Abstract
Hardly a year had elapsed after the retrocession of East Florida to Spanish control in 1783, when one disturbing fact became evident to the authorities in St. Augustine and Havana. The desired increase in the Spanish population of the province was not materializing, and there were no indications of an imminent influx of settlers. This condition was due largely to the absence of any Spanish colonists in Cuba willing to move across the Bahama channel to the mainland. Already voices were being raised against the offering of inducements to obtain settlers for the less desirable portions of the Spanish colonial empire. Writing a few years later, a high colonial official attacked the whole policy of sending groups of colonists from Spain to the American colonies, claiming that this constituted a disastrous drain on the finances of the nation.
Recommended Citation
Murdoch, Richard K.
(1947)
"Governor Cespedes and the Religious Problem in East Florida, 1786-1787,"
Florida Historical Quarterly: Vol. 26:
No.
4, Article 5.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol26/iss4/5
