Governor of Florida
With the Treaty of Paris (1763), Britain gained control of Florida from the Spanish. They divided it into two colonies, and James Grant was named governor of East Florida in 1764. He move to his capital at St. Augustine, established the Florida-Georgia border, stopped Indian raids with the Treaty of Fort Picolata, and encouraged new settlement in his colony.
Grant's ventures were ultimately profitable, but most attempts failed to produce results. He encouraged new agriculture, setting up trade in cotton, indigo, timber, and cochineal. He personally gained and developed several plantations as grants. Then, in 1771, illness forced him to return to England. Patrick Tonyn replaced him as governor. Grant appointed Dr. David Yeats, the Secretary of the Colony, to manage his plantations in his absence. Yeats' letters to Grant concerning the properties have long interested Florida colonial historians.
Back home in Scotland, Grant was elected to Parliament as an MP for Tain Burghs. In the period leading up to the American Revolutionary War, he became one of the most outspoken of the anti-American members. In a speech early in 1775, he remarked that the colonists "...could not fight...", and declared that he could "go from one end of America to other and geld all the males."
Read more about this topic: James Grant (British Army Officer)
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