Reading in a single sitting 一口气读完这段历史

The colonies of East Florida and West Florida remained loyal to the British during the war for American independence, but by the Treaty of Paris（巴黎条约）in 1783 they returned to Spanish control. After 1783, Americans immigrants moved into West Florida. In 1810, these American settlers in West Florida rebelled, declaring independence from Spain. President James Madison and Congress used the incident to claim the region, knowing full well that the Spanish Government was seriously weakened by Napoleon' s invasion of Spain. The United States asserted that the portion of West Florida from the Mississippi to the Peridido Rivers was part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Negotiations over Florida began in earnest with the mission of Don Luis de Onís to Washington in 1815 to meet Secretary of State James Monroe（詹姆斯·门罗）. The issue was not resolved until Monroe was President and John Quincy Adams his Secretary of State. Although U.S.-Spanish relations were strained over suspicions of American support for the independence struggles of Spanish-American colonies, the situation became critical when Gen. Andrew Jackson seized the Spanish forts at Pensacola and St. Marks in his 1818 authorized raid against Seminoles and escaped slaves whom were viewed as a threat to Georgia. Jackson executed two British citizens on charges of inciting the Indians and runaways. Monroe' s government seriously considered denouncing Jackson' s actions, but Adams defended Jackson citing the necessity to restrain the Indians and escaped slaves since the Spanish failed to do so. Adams also sensed that Jackson' s Seminole campaign was popular with Americans, and it strengthened his diplomatic hand with Spain.

Adams used Jackson' s military action to present Spain with a demand to either control the inhabitants of East Florida or cede it to the United States. Minister Onís and Secretary Adams reached an agreement whereby Spain ceded East Florida to the United States and renounced all claim to West Florida. Spain received no compensation , but the United States agreed to assume liability for $5 million in damage done by American citizens who rebelled against Spain. Under the Onís-Adams Treaty of 1819 (also called the Transcontinental Treaty and ratified in 1821) the United States and Spain defined the western limits of the Louisiana Purchase, and Spain surrendered its claims to the Pacific Northwest. In return, the United States recognized Spanish sovereignty over Texas.

The Adams-Onís Treaty《亚当斯-奥尼斯条约》of 1819 settled a standing border dispute between the two countries and was considered a triumph of American diplomacy. It came in the midst of increasing tensions between the U.S. and Spain regarding territorial rights at a time of weakened Spanish power. In addition to ceding Florida to the United States, the treaty settled a boundary dispute along the Sabine River（色宾河）in Texas and firmly established the boundary of U.S. territory and claims through the Rocky Mountains（落基山）and west to the Pacific Ocean, in exchange for the U.S. paying residents' claims against the Spanish government up to a total of $5, 000, 000 and relinquishing its own claims on parts of Texas west of the Sabine River and other Spanish areas under the terms of the Louisiana Purchase.

The Treaty closed the first era of United States expansion by providing for the cession of East Florida, the abandonment of the controversy over West Florida (which had been seized by the United States), and creation of a boundary with the Spanish province of Mexico that clearly made Texas a part of Mexico, thus ending the vagueness of the boundary of the Louisiana Purchase. Spain also ceded to the United States its claims to the Oregon County.

The U.S. did not pay Spain for Florida but did agree to pay the legal claims of American citizens against Spain, to a maximum of $5 million. Pinckney' s Treaty of 1795 between the U.S. and Spain was to remain in force. Spanish goods received certain tariff privileges in Florida ports.

Thus the U.S. received ownership of Spanish Florida (British East and West Florida 1763-1783), and relinquished its own claims on parts of Texas west of the Sabine River and other Spanish areas.

