Abstract
The rise of Jacksonian democracy in the United States during the 1820s and 1830s led to a national program of Indian displacement for the benefit of white settlers and land speculators. Disputes between whites and Indians over the possession of black slaves was a very prominent feature of Indian removal from Florida. Unlike Indian removal in other parts of the United States, land was not the main issue; thousands of acres of public land could be had in Florida without dispossessing the Seminoles. Mediation of white-Seminole slave disputes failed, in part, because the federal Indian agents often owned and speculated in slaves themselves and thus were compromised by personal interests. Also, many blacks worked for the Seminoles as influential interpreters and advisors.
Recommended Citation
Klos, George
(1989)
"Blacks and the Seminole Removal Debate, 1821-1835,"
Florida Historical Quarterly: Vol. 68:
No.
1, Article 5.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/fhq/vol68/iss1/5
