# 927 - 1945 3c Florida Statehood

Issue Date: March 3, 1945
City: Tallahassee, FL
Quantity: 61,617,350
Printed by: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Rotary Press
Perforations: 11 x 10.5
Color: Bright red violet

 

The Florida Centennial issue, U.S. #927, pictures the state seal, the Gates of St. Augustine, and the capitol at Tallahassee.

 

Ponce de Len reached Florida in 1513 while searching for the mythical island of Bimini, said to be the site of the Fountain of Youth. Claiming the region for Spain, he named the area Florida, possibly in honor of Pascua Florida, Spanish for the Easter season. In 1521, Len returned to Florida to start a colony, but died from wounds he received in a battle with Indians. Panfilo de Narvaez led an expedition of 400 men to Florida in a quest to find gold. Narvaez and many of his men were killed in shipwrecks. Hernando de Soto of Spain arrived in the Tampa Bay area in 1539. He traveled beyond Florida, becoming the first European to reach the Mississippi River.

 

Interestingly, Floridas first European settlers were not Spanish, but Huguenots (French Protestants). The Huguenots established a colony on the St. Johns River, building Fort Caroline near what is now Jacksonville. Spains King Philip II sent a force to drive the French from Florida. In 1565, they established the first permanent European settlement in what is now the United States, at St. Augustine. This group, led by Pedro Mendez of Avils, massacred the French, ending any further attempts of settlement by that nation.

 

For the next 200 years, the Spanish attempted to teach the American Indians their way of life. France created colonies to the west of Florida, and Great Britain established colonies to the north. War erupted between the French and British colonists during the mid-1700s, and Spain began supporting the French. Great Britain conquered Cuba in 1762, and then traded it to Spain for control of Florida. However, British control of Florida ended during the American Revolutionary War, when Spanish forces invaded in 1781. By 1783, Spain had regained all of Florida.

 

By the late 1800s, Florida was the only part of southeastern North America not part of the U.S. Many Indians and runaway slaves fled from the U.S. to Florida. In 1812, settlers in Florida declared their independence from Spain, but were defeated militarily.

 

During the War of 1812, fought between the U.S. and Great Britain, Spain allowed Britain to use Pensacola as a naval base. American troops led by General Andrew Jackson seized Pensacola in 1814. Jackson entered Florida again during the First Seminole War (1817-18), capturing Fort St. Marks. Jackson also defeated the Seminole Indians. With the Adams-On­s Treaty of 1819, Spain finally turned Florida over to the United States.

 

Florida officially became a part of the U.S. in 1821. Jackson served as governor until 1822, when Congress organized the Territory of Florida, with William P. Duval as its first governor. Settlers from the North poured into the state. Soon, conflicts arose between these settlers and the Seminole Indians, who controlled the states prime farmland. The U.S. government moved many Seminole to the Indian Territory in the Oklahoma region but some Indians refused to leave their homeland. During the Second Seminole War (1835-42), most of these Indians were killed. The Third Seminole War (1855-58) resulted in the forced relocation of most of the surviving Indians. However, a few hundred of the Seminole retreated into the swamps.

 

By 1839, Florida had created a constitution and was ready for statehood. However, the conflicts over slavery (Florida was a slave state) delayed its admission until March 3, 1845. Most of Floridas farms were small only a third of the states farmers owned slaves.