British West Florida
30°25′58.9″N 87°11′26.5″W / 30.433028°N 87.190694°W
Colony of West Florida | |||||||||||
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Colony of Great Britain | |||||||||||
1763–1783 | |||||||||||
British West Florida in 1767 | |||||||||||
Capital | Pensacola | ||||||||||
Government | |||||||||||
Governor | |||||||||||
• 1763 | Augustine Prévost | ||||||||||
• 1770–1783 | Peter Chester | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
10 February 1763 | |||||||||||
1783 | |||||||||||
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British West Florida was a colony of the
British West Florida comprised parts of the modern U.S. states of
Creation
In 1762, during the
The British divided this southern region of the North American continent into two separate colonies: East Florida, with its capital in St. Augustine and West Florida, with Pensacola as its capital. Many of the Spanish inhabitants of Florida were evacuated to Cuba, and new British settlers arrived including some from the Thirteen Colonies.
By a separate treaty, France ceded its lands west of the Mississippi to Spain, which formed Spanish Louisiana with the capital at New Orleans.
British era
In 1763, British troops arrived and took possession of Pensacola.
West Florida was invited to send delegates to the
Government
The royal proclamation that established West Florida served a purpose similar to a constitution, describing how the colony was to function. Governance was similar to other British provinces located in North America, as the colony was to be administered locally by a governor, who was appointed. The governor was to be aided by a lieutenant governor and a twelve member advisory council, who were also appointed.[5]
The advisory council served as the upper house of its legislature (the General Assembly), while the House of Commons was the lower house, with fourteen elected members. The actual influence of the General Assembly was rather limited as it lacked much autonomy. The General Assembly could only meet when being summoned by the governor. Any bill enacted would have to be signed by the governor to become law, and laws could not be passed in areas in which the British monarch had sole authority. West Florida's chief justice, provincial secretary and attorney general were appointed by Parliament.[5]
Population and demographics
With the issuing of the 1763 Royal Proclamation, which set a border on Western expansion, the British hoped that the creation of both Floridas and Quebec would take pressure off the line of settlement. During the evacuation of Florida, most of the Spanish left Pensacola and its surroundings, while most of the French who lived near Mobile decided to stay.[6]
Efforts were made by the British and provincial government to encourage non-British immigrants to live in West Florida. One of the largest instances was when a town named Campbelltown was founded by
Governor George Johnstone, in office 1763-1767, estimated the population of British West Florida at 1800 or 2000 white people, mostly residing in Pensacola and Mobile, or new colonists settling along the Gulf Coast and in the more fertile lands around Natchez. According to one historian,[7]
a rough analysis of the record yields interesting results. Of some five hundred odd names in the record, approximately four hundred seem to be of English, Scottish, or Irish descent. Of these a little less than one hundred clearly occupy official positions. This probably accounts for their presence in the colony. Some seventy odd French are entered as grantees. Seven grantees seem to be without doubt Hebrews, three seem to be Germans from Pennsylvania, two Germans from the Cote D’Allemand [i.e., the coast west of Mobile], and three other grantees might be either Italian or Spanish.
Economics and slavery
Although slavery and the slave trade did exist in British West Florida, it never became dominated by it and slavery remained likely small. Instead, the provincial and imperial government tried to develop a class consisting of small farmers and artisans instead of one that was plantation based.[7]
Most of those who lived in Florida made a living from the land. Attempts were made to try and develop a reliable cash crop but this was not successful. Indigo production grew dramatically between the 1760s and 1770s with 15,000 pounds (6,800 kg) shipped out of Mobile and Pensacola in 1772, making it one of the most common and successful of agriculture efforts made in the colony.[8]
Pensacola handled five times more international trade than Mobile did. A sizable portion of West Florida's trade was illegal trade between West Florida and Spanish Louisiana. The exact numbers are hard to assess but authorities in both Florida and Louisiana were well aware of this issue but were not well equipped to monitor the situation. These high levels of trade led to silver Spanish coins becoming practically Florida's currency.[8]
Spanish conquest
Following
When Spain acquired West Florida in 1783, the eastern British boundary was the Apalachicola River, but Spain moved it eastward to the Suwannee River in 1785.[10][11] The purpose was to transfer San Marcos and the district of Apalachee from East Florida to West Florida.[12]
See also
- West Florida
- Republic of West Florida
- East Florida
- British America
- Spanish West Florida
- Negro Fort
- Dominion of British West Florida, 21st century micronation
References
- ISBN 978-0-8071-0013-4.
- ^ Coker, William S; Shofner, Jerrell H.; Morris, Joan Perry; Malone, Myrtle Davidson (1991). Florida from the Beginning to 1992 : a Columbus Jubilee Commemorative. Houston: Pioneer Publications. p. 4. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
- ^ "Journal, June 1764: Volume 71." Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations: Volume 12, January 1764 - December 1767. Ed. K H Ledward. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1936. 63-78. British History Online Retrieved 23 November 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-8071-2431-4.
- ^ .
- ^ Howard, Clinton (1945). "Early Settlers in British West Florida". The Florida Historical Quarterly. 24. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
- ^ a b c Howard, Clinton (1945). "Early Settlers in British West Florida". Florida Historical Quarterly. 24 (1) – via Showcase of Text, Archives, Research & Scholarship (STARS) at UCF.
- ^ ISBN 9781588384140– via Google Books.
- ISBN 978-1-85109-697-8.
- JSTOR 2502623. Wright also notes, "It was some time after 1785 before it was clearly established that Suwannee was the new eastern boundary of the province of Apalachee."
- ISBN 0300059175.
Spain never drew a clear line to separate the two Floridas, but West Florida extended easterly to include Apalachee Bay, which Spain shifted from the jurisdiction of St. Augustine to more accessible Pensacola.
- ^ "The Evolution of a State, Map of Florida Counties - 1820". 10th Circuit Court of Florida. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
Under Spanish rule, Florida was divided by the natural separation of the Suwanee River into West Florida and East Florida.
Bibliography
- Calloway, Colin Gordon. The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America. Oxford University Press, 2006.
- Chavez, Thomas E. Spain and the Independence of the United States: An Intrinsic Gift. University of New Mexico Press, 2003.