Editing Seminole Wars (section)

===West Florida===
{{main|Republic of West Florida}}
[[File:Westfloridaitsre00cham 0010.jpg|thumb|A 1903 map showing the territorial changes of "West Florida"]]

By 1810, during the [[Peninsular War]], Spain was largely overrun by the French army. Rebellions against the Spanish authorities broke out in many of its American colonies. Settlers in West Florida and in the adjacent [[Mississippi Territory]] started organizing in the summer of 1810 to seize Mobile and [[Pensacola, Florida|Pensacola]], the last of which was outside the part of West Florida claimed by the United States.

Residents of westernmost West Florida (between the Mississippi and [[Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana)|Pearl]] rivers) organized a convention at [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge]] in the summer of 1810. The convention was concerned about maintaining public order and preventing control of the district from falling into French hands; at first it tried to establish a government under local control that was nominally loyal to Ferdinand VII. After discovering that the Spanish governor of the district had appealed for military aid to put down an "insurrection", residents of the Baton Rouge District overthrew the local Spanish authorities on 23 September by seizing the Spanish fort in Baton Rouge. On 26 September, the convention declared West Florida to be independent.<ref>Stagg. pp. 58–67</ref>

Pro-Spanish, pro-American, and pro-independence factions quickly formed in the newly proclaimed republic. The pro-American faction appealed to the United States to annex the area and to provide financial aid. On 27 October 1810, U.S. President [[James Madison]] proclaimed that the United States should take possession of West Florida between the Mississippi and Perdido Rivers, based on the tenuous claim that it was part of the Louisiana Purchase.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=65912 |title="Proclamation 16 – Taking Possession of Part of Louisiana (Annexation of West Florida)" |access-date=2018-10-29 |archive-date=2018-04-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180418225359/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=65912 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Madison authorized [[William C. C. Claiborne]], governor of the [[Territory of Orleans]], to take possession of the territory. He entered the capital of St. Francisville with his forces on 6 December 1810, and [[Baton Rouge, Louisiana|Baton Rouge]] on 10 December 1810. The West Florida government opposed annexation, preferring to negotiate terms to join the Union. Governor [[Fulwar Skipwith]] proclaimed that he and his men would "surround the Flag-Staff and die in its defense".<ref name="Cox1912">{{cite journal |title=The American Intervention in West Florida |first=Isaac Joslin |last=Cox |journal=The American Historical Review |volume=17 |number=2 |date=Jan 1912 |pages=290–311 |publisher=Oxford University Press on behalf of American Historical Association |jstor=1833000 |doi=10.1086/ahr/17.2.290 }}</ref>{{rp|308}}  Claiborne refused to recognize the legitimacy of the West Florida government, however, and Skipwith and the legislature eventually agreed to accept Madison's proclamation. Claiborne only occupied the area west of the [[Pearl River (Mississippi-Louisiana)|Pearl River]] (the current eastern boundary of Louisiana).<ref name=foabroad>Collier.</ref><ref>Patrick. p 11-12</ref><ref group=Note>The area has since been known as the [[Florida Parishes]].</ref>

[[Vicente Folch|Juan Vicente Folch y Juan]], governor of West Florida, hoping to avoid fighting, abolished customs duties on American goods at Mobile, and offered to surrender all of West Florida to the United States if he had not received help or instructions from Havana or [[Veracruz (city)|Veracruz]] by the end of the year.<ref>Stagg. pp. 89–91 80–86</ref>

Fearing that France would overrun all of Spain, with the presumed result being that Spanish colonies would either fall under French control or be seized by the British, in January 1811, Madison requested the U.S. Congress pass legislation authorizing the United States to take "temporary possession" of any territory adjacent to the United States east of the Perdido River, i.e., the balance of West Florida and all of East Florida. The United States would be authorized to either accept transfer of territory from "local authorities" or occupy territory to prevent it falling into the hands of a foreign power other than Spain. Congress debated and passed, on 15 January 1811, the requested resolution in closed session, and provided that the resolution could be kept secret until as late as March 1812.<ref>Stagg. pp. 89-91</ref>

American forces occupied most of the Spanish territory between the Pearl and Perdido rivers (today's coastal [[Mississippi]] and [[Alabama]]), with the exception of the area around Mobile, in 1811.<ref>Patrick. p 12.</ref> Mobile was occupied by United States forces in 1813.<ref>Higgs.</ref>

Madison sent [[George Mathews (Georgia)|George Mathews]] to deal with the disputes over West Florida. When Vicente Folch rescinded his offer to turn the remainder of West Florida over to the U.S., Mathews traveled to East Florida to engage the Spanish authorities there. When that effort failed, Mathews, in an extreme interpretation of his orders, schemed to incite a rebellion similar to that in the Baton Rouge District.<ref>Patrick. pp. 34–35, 40–54</ref>