Territory of Florida
Organized incorporated territory of United States
1822–1845
Flag
Capital	1822–1824   St. Augustine     (East Florida/Florida)   Pensacola     (West Florida) 1824–1845   Tallahassee
Area
• Coordinates	30°N83°W / 30°N 83°W /30; -83
Government
• Type	Organized incorporated territory
Governor
• 1821	Andrew Jackson (military)
• 1822–1834	William Pope Duval (first)
• 1834–1836	John Eaton
• 1836–1839	Richard K. Call
• 1839–1841	Robert R. Reid
• 1841–1844	Richard K. Call
• 1844–1845	John Branch (last)
History
• Adams–Onís Treaty	1821
• Organized by U.S.	30 March 1822
• Statehood	3 March 1845
Preceded by Succeeded by East Florida West Florida Florida
Today part of	United States Florida

TheTerritory of Florida was anorganized incorporated territory of theUnited States that existed from March 30, 1822,^[1] until March 3, 1845, when it was admitted to the Union as the state ofFlorida. Originally the major portion of the Spanish territory ofLa Florida, and later the provinces ofEast Florida andWest Florida, it was ceded to the United States as part of the 1819Adams–Onís Treaty.^[2] It was governed by theFlorida Territorial Council.

The first European known to have encountered Florida wasJuan Ponce de León, who claimed the land as a possession of Spain in 1513.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 theSeven Years' War, when Spain ceded it to theKingdom of Great Britain in exchange for the release ofHavana. In 1783, after theAmerican Revolution, Great Britain ceded Florida back to Spain under the provisions of thePeace of Paris.^[3]: xvii

The second term of Spanish rule was influenced by the nearby United States. There were border disputes along the boundary with the state ofGeorgia and issues of American use of theMississippi River. These disputes were ostensibly solved in 1795 by theTreaty of San Lorenzo, which, among other things, solidified the boundary of Florida and Georgia along the 31st parallel. However, asThomas Jefferson once predicted, the U.S. could not keep its hands off Florida.^{[3]: xviii–xix}

In 1812, United States forces and Georgia "patriots" under GeneralGeorge Mathews unsuccessfully invaded Florida to protect American interests.^[4]: 39 The "Patriot War" was perceived as ill-advised by many Americans. PresidentJames Madison withdrew his support, and the Spanish authorities were promised a speedy exit of the American troops.^[4]: 39

The Spanish government offered runaway slaves freedom if they converted toCatholicism and agreed to a term of military service. Under heavy pressure from the U.S., Spain reversed this policy in the late 18th century, to little effect. Slaves continued to flee to Florida, where they were sheltered by the Florida natives, calledSeminoles by Americans. They lived in a semi-feudal system; the Seminoles gave theBlacks 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 relative peace. Theslaveholders in Georgia andthe rest of the South became furious over this state of affairs as slaves continued to escape to Florida.^{[4]: 18–22}

In 1818, after years of additional conflicts involving natives, fugitive slaves, and settlers, GeneralAndrew Jackson wrote to PresidentJames Monroe, who had been inaugurated in March 1817, informing him that he was invading Florida. Jackson's force departed fromTennessee and marched down to theFlorida Panhandle. Spanish officers surrendered coastal fortifications atFort San Marcos (also known as Fort St. Marks) inFlorida Oriental and, about six weeks later,Fort Barrancas and Pensacola inFlorida Occidental.^{[4]: 50–54}

The Adams–Onís Treaty, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty, was signed on February 22, 1819, byJohn Quincy Adams andLuis 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 theOregon Territory under Article 3, while ceding all its claims on Texas to Spain under Article 3^[3]: xi (with the independence ofMexico in 1821, Spanish Texas becameMexican territory), and pledged to indemnify up to $5,000,000 in claims by American citizens against Spain under Article 11.^{[note 1]} Under Article 15, Spanish goods received exclusivemost favored nation tariff privileges in the ports atPensacola andSt. Augustine for twelve years.

InDorr v. United States (195 U.S. 138, 141–142 (1904)) Justice Marshall is quoted more extensively as follows:^[5]

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."

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.^[6][7] Governor Jackson was not involved in the earliest government appointments in the territory^[8] and was only acquainted with two of them.

PresidentJames Monroe was authorized on March 3, 1821, to take possession ofEast Florida andWest Florida for the United States and provide for initial governance.^[9]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 mergedEast Florida and part of what formerly constitutedWest Florida into the Florida Territory.^[10]William Pope Duval became the first official governor of the Florida Territory and soon afterward the capital was established atTallahassee, but only after removing a Seminole tribe from the land.^{[4]: 63–74} 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."^[11]

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 theIndian Removal Act requiring all Native Americans to move west of theMississippi River.^[4]: 87 The Act itself did not mean much to Florida, but it laid the framework for theTreaty 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,^[12] though inhabitants of Florida were expected to relocate by 1835. It was at this meeting that the famousOsceola first voiced his decision to fight.^{[4]: 89–95} At theTreaty 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.^[12]

Beginning in late 1835, Osceola and the Seminole allies began aguerrilla war against the U.S. forces.^{[4]: 105–110} Numerous generals fought and failed, succumbing to the heat and disease as well as lack of knowledge of the land.The Seminoles used their knowledge of Florida landscape to fight the United States Army. They chose to fight in swampy areas, because they knew it would expose the American soldiers to diseases like Malaria. They started peace talks in the spring but broke them off when they “sickly season” began because they knew the U.S. troops would retreat to the coast.^[13]It was not until GeneralThomas Jesup captured many of the key Seminole chiefs, including Osceola who died in captivity of illness, that the battles began to die down.^{[4]: 137–160} The Seminoles were eventually forced to migrate. Florida joined the Union as the 27th state on March 3, 1845.^[14] By this time, almost all of the Seminoles were gone, except for a small group living in theEverglades.

