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Treaty of Amity,
Settlement, and Limits
Adams-Onis Treaty 1819: English
Transcript
Also called the
Transcontinental Treaty,
or the
Purchase of Florida
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It follows the English transcript of the treaty.
Go here for the
Spanish Transcript
For the main
article go here:
Adams-Onis Treaty
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Adams-Onis Treaty
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Daniel Brice |
Treaty of Amity, Settlement, and
Limits
Between the United States of America and His Catholic
Majesty
The United States of America and
His Catholic Majesty, desiring to consolidate, on a
permanent basis, the friendship and good correspondence
which happily prevails between the two parties, have
determined to settle and terminate all their differences and
pretensions, by a treaty, which shall designate, with
precision, the limits of their respective bordering
territories in North America.
With this intention the President of the United States has
furnished with their full powers John Quincy Adams,
Secretary of State of the said United States; and His
Catholic Majesty has appointed the Most Excellent Lord Don
Luis De Onis, Gonzales, Lopez y Vara, Lord of the Town of
Rayaces, Perpetual Regidor of the Corporation of the city of
Salamanca, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal American Order of
Isabella the Catholic, decorated with the Lys of La Vendee,
Knight Pensioner of the Royal and Distinguished Spanish
Order of Charles the Third, Member of the Supreme Assembly
of the said Royal Order; of the Council of His Catholic
Majesty; his Secretary, with Exercise of Decrees, and His
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary near the
United States of America.
And the said Plenipotentiaries, after having exchanged their
powers, have agreed upon and concluded the following
articles:
ARTICLE I
There shall be a firm and inviolable peace and sincere
friendship between the United States and their citizens and
His Catholic Majesty, his successors and subjects, without
exception of persons or places.
ARTICLE II
His Catholic Majesty cedes to the United States, in full
property and sovereignty, all the territories which belong
to him, situated to the eastward of the Mississippi, known
by the name of East and West Florida. The adjacent islands
dependent on said provinces, all public lots and squares,
vacant lands, public edifices, fortifications, barracks, and
other buildings, which are not private property, archives
and documents, which relate directly to the property and
sovereignty of said provinces, are included in this article.
The said archives and documents shall be left in possession
of the commissaries or officers of the United States, duly
authorized to receive them.
ARTICLE III
The boundary-line between the two countries, west of the
Mississippi, shall begin on the Gulph of Mexico, at the
mouth of the river Sabine, in the sea, continuing north,
along the western bank of that river, to the 32d degree of
latitude; thence, by a line due north, to the degree of
latitude where it strikes the Rio Roxo of Nachitoches, or
Red River; then following the course of the Rio Roxo
westward, to the degree of longitude 100 west from London
and 23 from Washington; then, crossing the said Red River,
and running thence, by a line due north, to the river
Arkansas; thence, following the course of the southern bank
of the Arkansas, to its source, in latitude 42 north; and
thence, by that parallel of latitude, to the South Sea. The
whole being as laid down in Melish's map of the United
States, published at Philadelphia, improved to the first of
January, 1818. But if the source of the Arkansas River shall
be found to fall north or south of latitude 42, then the
line shall run from the said source due south or north, as
the case may be, till it meets the said parallel of latitude
42, and thence, along the said parallel, to the South Sea:
All the islands in the Sabine, and the said Red and Arkansas
Rivers, throughout the course thus described. to belong to
the United States; but the use of the waters, and the
navigation of the Sabine to the sea, and of the said rivers
Roxo and Arkansas, throughout the extent of the said
boundary, on their respective banks, shall be common to the
respective inhabitants of both nations.
The two high contracting parties agree to cede and renounce
all their rights, claims, and pretensions to the territories
described by the said line, that is to say: The United
States hereby cede to His Catholic Majesty, and renounce
forever, all their rights, claims, and pretensions, to the
territories lying west and south of the above-described
line; and, in like manner, His Catholic Majesty cedes to the
said United States all his rights, claims, and pretensions
to any territories east and north of the said line, and for
himself, his heirs, and successors, renounces all claim to
the said territories forever.
