Ex-Slave Freedman's Republic of Florida

In this timeline of U.S. history President Lincoln realizes that the white citizens of the just defeated Confederacy will in no way shape or form live in peace with their newly freed Negro neighbors so he carved out a new autonomous republic for them. Lincoln chooses the ex-American state of Florida as the location of this new nation because it was the least populated so he would hear the least amount of grumbling if it's disgruntled (and just defeated) white residents.President Lincoln mandates all Negroes in the former Confederate states to relocate to their new home country.Ex soldiers who fought for the Union are given the generous share of land grants and cattle in thanks for their service.The logistical challenges take a little bit of time to overcome but gradually it settles down and the new republic starts off it's course in history.This decision by Lincoln avoids the horrors of the post Civil War South's treatment of Negro residents such as Jim Crow Laws,lynching,separate but equal,false imprisonment,etc.,etc.Your thoughts.....
 
I think you'd have an easier time with the Spanish inviting ex - slaves in and populating the place. Keeping it out of American hands would be a tall order though.
 
Why wouldn't the whites in Florida (mainly in the Florida Panhandle near the borders) secede and rejoin the US, after the end of Reconstruction (I wonder what the rest of the South will have to say about this)? And probably kick out most all the Black Floridians into this new state. They could probably carve out a nice strip of Floridian land too, taking most all the cultivated and developed regions. Maybe the southern 2/3s of Florida might be able to join this new republic, and probably only after the remaining whites get preferential treatment and deals (and thus quite a bit of land).

It will make for a nice banana republic once things settle down. A nice colony of the United States. I wonder if the US would ever occupy it like they did many Caribbean states in the early 20th century.
 
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