A referendum was held in 1837 about statehood with a majority voting in favor of it.^[15]

During the territorial period of Florida, it was proposed several times that the territory be either split or that parts of the territory be added to Alabama. Even after Tallahassee was chosen to be the capital because it was halfway between Pensacola and St. Augustine, there was still a feeling of disconnection between East and West Florida because those two cities, which were the two largest settlements when the United States acquired Florida, were 400 miles (640 km) by land and 1,000 miles (1,600 km) by water from each other.^[15][16]

On December 18, 1821, the Alabama state legislature passed a resolution asking the U.S. Congress to annex the portion of Florida west of theApalachicola River, but nothing materialized from the proposal. Florida's territorial delegate,Joseph Marion Hernández, introduced a resolution on January 28, 1823, that Florida be split into two separate territories, but the resolution was defeated.^[16]

In the late 1830s, the proposal to divide the territory picked up traction once again. In January 1839, a committee for the constitutional convention urged the U.S. Congress to consider the idea of Florida statehood, and later that month, a letter was received by Congress from Florida petitioning the Florida Territory be split, which confused Congress. On April 22, 1840, Congress received a petition from several hundred backers in St. Augustine asking to split the territory in two, with the Suwanee River being the dividing line between East and West Florida. Another proposal came from Pensacola that year proposing the Florida Territory west of the Suwannee River be annexed by Alabama. In the spring of 1840, a bill was introduced in Congress to divide the Florida Territory along the Suwannee River but was defeated. The failure of these attempts to split the territory helped lead to the conclusion among those wanting statehood that Florida must be admitted as a whole as a state or stay as a territory. A bill was introduced in 1845 in the US House to give statehood to East and West Florida but was later struck down by a vote of 123-77; instead Florida would be admitted as one state and the bill ended up passing in the end by a vote of 145-34.^[16]

The governor of the Florida Territory was appointed by the US president.^[17][18] Governors had the power to veto legislation and the US Congress also had the power. Florida, similarly to theOrleans Territory, had a unicameral legislature called theFlorida Legislative Council, which lasted until 1838 when PresidentVan Buren signed a bill into law replacing the Legislative Council with a Senate and House of Representatives. The council had thirteen members who were selected by the President and confirmed by the US Senate for a one year term. This changed in 1826 when those who lived in the territory could vote on who they wanted as members of the legislature.^[19]

A judicial system was organized by the federal government. Initially in 1822 there were two judicial districts with more judicial districts being created over time. Superior courts existed at the county level but did not exist in every county. Under the superior courts were county courts which not only dealt with judicial matters but also functioned similarly to county commissions.^[20]

A constitution was written in the winter of 1838 and 1839 in St. Joseph which was based on several other state constitutions. The constitution was later ratified in a referendum held in May 1839.^[15]

A census was taken in 1825 by the territorial government.^[21] Another was taken in 1838 and the population was reported as being 41,224. However no results were returned for five counties (Mosquito,Nassau,Columbia,Hamilton andDuval) and no official documents of the census are known to survive with all information coming from newspapers reporting on it. The population estimate when including the other five counties based on "the number of voters in delinquent counties" is placed at 48,831 with 25,173 being white and 23,658 being black.^[22]

In the 1830 US Census the largest cities in Florida were:St. Augustine,Tallahassee andKey West in that order.^[22]

In the1840 United States census,20 counties in the Florida Territory reported the following population counts (after 15 reported the following counts in the1830 United States census):^[23]

It is important to understand that the population numbers mostly count the American settlers. Often the Seminole people are left out due to them avoiding being counted or just lived separately from the settlers.^[24]

The environment is a major factor in Florida territory history. American settlers were often afraid of Florida’s climate and diseases like malaria and yellow fever.^[25] Research shows that manatee populations were very low during the territorial years, not large as sometimes thought.^[26] During the Seminole War, far more U.S. soldiers died from diseases like malaria than from combat.^[13]

The economy relied very heavily on cattle ranching. The cows used were a special breed called “Florida Cracker” cattle. These animals were tough and were able to handle Florida heat and poor-quality grass because they descended from cattle brought by the Spanish hundreds of years earlier.^[27]

The timber industry was also very important, especially in North Florida’s pine forests. Starting in the 1830s the timber business grew to become a major part of the economy.^[28] Lumbermen and loggers formed a distinct group of workers who would cut down trees for local buildings and to sell elsewhere.

Similarly to the rest of the southeast at the time, the Florida Territory allowed slavery. A slave code was created in 1828. Slavery in Florida "[b]etween 1821 and 1861" could mostly be found in areas where cotton was grown between the Apalachicola and Suwannee Rivers, along the St. Johns River, and near St. Augustine, but an exception to this was along theManatee River where slaves cultivated and harvested sugarcane. Slavery was much rarer in the southern counties of the territory.^[29] The area between the Apalachicola and Suwannee Rivers was referred to as Middle Florida during the territorial period.^[30]

• 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 (1812)
• Spanish West Florida, 1783–1821
• Republic of West Florida (1810)
• Zephaniah Kingsley

• 3 U.S. Statute 654 approved on March 30, 1822 establishing Florida Territory (pages 654–659) fromUnited States Statutes at Large at theLibrary of Congress website.

• States and territories established in 1822
• States and territories disestablished in 1845
• Florida Territory
• 1820s in Florida Territory
• 1822 establishments in Florida Territory
• 1822 establishments in the United States
• 1830s in Florida Territory
• 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

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