FRONTIER FLORIDA

Was Florida’s Western Frontier a Haven for Heathens?

FRONTIER PENSACOLA 1559 – Don Tristan de Luna y Arellano’s fleet

anchors in Pensacola Bay to begin colony in Northwest Florida frontier. Colony devastated by hurricane within a month. Hungry, disgruntled colonists return to Spain.

1698 - Don Andres de Arriola establishes a presidio to become formal Spanish colony, Pensacola.

1719 - 1723 – French briefly occupied colony of Pensacola

1763- 1783 – British occupied Pensacola 1783 - 1821 – Second Spanish Period 1821 - 1861 – United States occupy Pensacola 1861 - 1862 – Confederate States of America 1862 - present – United States of America

ACCORDING TO FREDERICK JACKSON TURNER’S FRONTIER THESIS

the frontier is the outer edge of the wave-- the meeting point between savagery and civilization.

TURNER’S DESCRIPTION OF THE FRONTIER "begins with the Indian and the hunter; it goes on with the disintegration of

savagery by the entrance of the trader... the pastoral stage in ranch life; the exploitation of the soil by the raising

of unrotated crops of corn and wheat in sparsely settled farm communities;

the intensive culture of the denser farm settlement;

and finally the manufacturing organization with the city and the factory system."

OBJECTIVE The students will investigate Florida’s

Western Frontier and determine whether its inhabitants were considered to be nonreligious, uncultured, or uncivilized people or simply nonconformists who made worthwhile contributions to a multicultural society.

FLORIDA SUNSHINE STATE STANDARDS  Benchmark #: LA.8.3.3.3   Benchmark Number: LA.8.3.3.3   Benchmark Description: The student will revise by creating precision and interest by elaborating

ideas through supporting details (e.g., facts, statistics, expert opinions, anecdotes), a variety of sentence structures, creative language devices, and modifying word choices using resources and reference materials (e.g., dictionary, thesaurus); and  

  Benchmark #: SS.8.A.1.5   Benchmark Number: SS.8.A.1.5   Benchmark Description: Identify, within both primary and secondary sources, the author, audience,

format, and purpose of significant historical documents.    

FLORIDA SUNSHINE STATE STANDARDS   Benchmark #: LA.1112.3.3.3   Benchmark Number: LA.1112.3.3.3   Benchmark Description: The student will revise by creating precision and interest by elaborating

ideas through supporting details (e.g., facts, statistics, expert opinions, anecdotes), a variety of sentence structures, creative language devices, and modifying word choices using resources and reference materials (e.g., dictionary, thesaurus) to select more effective and precise language; and  

    Benchmark #: SS.912.W.1.3   Benchmark Number: SS.912.W.1.3   Benchmark Description: Interpret and evaluate primary and secondary sources.  

HOOK

 

QUESTIONS  Who are the people in the sketch?  Where are they congregated?

What is the mood of the people?  What can you infer from the sketch? 

QUESTION Was Florida’s Western Frontier a Haven

for Heathens?

DOCUMENTS

Document A- Two reports from Reverend A.P. Cook, a Methodist Missionary to Pensacola in 1824.

Document B- Image of Abraham and wife Hagan 1826.

Document C- Two reports from Reverend Steele, an Episcopal Pastor to Christ Church, Pensacola 1834-35.

DOCUMENTS (CONTINUED) Document D- The Dagurreotype, “The

Branded Hand” of Jonathon Walker taken in 1845.

Document E- Report of the Joint Committee on Reconstruction Congressional interview: John W. Recks, Pensacola resident 1866.

Document F- John Wesley Hardin’s Pinkerton circular and timeline 1877.

DOCUMENT ANALYSIS_____ PRIMARY TEXT

_____ SECONDARY TEXT

Enter the following information about your document: Document Letter/Number: ________

TITLE:

AUTHOR:

YEAR:

MAIN IDEA:

SUPPORTING FACTUAL INFORMATION: (Facts found in documents)

INFERENCES: Information you discovered (but not written in text).

HOW DOES THIS DOCUMENTRELATE TO THE ANALYTICALQUESTION?

