That's about the best explanation I've heard yet David. Makes ya wonder if those pricey lawyers really read all of those fancy words. It makes sense, when the division is listed in longitude and latitude. Come to think on it, I don't think at that time there could be a real reason to not allow a state to change its status if it was come upon by a majority of the voting residents. One thing I'm pretty sure of is that Florida would never have even thought to become a free state. The system was well established with the first Spanish and perpetuated by the next bunch of flags. The French, well, they really weren't all that big a deal and they ran off easy. Not sure they had an opinion. The Spanish and the British did and they did expect slavery to exist. They intended for it to last. They got the largest land grants they could and these were for cultivation using slave labor. Even the Federal Government used it after Florida became a territory. It wasn't the 'moral' question, it was the commodity they needed to do what they wanted done.

Some settlers exchanged slaves with the Native tribes in the early going though the slaves exchanged were not other Native tribesmen. Then the slaves and the Natives decided they didn't like whites and they joined forces and kept the United States Army at bay for quite some time. Old Hickory didn't like that one little bit. He wanted the slaves to be returned to where they ran from and the Indians dead. He pretty much got his wish.

Pam