bigscoop
Gold Member
- Jun 4, 2010
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- Older blue Excal with full mods, Equinox 800.
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1815, it was perhaps the pivotal year in which a ferocious political game was waged for control of the Mississippi River, and thus, also the North American continent. In reality the game had begun several years prior but in 1815 an uncertain nation was witnessing the defeat Napoleon and the many revolutions in South America against the Spanish crown. In France the various factions were once again struggling political position and in Spain the outlook was growing bleaker with each passing day. And as for the US, a rare opportunity was finally within its grasp, total control of the Mississippi River, a defined boundary in the west, and the biggest prize of all…..western Florida. Finally the time had come where all three of these critical objectives might come to fruition. These three elements, if they could be obtained, would finally slam the door shut to those tyrannical foreign powers who have continued to threaten the new nation since the day it was born.
To understand the true reality of the situation one has to read beyond the general textbooks that present only the basics. In 1815 Adam’s and Monroe are in thick beginnings of what was one of the most important and risky treaty negations ever to be undertaken by the new country. If they guessed wrong the country could be plunged into another very costly war, one that might have even cost them the country itself. But if they played their cards right their new country would finally be fully established and its borders protected. By all accounts, it was the flame that was worth the candle.
To offer you a bit of insight into just how critical this treaty was, Spain was nearly bankrupt and threatening to sell the Floridas to Britain or Russia. Most people don’t know this but it 100% true, a fact that is documented through, and by, the many correspondences between the negotiating parties. Imagine Great Britain once again in control of the Floridas, or perhaps the reality that Russia and it’s allies were to suddenly gain control of the gulf and straits. Given that Spain had not yet been tossed out of South America and Cuba what menacing degree of alliances that could come from such a sell, Britain and Spain, or Spain or Russia and possibly including the British, at a time when the French could lend us no certain aid. And what about the defeated French, why were all of their Bonapartist political leaders and military leaders arriving on our shores and organizing throughout our lands, the wealth they had brought with equivalent to, if not more, then our own treasury.
Most people don’t realize that immediately after the terms of the Adam’s Onis Treaty had been agreed to and passed onto congress, that the King of Spain issued land grants to several of his subordinates granting them all of the lands of Florida with the hope that the US wouldn’t notice. And had the US not realized this treachery prior to Spain’s signing of the actual Treaty and it’s eventual ratification, the US would never have owned the Floridas. They would have simply given away everything under the terms of the treaty. Clearly, the long and treacherous game was under way. The first Beale deposit was in November 1819, the second in December 1821. When was the treaty signed and eventually ratified? The answers to the Beale mystery reside here.
To understand the true reality of the situation one has to read beyond the general textbooks that present only the basics. In 1815 Adam’s and Monroe are in thick beginnings of what was one of the most important and risky treaty negations ever to be undertaken by the new country. If they guessed wrong the country could be plunged into another very costly war, one that might have even cost them the country itself. But if they played their cards right their new country would finally be fully established and its borders protected. By all accounts, it was the flame that was worth the candle.
To offer you a bit of insight into just how critical this treaty was, Spain was nearly bankrupt and threatening to sell the Floridas to Britain or Russia. Most people don’t know this but it 100% true, a fact that is documented through, and by, the many correspondences between the negotiating parties. Imagine Great Britain once again in control of the Floridas, or perhaps the reality that Russia and it’s allies were to suddenly gain control of the gulf and straits. Given that Spain had not yet been tossed out of South America and Cuba what menacing degree of alliances that could come from such a sell, Britain and Spain, or Spain or Russia and possibly including the British, at a time when the French could lend us no certain aid. And what about the defeated French, why were all of their Bonapartist political leaders and military leaders arriving on our shores and organizing throughout our lands, the wealth they had brought with equivalent to, if not more, then our own treasury.
Most people don’t realize that immediately after the terms of the Adam’s Onis Treaty had been agreed to and passed onto congress, that the King of Spain issued land grants to several of his subordinates granting them all of the lands of Florida with the hope that the US wouldn’t notice. And had the US not realized this treachery prior to Spain’s signing of the actual Treaty and it’s eventual ratification, the US would never have owned the Floridas. They would have simply given away everything under the terms of the treaty. Clearly, the long and treacherous game was under way. The first Beale deposit was in November 1819, the second in December 1821. When was the treaty signed and eventually ratified? The answers to the Beale mystery reside here.
