Jackson received his orders at the Hermitage. Governor Blount was
absent from Nashville, but the eager commander went ahead raising
troops on his own responsibility. Nothing was so certain to whet his
appetite for action as the prospect of a war in Florida. Not only did
his instructions authorize him to pursue the enemy, under certain
conditions, into Spanish territory, but from the first he himself
conceived of the enterprise as decidedly more than a punitive
expedition. The United States wanted Florida and was at the moment
trying to induce Spain to give it up.
Here was the chance to take it regardless of Spain, "Let it be
signified to me through any channel (say Mr. J. Rhea)," wrote the
Major General to the President, "that the possession of the Floridas
would be desirable to the United States, and in sixty days it will be
accomplished."
This "Rhea letter" became the innocent source of one of the most
famous controversies in American history. Jackson supposed that the
communication had been promptly delivered to Monroe, and that his plan
for the conquest of Florida had the full, if secret, approval of the
Administration.
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