all of you here tonight. i am nancy stats. i manage education programs at james monroe's highland. we are delighted to be doing the program of general jackson, president and roe, and the florida territory tonight. in partnership with andrew jackson's hermitage in nashville, tennessee. now, a little bit about how this program came to be. we are delighted to have aaron adams with us tonight who is the director of education at the hermitage. you'll be hearing a little bit more about her in just a moment. highland was fortunate to open new exhibits this past september. these exhibits for the first time in history interpreted the building into that you see the photograph as a guest house built during monroe's presidency by two enslaved carpenters named peter in georgia. prior to -- we thought this building to be part of the main house. this is a really significant re-curation to now have this building curated as it was as a guest house. in one of our exhibit goals, it was to really anchor this building in place. what was happening in highland and the world historically as the enslaved carpenters peter and george were literally hammering nails in to the wood to construct the building you are seeing. luckily, monroe left us the rich paper trail to glean details from. so, one of the rooms and our exhibit, you are seeing it here, does a bit of a deep dive into a letter monroe moat raw home at highland from d.c. won september day. september 6th of 1818. the letter is very critical for our understanding. it details this construction of this building, i names enslaved men who built it. it tells us a lot about what is going on in current events. about three pages of this six-page letter are all basically monroe -- about andrew jackson's recent invasion of florida earlier in the summer of 1818. so, here within the red box you are seeing two panels that we have devoted to the aspect of the letter. almost immediately, we started stacking stopping the exhibits, we saw that this is generating a lot of visitor interest. both in the situation of florida and also monroe and jackson's personal relationship. this seemed like a great topic for doing programming on. we are very excited that aaron was on board for delving into this topic with us tonight. a little bit about my co-host aaron. aaron adams has been the director of education at andrew jackson's hermitage and nashville since 2013. aaron believes her biggest priority is to advocate for each visitor both, as aghast and as a learner. her department oversees k-12 learning, use leadership training, and lifelong learning programs as well as all gas services functions. while at the hermitage, aaron has focused on making learning and interpersonal adventure between staff and ventilators. academic interest lie in jackson's native american policies and practices. aaron has been a really great collaborator to work with. i have learned a lot from her in working on this program. briefly before i turn it over to erin our goals tonight are to set up the context leading to this 1818 invasion of florida by jackson. peer into the eye of the hurricane and all of this chaos and look at the actual letters and words and exchanges between these two before jackson was sent. what was actually said, what was implied, what meeting was taken. more importantly, to look with perspective about the impacts of acquiring florida as united states territory. with specific regard to indigenous tribes, american slavery, and more personally with the enslaved residents at north highland and hermitage. and so, with pleasure, i'm going to turn it over to erin. >> good evening, everyone, it is such a pleasure to be with you and thank you to nancy and the folks at highland for inviting us to go along in this endeavor. i have to echo nancy's words. it really has been quite a learning opportunity for me as well for jackson's actions in florida, as well as his relationships surrounding florida. they have been an area of research for me here, just very recently. all of this to say i am learning about jackson in florida and his relationship with monroe right alongside everybody else. so, tonight there will be an opportunity for questions, and a question and answer function. and those that get shared with us. the moderators and hosts i will share them. go easy on me, there is certainly many things for me still to learn. so, when nancy first introduced this, the idea of the project, she sent me the text of the handle that you are looking at here, and the first thing that struck me is the use of the additive volatile to describe andrew jackson. not that i objected to it, not that it is inaccurate in any way. i just find the people do not necessarily call it out so directly. it was quite humorous to me to say that i do not think there is a better word that you can use to describe andrew jackson. in fact, later on in jackson's presidency he tells james hamilton he describes himself as born for a storm and calm does not suit. if that does not express volatility, i do not know what does. it is interesting to watch that sort of demeanor in play. so, nancy, if you are ready and we want to advance the slides i am good. all right. great, so, nancy had a wonderful idea to go ahead and lay out the timeline for overlapping james monroe's life with andrew jackson. i think it is the perfect way to look at them. way so often think, and last from my perspective, we think of james monroe so neatly packaged in with the founding fathers generation. right? he is there with washington crossing the delaware. james monroe is the fifth presidents, he has followed this great stream of the founding father generation of presidents. it is not until after monroe where you switch to the post revolution, post founding father presidents with john quincy adams and jackson after. in examining the overlap between the lives of james monroe and andrew jackson, i was really struck with a few things. one, monroe and jackson are only nine years apart in their ages. munroe was 18 at the time that is represented in the famous portrait of washington crossing the delaware. it was not until the last year or so that i realized that the man holding the flag behind washington's monroe. and so, that was quite a new thought for me. jackson's 13 at this point, at least by 1780 jackson is 13. madison at this point would have been about 90 years older than that. while madison, in most people's eyes, would have been an average age to serve as a combatant during the american