Secretary of government John Quincy Adams came to a diplomatic coup in 1819 after years of negotiations, with the signing of the Florida Purchase Treaty which formally placed Florida on US hands at no expense over and above U.S. assumption of some $5 million in US public debt claims against Spain.
In 1810, these American settlers in West Florida rebelled, declaring independence from Spain. President James Madison and Congress used the incident to claim the region, knowing full well that the Spanish government was seriously weakened by Napoleon’s invasion of Spain. The United States asserted that the portion of West Florida from the Mississippi to the Perdido rivers was part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Negotiations over Florida began in earnest with the mission of Don Luis de Onís to Washington in 1815 to meet Secretary of State James Monroe.
John Locke was perhaps the foremost philosopher of the Enlightenment. He believed that a government was legitimate only if the people it ruled consented to its authority. He also believed the government should protect the natural rights of citizens and that all individuals should be equal under the law.
