The Spanish Cession includes land that makes up all of present-day Florida, and parts of present-day Louisiana, Mississippi, Colorado, and Alabama. It was given to the United States in the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819, after Andrew Jackson invaded Spanish forts in Spanish Florida without approval from the current president, James Monroe. US Secretary of State John Quincy Adams argued that Jackson's actions were justified because the Spanish could not maintain control of their Florida colony, thus allowing Seminoles and runaway slaves to harass the US border.[1] Spain therefore ceded the territory to the United States, on the condition that the United States pay up to five million dollars to cover the claims made by American citizens against Spain. The Cession included West and East Florida. A small portion of what is now Colorado was also ceded in Spanish due to discrepancies in the border resulting from the treaty.