revolution, andrew jackson is serving at 13. he has 13 when this begins and he joins the american army on the example of his oldest brother who was killed at the battle of -- in 1779. often we get the question what is a 13-year-old kid doing in a military situation, in an army? what army would accept a services of a 13 or 15 year old boy? jackson is serving the american army largely as a messenger, a career. this is a kid who is on his home turf. the frontier of the carolinas. this backwater of british north america. here is jackson, fighting in a combat role and also serving in several other capacities. jackson, himself, is taken a prisoner of war at the age of 14 shortly after the battle of hanging rock. which is an american victory. he has taken prisoner by the british, which you see represented in this very famous image from 100 years later. this is a portrait of jackson about the age of 14. jackson, in the course of his arrest, is confronted by this british soldier and asked to clean the officer boots. the jackson rejects that command. he completely objects to this demand that the officer has made. jackson, according to all of the biographers, says i am your prisoner, you cannot compel me to do this. the officer clearly is not taking that very well. he goes to slash down at jackson with that saber, jackson throws up his left hand to protect himself and the saber comes down, cuts his left hand nearly in half. so, jackson is going to be left with very visible and very painful scars of the american revolution. both internal and external. jackson has been imprisoned is a 14-year-old boy along with his brother. and so, this makes jackson the only president out of all 45 of our presidents who had served as a prisoner of war. it is a very unique experience in jackson's life and that happens at the age of 14. by the age of 15 he is completely or friend. his entire family has been lost. emerging from the american revolution, you see these two young man going in with a great deal of idealism and patriotic fervor. a great sense of rightness in the way things ought to be for the united states, that it should be its own endeavor. of 1812 generation that in my mind, they represent the bridge between the revolutionary generation and the war of 1812 the passion for the nation and the nation's future, the nation's security is almost unmatched in another pairing that i can think of. from that injury. and then as we watch and move on from the revolution we began to watch the establishment of the nation and then you have jackson and monroe who are then both young enough to still heavily engaged with the war of 1812 and old enough to come at it with a great deal more of strategy with a great deal more of life experience behind them shaping this. madison, of course, starts out -- up to monroe excuse me, monroe starts out a secretary of state during that period and then moves into the secretary war position. jackson is the major general. communication between the two man is prominent you, can see on the timeline for jackson monroe both is going to continue on in a way in the first seminal war into the acquisition of florida. and now they are serving in their original capacity so to speak. munroe with the war of 1812 is a politician is a federal servant. jackson went into it as a military commander. that is going, that relationship, those sort of understandings they have with one another as a result of this, seminal war. we are going to see a lot of comparison and comparison between the two as we go through here. of course, monroe is operating as president right after the war of 1812 and his term in office ends just as jackson is running for his second season of fantasy in the election of 1812. in the first two years of jackson presidency himself. we will see as we go through over all of this tonight how these two men are going to line up in fascinating ways. nancy, if you want to go on forward for us. as i mentioned, there is an old association between these two men. i try to do your research on the point at which jackson first encounters monroe. at what point they first began to know each other? i couldn't pinpoint it exactly. they began to gather familiarity with one another during jackson's first time in congress. andrew jackson was tennessee's first congressman, first congressional representative. when tennessee achieved statehood and 1796. madison, monroe, i have got to stop doing this, james monroe is starting as an ambassador to europe at this point. they have 1 million another as we discussed is going to be the war of 1812. the two men are going to have pretty frequent conversations, pretty much a running conversation between the two of them over the course of the war of 1812. naturally, the concern for james madison, president at this point, is the british and the british strategy. certainly relies heavily on the involvement at on developing alliances with nations and trying to essentially encircle american expansion. we want the, british rather, want to try to press and on the united states and be very clear about the expansion that the united states -- canada is a key point in this. the united states has ambition for expansion. not only is the war of 1812 for the united states about defending what it is already achieving in the revolution, it is now also making a statement. the united states goal is to become an equal player on the world scene just as great britain us and as francis and as spain's. the united states is now serving that is not going to just except independents it is going to strive for competitiveness of the world's stage and take its place among the great powers of the world. riley attention from madison and monroe first is on canada, the desire of the united states to acquire canadian territory, they also have to consider the southern territories as well. largely, they are looking at disruptions and threats to the frontier that are posed for the shawnee people, led by to come salah and his brother -- and the threat of the muskogee nation. -- the war of 1812 is presenting a phenomenal opportunity for the growth of the united states if we can defeat not only the british but these native nations in the world as well. madison, monroe, particularly monroe and jackson are going to come to a pretty neutral understanding about what should be done, how it should be done, and what the expected outcomes are. there will be many instances throughout the war of 1812, we will talk about a few, in which jackson seems