Page:Life of Henry Clay (Schurz; v. 1).djvu/70

58 once he struck the key-note of that national feeling which carried the American people into the War of 1812. Florida was at that time in the possession of Spain. The boundaries of Louisiana, as that territory had passed from France to the United States in 1803, were ill defined. According to a plausible construction the Louisiana purchase included that part of Florida to the west of the Perdido River, which was commonly called West Florida. But the United States had failed to occupy it, leaving the Spanish garrisons quietly in possession of their posts. Negotiations for the purchase of the whole of Florida from Spain had meanwhile been carried on, but without success. When Napoleon invaded Spain and that kingdom appeared doomed to fall into his hands, insurrectionary movements broke out in several of the Spanish American provinces. West Florida, too, was violently agitated. The revolutionists there, among whom were many persons of English and of American birth, set up an independent government and applied for recognition by the United States. There were rumors of British intrigues for the object of getting West Florida into the hands of England. The revolutionary excitement in the territory moreover threatened seriously to disturb the peace of the frontier. President Madison thought this an opportune moment to settle the boundary question. He issued a proclamation on October 27, 1810, asserting the claim of the United States to West Florida, the delay in the occupation of which “was not the