Treaty of Paris: Border Matters

    Treaty of Paris: Border Matters

      You might be wondering why Article 2, when it goes through an exhaustive list of borders and boundaries, doesn't actually mention the southern one. Didn't people want to know how far down the coast they could go for Spring Break?

      The answer: no, not really. And this is for a couple of reasons.

      Mainly, the southern border isn't mentioned because Florida was still a Spanish colony at the time. (Spain is easy to forget in this whole mess because the bulk of its possessions were south of the Rio Grande…or far enough away from the U.S. at the time that no one cared.)

      Because Florida was still Spanish, the British didn't think of mentioning the fact that it was a no-go zone for Americans. That was just a fact—this treating was mainly about America and Britain dividing up their land.

      But don't think that the Florida/Georgia border wasn't mentioned simply because everyone was being polite. Britain wasn't too keen on Spain at the moment, and there's some thought that the border isn't mentioned partially to show that Britain wouldn't mind if Spain and American got into a scuffle over the Sunshine State.