to constantly exceed whatever orders he has specifically been given by the commander in chief, by monroe as the secretary in the war. in each of these cases, jackson's, jackson's justification in his own mind is that he simply is fulfilling the spirit of what is intended. even without direct instructions to do things like invade pensacola, jackson is interpreting what he feels are monroe's and madison's intentions. we are going to see a great deal of that play out as we go through here today. just a few items, a few images i've decided to stick in here. we can review just a few facts about both of these men and the war of 1812. again monroe, some of you may have a different -- it is a learning opportunity. one of the things i think about with monroe, monroe is the politician, he is the officeholder, he is the logistics man. he is the man that has got to justify the actions of the government to the congress. he has got to seek funding for these sorts of things. his job is to support the decisions of the president and the commander-in-chief. jackson is the man on the field. jackson is the man out watching the play out of this. he is well aware of the sort of lay of the land. both in terms of the support of americans, the divisions of loyalty is across the frontier, as well as the perceived threats and where strategically they may come to really play against the united states. it was a surprise to me to learn that jackson was initially more interested in canada and acquiring territories in canada as far as the st. lawrence river. saint learned sculpt. the idea that somehow the united states would go as far as the st. lawrence, include the great lakes region, just is handing the united states this great bounty of natural resources that would make it almost unconquerable if you will. it is going to go so far and it advancing economic abilities as well as its national strengthens profile and the military presence in the world. it was a surprise to me that jackson was so focused on canada as he was. jackson begins to let madison, monroe, and others, william henry harrison, no, hey, i am here. send me. i am sitting here on top of the u.s. -- on top of the tennessee militia. he is commissioned into the infantry at this point. send me, i am here. madison at least sort of says thank you. and has nothing to colin jackson services. he keeps passing jackson over for people that madison -- it feels like he can do a little more effective. people like william henry harrison for example. when jackson sees this sort of almost pacification that he feels like he's receiving from james madison, jackson then begins to stop trying to reach out to madison, and instead he reaches out directly to his other generals, william henry harrison for example. he notifies harrison to let him know hey, i am here. tennessee militia is here. we are here to fight on behalf of the nation. send us where you want us. finally, james monroe, for jackson, represents the, the link now. jackson begins to cultivate this conversation with james monroe. in such a way that it begins to influence madison's own thinking about jackson at this point. really, it is james monroe and many ways who gets jackson pulled into the thick of things and the war of 1812. madison is not going to direct janssen's move toward canada or the great lakes region or the ohio valley, instead he is going to -- against the muskogee people and ultimately to florida and to alabama and new orleans where the war is going to end at that point. i love the two portraits of the men here at this point. again, it is showing them roughly the same age and the same position. really, it kind of creates this wonderful visual reference point between the mover and the politician and the mover, the general. nancy, do you want to move us on just one more step. . ,,. as jackson moves against the muskogee people of alabama, he is going to defeat them. in addition to the military defeat of the muskogee nation, he also forces them to receive 23 million acres of land to the united states. while madison and monroe had been watching this unfold, they were hearing reports. jackson is sending reports back to washington of his progress across greek nation. they are a little staggered by how jackson is going at this and the brutality that he is taking to these nations. the fact that jackson is provoking a very intense civil war between the members of the creek nation, the white stick and the red stick and the upper faction and low affection. jackson is pulling on the cherokee, the chalk to, many who are going to support jackson in new orleans. they are also fighting with him against the creek. the end result is the defeat of the creek, 23 millionaires of land that is about two thirds of the entire state of alabama. it is also going to cost the creek vote to withdraw and pull back from alabama. they are largely going to flee towards the coast. kind of around the areas around mobile intensive cola. they're going to pull into western georgia. they are going to pull back into florida, of course, it remains spanish territory at this point you can see that on the map here. the conclusion of the war in 1812, this great defeat of great britain and 1812 -- the way i explain this when working with fourth graders. this becomes the explanation point to the end of the war of 1812. jackson is seeking to provide the nation -- they are so eagerly wanting it and anticipating it. here is what is going to do ultimately. thomas jefferson had already purchased louisiana territory by 1803. we are very familiar with the story. it is essentially from baton rouge north, right? that parallel that runs here, i'm going to annotate this on the screen. just a little more closely. i have a chance to. all right. great right here, it would form the northern -- it's part of the state of mississippi today. it extended and provides the northern boundary of the state of florida today. i am going to extend that red line just a little bit. a straight line. looking at it and the straight line. this is a problem, okay? this boundary is a problem. 