DeSantis: Happy 180th Birthday Florida!

TALLAHASSEE, Florida – Florida Governor Ron DeSantis marked the state’s 180th anniversary of statehood today with a celebratory post on X,

“On this day 180 years ago, Florida officially became the 27th state,” DeSantis wrote. “Today, we commemorate Florida’s statehood and recognize how our great state has contributed to the success of the American experiment. Happy birthday, Florida!”

Florida’s journey to statehood began as a Spanish territory, ceded to the U.S. in 1819 through the Adams-Onís Treaty, formalized in 1821. It became a U.S. territory in 1822, and after decades of growth fueled by settlers from southern states, Florida applied for statehood. Congress approved the move in early 1845, admitting Florida as a slave state in a delicate pre-Civil War balance with the later admission of Iowa as a free state.

The path wasn’t without hurdles. The Seminole Wars, notably the Second Seminole War (1835–1842), slowed progress, but by the 1840s, these conflicts had subsided enough for statehood to proceed. Florida’s first constitution, drafted in 1838 at St. Joseph and narrowly approved in 1839, set the stage for its governance. After statehood, Florida briefly seceded in 1861 to join the Confederacy, only to be readmitted in 1868 post-Civil War.

Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president, played an indirect but pivotal role in Florida’s statehood—his 1818 invasion of Spanish Florida during the First Seminole War forced Spain’s hand, leading to the 1819 treaty that handed Florida to the U.S. Jackson served as its military governor in 1821, paving the way for settlement and growth.