Florida The More South You Are Analysis

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwZcrcUhLTUNb28ycmc2UnpfbDA/view

Even today, Florida is a fragmented block of land, not by water or mountains as some states, instead by values and history. The old saying of “the more South you go in Florida the more North you are” has never been more true than in today’s world. But, it was not always like this, during Florida's early years and beginner start of statehood the concentration of its people was far more North. The central areas were nothing but country, and the south was untamed swamp and marsh. The old North versus South was actually East versus West; the conflicts were also far different than the normally politically charged rhetoric of today as well. Instead, what characterized the East and
the West was the borders that laid against them. Keeping in mind of course that Florida was predominately only settled in the Northern parts one can see how the borers are a factor. Cusick stated in his article, the borders next to Louisiana prompted various upheavals, raids, and riots carried out by Americans encroaching on Spanish territory. Anothering point brought to light within the article, was how the Spanish settlers reacted to the numerous conflicts occurring in Europe near the time of Florida's ending days as a Spanish stronghold (Cusick, 3).
Spanish motivation as well as support dwindled in the early eight hundreds.
The loss of the Louisiana meant the remaining Spanish territories in Central America were now cut off from Florida. Couple this with the various social unrush at the state’s borders and the lack of support from Europe shows why the Spanish hold over the soon to become state began to falter. Throughout Cusick’s article the idea of borders as a “status quo” (Cusick, 4) was hammered in. The borders of Florida were that of a frigren entity to those of the the fledgling Americans, as such, pushing them back from the Louisiana side and other Western areas showed that Spain was truly too weak to hold its claim. The nature of these new settlers was that of a tough, strong person, someone who would defend their land to the death. As a result, every bit of land Florida lost to the U.S. became contested and furthered the problems the Spanish crown had on controlling the
area.
The East was a bit more tame, while most of the problems occurred from or near Louisiana, the Eastern areas, most notably areas like Saint Augustine became garrison towns.
Small communities of full blooded Spanish settlers that could easily withhold attack by retreating to nearby forts. Sadly, the borders and the nature of the people great affected the overall outcome of the area. While forts along the Eastern seaboard remained fairly strong, they also prompted the nearby towns to grow slowly. Unlike Westerners who fought tooth and nail, the Easterns relied more heavily on fortification, meaning they expanded slower and ultimately would retreat. As stated in Halbirt’s work, St. Augustine was a “protective garrison on the frontier, especially in conjunction with ports and trade routes" (Halbirt, 4) this shows that the Spain’s invest on the mainland of Florida was purely for security rather than full colonization. The focus on Martin Boarders as far as the East was considered was very important, as Spain has such a large investment into the area. The West on the other hand, proved more complicated as the Louisiana territory opened up treaties were developed to ensure “port cities” that allows for trade. The border was loosened to allow for this, which of course contributed to the Spanish influence declining in the 1800s as America moved onto the world
stage.
Just as it was talked about within the first discussion post, the idea of borders and frontiers was very important to a newly settled area. Florida, being surrounded on three sides by water meant that the frontier and the border was but the same thing. More in depth, the West I would say, was more of a frontier, it held its own problems, but ultimately the land was not yet settled by Americans. The East on the other hand, was the capital area for Spanish influence, a center for trade with the motherland and also a strong border with smaller, more defendable communities already established years earlier. Yet, as history shows, the Spanish attempts of strong holding areas proved frivolous, as the fledgling nation surrounding Florida eventually took cut of the area and took control. Even still, looking at Florida's history is rather interesting, although its borders were primarily water, meaning it should have been more easily defended. In reality, having mostly water with only one long northern border mean Spanish influenced needed to spread to properly control it, something the first settlers were not proverped to do. By the time Span realized it needed to spend more on colonization rather than protecting trade routes, it was too late.