1803, the boundary of louisiana's start of late out here at baton rouge. it goes along the mississippi. it is what we think of as an edge here. it is the river. because florida has such a unique relationship with the european nations that have long been fighting over it, walking into florida by 1817, everything has turned into this very swampy sort of jungle of entanglement. there is a great deal of international intrigue. a great deal of international maneuvering for how florida gets divided. and what its future holds for it. to go back to the louisiana purchase. one of the issues that nancy and i discussed in the earlier conversation was the fact that so few people realized, i think, , it's been my observation, that florida was not part of the 13th colonies. the 13 colleagues extend from maine all the way to the coast of the atlantic until you get to the southern boundary of georgia. why is in florida part of those 13, i don't think it's a natural assumption that people. make it was all the states on the atlantic. all the colonies on the atlantic. essentially, the atlantic edge of the nation. they were the 13 colonies. people are surprised that florida is not amongst those. by the revolution, there's already a great deal of conflict in florida. the british, the spanish, the, french, the seminal and, then certainly british north america and eventually the night states. all of that is going to enroll into 1803, jefferson purchases louisiana. this debate and conversation about where the boundary of louisiana's. it's going to continue to provide these flash points of tension between foreign countries and of course this northern line goes right here along the top of baton rouge's. intersecting that image here. it's going to be one of the largest pieces of this argument. 1812, by 1812 louisiana's -- 1850, jackson's bitter notoriously -- the battle of new orleans. trying to move my annotation. by 1850, by the victory at new orleans, the map here is a wonderful way of seeing what those tensions provide. you can see by your key here on the map, the gradual annexation of these very sections of florida territory. part of it begins to be annexed an 18-time. that annexation is still pretty big early argued between france united states. this is going to really begin a period of great tension between the united states and france with which it is formally had a very successful relationship. from that point forward, it is going to continue to be more problematic. as the united states continues to push into this region, gradually is going to start pushing back and back. at one point, it only goes as far as the pearl river. another point, it's going to go far as the petito river. and then it's going to go as far as the appalachia cola. it's going to continue to advance. on the eve of the first seminal war, quite a range of dates associated with it. this is what the territory that we're looking at in florida. each of these areas -- each area comes into the u.s. with a great deal of conflict attached to it. they don't bother to solve the status of one part of the territory before they simply move along to the next one. again, the issue here, it's getting more more complicated as we go. nancy, i think i'm ready for you to move on. thank you. >> thank you, erin. as aaron showed, it is very complicated. when monroe's president, there has been a lot of disgruntlement by u.s. citizens that the seminole in florida have been doing raids on people living in georgia. and on georgia plantations. that is what necessitates monroe asking jackson to go to florida. as aaron shown and, they have been down this road before. munroe knows he's -- prone to exceed orders. he certainly knows jackson's personality. he has worked with him before. i thought it would be really interesting to look at what was jackson told? what is the actual correspondents? what actually happens? we will analyze that. all of this is happening at the time with relevance to highland that we have -- it is very municipal to the interpretation. john c calhoun was the secretary of war. this is the first quotation you're seeing. it is monroe giving jackson orders to go to florida. calhoun's wording is that you may be prepared to concentrate your forces into adopt the necessary measures bolden mind to terminate a conflict, which has been the desire of the president for consideration of humanity to avoid. which is now made necessary by their hostilities. the seminole indians. this can be distilled into, please go and i take care of the issues with the seminole. as aaron pointed out, wanting to acquire and grow united states territory, there has been previous conversations were monroe doesn't essentially have to spell things out. morrow sent jackson a follow-up letter two days later. telling him, this is not a time for you to think of repose. great interest or an issue. until our courses carried through triumphantly, you ought not to withdraw your active support from it. as the historian puts it, this is diplomatically oblique. it is a little different from the conflict message from john c calhoun and the war department. what continues to get interesting, jackson's response. jackson will write on january six of 1818 to monroe. this is the most pertinent section of the letter. essentially saying, he has his own ideas for this mission. he said this can be done without implicating the government. let it be signified through any channel. he is mentioning john ray, a congressman from tennessee. you can see it at the bottom of the screen. the possession of the florida's would be desirable to the united states, in 60 days it will be accomplished. here we have yet another angle of meeting here. jackson saying, here is my offer. just say the word. some of you may notice, in jackson's letter here, in some writing going the opposite direction from the original letter, it is an out. it reads, mr. j ray letter and answer is burnt. 12th of april 1818, major. it would imply that somehow john ray gave him the tip off to go to florida. not only suppress the situation with the seminole to see the entire area from the spanish. this letter has never been found. the writing is not jackson's. there's a lot of mystery to be said to this communication. we are not the first to delve into it. normally be the last. take a moment to ponder, but where jackson's instructions exactly? but he will end up doing, taking his militia to florida. he will not only make it warfare on the seminoles, he will see -- this is declaring, it could be candice -- he will execute some british subjects. aaron did, you want to jump in? >> i wanted to go back to the map. the gradual advancements of florida. what is really fascinating, when you look at -- when you look at the map of the night states, you pull off the map in your mind. what it looks like today. the lower 48. you're going to take the entire state of florida. you are going to