 The pro-American faction appealed to the United States to annex the area and to provide financial aid.On October 27, 1810, U.S. President James Madison proclaimed that the United States should take possession of West Florida between the Mississippi and Perdido Rivers, based on the tenuous claim that it was part of the Louisiana Purchase.Madison authorized William C. C. Claiborne, governor of the Territory of Orleans, to take possession of the territory.