ARTICLE IV
To fix this line with more precision, and to place the
landmarks which shall designate exactly the limits of both
nations, each of the contracting parties shall appoint a
Commissioner and a surveyor, who shall meet before the
termination of one year from the date of the ratification of
this treaty at Nachitoches, on the Red River, and proceed to
run and mark the said line, from the mouth of the Sabine to
the Red River, and from the Red River to the river Arkansas,
and to ascertain the latitude of the source of the said
river Arkansas, in conformity to what is above agreed upon
and stipulated and the line of latitude 42, to the South
Sea: they shall make out plans, and keep journals of their
proceedings, and the result agreed upon by them shall be
considered as part of this treaty, and shall have the same
force as if it were inserted therein. The two Governments
will amicably agree respecting the necessary articles to be
furnished to those persons, and also as to their respective
escorts, should such be deemed necessary.
ARTICLE V
The inhabitants of the ceded territories shall be secured in
the free exercise of their religion, without any
restriction; and all those who may desire to remove to the
Spanish dominions shall be permitted to sell or export their
effects, at any time whatever, without being subject, in
either case, to duties.
ARTICLE VI
The inhabitants of the territories which His Catholic
Majesty cedes to the United States, by this treaty, shall be
incorporated in the Union of the United States as soon as
may be consistent with the principles of the Federal
Constitution, and admitted to the enjoyment of all the
privileges, rights, and immunities of the citizens of the
United States.
ARTICLE VII
The officers and troops of His Catholic Majesty, in the
territories hereby ceded by him to the United States, shall
be withdrawn, and possession of the places occupied by them
shall be given within six months after the exchange of the
ratifications of this treaty, or sooner if possible, by the
officers of His Catholic Majesty to the commissioners or
officers of the United States duly appointed to receive
them; and the United States shall furnish the transports and
escort necessary to convey the Spanish officers and troops
and their baggage to the Havana.
ARTICLE VIII
All the grants of land made before the 24th of January,
1818, by His Catholic Majesty, or by his lawful authorities,
in the said territories ceded by His Majesty to the United
States, shall be ratified and confirmed to the persons in
possession of the lands, to the same extent that the same
grants would be valid if the territories had remained under
the dominion of His Catholic Majesty. But the owners in
possession of such lands, who, by reason of the recent
circumstances of the Spanish nation, and the revolutions in
Europe, have been prevented from fulfilling all the
conditions of their grants, shall complete them within the
terms limited in the same, respectively, from the date of
this treaty; in default of which the said grants shall be
null and void. All grants made since the said 24th of
January, 1818, when the first proposal, on the part of His
Catholic Majesty, for the cession of the Floridas was made,
are hereby declared and agreed to be null and void.
ARTICLE IX
The two high contracting parties, animated with the most
earnest desire of conciliation, and with the object of
putting an end to all the differences which have existed
between them, and of confirming the good understanding which
they wish to be forever maintained between them,
reciprocally renounce all claims for damages or injuries
which they, themselves, as well as their respective citizens
and subjects, may have suffered until the time of signing
this treaty.
The renunciation of the United States will extend to all the
injuries mentioned in the convention of the 11th of August,
1802.
2. To all claims on account of prizes made by French
privateers, and condemned by French Consuls, within the
territory and jurisdiction of Spain.
3. To all claims of indemnities on account of the suspension
of the right of deposit at New Orleans in 1802.
4. To all claims of citizens of the United States upon the
Government of Spain, arising from the unlawful seizures at
sea, and in the ports and territories of Spain, or the
Spanish colonies.
5. To all claims of citizens of the United States upon the
Spanish Government, statements of which, soliciting the
interposition of the Government of the United States have
been presented to the Department of State, or to the
Minister of the United States in Spain, the date of the
convention of 1802 and until the signature of this treaty.
The renunciation of His Catholic Majesty extends-
1. To all the injuries mentioned in the convention of the
11th of August, 1802.