extend the panhandle of florida. and then think about how it begins to make this curve to the northwest. that curve is going to follow the south and southwestern boundaries of louisiana territory. it's going to look at the texas state line. it's going to go further north into colorado and wyoming. and then it's going to have a straight line almost all the way to california. almost all the way to oregon territory. if you're following that line, florida eventually picks up a nickname. it is referred to it is referred to by -- it is one of jackson's biographers who uses the expression. it is wonderful. he describes florida as a pistol aimed at the heart of the united states. if we cannot settle the little strip along the bottom, how can we possibly expect to make any advances further west? there is a pistol, as he said, that is aimed at the heart of the united states. when you think about it, we put so much emphasis on strategic importance of new orleans at the end of the war in 1812. where unites the mississippi with the gulf of mexico, the economic implications. the importance of new orleans. the truth is, there are so many competing goals for florida. so many competing national interest in florida. if we cannot resolve florida, how can we possibly expect to move forward with any confidence as a nation? we can do what needs to be done further west. in many ways, florida is already seen as a proving ground. the war of 1812 gives the united states the mandate in many ways to move forward florida. of course, as a way to fight the seminal, the issue that we're going to talk about a little bit more as we go, the issue is also going to turn to slavery. theso many issues in american history. it is also part of the identity a florida. and what message the status of florida begins to send the world around it. we will hit that in a moment. i just remember to come across that quote, nancy. a pistol aimed at the heart of the united states. i think that it is evocative. yeah. >> i had not heard that. it encapsulates the feeling. what is interesting, this letter jackson says i can take florida and 60 days. munroe never responds. and then later claims that he never read it until after jackson invaded florida. this letter from wrote to calhoun, this is nearly a decade later. munroe is retired. it's on the eve of jackson wanting to run to president in 1818. as politics do, this is resurfaced. munroe said, i never read that letter until it was concluded. note did i think about it until you are called it to my recollection by -- it is definitely -- it puts a whole other kink in the gears for monroe to claim he never saw that letter, having already worked with jackson. probably having some ability to anticipate what jackson would say or do. another aspect in this letter, monroe writes to calhoun. he did ask john ray, as was mentioned in the previous letter, they were supposed to give jackson a tip off. a general conversation about whether he had said -- his opinion that the administration had no opinion on the attack in pensacola. rate declared he never said that to jackson. munroe is tiptoeing around, saying i did not know the general had written him to the same effect that he did to me. i had not read my letter. he digs his heels and again. he might have led me innocently into a conversation, wishing to obtain florida. i might have expressed a sentiment which he might have drawn an inference. this is a bit of a tango here. -- >> it is a tango that they have advanced before. during the war of 1812, -- jackson invades pensacola. the spanish and florida and great britain are funneling intelligence about american military forces and movements into the british. it is accurate. jackson had drawn that. and then, here comes jackson marching into pensacola. madison and monroe have given him no orders to do this. jackson sends a letter in which he writes -- he writes to madison, when that letter makes it to washington. madison is put off by this event and the letter that man wrote it. he is willing to put this in the realm of hypotheticals. he could have drawn an inference they know his nature. he's asking for forgiveness. there's another wonderful story, or an account. it was the patriot war of west florida. is florida, i am sorry. general matthews marches in a force of militiamen and local men within the georgia and carolinas. we are patriots, our future is florida. it means the fate of the united states -- and assert the dominance of united states security and rotate forces. off the marches into florida. madison has is horrified as what he is done. he has the man replaced as a commander. matthew marches into florida, and what matches -- it's just that, they already know how to work with jackson. they know what to expect either jackson's outcomes. that is going to go a long way in many ways. for madison to be able to show discipline when you have military officers that are acting outside of the realm of commands, and then jackson gives them throws the result that allows them to say, well, sometimes it is worth it to us. this is not an unprecedented moment. i think it shows the power, if you, will that jackson represents. and the abilities. just again, the nature of the relationship between these men. particularly between monroe and jackson. munroe is going to go to bat for jackson and madison in this. >> there is a range of assessments on this communication situation that happened. i really liked the synopsis from daniel fowler who read the papers of andrew jackson. he sounded up saying, the real issue is that jackson thought he could, monroe did not correct him. munroe did not give the tip off. neither did he repeat jackson or relieve him on the spot. instead, either foolishly or cleverly misplaced his letter. a political maneuver, potentially will never now. there is a range of reactions to jackson in florida when he was certainly exceeding his balance. i want to foil together to different perspectives. on the left side, you see an article from the genius of liberty. it is a virginia paper. while some people are horrified, that jackson is done this eventually comes around that it was just a necessary. he found it necessary to take possession of pensacola. he has not been prompted to the measure to extend the territorial limits of the united states, or any unfriendly feeling as part of the american republic to the spanish government. here we get to the heart of it in the red square. basically, it was the seminoles that made it