Florida: Difference between revisions
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Between 1872-1878 western Europe was wracked by the devastating [[History of Europe#Communard Revolutions (1872-1878)|Communard Revolutions (1872-1878)]] in which French, Belgique, German, Italian and Spanish radicals rose up in revolution. Between 1877 and 1878 Spain itself was occupied by Communard forces and the Spanish King was ruling the empire in exile from Mexico City, New Spain. During this period many connected Spanish peninsular elites fled to the colonies and in particular eastern Florida was seen as a prestige designation, this led to a surge of wealth and development in the San Agustin area (but also down the eastern Atlantic coast of Florida).
After the deposition of the communard government in Spain and the restoration of the Spanish king to the throne, viceroys of New Spain and Peru declared independence (due to numerous growing political and economic differences as well as colonial elite anger at the King's reforms while in Mexico) as the Kingdoms of Mexico and Peru, respectively. This led to panic within the Spanish Empire and after numerous failed attempts to retrieve the rebellious viceroys (in which Florida was used as base of operation) the Spanish government recognized the independence of their former colonies. Loosing their richest and most profitable colonies created a profound shift in Spanish internal policy towards empire and in their remaining American colonies (Cuba, Puerto Rico, Florida) the Spanish allowed for a greater degree of self governance, but also started to crack down on rebellious or seditionist actively through the creation of a royal secret police force. On June 28th, 1887 Cuba, Puerto Rico and Florida were granted popular sovereignty as royal dominions of Spain. This change in colonial status was perceived and ennact very differently amongst the colonies due to each royal Dominionship charter being created jointly with the governors of the colonies. In [[Puerto Rico]] 1887 marched the beginning of democracy and mostly free elections, while in [[Cuba]], not much changed in governance and in 1890 the long and bloody Cuban war of independence kicked off. In Florida much of the charter was written in order to favor the eastern San Agustin elites and their interests. In fact, many of the poorer classes remarked that life was better and the government less harsh prior to the reforms; the last decade of the 19th century in Florida was marked by increasing class and regional tensions within society.
=== The Everglade War and Floridian Independence ===
Since the 1850 Dutch-Spanish war 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 rebels named themselves ''El Comité de Campesino Pobre de Florida'' and listed their demands as:
# Land reform in western and central Florida
# Create a government subsisted market for staple food
# Rewrite the constitution to insure every Floridian had the right to vote
# Stop cruel labor practices and establish a labor rights law
It is notable that at this point Floridan rebels weren't actively republican but instead were focused on improving their quality of life and with issues of economics and labor relations. The Dominion government in San Agustin completely rejected these demands. In fact Floridian governor Fernando Macías stated "If they are hungry let them eat lead".
{{Nations of the World}}
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