known as Fort St. Marks) in ; and about six weeks later, Fort Barrancas and Pensacola in .

Adams–Onís Treaty 

The Adams–Onís Treaty, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty, was signed on February 22, 1819, by John Quincy Adams and Luis de Onís y González-Vara, but did not take effect until after it was ratified by Spain on October 24, 1820, and by the United States on February 19, 1821. The U.S. received Florida under Article 2 and inherited Spanish claims to the Oregon Territory under Article 3, while ceding all its claims on Texas to Spain under Article 3 (with the independence of Mexico in 1821, Spanish Texas became Mexican territory), and pledged to indemnify up to $5,000,000 in claims by American citizens against Spain under Article 11. Under Article 15, Spanish goods received exclusive most favored nation tariff privileges in the ports at Pensacola and St. Augustine for twelve years.

In Dorr v. United States (195 U.S. 138, 141–142 (1904)) Justice Marshall is quoted more extensively as follows:

The 6th article of the treaty of cession contains the following provision:
'The inhabitants of the territories which His Catholic Majesty cedes the United States by this treaty shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States as soon as may be consistent with the principles of the Federal Constitution, and admitted to the enjoyment of the privileges, rights, and immunities of the citizens of the United States.' [8 Stat. at L. 256.]

[195 U.S. 138, 142] 'This treaty is the law of the land, and admits the inhabitants of Florida to the enjoyment of the privileges, rights, and immunities of the citizens of the United States. It is unnecessary to inquire whether this is not their condition, independent of stipulation. They do not, however, participate in political power; they do not share in the government till Florida shall become a state. In the meantime Florida continues to be a territory of the United States, governed by virtue of that clause in the Constitution which empowers Congress 'to make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States."

Transfer to Governor Andrew Jackson
On July 10, 1821, the province of East Florida was transferred to Governor Andrew Jackson with strict orders from President James Monroe to observe diplomatic protocol, with West Florida following one week later. Governor Jackson was not involved in the earliest government appointments in the territory and was only acquainted with two of them.

Territorial Florida and the Seminole Wars

President James Monroe was authorized on March 3, 1821, to take possession of East Florida and West Florida for the United States and provide for initial governance. Andrew Jackson served as the federal military commissioner with the powers of governor of the newly acquired territory, from March 10 through December 1821. On March 30, 1822, the United States merged East Florida and part of what formerly constituted West Florida into the Florida Territory. William Pope Duval became the first official governor of the Florida Territory and soon afterward the capital was established at Tallahassee, but only after removing a Seminole tribe from the land. The new capital of Tallahassee was located approximately halfway between the old colonial capitals of Pensacola and St. Augustine. Duval's "government palace for a time was a mere log house, and he lived on hunters' fare."

The central conflict of Territorial Florida originated from attempts to displace the Seminole people. The federal government and most white settlers desired all Florida Indians to migrate to the West voluntarily. On May 28, 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act requiring all Native Americans to move west of the Mississippi River. The Act itself did not mean much to Florida, but it laid the framework for the Treaty of Payne's Landing, which was signed by a council of Seminole chiefs on May 9, 1832, and ratified in 1834. This treaty stated that the Seminoles could organize an exploratory party that would travel to the Indian Territory and survey the assigned lands before they had to agree to relocation, though inhabitants of Florida were expected to relocate by 1835. It was at this meeting that the famous Osceola first voiced his decision to fight. At the Treaty of Fort Gibson, held in Arkansas Territory between the group of Seminoles sent to explore the new territory and the federal government, Americans led the Seminole into agreeing to the terms of relocation, although Seminoles would later claim to having been tricked into this agreement.

Beginning in late 1835, Osceola and the Seminole allies began a guerrilla war against the U.S. forces. Numerous generals fought and failed, succumbing to the heat and disease as well as lack of knowledge of the land. It was not until General Thomas Jesup captured many of the key Seminole chiefs, including Osceola who died in captivity of illness, that the battles began to die down. The Seminoles were eventually forced to migrate. Florida joined the Union as the 27th state on March 3, 1845.  By this time, almost all of the Seminoles were gone, except for a small group living in the Everglades.

In the 1840 United States census, 20 counties in the Florida Territory reported the following population counts (after 15 reported the following counts in the 1830 United States census):

See also

 Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida
 Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819
 Historic regions of the United States
 History of Florida
 List of governors of Florida
 Seminole Wars, 1817–1858
 Spanish Florida
 Territorial evolution of the United States
 East Florida, 1783–1821
 Republic of East Florida (1815)
 Spanish West Florida, 1783–1821
 Republic of West Florida (1810)
 Zephaniah Kingsley

Notes

References

External links
 3 U.S. Statute 654 approved on March 30, 1822 establishing Florida Territory (pages 654–659) from United States Statutes at Large at the Library of Congress website.

 
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1822 establishments in the United States
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1840s in Florida
1845 disestablishments in the United States
19th century in Florida
Former organized territories of the United States
Pre-statehood history of Florida
플로리다 준주(Territory of Florida)는 1822년 3월 30일부터 1845년 3월 3일까지 현재 미국 플로리다에 있었던 미국 역사상의 행정 조직이다. 1819년 애덤스 오니스 조약의 결과로 미국에 할양되었다.

