Funding for this program was provided through a grant from Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of Florida Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

In the new Florida Territory voters were able to elect only a few public officials; most territorial officials were appointed. In St. Augustine, former Spanish Florida citizens were becoming a voting minority as U.S. citizens immigrated into the new territory. Electioneering itself was changing. The 1820s featured grandiloquent campaign speeches and vile attacks. Candidates made threats against voters as well against their opponents. 

Funding for this program was provided through a grant from Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of Florida Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This lecture is a part of the St. Augustine Historical Society's community project, "From Territorial Fights to Civil Rights,"  and deals with the contentious issues of citizenship and voting in post-Civil War Florida. Among the questions that individuals grappled with during this time period were what is the meaning of citizenship and who has the right to vote.  The fact that we are still dealing with these concerns today tells us that this post-Civil War time period still matters over 150 years later.

Funding for this program was provided through a grant from Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of Florida Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Funding for this program was provided through a grant from Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of Florida Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Funding for this program was provided through a grant from Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of Florida Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Lifelong Learning and the SAHS are co-hosting this author speaker/lecture event with book signing. Mr. Pressley will discuss his work on the period between the Revolution and the First Seminole War when large numbers of Black Georgians made their way into Spanish Florida and to the Seminoles. Defining their motives, their means of escape, and their choices once they crossed the St. Marys River serves as a springboard for considering how they impacted a vexed landscape where many groups were in contention. This is open to members of the SAHS, members of Lifelong Learning, and the public.