2. To the sums which His Catholic Majesty advanced for the
return of Captain Pike from the Provincias Internas
3. To all injuries caused by the expedition of Miranda, that
was fitted out and equipped at New York.
4. To all claims of Spanish subjects upon the Government of
the United States arising from unlawful seizures at sea, or
within the ports and territorial Jurisdiction of the United
States.
Finally, to all the claims of subjects of His Catholic
Majesty upon the Government of the United States in which
the interposition of his Catholic Majesty's Government has
been solicited, before the date of this treaty and since the
date of the convention of 1802, or which may have been made
to the department of foreign affairs of His Majesty, or to
his Minister of the United States.
And the high contracting parties, respectively, renounce all
claim to indemnities for any of the recent events or
transactions of their respective commanders and officers in
the Floridas.
The United States will cause satisfaction to be made for the
injuries, if any, which, by process of law, shall be
established to have been suffered by the Spanish officers,
and individual Spanish inhabitants, by the late operations
of the American Army in Florida.
ARTICLE X
The convention entered into between the two Governments, on
the 11th of August, 1802, the ratifications of which were
exchanged the 21st December, 1818, is annulled.
ARTICLE XI
The United States, exonerating Spain from all demands in
future, on account of the claims of their citizens to which
the renunciations herein contained extend, and considering
them entirely cancelled, undertake to make satisfaction for
the same, to an amount not exceeding five millions of
dollars. To ascertain the full amount and validity of those
claims, a commission, to consist of three Commissioners,
citizens of the United States, shall be appointed by the
President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,
which commission shall meet at the city of Washington, and,
within the space of three years from the time of their first
meeting, shall receive, examine, and decide upon the amount
and validity of all the claims included within the
descriptions above mentioned. The said Commissioners shall
take an oath or affirmation, to be entered on the record of
their proceedings, for the faithful and diligent discharge
of their duties; and, in case of the death, sickness, or
necessary absence of any such Commissioner, his place may be
supplied by the appointment, as aforesaid, or by the
President of the United States, during the recess of the
Senate, of another Commissioner in his stead.
The said Commissioners shall be authorized to hear and
examine, on oath, every question relative to the said
claims, and to receive all suitable authentic testimony
concerning the same. And the Spanish Government shall
furnish all such documents and elucidations as may be in
their possession, for the adjustment of the said claims,
according to the principles of justice, the laws of nations,
and the stipulations of the treaty between the two parties
of 27th October, 1795; the said documents to be specified.
when demanded, at the instance of the said Commissioners.
The payment of such claims as may be admitted and adjusted
by the said Commissioners, or the major part of them, to an
amount not exceeding five millions of dollars, shall be made
by the United States, either immediately at their Treasury,
or by the creation of stock, bearing an interest of six per
cent. per annum, payable from the proceeds of sales of
public lands within the territories hereby ceded to the
United States, or in such other manner as the Congress of
the United States may prescribe by law.
The records of the proceedings of the said Commissioners,
together with the vouchers and documents produced before
them, relative to the claims to be adjusted and decided upon
by them, shall, after the close of their transactions, be
deposited in the Department of State of the United States;
and copies of them, or any part of them, shall be furnished
to the Spanish Government, if required' at the demand of the
Spanish Minister in the United States.
ARTICLE XII
The treaty of limits and navigation, of 1795, remains
confirmed in all and each one of its articles excepting the
2, 3, 4, 21, and the second clause of the 22d article,
which, having been altered by this treaty, or having
received their entire execution, are no longer valid.
With respect to the 15th article of the same treaty of
friendship, limits, and navigation of 1795, in which it is
stipulated that the flag shall cover the property, the two
high contracting parties agree that this shall be so
understood with respect to those powers who recognize this
principle; but if either of the two contracting parties
shall be at war with a third party, and the other neutral,
the flag of the neutral shall cover the property of enemies
whose government acknowledge this principle, and not of
others.
