Florida Refused the American Revolution?!

Added: 2026-05-23

[00:00:00]Ooh, what's up guys? Welcome back to my channel, and if you're new here, then welcome to our little corner of the internet. Today we're going to be watching a video titled Why didn't Florida join the American Revolution?

[00:00:10]Why not?

[00:00:11]Why not?

[00:00:13]What was the reason? Okay, let's see what this video is about.

[00:00:17]In 1776, 13 of Britain's colonies in North America declared themselves the independent United States of America. To their south, however, were the British colonies of Florida, which, even though they were invited, did not join the rebellion. Why not? Ladies and gentlemen, hello and welcome to Fire of Learning. Before we explain, we would like to thank Ann Barack, Shawn Greening, Mary Johnson, Thomas Boland, Sharon Dubois, Mark Monroe, Darian Bates, Violin Viola Masterclass, and Gina Bonomo for being our most recent sup- Oh, that's so sweet that they thanked them in a video. I love that.

[00:00:54]-porters on Patreon. They join these supporters who helped to make videos like this possible. The answer is simply that Florida's history and situation was quite different from the other 13 colonies. The first European country to claim Florida was Spain in 1513.

[00:01:10]>> [music] >> Britain would not gain possession of the territory until 1763, after 250 years of Spanish rule and only a little over a decade before the American War of Independence began. During the Seven Years' War, the North American part of this war being known as the French and Indian War, the British captured the city of Havana in Cuba, which was owned by Spain, and retained it all the way to their overall victory in the war in 1763.

[00:01:35]The Spanish were eager to get control of this valuable colony back. During peace negotiations, in exchange for Havana, they offered the British Florida, which the British accepted. When Florida was transferred to Britain, the vast majority of Spaniards living there left to go to Cuba. In comparison to its other colonies, the Spanish had never heavily settled or developed Florida.

[00:01:55]Thus, only a few thousand Spaniards lived there at the time, almost entirely in and around What? How many? Thus, only a few thousand Spaniards Only a few thousand?

[00:02:07]That is not a lot of people. Like, that's like you could fit that in a hotel.

[00:02:16]Right? Like, well, in a big hotel.

[00:02:19]lived there at the time, almost entirely in and around the settlements of St. Augustine and Pensacola. The British >> I wonder how much like um like um architectural effect these countries had in these places.

[00:02:37]Like, I wonder how much was built then that's reserved till now, if that makes sense. Probably nothing.

[00:02:44]But, still I don't know.

[00:02:47]What am I talking What am I talking about? divided the colony into East Florida and West Florida, centered around these two settlements, the latter extending well outside the modern borders of the American state. Britain would put more effort into settling and developing Florida, seeing great success. However, it was still a fledgling colony when the American Revolution erupted the following decade.

[00:03:09]In spite of their small size and age, both Floridas were actually invited by the Patriots to the Continental Congress, and so the opportunity for them to join the Revolution and become the 14th and 15th colonies did present itself. However, the British inhabitants of Florida retained strong loyalty to the Crown for multiple reasons. Firstly, of the less than 10,000 European inhabitants, many were not only loyalists, but actively a part of the military, some having been veterans of the French and Indian War who had been given land for their service. Even of the civilian population, a fair portion was recently from England itself.

[00:03:46]Furthermore, the Floridas, being so new and undeveloped, were still very reliant on Britain to develop, settle, and protect them in a way that the 13 colonies were not and most certainly considered themselves better off as a part of a powerful empire than in the United States, whose future, even if victorious, was entirely uncertain.

[00:04:05]Self-government at this stage That's so crazy to think that there was a time like I wish This is like again, these types of videos make me think like I wish we could bring someone from that era here and be like look.

[00:04:20]Even though they probably get a heart attack, but still it would be really, really cool.

[00:04:25]Like I would love to see that person through that. Now Now that would be a freaking reaction channel that I will watch.

[00:04:31]Someone from like the 1980s.

[00:04:34]Not Not the 1980s. That's too like too close. Too close.

[00:04:38]Someone from like the 1860s.

[00:04:42]Yes.