necessary. the seminole indians and habits are tightening the territories -- of they visited our frontier settlers with all the horrors of savage magic. help us women have been butchered. the cradle state we plug it isn't. have been adopted for their suppression. so kind of this wasn't just trying to add an extra star to the flag. this was this was just it just happened which is an interesting. way of seeing this foil that against you know the it just happened. it is an interesting way of seeing this. foil that on the history of the seminole drive on their website. their description of the events, u.s. officials, angered that the spaniards cannot control arouse the indians, were incensed by the protection insult or the seminoles offered african slaves. it doesn't come up in the newspaper article. these freedom seekers have been finding refuge in spanish florida for over a century. the news u.s. government is determined to stop the practice. in the late 1700s and early 18 hundreds, conflicts and skirmishes and -- in a racial hatred flared into violence more more frequently on the new frontier. moving into the longer term impacts on the seminoles, it was decimating what these invasions and continued with the indian removal act. the seminole tribe of florida website they mention the 12,000 gears. today, the population is less than 3000. in the state of florida, it exceeds more than 14 billion residents. it is a credit to the almost 3000 which the -- scarlet is survived in florida despite heavy odds. jackson's invasion, what is coming in the coming decades for the seminoles and other indigenous tribes. i am going to turn it back to aaron now. who will talk a little bit more about slavery and florida and once it becomes a u.s. acquisition in a little bit of an overview here. >> and intended to start the section with another map image. i misplace the image. there is another thing happening here. jackson's actions have not just been about florida. it is not only about florida. what he is set to accomplish in florida is par for the course. when it comes to slavery, land acquisition, native people. as i mentioned earlier, at the end of the war, he forces the muskogee two seed 23 million acres of land. about the state of alabama. he is heavily involved and forcing land session for the chickasaw, choctaw, cherokee. this seminoles are the end of the process. when you map it out, they become the last piece of the southern -- what today is the southern united states. it is dominated by native peoples and claimed by the united states. clearly fitting into this established example of the south as an agricultural region. florida, for jackson, many ways is representing the end of a process. all of these land acquisitions and land sessions are happening concurrently with the seminal war while jackson himself is in florida. yet, he is still very much involved in all the nations that it takes to get this land ceded to the united states. when you add up all the land sanctions that jackson is responsible for during this period you are talking about tens of millions if not hundreds of millions of acres of land in what today is the southern united states. often, again, when i do this with children, one of most natural questions for them is, what are we going to do with all this land? why is jackson working so hard to get all of this land. what is the point of it? the point of it, the land is viewed as the future of the united states. the agricultural potential of this territory is critical in advancing the nations economy and growing our economic profile in the eyes of the world in order to do that. agriculture is going to take a larger share of the endeavors there. agriculture is accompanied by slavery and enslavement. this language that jackson is going to years during the seminal war certainly during his presidency and when it comes to the removal act, the duty of the united states is -- again i, paraphrasing, the duty of the united states is essentially to take advantage of every resource to advance its own cause. to have this land in the south it includes florida, to have it occupied by people who are not in acting in the interest of the night states advancement, they need to move. they need to go. jackson is going to find ways along with monroe and others to couch this in national defence language. the monroe doctrine is going to come out very strongly. you don't want european involvement in the affairs of the americas. we have to be ready to dominate the americas. and that means that full control of it. let's talk about how this applies with slavery means in this particular case. the state of florida, what today is the state of florida, certainly the territory of florida, is a very unique arrangement. compared to -- first of all, slavery i am, sorry player -- where it enters north america. the first african slaves brought to north america happens under spanish rule in about 15 12 six. esteban co was the man. he was a member of the expedition i'm very sorry to speak spanish. the catholic church in spain and the spanish government had agreed that the enslavement was a proper response to those people who had not been converted to catholic faith. estevanico he is cannot buy his home in -- and then brought to north america as part of the expedition over narvaez. he dies in new mexico. fernando de soto, so many others are familiar with him. i grew up in tennessee. that's where he dies. he's always been part of this mythology of memphis. this is where the soto dies. the soto is bringing a sizeable numbers of african descent slaves and indigenous people. it is the site of the first emancipation of enslaved people in north america. it happens in florida. the first settlement of free blacks in north america's happening. there is many layers of this relationship between a slave people, people of african descent, indigenous people in florida, and then european powers. certainly, one of the single largest drivers of the seminole war and conflict in florida, the presence of a state american slaves seeking refuge amongst the seminole. you may be familiar to turn black seminole. that is a term that begins to be applied of african descent who left the plantations in georgia and carolina. primarily alabama mississippi as well. they are represented. they are adopted in as black seminole. they are still descended communities across florida that link themselves to the black seminole identity. jackson partly is in florida to break up this practice. to