<P> Americans had continuing land disputes with the Spanish, even after taking control of much of this territory through the Louisiana Purchase (1803) from France . In 1810 the European - American settlers in parts of West Florida rebelled and declared their freedom from Spain . President James Madison declared that the region between the Mississippi and Perdido rivers, which included most of West Florida, had already become part of the United States under the terms of the Louisiana Purchase . The section of West Florida between the Pearl and Perdido rivers, known as the District of Mobile, was annexed to Mississippi Territory in 1812; Americans from the United States occupied Kiln, Mississippi, in 1813 . </P> <P> The attraction of vast amounts of high - quality, fertile and inexpensive cotton land attracted hordes of settlers, mostly from Georgia and the Carolinas, and from former tobacco areas of Virginia and North Carolina in the Upper South . By this time, most planters in the Upper South had switched to mixed crops, as their lands were exhausted from tobacco and it was barely profitable as a commodity crop . </P> <P> From 1798 through 1820, the population in the Mississippi Territory rose dramatically, from less than 9,000 to more than 222,000 . The vast majority were enslaved African Americans brought by settlers or shipped by slave traders . Migration came in two fairly distinct waves - a steady movement until the outbreak of the War of 1812, and a flood after it was ended, from 1815 through 1819 . The postwar flood was catalyzed by various factors: high prices for cotton, the elimination of Indian titles to much land, new and improved roads, and the acquisition of new direct water outlets to the Gulf of Mexico . The first migrants were traders and trappers, then herdsmen, and finally farmers . Conditions on the Southwest frontier initially resulted in a relatively democratic society for whites . But expansion of cotton cultivation resulted in an elite group of white planters who controlled politics in the state for decades . </P> <P> Expansion of cultivation of cotton into the Deep South was enabled by the invention of the cotton gin, which made processing of short - staple cotton profitable . This type was more readily grown in upland and inland areas, in contrast to the long - staple cotton of the Sea Islands and Lowcountry . Americans pressed to gain more land for cotton, causing conflicts with the several tribes of Native Americans who historically occupied this territory of the Southeast . Five of the major tribes had adopted some western customs and had members who assimilated to varying degrees, often based on proximity and trading relationships with whites . </P>

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