The
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...
Armed Occupation Act of 1842 () was passed as an incentive to populate Florida.
The Act granted
160 acres (0.6 km2) of unsettled land south of the line separating townships 9 and 10 South
(an east–west line about three miles (5 km) north of
Palatka and about ten miles (16 km) south of
Newnansville) to any head of a family as long he satisfied the following conditions:
*be a resident of Florida and not having
160 acres (0.6 km2) of land in Florida when asking for the permit;
*get a permit from the Lands Office;
*he or his heirs reside for five consecutive years on the grant ;
*clear, enclose and cultivate of land during the first year;
*build a house on the lot during the first year;
*the land should be two or more miles away from a garrisoned military post.
The total land to be granted should not be more than 200,000 acres (800 km
2) under the act.
See also
*
Frederick Weedon – the first person to receive a permit for land under the Act
*
Mosquito County
Mosquito County (also labeled on maps as Musquito County) is the historic name of an early county that once comprised most of the eastern part of Florida. Its land included all of present-day Volusia, Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, ...
References
Literature
* James W. Covington, “The Armed Occupation Act of 1842.” ''Florida Historical Quarterly'' 40, no. 1 (1961): 41–52.
* Laurel Clark Shire, ''The Threshold of Manifest Destiny: Gender and National Expansion in Florida''. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016.
* Laurel Clark Shire, “Turning Sufferers into Settlers: Gender, Welfare, and National Expansion in Frontier Florida.” ''Journal of the Early Republic'' 33, no. 3 (2013): 489–521.
* Joe Knetsch and Paul S. George, “A Problematical Law: The Armed Occupation Act of 1842 and Its Impact on Southeast Florida.” ''Tequesta'' 53 (1993): 63–80.
* Joe Knetsch and Paul S. George, “Staking a Claim in Early Miami.” ''South Florida History Magazine'', no. 1 (Winter 1990): 18–20.
* Michael E. Welsh, “Legislating a Homestead Bill: Thomas Hart Benton and the Second Seminole War.” ''Florida Historical Quarterly'' 57, no. 2 (1978): 157–72.
* Julius Wilm, ''Settlers as Conquerors: Free Land Policy in Antebellum America''. Stuttgart, Germany: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2018.
1842 in law
United States federal public land legislation
Pre-statehood history of Florida
Settlement schemes
Florida Territory
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