Armed Occupation Act Explained

The Florida Armed Occupation Act of 1842 was passed as an incentive to grow the population of Florida. The Act granted

160 acres (0.6 km²) of unsettled land south of the line separating townships 9 and 10 South(an east–west line about three miles (5 km) north of Palatka and about ten miles (16 km) south of Newnansville) to any head of a family as long he satisfied the following conditions:^[1]

• be a white male resident of Florida and not having

160 acres (0.6 km²) of land in Florida when asking for the permit;

• get a permit from the Lands Office;
• he or his heirs reside for five consecutive years on the grant ;
• clear, enclose and cultivate 5acres of land during the first year;
• build a house on the lot during the first year;
• the land should be two or more miles away from a garrisoned military post.

The total land to be granted should not be more than 200,000 acres (800 km²) under the act.

See also

• Frederick Weedon – the first person to receive a permit for land under the Act
• Mosquito County

Literature

• James W. Covington, "The Armed Occupation Act of 1842." Florida Historical Quarterly 40, no. 1 (1961): 41–52.
• Laurel Clark Shire, The Threshold of Manifest Destiny: Gender and National Expansion in Florida. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016.
• Laurel Clark Shire, "Turning Sufferers into Settlers: Gender, Welfare, and National Expansion in Frontier Florida." Journal of the Early Republic 33, no. 3 (2013): 489–521.
• Joe Knetsch and Paul S. George, "A Problematical Law: The Armed Occupation Act of 1842 and Its Impact on Southeast Florida." Tequesta 53 (1993): 63–80.
• Joe Knetsch and Paul S. George, "Staking a Claim in Early Miami." South Florida History Magazine, no. 1 (Winter 1990): 18–20.
• Michael E. Welsh, "Legislating a Homestead Bill: Thomas Hart Benton and the Second Seminole War." Florida Historical Quarterly 57, no. 2 (1978): 157–72.
• Julius Wilm, Settlers as Conquerors: Free Land Policy in Antebellum America. Stuttgart, Germany: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2018.

Notes and References

1. Web site: An Act to provide for the armed occupation and settlement of the unsettled part of the Peninsula of East Florida. 2007-06-27.