Florida Sold to U.S.: Expansion Solidified
Spain ceded Florida to the United States under the Adams-Onis Treaty, signed on February 22, 1819, resolving years of border conflicts, Seminole raids, and Andrew Jackson's unauthorized military incursions into Spanish territory. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams negotiated the deal, which also defined the western boundary of the Louisiana Purchase by drawing a line from the Sabine River to the 42nd parallel and then west to the Pacific. Spain received no payment for Florida; the US agreed only to assume million in claims by American citizens against Spain. The treaty was a masterpiece of diplomatic pressure: Jackson's invasion of Florida in 1818, ostensibly to fight Seminoles, had demonstrated that Spain could not defend its territory. Adams used the embarrassment to force a sale that Spain could not refuse. The agreement also implicitly confirmed that Spain renounced any claims to the Oregon territory, opening the Pacific Northwest to American expansion.
February 22, 1819
207 years ago
Key Figures & Places
United States
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Spain
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United States dollar
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Adams-Onís Treaty
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History of Florida
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Adams–Onís Treaty
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Adams–Onís Treaty
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History of Florida
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Spain
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United States
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Florida
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United States dollar
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John Quincy Adams
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Luis de Onís
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New Spain
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Geschichte Spaniens
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Spanish Empire
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Spanish East Florida
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West Florida
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History of the United States
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Texas
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Sabine River
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Territorial evolution of the United States
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Melilla
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Ceuta
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