I received a text from Elise at 10:06am letting me know that I would be teaching Vlad at 11:00am today. Fortunately, I had a bit more notice from Vlad himself just after 9:00am. Vlad didn't think he was going to be in school today due to a golf tournament. But Vlad was here and sought me out first period to let me know he was here and wanted to have A.P. US History class from 11:00am - 12:00pm before he left school for his golf tournament. This lesson focused on how FL became a state. We spent the period learning about how the Spanish territory of FL became a state. It's original Native American inhabitants provided safe harbor to escaped slaves. White southerners were interested in FL because its rivers provided easy access to the Gulf of Mexico. The U.S. government was eager for Spain to relinquish its land on the continent, as well. In 1817, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams attempted to acquire FL through diplomacy. Andrew Jackson, Commander of U.S. troops, invaded FL, seized the Spanish forts, fought the indigenous native people and incited what would be known as the Seminole War. In 1819, Spain ceded FL to the U.S. in what came to be known as the Adams-Onis Treaty.