Spain, Britain and the American Revolution in Florida, 1763-1783

by James W. Raab

As a result of the 1763 Treaty of Paris, Spain relinquished Florida, a land it had possessed for over 200 years, to the British. With revolution imminent, Britain set about populating its two new colonies of East and West Florida with loyal British Tories, ultimately turning St. Augustine into a southern American headquarters for British interests. This volume details the British occupation of colonial Florida immediately before and during the American Revolution with emphasis on the effect this possession had on the course of the war. Beginning with a brief summary of Spanish history, it takes a look at the relative colonial positions of Spain and Britain with regard to the Americas during the pre-revolutionary period. The Georgia-Florida border dispute, the invasion of East Florida and the eventual return of the Spaniards are also discussed. Finally, an appendix details St. Augustine buildings from the revolutionary period which are still standing today.

Genres: American Revolution

210 pages, Paperback

First published November 5, 2007

Reviews

[Josh Liller · Rating 2 out of 5]

As the date range at the end of the title suggests, this book is really a history of British Florida, albeit weighted more toward the American Revolution (about 60-40). It is a synthesis of existing published works, with the bibliography squeezed into a mere two pages. That bibliography shows an apparent lack of primary source research which likely contributes to the book feel padded, tangential, and repetitive. McFarland books have a reputation for sometimes insufficient editing, and this is an example. In addition to being overlong for the content, there are at times vagueness in dates, jumping around in the chronology, and a few apparent geographic errors. The author also felt the need to consistently use the term "Negro" every time he referred to people of African ancestry, which feels odd for a book from 2008.

If trimmed down to about 150 pages and given some further proofreading, this could have been a solid little work. As is, the book is passable and has some value simply because of how little history books cover this subject at all.