ARTICLE XIII
Both contracting parties, wishing to favor their mutual
commerce, by affording in their ports every necessary
assistance to their respective merchant-vessels, have agreed
that the sailors who shall desert from their vessels in the
ports of the other, shall be arrested and delivered up, at
the instance of the consul, who shall prove, nevertheless,
that the deserters belonged to the vessels that claimed
them, exhibiting the document that is customary in their
nation: that is to say, the American Consul in a Spanish
port shall exhibit the document known lay the name of
articles, and the Spanish Consul in American ports the roll
of the vessel; and if the name of the deserter or deserters
are claimed shall appear in the one or the other, they shall
be arrested, held in custody, and delivered to the vessel to
which they shall belong.
ARTICLE XIV
The United States hereby certify that they have not received
any compensation from France for the injuries they suffered
from her privateers, Consuls, and tribunals on the coasts
and in the ports of Spain, for the satisfaction of which
provision is made by this treaty; and they will present an
authentic statement of the prizes made, and of their true
value, that Spain may avail herself of the same in such
manner as she may deem just and proper.
ARTICLE XV
The United States, to give to His Catholic Majesty a proof
of their desire to cement the relations of amity subsisting
between the two nations, and to favor the commerce of the
subjects of His Catholic Majesty, agree that Spanish
vessels, coming laden only with productions of Spanish
growth or manufactures, directly from the ports of Spain, or
of her colonies, shall be admitted, for the term of twelve
years, to the ports of Pensacola and St. Augustine, in the
Floridas, without paying other or higher duties on their
cargoes, or of tonnage, than will be paid by the vessels of
the United States. During the said term no other nation
shall enjoy the same privileges within the ceded
territories. The twelve years shall commence three months
after the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty.
ARTICLE XVI
The present treaty shall be ratified in due form, by the
contracting parties, and the ratifications shall be
exchanged in six months from this time, or sooner if
possible.
In witness whereof we, the underwritten Plenipotentiaries of
the United States of America and of His Catholic Majesty,
have signed, by virtue of our powers, the present treaty of
amity, settlement, and limits, and have thereunto affixed
our seals, respectively.
Done at Washington this twenty-second day of February, one
thousand eight hundred and nineteen.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
LUIS DE ONIS
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Source:
Avalon Project, which in
turn draws from The Federal and State
Constitutions Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of
the States, Territories, and Colonies Now or Heretofore
Forming the United States of America,
Compiled and Edited Under the Act of Congress of June 30,
1906 by Francis Newton Thorpe,
Washington, DC, Government Printing Office, 1909
The following from
Bill Thayer's University of Chicago
subsite, who has the 1821 proclamation
version of the treaty, which, in addition to the 1819
treaty, reads as follows:
TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES
AND SPAIN CONCERNING THE CESSION BY SPAIN TO THE UNITED
STATES OF EAST AND WEST FLORIDA
PROCLAIMED FEBRUARY 22, 1821,
AND SIGNED BY JAMES MONROE AND JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
By the President of the United States
A PROCLAMATION
Whereas a Treaty of Amity,
Settlement, and Limits, between the United States of America
and his Catholic Majesty, was concluded and signed between
their Plenipotentiaries in this city, on the 22nd day of
February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and nineteen, which Treaty, word for word, is as follows:
[original treaty]
And whereas his said Catholic
Majesty did on the twenty-fourth day of October, in the year
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty, ratify
and confirm the said Treaty, which ratification is in the
words and of the tenor following:
[Translation:]
Ferdinand the Seventh by the grace of God, and by the
Constitution of the Spanish Monarchy, King of the Spains.
Whereas on the twenty-second day of February of the year one
thousand eight hundred and nineteen last past, a treaty was
concluded and signed in the City of Washington between Don
Luis de Onis, my Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary, and John Quincy Adams, Esquire, Secretary
of State of the United States of America, competently
authorized by both parties, consisting of sixteen articles,
which had for their object the arrangement of differences,
and of limits between both Governments and their respective
territories; which are of the following form and literal
tenor:
Here follows the above treaty, word for word: [...]
