ADAMS-ONIS TREATY

The Adams-Onis Treaty, officially called the Transcontinental Treaty, was signed in 1819 by the United States and Spain. The treaty, which was ratified on February 21, 1821, settled boundary disputes between the two countries. The terms of the earlier Louisiana Purchase (1803) failed to specify fully the boundaries of the territory that the United States had acquired from France. Britain and the United States soon disagreed over the Louisiana Territory's northern boundary. Spain and the United States reached an impasse over where the boundary lay between the U.S. territory and Spanish America—Spain's possessions in Florida, along the Gulf Coast, and in the Southwest. The terms of the Adams-Onis Treaty were negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State (later elected president) John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) and Spanish Minister to the United States Luis de Onis (1762–1827). The treaty established the line of demarcation between the new republic and Spanish territorial claims. The countries agreed that the western boundary of the United States began at the mouth of the Sabine River (which today forms the border between western Louisiana and eastern Texas). From there the boundary ran at a northwest angle until it reached 42 degrees north latitude. It then followed this line of latitude west to the Pacific Ocean. Territory lying east and north of this line belonged to the United States; territory lying west and south of this line belonged to Spain. By this treaty the United States gained all of Florida and a southern strip of Alabama and Mississippi (collectively called the Old Southwest). Spain retained its claim to the Southwest, which was roughly the area of present-day Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California. As part of the treaty, the United States agreed to pay $5 million in claims of U.S. citizens against Spain. The claims were made by people who had settled Florida, predominately the panhandle (then called West Florida), while it was still a possession of Spain.