Florida officially became the 27th state on March 3, 1845, capping off a decades‑long journey from a Spanish colony, through U.S. territorial rule and into full-fledged statehood.
After centuries under Spanish rule, with a brief interval under Great Britain, the U.S. acquired the territory in 1821 through the Adams-Onís Treaty.
At the time, fewer than 5,000 non-Native settlers lived here, mostly in Pensacola and St. Augustine. Conflicts with the Seminole people and escaped enslaved people sparked multiple costly wars throughout the 1830s and 1840s.
Florida’s path to statehood began with the Florida Enabling Act of 1824, a federal law that allowed the territory to organize a government and laid the legal groundwork for drafting a state constitution.
However, it took another seven years before the U.S. Congress passed the Iowa-Florida Act, which President John Tyler signed on his final full day in office, admitting Florida, the last Atlantic Seaboard State, into the Union. William D. Moseley served as the first governor, and David Levy Yulee, later dubbed the “Father of Florida’s Railroads,” was among its first U.S. senators.
From just 66,000 residents at statehood, Florida had grown to an estimated 23 million residents by 2025, making it the nation’s third-most-populous state.
Florida’s familiar nickname, “The Sunshine State,” was formally adopted in 1970.