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Overview of the Governorship of Spanish Florida

Source: The Governorship of Spanish Florida #122

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Postscript: The Governorship on the Spanish Frontier
An impoverished, unproductive colony on the northern fringe of New Spain, Florida was a strategic outpost of the Spanish Empire in America. The settlements on the Florida peninsula protected the Bahama Channel on the homeward route of Spanish treasure fleets and lay as a barrier to the English and French penetration of the Southeast, the Gulf Coast, and Mexico. The governorship of this critical province demanded the disciplined hand of a military leader. AN402 Without exception the governor was a high-ranking soldier whose training and experience fitted the military character of Florida.

Unfortunately the governorship needed more than the services of an experienced military leader. The office demanded a talented administrator who could cope with the myriad of non-military problems arising in this frontier province. Army training might have fitted a governor for his duties had he been able to call upon a nucleus of lesser officials to handle the non-military questions, but he had no audiencia or cabildo, no hierarchy of local officials with special administrative skills to advise him on critical matters. AN403 His two treasury officials assisted him in financial matters, but for the most part they were Floridians with little training in treasury procedures and did little more than keep a shoddy set of account books. A junta often approved the governor’s policies, especially when they violated royal law, but it seldom played a significant role in formulating them. In the end the governor had to work out solutions to colonial problems virtually alone. He had to act as judge, financial manipulator, Indian trader, referee in clerical disputes, welfare agent, and construction engineer. Without training in these areas, he was often forced to rely on his intuition or expedience in molding policies for his beleaguered colony.

In Spain the governor’s superiors were usually indulgent toward his expedients. The king and the Council of the Indies tolerated (although they did not condone) illicit trade, slip-shod judicial practice, misappropriation of funds, military defeat, and a host of other mistakes that would have been punished in Mexico or Peru. Spanish authorities seemed resigned to the governor’s mismanagement or negligence and treated him like a pampered step-child, naughty enough for an occasional scolding but never bad enough for a sound thrashing.

Florida did not enjoy the same standing as its governor. The monarch and his Council coddled the governor but seemed to look upon his colony as the unwanted, unattractive urchin who deserved only table scraps. Authorities in Spain did little to support the colony and left this task to the governor in Cuba and the viceroy in Mexico, who had little desire to be tied to this sniveling, complaining dependency. Throughout its colonial existence Florida was a constant drain on the viceroy’s treasury and a continual source of vexation for the governor in Havana. AN404 Despite its strategic importance, no name was more repugnant in Cuba or New Spain the La Florida. Maintaining the outpost was a heavy burden, and for many high Mexican and Cuban officials, the destitute province was not worth the expense. AN405 It was not surprising that the situado arrived sporadically or not at all and that shortages, poor quality, and high prices characterized the supplies delivered to Saint Augustine. Occasionally help came from Spain, but the governor relied almost entirely upon aid from Mexico and Cuba to carry on.

Complete economic dependence upon outside sources affected all the governor’s policies in Florida. Money and supplies brought in periodically from Vera Cruz determined the effectiveness of his Indian program, of the Franciscan mission work, of his military policy, and of his other activities within the colony. Without money he could not compete successfully with the English and French for the allegiance of the Indians. Without money he could not build stronger defenses to hold back the advance of the English or organize an offensive army to make war on Georgia and Carolina. Without adequate funds he could not attend to the needs of his colonists—the widows, orphans, and poor—nor could he provide adequately for his garrison. Without a tithe, which came indirectly from the situado, the work of the secular clergy also suffered. In essence the governor’s entire administration hinged on the pesos lying in the treasury in Saint Augustine, and usually his coffers were empty. If the governor used expedients to survive, lack of money was as important as his lack of administrative experience in explaining his policies.

Reliance upon the situado virtually paralyzed Florida. It stifled initiative and was a factor preventing the rise of productive enterprises within the colony. Floridians inevitably looked to the subsidy or to aid from the outside to improve their lot AN406. Only the appearance of a naval stores industry late in the 1750s showed evidences of any internal initiatives to develop the colony. Throughout the 18th century it was almost as if the colonists were afflicted with a kind of economic hypochondria, constantly complaining about their ills and suggesting many remedies but never able to grow better AN407. Poverty and want characterized life in Florida and pervaded all aspects of life. It affected the work of the regular clergy, which gave up its missionary efforts and engaged in a bitter power struggle for control of the order. It affected the governor’s administration and forced him to use expedients to keep the colony functioning in the face of threats from the English.

Yet through it all the colony managed to survive. The governor and his destitute soldiers and colonists had enough endurance and tenacity to maintain their hold on the province. In the 18th century Spanish influence wanted, but the governor still managed to keep the Spanish flag flying over Saint Augustine. He encountered many difficulties, but they were not insurmountable, and he successfully maintained the Spanish foothold in the Southeast until a treaty turned the colony over to the English in 1763.

(Tepaske GSF)