The Franklin Mint History Of The United States, 1776-1973
Manufacturer
The Franklin Mint
DateNo Date
MediumSilver
DimensionsOverall: 1 3/4 in. (45 mm.)
ClassificationsDecorative arts
Credit LineGift of Dr. Eugene F. Poutasse
Object number76.81.44
On View
Not on viewThe 1819 medal: Spain Cedes Florida to the United States
John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, who had defended General Jackson's occupation of Spanish garrisons in Florida against the rest of President Monroe's cabinet during the First Seminole War, pressed the matter further by informing the Spanish government that it faced the alternative of controlling Florida or ceding it to the United States.
Spain, weakened by European wars and revolts in South America, agreed to negotiations. On February 22, 1819, John Quincy Adams and Luis de Onis, the Spanish Minister, signed a treaty in Washington whereby Spain renounced claims to West Florida and ceded the East Florida peninsula to the United States.
It was not a one-sided cession as sometimes thought. The United States assumed claims of its own citizens against Spain to the amount of $5,000,000. And Spain got what she wanted in return - a clear definition of the unsettled western boundaries between the Louisiana Purchase and Spanish Mexico. From the Gulf of Mexico the boundary took a northwesterly direction along the Sabine, Red and Arkansas Rivers and thence North to the 42nd parallel which it followed to the Pacific, eliminating Spanish claims to Oregon. The United States gave up the northern panhandle of Texas and other portions of Louisiana Territory that approximately equaled the area of Florida.
