Feb. 22, 1819: The U.S. acquires Florida from Spain. The deal, finalized in the Florida Purchase Treaty signed by Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and Spanish Foreign Minister Luis de Onís, resolved a long-standing border dispute between the U.S. and Spain. The Americans believed that Florida’s northern border was situated on a line just south of Valdosta, Ga., while Spain insisted that its territory extended from a point just north of St. Augustine, Fla., to a line just west of San Francisco, Calif. By the time of the treaty, however, Spain was in a vulnerable position. The former colonial power’s weakness was exposed when it could do nothing to fend off hordes of tourists from the Northeast, a population influx that culminated with the establishment of a separate kingdom right smack in the middle of Spain’s imperial holdings. In the end, Spain essentially gave away Florida. The U.S. paid nothing for the territory beyond assuming about $5 million in debt amassed by Spain during the construction of several thousand shuffleboard courts. —Jeffrey Kanige
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