prevent the loss of enslaved workers in the united states by then fleeing to florida to return this property, as he sees it, to their owners in the state. certainly from, 1821, it is statehood further. once the territory is required by the united states, slavery is simply going to continue all the way through its identity with the confederate states of america as well. up until the point at which the united states has possession of florida, there are significant differences in the way that slavery is going to be practice between the european powers and the united states and great britain. i'm going to lump great running the states together for the purposes of this discussion. for the spanish they practiced slavery and a chattel type situation. the u.s. in great britain do this. as i mentioned the predominance of the catholic religion also puts barriers around the practice of enslavement of indigenous and african descent peoples. if some people have been enslaved and brought to north america and converted to catholicism, needs to be a change. it was assumed there was to be a change of some sort in the relationship between the slave owner and the enslaved person. amongst the seminole, slavery is practice. amongst a condition of warfare. it is a way to captive handle captives and warfare. it's a way for people settled that's our obligations amongst themselves. it is not intended to be a chattel form of slavery. is not intended to be a race based condition asylee. it is not intended to be an inherited condition. it is not meant to be a multi generational system of bondage. that is a complete one 80, if you will, from the way the united states and great britain are going to look at slavery in the region too. i love the image that is on here. it is a photograph. it shows a slave market. it is the oldest slave market in florida. this photo was taken about 1937. it was still standing at that point. it is estimated bill date was 1873. it is constructed by the -- slavery in florida is a combination -- let me say it differently. florida is a combination of many views about the enslavement of people. everything from slaves should be enslaved until they make religious conversion, they should only be enslaved if their own personal actions have warranted their ownership by others, crimes committed, that sort of thing. maybe it should have a race contingency to it. maybe it should have a channel continuity to. it almost every way of looking at the application of the concepts of slavery as they are practiced around the world, they all find the intersection right here in florida territory. it is going to cause -- it's going to continue to continue to feel the arguments. the united states is going to argue that the and of incitement, great britain and europe are starting to lead the way toward the universal emancipation of slaves. all of those thoughts and ideas, all of that, it's going to feed into these arguments as well. nancy, if you will go one more. >> i was looking at our time. we will continue with two examples about how this directly impacts the enslaved residents of the highland and the hermitage. once florida becomes united states territory, we start seeing plantations establish there this becomes an end to a means for monroe. he finds itself in significant debt. we see a retired monroe writing to retired madison that he has sold his slaves. meaning all the mauro or highland. -- he will take them to families in that territory. this is paying off a debt that monroe owed to john jacob astor that ended in the war of 1812. we have an image of casa bianca plantation that colonel light establishes. primarily a cotton plantation. and stage families from highland will be sold in 1828. one of our longtime questions have been, who were the names of the enslaved people so there? fortunately for us, we had independent researchers roll their sleeves up and tackle this question. there is an entire website -- referencing that letter. it goes through these 17 people that we have identified that were sold there. as well as their descendants. and then all the way into the 21st century. we see another panel from our -- we play that quote against harry jacobs. at the bottom, you see a photograph on our descendant visors. thomas delight, there is a member on that council who is a direct descendant from the enslaved family in florida. we are really pleased to see these advance of the 19th century making a full circle and the 21st century. aaron has an example for the hermitage that she is going to share. >> sure. i want to make sure we had a chance to mention a man by the name of fernando. he is a fascinating story. the document you see the right-hand of the screen is a letter addressed to jackson from a woman named catalina. she looked at st. augustine. before jackson entered the picture, catalina own slaved in st. augustine in that area. catalina's children began to emigrate to the night states. they moved to charleston, south carolina. there was an enslaved man owned by the sitar's family that goes to charleston to live in john who is the son of catalina. fernando despises his life in charleston. it is for all the reasons. enslavement, he does not want to be enslaved. he finds an opportunity to escape. he does so. he goes back to florida. instead of going back to sitorous, he ends up, fernando ends up falling into this band of british provocateurs. nancy referenced earlier -- these protests agents that work across the florida frontier. they are essentially provoking the people of the region. it is a lot of guerrilla activity that is happening. fernando falls in with this. he was involved in a destruction of property. there is murderers and physical silence that are caused. it is unclear whether fernando himself is a murderer. nevertheless, he's an associate of this group of men. when jackson coming to st. mark's florida, and of arresting them and their colleagues and executing them without trial. jackson does not even bother to put them on trial. he execute them. when you look at the napa florida, you can see where, i am martin a blue star. this is where bullock's town, it was located here. i think that's the name of community. i can double check that. it's out of my head. it's a region of florida called big ben. it's when the panhandle begins to curve into the peninsula. you have the big bend area of florida. the image of the seminal land is not fernando. this is billy bo leg himself, for who this town is named. a multi generational