American Involvement Pre-1821
In 1812 United States forces and Georgia "patriots" under General George Matthews invaded Florida to protect American interests. These interests were mostly slave related. Runaway slaves had been given protection by the Florida natives, called Seminoles by Americans, for many years. They lived in a semi-feudal system; the Seminoles giving the now "free" blacks protection, while the former slaves shared crops with the natives. Although the escaped slaves were still considered inferior by the Seminoles, the two parties lived in harmony. The slaveholders in Georgia and the rest of the South became furious over this matter as slaves continued to escape to Florida. This invasion of Florida was perceived by most of the country as ill-advised and the Spanish were promised a speedy exit of troops.
In 1818, after years of further conflicts involving natives and settlers, General Andrew Jackson wrote to President Monroe informing him that he was invading Florida. Jackson's force departed from Tennessee and marched down the Apalachicola River until they arrived at Pensacola; the Spanish surrendered fortifications at Fort San Carlos de Barrancas in Pensacola and at St. Marks.
Read more about this topic: Florida Territory
Famous quotes containing the words american and/or involvement:
“Even an attorney of moderate talent can postpone doomsday year after year, for the system of appeals that pervades American jurisprudence amounts to a legalistic wheel of fortune, a game of chance, somewhat fixed in the favor of the criminal, that the participants play interminably.”
—Truman Capote (1924–1984)
“Juggling produces both practical and psychological benefits.... A woman’s involvement in one role can enhance her functioning in another. Being a wife can make it easier to work outside the home. Being a mother can facilitate the activities and foster the skills of the efficient wife or of the effective worker. And employment outside the home can contribute in substantial, practical ways to how one works within the home, as a spouse and as a parent.”
—Faye J. Crosby (20th century)