Florida Territory

Territory of Florida
Organized incorporated territory of the United States
←   ← 1822–1845 →
Capital		1822-1824 St. Augustine 1824-1845 Tallahassee
Government		Organized incorporated territory
Governor
•	1821	Andrew Jackson (military)
•	1822–1834	William Pope Duval
•	1834–1836	John Eaton (politician)
•	1836–1839	Richard K. Call
•	1839–1841	Robert R. Reid
•	1841–1844	Richard K. Call
History
•	Adams-Onís Treaty	1821
•	Organized by U.S.	March 30, 1822
•	Statehood	March 3, 1845
Today part of		United States  Florida

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 Spanish territory of La Florida, and later the provinces of East 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.

Florida was first discovered 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.

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.

In 1812, United States forces and Georgia "patriots" under General George Mathews invaded Florida to protect American interests. (See Seminole Wars.)

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Wikipedia