West Florida Controversy, conflict between Spain and the United States concerning possession of Florida. By the Treaty of Paris of 1763, Britain received Florida from Spain, and from France that portion of Louisiana lying between the Mississippi and Perdido rivers (exclusive of New Orleans). The British organized this territory into the provinces of East Florida (most of the present state of Florida) and West Florida (the strip on the Gulf Coast formed by parts of the present states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana). The Apalachicola River was the boundary. In 1764 they arbitrarily moved the northern boundary of West Florida from 31°N to a line running from the mouth of the Yazoo River east to the Chattahoochee River (32°28'N). After the American Revolution the British ceded Florida back to Spain, but without clear definition of its boundaries. A controversy immediately developed over the northern boundary of West Florida. The Spanish demanded the 1764 line; the United States insisted on the old line of 31°N. The issue was settled by Pinckney's Treaty (1795), in which Spain recognized the American claim. With the transfer of Louisiana from Spain to France and its subsequent purchase (1803) by the United States, another dispute over West Florida's boundaries developed. Based on the treaty of cession with France, which did not specify the boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase, the United States claimed that part of West Florida (between the Perdido and the Mississippi rivers) that had been part of Louisiana before 1763. The Spanish insisted that Louisiana, as held and administered by them, had not included this area. Lengthy and inconclusive negotiations ensued. At the same time American settlers moved into the area and resisted Spanish control. In 1810, after a revolt against Spanish rule in West Florida, President Madison ordered United States occupation of the disputed area, which was incorporated into the Territory of Orleans (which became the state of Louisiana in 1812) and the Mississippi Territory. Spain refused to recognize the American occupation, and American expansionists contemplated taking East Florida. The issue was finally settled in 1819, when, by the Adams-Onís Treaty between U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and the Spanish minister Luis de Onís, Spain renounced its claims to West Florida and also ceded East Florida to the United States.

Tacna-Arica Controversy, 1883-1929, dispute between Chile and Peru. It arose from provisions of the Treaty of Ancón (1883), which ended the War of the Pacific (see Pacific, War of the). Victorious Chile was ceded the southern provinces of Peru, Tacna and Arica, but only for 10 years; a plebiscite was then to determine the ownership. The plebiscite was not held because negotiations between the countries failed. Chile in 1909 began colonizing the two provinces—a course that led in 1911 to a diplomatic break between Peru and Chile. The United States watched with concern while relations grew worse. In 1922 representatives of Chile and Peru, meeting in Washington, agreed upon arbitration by the President of the United States. Calvin Coolidge in 1925 sent as plebiscitary commissioner Gen. John J. Pershing, who was replaced (1926) by Gen. William Lassiter. Neither commissioner achieved anything of note, but at the suggestion of Frank B. Kellogg, diplomatic relations between Peru and Chile were resumed in 1928. The next year President Herbert Hoover made a proposal accepted by both Peru and Chile. It provided that Chile should retain Arica but return Tacna to Peru; construct a free port for Peru at Arica, with port and rail installations; transfer all state-owned real estate and buildings in Tacna to Peru; and pay an indemnity of $6 million.

Marprelate controversy, a 16th-century English religious argument. Martin Marprelate was the pseudonym under which appeared several Puritan pamphlets (1588-89) satirizing the authoritarianism of the Church of England under Archbishop John Whitgift. The church replied in kind, but silenced the pamphleteer only after a reaction against him by the more conservative Puritans and after the use of police powers by Whitgift. A flood of both Martinist and anti-Martinist literature followed, to which Thomas Nashe, John Lyly, and Richard Harvey are supposed to have contributed. The true identity of Martin Marprelate has never been determined, but John Penry may have been the chief author.

Bering Sea Fur-Seal Controversy: see under Bering Sea.

Bangorian Controversy, religious dispute in the Church of England during the early part of the reign of George I. Benjamin Hoadly, bishop of Bangor, Wales, delivered a sermon (1717) before the king in which he denied that the church had any doctrinal or disciplinary authority. Advocates of ecclesiastical authority (among them William Law) attacked Hoadly's position, and a sharp controversy ensued, in which some 50 writers participated and about 200 pamphlets were issued. Attacks on Hoadly in convocation, the church assembly, led the king to suspend that body in 1717; it was not allowed to meet again until 1852.

Dispute over status of American territory in a region on the Gulf of Mexico between the Apalachicola and Mississippi rivers. First claimed by Spain in 1492, it was occupied by France as part of Louisiana after 1695, then passed under various treaties to Britain (1763) and Spain (1783). The U.S. claimed it as part of the Louisiana Purchase (1803), and American frontiersmen rebelled against Spanish control in 1810. Under the Transcontinental Treaty of 1819, Spain ceded all claim to West Florida, and it became part of the U.S. in 1821.

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