Therefore having seen and examined the sixteen articles
aforesaid, and having first obtained the consent and
authority of the General Cortes of the Nation with respect
to the Cession mentioned and stipulated in the 2d and 3d
articles, I approve and ratify all and every one of the
articles referred to and the clauses which are contained in
them; and in virtue of these presents I approve and ratify
them; promising on the faith and word of a King to execute
and observe them, and to cause them to be executed and
observed entirely as if I myself had signed them: and that
the circumstance of having exceeded the term of six months,
fixed for the exchange of the ratifications in the 16th
article may afford no obstacle in any manner; it is my
deliberate will that the present ratification be as valid
and firm and produce the same effects as if it had been done
within the determined period. Desirous at the same time of
avoiding any doubt or ambiguity concerning the meaning of
the 8th article of the said treaty in respect to the date
which is pointed out in it as the period for the
confirmation of the grants of lands in the Floridas, made by
me or by the competent authorities in my Royal name, which
point of date was fixed in the positive understanding of the
three grants of land made in favour of the Duke of Alagon,
the Count of Punonrostro, and Don Pedro de Vargas, being
annulled by its tenor; I think proper to declare that the
said three grants have remained and do remain entirely
annulled and invalid; and that neither the three individuals
mentioned, nor those who may have title or interest
through them, can avail themselves of the said grants at
any time or in any manner: under which explicit declaration
the said 8th article is to be understood as ratified.
In the faith of all which I have commanded to despatch these
presents signed by my hand, sealed with my secret seal, and
countersigned by the underwritten my Secretary of Despatch
of State.
Given at Madrid the twenty fourth of October one thousand
eight hundred and twenty.
FERNANDO.
EVARISTO PEREZ DE CASTRO
And whereas the Senate of the United States did,
on the nineteenth day of the present month,
advise and consent to the ratification, on the
part of these United States, of the said Treaty
in the following words:
"In Senate of
the United States, February 19th, 1821.
Resolved, two-thirds of the Senators present
concurring therein, that the Senate having
examined the treaty of Amity, Settlement and
Limits between the United States of America
and his Catholic Majesty made and concluded
on the twenty-second day of February, 1819,
and seen and considered the Ratification
thereof, made by his said Catholic Majesty
on the 24th day of October, 1820, do consent
to, and advise the President of the United
States to ratify the same."
And whereas in pursuance of the said advice
and consent of the Senate of the United
States I have ratified and confirmed the
said Treaty in the following, viz:
"Now, therefore, I, James Monroe, President
of the United States of America, having seen
and considered the Treaty above recited,
together with the Ratification of His
Catholic Majesty thereof, do in pursuance of
the aforesaid advice and consent of the
Senate of the United States, by these
Presents, accept, ratify, and confirm the
said Treaty and every clause and article
thereof as the same are herein before set
forth."
"In faith
whereof I have caused the Seal of the United
States of America to be hereto affixed."
"Given under
my Hand at the City of Washington this
twenty-second day of February in the year of
our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
twenty-one, and of the Independence of the
said States the forty-fifth.
(Signed) JAMES
MONROE By the President
(Signed) JOHN QUINCY ADAMS Secretary of
State."
And whereas the said
Ratifications, on the part of the United States, and of His
Catholic Majesty, have been this day duly exchanged at
Washington, by John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State of the
United States, and by General Don Francisco Dionisio Vives,
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His
Catholic Majesty: Now, therefore, to the end that the said
Treaty may be observed and performed with good faith on the
part of the United States, I have caused the premises to be
made public, and I do hereby enjoin and require all persons
bearing office, civil or military, within the United States,
and all others, citizens or inhabitants thereof, or being
within the same, faithfully to observe and fulfill the said
Treaty and every clause and article thereof.
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United
States to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same
with my hand.
Done at the City of Washington, the twenty-second day of
February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and twenty-one, and of the sovereignty and independence of
the United States the forty-fifth.
JAMES MONROE
By the President
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS
Secretary of State
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Here is the print version of the
Treaty with Spain of February 22,
1819, as finally ratified from the Library of
Congress.
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