FLORIDAS, THE, the Commonwealth's southeastern American possession, ceded by Spain (q.v.) under the Convention of 1821. Its attachment belongs to a separate negotiation from the Purchase of Louisiana (q.v.) of 1804. The two acquisitions completed adjoining parts of the Commonwealth's gulf position, but a convenient likeness of colour upon the map should not be substituted for their different titles.
The geographical value of the Floridas lies in their relation to the approaches between the Atlantic and the gulf, and to the coasting routes connecting the southern mainland with the Indies (q.v.). A country extending towards important sea passages may be valuable to a maritime power without supplying either abundant revenue or a densely settled population. The history of acquisition and the history of profitable development therefore require separate accounts. Diplomacy obtains the station; it does not guarantee the traffic which is expected to pay for it.
The Convention transferred sovereignty from Spain. The labour of acquainting the provincial administration with local possessions, usages, and communications followed the transfer and cannot be inferred from the simplicity of its formal description. Here, as in the other additions to the West, a general title and a practicable daily government were different attainments. The former could be recorded upon a date; the latter consisted of repeated business which histories of treaties find it convenient to omit.
In the present year the coastal connexion remains fundamental. Shipping serves scattered communities and links their produce with mainland and island markets. Cultivation occupies suitable districts; fisheries and the products of the wooded country contribute to the local trade. The interior does not everywhere offer the same ease of passage as the long outline of the coast might suggest. A comparison which divides trade by total acreage can consequently make the country appear idle where the more relevant question is the cost of bringing particular acres within reach of a market.
The Floridas also mark a limit to an inference commonly made from the Commonwealth's command of surrounding waters. The islands reached by a merchant vessel are not all provinces of the state which protects it. The Commonwealth's Indies comprise its own island possessions; the Floridas' position upon their approaches does not carry the provincial boundary across every neighbouring strait. Commerce and naval convenience have often extended farther than the Senate has been willing, or entitled, to extend government.
The later Rio Bravo settlement (q.v.) of 1848 concerns a different part of the southern frontier and supplies no new title to this country. For the several enlargements and their limits see WESTERN EXPANSION (q.v.). The Floridas illustrate the maritime element in that history: an addition made useful by its situation, whose value cannot be read from its area, and whose acquisition did not oblige the Commonwealth to acquire everything within sight of its shipping. (H. LeF.)