EARLY PENSACOLA: WAS FLORIDA’S WESTERN FRONTIER A HAVEN FOR HEATHENS?

Soon after the discovery of America, frontier West Florida became important as a means of protecting Spanish interest from other European countries. Pensacola Bay had a deep, sheltered harbor and had been visited by Spanish explorers Narvaez and Soto. In 1559, Pensacola was chosen as the place to colonize and Don Tristan de Luna y Arellano was given command.  On August 15, 1559, Luna’s fleet anchored in Pensacola Bay with 1,000 colonists including women and children, black servants and Aztecs and Tlaxcalans. Within a month a hurricane would destroy the colony and survivors would return to Spain. For over a century, the Florida Gulf Coast was forgotten by the Spanish but in 1698 a presidio garrisoned by soldiers was established and Pensacola became a formal Spanish colony. The colonists who came with Don Andres de Arriola were mostly “convicts, beggars and others from the dregs of society.”

The flags of France and England would fly over the city as Spanish Pensacola sought to carve out their claim in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Convicts, friendly Indians, mulattoes, blacks and women would form the labor supply. By 1757, the fort would be moved to the mainland and houses for civilians, officers and married soldiers were built within the stockade. There was also a church, hospital, government house, storehouse, bake oven, and barracks for the soldiers.

When Spain gave up Pensacola in the Treaty of Paris (1763), the English went to work to organize the “primitive society”. Many men and women came alone but Pensacola also attracted families. There were government employees, artisans such as carpenters, blacksmiths, bricklayers, shopkeepers, sawmill operators, unskilled laborers, indentured servants and farmers. Due to a shortage of white or Indian laborers, some black slave trade developed. Pensacola was a seaport and people from other English colonies and European countries were drawn here making the population even more diverse. There were soldiers, sailors, blacks, Indians and women with the affluent and the ordinary sometimes becoming drunk and disorderly.

Bernardo de Galvez would lead his army against the British in 1781 and Pensacola would again come under Spanish control. Blacksmiths, masons, bricklayers, carpenters, building contractors, shipwrights, laundresses, seamstresses, dressmakers, domestic servants, barbers, bakers, and tavern keepers as well as industry like brick making, naval stores and sawn lumber made up the military/economic life of Pensacola. There was a small Catholic congregation and several doctors.

By the time the Americans took control of Pensacola in 1821, it was a city full of diversity, trade, and growing industry. Runaway slaves from the Deep South would come to the area to hide out and search for a ship to freedom. If you wanted to get lost in the crowd, Pensacola’s population was diverse enough to allow that to happen.

EVALUATION: RUBRICCATEGORY 1 2 3 4

Thesis Fails to address the task; confusing and unfocused

Addressed the task but has weak structure and focus

Thesis stated addresses the task in a well written fashion

Strong thesis-responds directly to the question

Use of Documents Fails to use documents correctly; simply paraphrased or misunderstood

Uses most documents correctly-simplistic analysis; does not always weigh the importance or validity of the evidence

Uses documents correctly; recognizes that all evidence is not equally valid

Uses documents completely and accurately; weighs the importance and validity of evidence

Outside Information Includes no relevant information from beyond the documents

Includes little/irrelevant information from outside learning

Cites some relevant information from outside learning

Cites considerable relevant information from outside learning

Use of introduction/conclusion

Does not use opening or concluding statements

Uses an unorganized/irrelevant introduction and concluding paragraph

Includes a good introduction and conclusion

Uses strong introduction and conclusion

Organization Disorganized; littered with errors in standard English

Weaker organization; some errors in writing detract from the essay's meaning

Clearly written and coherent; some minor error in writing

Well structured, well written; proper spelling, grammar, and mechanics

WILEY, RINES, AND HART, LECTURES ON THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES (1915)

“The old town of Pensacola had one of the finest harbors in all Florida, but was of no commercial importance whatever. The inhabitants were chiefly West India traders, smugglers, privateersmen, Indians, half-breeds, runaway negroes, and white men who had fled from American territory for good cause.”