佛罗里达，面积58664平方英里（151939平方公里）首府塔拉哈西。位置接近西半球地理中心和西半球的人口中心，它的位置不只是控制着通往墨西哥湾的入口，更重要的是它位于南北美洲和地中海欧洲之间的战略、历史要地。

1810年，美国侵入西班牙所属的佛罗里达西部，1818年，又出兵侵占佛罗里达东部，美国以武力相威胁，迫使西班牙作出让步。1819年2月22日，美国国务卿亚当斯同西班牙驻美公使唐·路易斯·奥尼斯签订了《亚当斯-奥尼斯条约》，西班牙将佛罗里达割让给美国。1845年佛罗里达成为美国第27个州。

Key Words in History 历史关键词

1. Pinckney' s Treaty 平克尼条约

Pinckney' s Treaty, also known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo or the Treaty of Madrid, was signed in San Lorenzo de El Escorial on October 27, 1795 and established intentions of friendship between the United States and Spain. It also defined the boundaries of the United States with the Spanish colonies and guaranteed the United States navigation rights on the Mississippi River. The treaty' s full title is Treaty of Friendship, Limits, and Navigation Between Spain and the United States. Thomas Pinckney negotiated the treaty for the United States and Don Manuel de Godoy represented Spain. Among other things, it ended the first phase of the West Florida Controversy, a dispute between the two nations over the boundaries of the Spanish colony of West Florida.

The treaty directed the United States and Spain to jointly survey the boundary line, and Andrew Ellicott served as the head of the U.S survey party. The treaty set the western boundary of the United States, separating it from the Spanish Colony of Louisiana as the middle of the Mississippi River from the northern boundary of the United States to the 31 st degree north latitude. The agreement therefore put the lands of the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations of American Indians within the new boundaries of the United States. The United States and Spain agreed not to incite native tribes to warfare.

2. James Monroe 詹姆斯·门罗

James Monroe (April 28, 1758-July 4, 1831) was the fifth President of the United States (1817-1825). Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation. His presidency was marked both by an "Era of Good Feelings" -a period of relatively little partisan strife-and later by the Panic of 1819 and a fierce national debate over the admission of the Missouri Territory. Monroe is most noted for his proclamation of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823, which stated that the United States would not tolerate further European intervention in the Americas.

Relations with Spain over the purchase of Spanish Florida proved to be troublesome, especially after General Andrew Jackson invaded that territory on what he believed to be the president' s authorization, which Monroe later denied giving. But largely through the skillful work of John Quincy Adams, a treaty was signed with Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to the United States in return for the assumption of $5, 000, 000 in claims and the relinquishment of any claims to Texas. Florida was ceded to the U.S. in 1821.

Background Knowledge 背景知识补充

在欧洲人抵达佛罗里达州几千年之前，这里已经有人居住。

在1513年4月2日，时值复活节，西班牙航海家发现了这片新陆地。冠以地名La Florida（西班牙语意思为“复活节地”）。

随后，西班牙和法国殖民者逐渐在佛罗里达半岛上建立占据地。其中在1559年建立的彭萨科拉和1565年建立的圣奥古斯丁成为最早期欧洲人在北美洲的聚居地，彭萨科拉和圣奥古斯丁亦分别成为当时西班牙统治下的西佛罗里达和东佛罗里达的首府。而西班牙殖民者在17世纪已成功占领整个佛罗里达半岛和附近地区。

18世纪后期，由于西班牙属佛罗里达受到西面的法属路易斯安那和北面英国北美十三州殖民地以及随后独立的美国等列强进逼，西班牙属佛罗里达的面积有所减少。在1819年西班牙与美国签定条约，将西班牙属佛罗里达割让给美国，以换取美国承认西班牙在德克萨斯州的利益。

佛罗里达扮演了欧洲权力竞争，企图控制新大陆的一个重要的角色。

加入美利坚合众国联邦政府的佛罗里达于1845年3月3日正式成为第27个州。但1860年代，美国南北战争爆发，佛罗里达州脱离“联邦”，并于1861年2月10日加入美利坚联盟国，与“联邦”对抗。1865年美利坚联盟国战败，佛罗里达州在1868年6月25日再度加入联邦政府。 iC/v4Ihhhm3N1kFuCHZvWo30ThLEtRjmY4NN3LktkuILGsODOqmBt1SXD6EIw48m