배경 
1513년, 후안 폰체 데 레온이 플로리다를 발견하여 스페인령으로 선포하였다. 미국 본토에서 있는 가장 오래된 유럽인 개척지인 세인트 오거스틴은 1565년 플로리다 동북부 해안에 설립되었다. 영국에 의해 강제로 할양했던 칠년전쟁이 끝날 때까지, 플로리다는 스페인령으로 계속 남아있었다. 1783년 미국 독립 전쟁 후, 영국은 플로리다를 스페인에게 다시 양도했다.

두 번째 스페인의 지배 동안 미국에 강하게 영향을 받았다. 조지아주와 플로리다의 경계를 따라, 미국의 미시시피강 사용에 관한 분쟁이 일어났다. 이러한 문제는 1795년 산로렌소 조약으로 해결되었고, 이 협약은 무엇보다도 플로리다와 조지아의 경계를 북위 31도선에 따라 확정했다. 그러나 토머스 제퍼슨이 이미 예견했듯이, 미국은 플로리다를 손 볼 수 밖에 없었다.

1821년 이전의 미국의 개입 
1812년, 미국 군대와 조지 매튜스 사령관이 이끄는 조지아 "페이트어트 세력"이 미국의 이익을 보호하기 위해 플로리다를 급습했다. 이 이권분쟁은 대부분 노예와 관련이 있었다. 오랫동안 탈주 노예는 미국인이 세미놀이라고 불렀던 플로리다 원주민 보호를 부여했다. 그들은 반봉건 제도에서 생활하고 있었고, 세미놀은 이미 "자유" 흑인을 보호해 주고, 한때 노예는 원주민과 작물을 공유했다. 흑인은 세미놀에 종속되었다는 사실에도 불구하고, 두 집단은 조화를 이루며 생활했다. 노예가 계속 플로리다로 도망치면서 조지아와 다른 남부의 노예 소유자들은 이 문제를 둘러싸고 분개하게 된 것이었다. 이 플로리다에 대한 침공은 미국의 대부분에서 무분별한 행동으로 인식되었고, 스페인은 부대의 즉각적인 철수를 요구했다.

원주민과 이주민의 오랜 분쟁이 이어지자, 1818년 앤드루 잭슨 장군은 먼로 대통령에게 그가 플로리다에 침략할 것을 보고하는 편지를 썼다. 잭슨의 군대는 테네시에서 출발하여 북부 플로리다에서 맹위를 떨치면서 애팔래치콜라 강 하류로 진군했다. 잭슨 군이 펜사콜라에 도착한 3월, 스페인군은 즉시 항복했다.

애덤스-오니스 조약 
애덤스-오니스 조약(대륙 횡단 조약)은 1819년 2월 22일 존 퀸시 애덤스와 루이스 데 오니스가 서명했지만, 1821년 스페인 정부가 비준하기 전까지는 유효하지 않았다. 이 조약의 결과 미국은 스페인에 500만 달러를 지불했다고 널리 믿어지고 있지만, 사실 양국 정부 사이에 금전이 교환되지 않았다. 미국은 플로리다와 오레곤을 받고 할양받았고, 텍사스 땅은 스페인이 주장하는 토지였다.

세미놀 전쟁 

앤드루 잭슨 장군은 새로 획득한 영토의 군정 주지사로 짧은 기간 재직했다. 1822년 3월 30일, 미국은 동부 플로리다와 서부 플로리다의 일부를 플로리다 준주로 합병했다. 윌리엄 포프 듀발이 최초의 플로리다 준주 공식 주지사가 되었고, 바로 다음에 주도로 탤러해시를 개발했지만, 그것은 지구의 세미놀 부족을 밖으로 이주시킨 후의 일이었다.

플로리다 준주의 주요 갈등의 요소는 세미놀 거주자였다. 연방 정부와 대부분의 백인 정착민들은 모든 플로리다에 있는 인디언을 서부로 이주시키고 싶어했다. 1830년 5월 28일, 의회는 《인디언 이주법》을 통과시키고, 모든 인디언을 미시시피 강 서부로 이주시킬 것을 결의했다. 이 법률 자체는 플로리다 개별적으로 결정한 것이 아니라, 1832년 5월 9일 세미놀 추장 위원회에 서명한 패인즈 랜딩 조약을 기반으로 하고 있었다. 이 협약에는 모든 플로리다의 세미놀 거주자에게 3년간의 유예를 주고 1835년까지 이주할 것을 명시했다. 유명한 오세올라가 전쟁을 처음 결정할 것도 이 회의였다.

1835년 후반부터 오세올라와 세미놀 연합은 미군과 게릴라 전투를 시작했다. 많은 미국 사령관이 전투를 벌였지만, 만족할만한 성과를 거두지 못했고 땅에 대한 짧은 지식으로 더위와 질병에 시달렸다. 토마스 제스퍼 장군이 감금 중에 질병으로 사망한 오세올라를 포함하여 세미놀 주요 추장의 기세는 꺾이게 되었다. 결국 세미놀 부족은 1845년 3월 3일 플로리다가 27번째 주로 연방에 편입될 때까지, 에버글레이즈의 소수 집단을 제외하고 거의 모두가 강제 이주 당했다.

참고 문헌 
 Hubert Bruce Fuller, The Florida Purchase, (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1964).
 Virginia Bergman Peters, The Florida Wars,(Hamden: The Shoestring Press, 1979).

외부 링크 
 3 U.S. Statute 654 approved on March 30, 1822 establishing Florida Territory (pages 654-659) from United States Statutes at Large at the Library of Congress website.

 
플로리다주의 역사
미국의 준주