[00:04:44]Somewhere around that time. Like we just teleport here and be like Like imagine Like imagine them seeing like AI. I don't know. Like cameras, phones, like touch screens. That would be so cool. Or like New York with the huge like Like I don't know. I would love to see that. was unrealistic and could have been disastrous regardless of any sympathies that the Floridians might have had. Being so new, they were also not as closely connected culturally, politically, or even geographically due to the amount of undeveloped land in between them to the other 13 colonies.

[00:05:25]Certainly nowhere near as connected to the region surrounding it as the modern state of Florida is to the state surrounding it. Also, like many southerners in particular at this time, they may have feared that as the Florida colonies developed, independence could ruin potentially highly beneficial economic ties to Britain. Finally, the Floridas did not share many of the same grievances that the other colonies had with the Crown. For example, they were not as affected by the increased British taxes on trade goods because they were not as engaged in or reliant on trade, and hoping to attract settlers to their colonies, were not as frustrated by things such as the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which forbade settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains, to name a few. As the Floridians generally did not have great cause to contest British policies, Britain never had cause to crack down on them, and so their relationship with the mother country was actually quite good. Thus, while it seems a handful of British Floridians traveled north to join the Patriots, the majority of them remained loyalists when the war broke out. When news of the Declaration of Independence reached St. Augustine, effigies of John Hancock and Sam >> Wow.

[00:06:34]Can you guys read that?

[00:06:35]>> During the Patriots, the majority of them remained loyalists when the war broke out. When news of the Declaration of Independence Oh my god, it would take me a year to get through this paragraph.

[00:06:55]Oh.

[00:06:55]reached St. Augustine, effigies of John Hancock and Samuel Adams were burned in the streets. As a result of their position right on the border of this uprising, the city of St. Augustine in particular became an important base of operations for the British effort during the war. Florida was also a refuge for loyalists fleeing the southern colonies.

[00:07:15]American forces made a few small incursions into Florida, but were defeated each time. In 1779, Spain went to war against Britain and soon invaded West Florida themselves. Spanish Governor Bernardo de Gálvez captured many West Floridian settlements, including the city of Pensacola, in 1781. When the war ended and peace negotiations took place, Spain was able to reclaim Florida from the British by exchanging it for the Bahamas, which Spain had also captured during the war.

[00:07:44]The American goal of the war was mainly the independence of their core territory. They would not have challenged an ally over further territory, even though it seems America's founders did recognize the potential of Florida had. [music] However, multiple disputes over the border did quickly arise between Spain and America in the following decades, which led to multiple conflicts. The history of these disputes is quite complicated and strays from the point of the video, so it's best reserved for another time. Ultimately, however, the Floridas did not prosper during the second Spanish period. Very few Spaniards returned and little wealth was produced. This I am so biased when it comes to Spain, but >> [clears throat] >> no wonder. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm sorry, Spain. I'm sorry.

[00:08:28]>> [sighs and gasps] >> Spanish decided that the cost acquired to manage Florida and defend it from Native Americans and the potential threat posed by the increasingly expansive United States was not worth it. As a result, they sold it to America in 1821.

[00:08:44]I hope you enjoyed this video. If so, I invite you to check out the rest of Fire of Learning and to subscribe to see more videos like this in the future. To support the channel, you may make a donation through Patreon, the link to which is in the description. A special thanks to our current supporters, once again, listed here. We also have a science channel much like this called Lucinox, where we have just uploaded a video, so be sure to check that out, too. Thank Thank you for watching.

[00:09:10]Aw, they're so sweet. Um, but yeah, okay, that makes sense. That makes sense. I mean, it was kind of there in between all of this, so uh, makes sense, but I didn't know that.

[00:09:20]I don't I I I've watched videos on the on the American Revolution, but I feel like, you know, I've gotten so much mm knowledge throughout this channel that like I still need to piece it together.

[00:09:35]>> [laughter] >> But thank you guys for joining me for this video. I really hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a like. Subscribe if you haven't yet. There's a bunch of links in my description if you want to join Discord or my gaming channel or my music channel. I love you guys. Thank you for being here and I'll see you guys in the next video.

[00:09:51]>> [laughter] >> Bye.