Celebrate 10 July

On 10 July 1821, the United States formally took possession of Florida under the terms of the Adams-Onis Treaty with Spain. The U.S. had actually already occupied West Florida west of the Peridido River (though not actually the whole of West Florida, which began at the Apalachicola River) and American settlers made up the majority of the European population in Florida anyway; and Andrew Jackson didn't ride into town to raise the American flag over Florida until the 17th. The Spanish never did much with Florida anyway since there was no gold or silver, the land wasn't especially fertile, and the natives were frankly better at holding on to their land than the Spanish army was at taking it from them. Regardless, this is the day that Florida formally became part of the United States. We should raise a glass to this most enigmatic of states; orange wine might be the appropriate beverage.