Source:West Florida transfer of sovereignty document, 1821

Upon the transfer of sovereignty at Pensacola in 1821 of the territory of Spanish West Florida to the United States, in accordance with the Adams-Onís Treaty (1819), the representatives for the United States and Spain (General Andrew Jackson and Colonel José Callava, respectively) signed the following instrument of transfer:

The undersigned, Major-general Andrew Jackson, of the state of Tennessee, commissioner of the United States, in pursuance of the full powers received by him from James Monroe, President of the United States of America, of the date of the 10th of March, 1821, and of the 45th of the Independence of the United States of America, attested by John Quincy Adams, secretary of state, and Don José Callava, commandant of the province of West Florida, and commissioner for the delivery, in the name of his catholic majesty, of the country, territories, and dependencies, of West Florida, to the commissioner of the United States, in conformity with the powers, commission, and special mandate, received by him from the captain-general of the Island of Cuba, of the date of the 5th May, 1821, imparting to him therein the royal order of the 24th of October, 1820, issued and signed by his catholic majesty, Ferdinand the seventh, and attested by the secretary of state, Don Evaristo Perez de Castro: Do certify by these presents, that, on the seventeenth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one of the christian era, and forty-sixth of the Independence of the United States, having met in the court room of the government house in the town of Pensacola, accompanied on either part by the chiefs and officers of the army and navy, and by a number of the citizens of the respective nations, the said Andrew Jackson, major-general and commissioner, has delivered to the said colonel commandant Don José Callava, his before-mentioned powers; whereby he recognizes him to have received full power and authority to take possession of, and to occupy, the territories ceded by Spain to the United States by the treaty concluded at Washington on the 22d day of February, 1819, and for that purpose to repair to said territories, and there to execute and to perform all such acts and things touching the premises, as may be necessary for fulfilling his appointment conformably to the said treaty and the laws of the United States, with authority likewise to appoint any person or persons in his stead to receive possession of any part of the said ceded territories, according to the stipulations of the said treaty: Wherefore, the colonel commandant Don José Callava immediately declared, that, in virtue and in performance of the power, commission, and special mandate, dated at Havana on the 5th of May, 1821, he thenceforth and from that moment placed the said commissioner of the United States in possession of the country, territories and dependencies of West Florida, including the fortress of St. Marks, with the adjacent islands dependent upon said province, all public lots and squares, vacant lands, public edifices, fortifications, barracks, and other buildings which are not private property, according to, and in the manner set forth by, the inventories and schedules which he has signed and delivered with the archives and documents directly relating to the property and sovereignty of the said territory of West Florida, including the fortress of St. Marks, and situated to the east of the Mississippi river, the whole in conformity with the second article of the treaty of cession concluded at Washington the 22d of February, 1819, between Spain and the United States, by Don Luis de Onís, minister plenipotentiary of his catholic majesty, and John Quincy Adams, secretary of state of the United States, both provided with full powers, which treaty has been ratified on the one part by his catholic majesty, Ferdinand the seventh, and the President of the United States, with the advice and consent of the senate of the United States, on the other part; which ratifications have been duly exchanged at Washington the 22d of February, 1821, and the forty-fifth of the Independence of the United States of America, by general Don Dyonisius Vives, minister plenipotentiary of his catholic majesty, and John Quincy Adams, secretary of state of the United States, according to the instrument signed on the same day: And the present delivery of the country is made in order that, in the execution of the said treaty, the sovereignty and the property of that province of West Florida, including the fortress of St. Marks, shall pass to the United States, under the stipulations therein expressed. And the said colonel commandant, Don José Callava has, in consequence, at this present time, made to the commissioner of the United States, major-general Andrew Jackson, in this public cession, a delivery of the keys of the town of Pensacola, of the archives, documents, and other articles, in the inventory before mentioned; declaring that he releases from their oath of allegiance to Spain, the citizens and inhabitants of West Florida who may choose to remain under the dominion of the United States. And that this important and solemn act may be in perpetual memory, the within named have signed the same, and have sealed with their respective seals, and caused to be attested by their secretaries of commission, the day and year aforesaid.

ANDREW JACKSON. By order of the Commissioner on the part of the United States.	JOSÉ CALLAVA. Por mandato de su senoria el coronel comisario del gobierno de España.
R. K. CALL. Secretary of the Commission.	JOSÉ Y. CRUZAT. El Secretario de la Comision.