Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/192



N the Presidential election of 1800, which brought the Republican party into power, the majority was meager, and the contest was sectional. In the election of 1804, the vote was nearly unanimous, and the victory was national. Jefferson entered on his second term of office, March 4, 1805, as the leader of a party no longer sectional, and now instructed by the people to continue the same firm policy which had won public confidence. His foreign negotiations had been eminently successful, and at home his opponents had been baffled and disconcerted. He had secured the navigation of the Mississippi river, and had extended the western boundaries to the Rocky mountains. This western territory was an acquisition of immense value for future development. Still, another acquisition was needed for more immediate use. The rivers of Mississippi Territory flowed through Florida into the Gulf of Mexico. The advance of population rendered outlets to the gulf every day more necessary. The Indians inhabiting the country were a source of annoyance, continually committing depredations, and furnishing a refuge for runaway slaves. Florida acquirenda est.

Two courses of procedure were open: 1st. To seize Florida by conquest. 2d. To acquire it by negotiation. If the first policy should be pursued, its natural result would be war with Spain and France, and its corollary would be offensive and defensive alliance with Great Britain. Such a policy would be an ungrateful return to Napoleon