Editing History of Florida (section)

===Second Spanish rule (1783–1821)===
{{Main article|Spanish Florida#Second Spanish period}}
Spain's reoccupation of Florida involved the arrival of some officials and soldiers at St. Augustine and Pensacola but very few new settlers. Most British residents had departed, leaving much of the territory depopulated and unguarded. North Florida continued to be the home of the newly amalgamated black–native American Seminole culture and a haven for people escaping slavery in the southern United States. Settlers in southern Georgia demanded that Spain control the Seminole population and capture runaway slaves, to which Spain replied that the slave owners were welcome to recapture the runaways themselves.

Americans began moving into northern Florida from the backwoods of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] and [[South Carolina]]. Though technically not allowed by the Spanish authorities, the Spanish were never able to effectively police the border region, and a mix of American settlers, escaped slaves, and Native Americans would continue to migrate into Florida unchecked. The American migrants, mixing with the few remaining settlers from Florida's British period, would be the progenitors of the population known as [[Florida Cracker]]s.<ref>{{cite book|title=Cracker: Cracker Culture in Florida History|last=Ste Claire|first=Dana M.|publisher=University Press of Florida|date=2006|isbn=978-0-8130-3028-9}}</ref>

====Republic of West Florida====
{{main article|Republic of West Florida}}

Ignoring Spanish territorial claims, American settlers, along with some remaining British settlers, established a permanent foothold in the western end of West Florida during the first decade of the 1800s. In the summer of 1810, they began planning a rebellion against Spanish rule which became open revolt in September. The rebels overcame the Spanish garrison at [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge]] and proclaimed the "Free and Independent Republic of West Florida" on September 23. (None of it was within what is today the state of Florida.) Their flag was the original "[[Bonnie Blue Flag]]", a single white star on a blue field. On October 27, 1810, most of the Republic of West Florida was annexed by proclamation of President [[James Madison]], who claimed that the region was included in the [[Louisiana Purchase]] and incorporated it into the newly formed [[Territory of Orleans]]. Some leaders of the newly declared republic objected to the takeover, but all had deferred to arriving American troops by mid-December 1810. The [[Florida Parishes]] of the modern state of [[Louisiana]] include most of the territory claimed by the short-lived Republic of West Florida.

Spain sided with Great Britain during the [[War of 1812]], and the U.S. annexed the [[Mobile District]] of West Florida to the [[Mississippi Territory]] in May 1812. The surrender of Spanish forces at [[Mobile, Alabama|Mobile]] in April 1813 officially established American control over the area, which was eventually divided between the states of [[Alabama]] and [[Mississippi]].

====Republic of East Florida====
{{main article|Republic of East Florida}}
In March 1812, a small independent band of Americans took control of [[Amelia Island]] on the Atlantic coast. They declared that they were now an independent republic free from Spanish rule in what would become known as the [[Patriot War (Florida)|Patriot War]]. The revolt was organized by [[George Mathews (Georgia)|General George Mathews]] of the U.S. Army, who had been authorized to secretly negotiate with the Spanish governor for American acquisition of East Florida. Instead, Mathews organized a group of frontiersmen in Georgia, who arrived at the Spanish town of [[Fernandina, Florida|Fernandina]] and demanded the surrender of all of Amelia Island. Upon declaring the island a republic, he led his volunteers along with a contingent of regular army troops south towards St. Augustine. Upon hearing of Mathews' actions, the government became alarmed that he would provoke war with Spain. Secretary of State [[James Monroe]] ordered Matthews to return all captured territory to Spanish authorities. After several months of negotiations on the withdrawal of the Americans and compensation for their foraging through the countryside, the countries came to an agreement, and Amelia Island was returned to the Spanish in May 1813.<ref>James G. Cusick, ''The Other War of 1812: The Patriot War and the American Invasion of Spanish East Florida'' (University of Georgia Press, 2007).</ref>

A similar filibuster action took place in September 1817, when the Scottish veteran and con-man [[Gregor MacGregor]] led a private force and captured Amelia Island and declared it part of the [[Republic of the Floridas]]. By December 1817, the United States seized the island.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Doyle |first1=Patrick W. |title=Unmasked: The Author of 'Narrative of a Voyage to the Spanish Main in the Ship ''Two Friends'' ' |journal=The Florida Historical Quarterly |date=Fall 1999 |volume=78 |issue=2 |pages=192–193 |url=http://palmm.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/ucf%3A25534 |access-date=27 December 2022}}</ref>

====First Seminole War====
{{main|Seminole Wars|Black Seminoles}}
The unguarded Florida border was an increasing source of tension late in the second Spanish period. Seminoles based in [[East Florida]] had been accused of raiding Georgia settlements, and settlers were angered by the stream of slaves escaping into Florida, where they were welcomed. [[Negro Fort]], an abandoned British fortification in the far west of the territory, was manned by both indigenous and black people. The [[United States Army]] would lead increasingly frequent incursions into Spanish territory, including the 1817–1818 campaign against the Seminole Indians by [[Andrew Jackson]] that became known later as the [[First Seminole War]]. Jackson took temporary control of Pensacola in 1818, and though he withdrew due to Spanish objections, the United States continued to effectively control much of West Florida. According to Secretary of State [[John Quincy Adams]], this was necessary because Florida had become "a derelict open to the occupancy of every enemy, civilized or savage, of the United States, and serving no other earthly purpose than as a post of annoyance to them".<ref>{{cite book|first = Alexander |last =Deconde|title =A History of American Foreign Policy|date=1963|page= 127|publisher = Charles Scribner's Sons}}</ref>

====End of Spanish control====
{{main article|Adams-Onis Treaty}}
After Jackson's incursions, Spain decided that Florida had become too much of a burden, as it could not afford to send settlers or garrisons to properly occupy the land and was receiving very little revenue from the territory. Madrid therefore decided to cede Florida to the United States. The transfer was negotiated as part of the [[Adams–Onís Treaty]], which also settled several boundary disputes between Spanish colonies and the U.S. in exchange for American payment of $5,000,000 in claims against the Spanish government.<ref name=tebeau>{{cite book|last=Tebeau|first=Charlton W.| title = A History of Florida|edition=3rd|year=1999|orig-year=1971|publisher=University of Miami Press|isbn=978-0870243387}}</ref>{{rp|156}} The treaty was signed in 1819 and took effect in 1821, and the United States formally took possession of Florida on July 17, 1821.