leadership of the community. this is bow legs town, jackson arrives in st. mark's. he arrests booster and are it not. he executes associates. as he continues -- they does happen to be for the most prominent examples. fernando is a member of one of the gangs. when jackson realizes that fernando is an enslaved man and owned by the sitter's family and st. augustine, jackson does not have fernando executed. jackson knows nothing about censorious is. jackson's enslaved. he needs a services. fernando is a blacksmith, he worked as a carter. we had a number of skills that were in demand. as the commanding officer of the u.s. infantry of this region, jackson has the power to come commandeer in layman to support the working of the military. fernando was commandeered to the u.s. senate infantry. this is an 18 inch and and the early part of it. when jackson time in florida comes to an end in 1819, he returns to the hermitage. for now noah jackson. it is not clear why. it is unclear why he doesn't go back to censorious is, why jackson does not track over to the story's is. ,. fernando is assigned a task to perform here at the hermitage plantation. he marries another jackson enslaved mullet woman named sally. they begin to have children. they have several children over the course of their lives. four years later 80 23, jackson has already completed his brief term as territorial governor of florida. jackson is turning his sights towards the national office. he is going to run for senate. he's looking ahead to the presidential election of 1824. there is a crisis over fernando. where does he belong? does he belong in florida. is he owned by jackson? is he owned by sitorous? does the u.s. army have a claim on fernando. there's a legal entanglement about where financial belongs. jackson, in order to sort of cut through all the entanglement, jackson purchases fernando directly from catalina sitorous. in a letter that you see, so tory us, so tory us is responding to jacques. they are discussing the terms over the arrangement. catalina sitorous is providing jackson with a message to pass on to fernando. she is basically scolding fernando for running away. reminding him that his new owner, jackson, is going to roll with a little bit more of an iron vest that she herself and her family has done. right now don't need to remember this. he needs to remember his place. he needs to remember who his master is to serve him and all runaways. it is all this speech to fernando. here is fernando living at the hermitage mary to sally, fernando and sally began to have children. and then, the first thing jackson does is change fernando's name. he changes it to colleague or. this is a question we often posed to our visitors. it's a question we pose in a walking tour. that is, why would jackson change fernando's name? the man is a father and a husband. he is not a puppy from the pound. you don't change somebody's name because you don't like the one that came with. the naming of somebody is a very personal affair. jackson's changing eye. the word polydor -- it means multitalented. you see the word polly door or poly doris, to see it in the greek and roman literature. you see it and european naming customs. this is also a period in which enslaved men are often given by their owners these classical sounding names and you see lots of pompeii is in cato's show up and inventory of enslaved men during the period. why is jackson changing pollers name, why is he chained it to polydor? >> the best we have been able to determine from the research available, fernando is doing in florida is equal to what jackson has executed other men over. murder. property destruction. guerrilla violence, intelligence gathering and passing. what jackson needs is a little plausible deniability. if somebody is to come back later, if there is to be some sort of international for later that jackson is harboring a fugitive, a man who has wreaked havoc on people of spanish territory, and now gives jackson the plausible deniability. i don't know who this fernando is. my guy's name is paul leader. it gives jackson away to provide just and enough marginal space between himself and fernando's actions in florida. it cannot to be a political albatross for jackson. going into the 1824 election, there is fernando with a new name, a new identity, and a new life, essentially. for fernando, representing the status of enslaved people across florida, they are going to be used as pawns. we know this. we know this from the study says slavery, and say people are often -- it is not uncommon for men a power to use slaves in these pawn like roles and moments for fernando. jackson has the right upon when it comes later to defending his actions and florida. all of this is of a peace, international -- acquisition of international territory, the defense in the united states, the expansion of economy, the enshrinement in the practice a continuation of the institution of slavery, which jackson never wants, it is never going to question anyway, fernando becomes this sort of one man bird's-eye look. sort of one man's microcosm about what all of these issues come to a head for. there is a biography of fernando that is currently in progress. it has been written by jane landers. a professor at vanderbilt university and nashville. she is approaching retirement. i am very hopeful the book is the receiving completion. isn't it is complete you better believe i will be the first one on the amazon preorder list. 90? >> apologies. thank you so much, aaron, i love learning. we are talking about this. we have run over. apologies to everyone in the audience. we are going to end on this page. that these are some sources that we found helpful on this topic. she consulted andrew jackson in florida. in my case, the seminal controversy -- as well as tim mcgrath book. he did a fantastic job delving into the situation. and really giving it life. we highly recommend either of these three if you are interested in more reading. if you are interested also in -- we need to stop. if you'd like to have your questions answered, do feel free to email us. i will put my email in the chat. >> sometimes i get started talking. and i find a hard to stop. i apologize. i put my email in. we are so glad you came tonight. thank you for delving into this topic with us. lincoln talk about the virtual symposium on his life and times trento pretty. >> i first speaker is david reynolds distinguish professor of the university of our first speaker is david as