United States Statutes at Large/Volume 3/15th Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 93
[Obsolete.]
Chap. XCIII.—An Act to authorize the President of the United States to take possession of East and West Florida, and establish a temporary government therein.[1]
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the Act of March 3, 1821, ch. 39.
The President authorized to take possession of East and West Florida, &c.United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to take possession of, and occupy, the territories of East and West Florida, and the appendages and appurtenances thereof; and to remove and transport the officers and soldiers of the king of Spain, being there, to the Havana, agreeably to the stipulations of a treaty between the United States and Spain, executed at Washington, on the twenty-second day of February, in the year one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, providing for the cession of said territories to the United States; and he may, for these purposes, and in order to maintain in said territories the authorityHe may employ the army, navy, and militia. of the United States, and the militia of any state or territory which he may deem necessary.
The President to appoint officers, and prescribe the manner of government of the territories.
Revenue laws, and laws concerning the slave trade, extended to the territories.
President to establish districts and appoint officers of the customs.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That until the end of the first session of the next Congress, unless provision for the temporary government of said territories be sooner made by Congress, all the military, civil, and judicial, powers, exercised by the officers of the existing government of the same territories, shall be vested in such person and persons, and shall be exercised in such manner, as the President of the United States shall direct, for the maintaining the inhabitants of said territories in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion; and the laws of the United States, relative to the collection of revenue, and the importation of persons of colour, shall be extended to the said territories; and the President of the United States shall be, and he is hereby, authorized, within the term aforesaid, to establish such districts, for the collection of the revenue, and, during the recess of Congress, to appoint such officers, whose commissions shall expire at the end of the next session of Congress, to enforce the said laws, as to him shall seem expedient.
Appropriation.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the sum of twenty thousand dollars is hereby appropriated for the purpose of carrying this act into effect, to be paid out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, and to be applied under the direction of the President of the United States.
When this act shall take effect.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect, and be in force, whenever the aforesaid treaty, providing for the cession of said territories to the United States, shall have been ratified by the king of Spain, and the ratifications exchanged, and the king of Spain shall be ready to surrender said territory to the United States, according to the provisions of said treaty.
Approved, March 3, 1819.
- ↑ The acts passed relating to the territory of Florida have been:— An act to authorize the President of the United States to take possession of east and west Florida, and establish a temporary government therein, March 3, 1819, ch. 92. An act for carrying into execution the treaty between the United States and Spain, concluded at Washington on the 22d day of February, 1819, March 3, 1821, ch. 39. An act for establishing a territorial government in the territory of Florida, March 30, 1822, ch. 13. An act to amend an act entitled “An act for the establishment of a territorial government in the territory of Florida,” and for other purposes, March 3, 1823, ch. 28. An act to amend an act entitled “An act to amend an act for the establishment of a territorial government in the territory of Florida, and for other purposes,” May 26, 1824, ch. 163. An act granting donation lands to certain actual settlers in the territory of Florida, May 26, 1824, ch. 164. An act authorizing the President of the United States to run and mark a line dividing the territory of Florida from the state of Georgia, May 4, 1826, ch. 31. An act to amend the several acts for the establishment of a territorial government in Florida, May 15, 1826, ch. 46. An act to carry into effect the ninth article of the treaty concluded between the United States and Spain on the twenty-second day of February, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, March 3, 1823, ch. 35. An act for ascertaining claims and titles to lands within the territory of Florida, May 8, 1822, ch. 129. An act amending and supplementary to “An act for ascertaining claims and titles to land in the territory of Florida,” and to provide for the survey and disposal of the public lands in Florida, March 3, 1823, ch. 29. An act to extend the time limited for the settlement of private land claims in Florida, Feb. 28, 1824, ch. 25. An act to extend the time for the settlement of private land claims in the territory of Florida and to provide for the preservation of the public archives in said territory, and for the relief of John Johnson, March 3, 1825, ch. 83. An act giving the right of pre-emption in the purchase of lands to certain settlers in the states of Alabama, Mississippi, and the territory of Florida, April 22, 1826, ch. 28. An act to provide for the confirmation and settlement of private land claims in East Florida, and for other purposes, Feb. 8, 1827, ch. 9. An act confirming claims to lots in the town of Mobile, and to lands in the former province of West Florida, which claims have been reported favourably on by the commissioners appointed by the United States, May 9, 1822, ch. 122. An act for ascertaining the claims to lands within the territory of Florida, May 8, 1822, ch. 129. An act to confirm the reports of the commissioners for ascertaining claims and titles to land in West Florida, and for other purposes, April 22, 1826, ch. 29. An act supplementary to the several acts providing for the settlement and confirmation of land claims in Florida, May 23, 1828, ch. 70. An act to provide for the settlement of land claims in Florida, May 26, 1830, ch. 106. An act to ascertain and mark the line between the state of Alabama and the territory of Florida, and the northern boundary of the state of Illinois, and for other purposes, March 2, 1831, ch. 86. An act to equalize the representation in the territory of Florida, and for other purposes, June 18, 1834, ch. 46. Resolution authorizing the President to furnish rations to certain volunteers of Florida, Feb. 1, 1836. An act to re-organize the legislative council of Florida, and for other purposes, July 7, 1838, ch. 168. An act to provide for the armed occupation and settlement of the usettled part of the peninsula of East Florida, August 4, 1842, ch. 122. An act to establish an additional land district in Florida, April [August] 30, 1842, ch. 271. An act to amend an act to provide for the armed occupation and settlement of the unsettled parts of East Florida, June 15, 1844, ch. 71. An act for the admission of the States of Iowa and Florida into the Union, March 3, 1845, ch. 48. An act supplemental to the act for the admission of Florida and Iowa into the Union, and for other purposes, March 3, 1845, ch. 75.