Florida [and] Kentucky & Tennessee

Double sided sheet from 1845 showing the state of Florida, with Kentucky & Tennessee on the verso.

This double-sided sheet, issued in a juvenile geographic atlas by the American geographer Sidney Morse (brother to the more famous Samuel Morse), includes a map of the state of Florida, Kentucky & Tennessee. It was issued in 1845, the same year Florida was granted statehood in the Union. The resident population was still concentrated largely along coastal areas and within the panhandle, which explains the gigantic county configuration seen here.

Text accompanying the maps makes for interesting historical commentary, as it was designed as a geographic lesson plan and reflects contemporary attitudes. When discussing the Seminole Wars (which would flare again in 1855), Morse says “The Seminole Indians, who recently occupied the southern part of Florida, after a long and bloody war with the United States, have been subdued, and removed to the Indian territory west of the Mississippi.”