Florida: Difference between revisions

Since the 1850[[2nd Dutch-Spanish, warWar|2nd Dutch-Spanish War (1850)]], class and ethnic tensions had been growing in Spanish Florida, with western Floridians feeling increasingly marginalized by the consolidated economic and political power with in the hands of the criollo and mixed race elites of San Agustin. In addition the system of sharecropping in western and central Florida created a poor quality of life for many low class Floridians.

The origins of the Floridian war for independence lays in the European Economic Crisis (1922-1928) whereas many Floridian elites lost small fortunes in European financial markets and had to sell their land holdings (and the sharecropping contracts that went with it) to wealthy northeastern North American businessmen in New Netherland and New England who in turn demanded increased cash crop production and a decrease in production of locally consumed staple crops (in order to increase profits on their investments). This, combined with decreased global prices for cotton and increased food import prices, led to a sharp increase in local food prices and a growing political discontent amongst the poor. This discontent came to a head after 25 western Floridians were killed in a bread riot in Tahensa, which in turn led to a rebellion in the city against Spanish and Dominion forces. This rebellion quickly spread into the countryside of western Florida where sharecroppers threw down their tools and took up arms against the Spanish and Dominion forces equally. In the town of Conecuh, leaders of rebellion came together on June 5th, 1923 to organize themselves and come up with a list of demands. The rebels named themselves ''El Comité de Campesinolos Pobre deCampesinos FloridaPobres'' and listed their demands as: