Welcome to Rainbow City Alabama

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• The history of Alabama
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The history of Alabama This is the history of the State of Alabama, party, which demanded the repeal of the in the United States of America. Alabama Compromise, advocated resistance to future became a state in 1819; the economy of the encroachments and prepared for secession, central "black belt" had large rich slave while the Whigs, joined by the remaining plantations that grew cotton. Elsewhere poor Democrats, formed the party known as the whites were subsistence farmers. Alabama "Unionists," which unwillingly accepted the seceded and joined the Confederate States of Compromise and denied the "constitutional" America, 1861-65. It suffered greatly in the right  of  secession. American Civil War; all the slaves were freed by 1865. After a period of Reconstruction it Secession  1861 emerged as a poor rural state, still tied to cotton, with high racial tensions between the The "Unionists" were successful in the ruling whites and the recently emancipated elections of 1851 and 1852, but the feeling African Americans; many of the latter of uncertainty engendered in the south by the migrated north after 1917. Politically the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill and the state was one-party Democratic, and produced course of the slavery agitation after 1852 a number of national leaders. World War II led the State Democratic convention of 1856 brought prosperity. Cotton faded in to revive the "Alabama Platform"; when the importance as the state developed a "Alabama Platform" failed to secure the manufacturing and service base. After 1980 formal approval of the Democratic National the state became a Republican stronghold in convention at Charleston, South Carolina, in presidential elections, and leans Republican 1860, the Alabama delegates, followed by in statewide elections, while the Democratic those of the other cotton "states," withdrew. Party still dominates local and legislative Upon the election of Abraham Lincoln, offices. Governor Andrew B. Moore, according to previous instructions of the legislature, Among Native American people living in called a state convention. Secession had been present Alabama in precontact times were opposed by many prominent men, and in North Alabama (Alibamu), Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Alabama an attempt was made to organize a Koasati,  and  Mobile. neutral state to be called Nickajack; but with President Lincoln's call to arms most The first Europeans to enter the limits of opposition  to  secession  ended. the present state of Alabama were Spaniards, who claimed this region as a part of Florida. On January 11, 1861 The State of Alabama adopted the ordinances of secession from the It is possible that a member of Union (by a vote of 61-39). Until February Pánfilo de 18, 1861 Alabama was informally called the Narváez's expedition of 1528 Alabama Republic. It never changed its formal entered what is now southern Alabama, but the name which always has been "State of first fully authenticated visit was that of Alabama." Hernando de Soto, who made an arduous but fruitless journey along the Coosa, Alabama Alabama soon joined the Confederate States of and  Tombigbee  rivers  in  1539. America, whose government was organized at Montgomery  on  February  4,  1861. The English, too, claimed the region north of the Gulf of Mexico, and the territory of Civil  War  1861-1865 modern Alabama was included in the province of Carolina, granted by Charles II of England Governor Moore energetically supported the to certain of his favorites by the charters Confederate war effort. Even before of 1663 and 1665. English traders of Carolina hostilities began he seized federal were frequenting the valley of the Alabama facilities, sent agents to buy rifles in the river  as  early  as  1687. Northeast, and scoured the state for weapons. Despite some resistance in the northern part Disregarding these claims, however, the of the state, Alabama joined the Confederate French in 1702 settled on the Mobile river States of America. Congressman Williamson R. and there erected Fort Louis, which for the W. Cobb was a Unionist and pleaded for next nine years was the seat of government of compromise. When he ran for the Confederate Louisiana. In 1711 Fort Louis was abandoned congress in 1861, he was defeated, but in to the floods of the river, and on higher 1863, with the war weariness growing in ground was built Fort Conde, the gem of the Alabama, he was elected on a wave of antiwar present city of Mobile, and the first sentiment. The new nation brushed Cobb aside permanent white settlement in Alabama. Later, and set up its temporary capital in on account of the intrigues of the English Montgomery and selected Jefferson Davis as traders with the Indians, the French as a president. In May the Confederate government means of defense established the military abandoned Montgomery before the sickly season posts of Fort Toulouse, near the junction of began,  and  relocated in Richmond. Virginia. the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, and Fort Tombecbe  on  the  Tombigbee  River. Some idea of the severe internal logistics problems the Confederacy faced can be seen by The grant of Georgia to Oglethorpe and his tracing Davis's journey from Mississippi, the associates in 1732 included a portion of what next state over. From his plantation on the is now northern Alabama, and in 1739 river he took a steamboat down the Oglethorpe himself visited the Creek Indians Mississippi to Vicksburg, boarded a train to west of the Chattahoochee River and made a Jackson, where he took another train north to treaty  with  them. Grand Junction, then a third train east to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and a fourth train to The peace of Paris, in 1763, terminated the Atlanta, Georgia. Yet another train took French occupation, and Great Britain came Davis to the Alabama border, where a final into undisputed possession of the region train took him to Montgomery. As the war between the Chattahoochee and the Mississippi proceeded the Federals seized the Mississippi Rivers. The portion of Alabama below the 31st River, burned trestles and railroad bridges, parallel then became a part of West Florida, and tore up track; the frail Confederate and the portion north of this line a part of railroad system faltered and virtually the Illinois Country," set apart, by royal collapsed for want of repairs and replacement proclamation, for the use of the Indians. In parts. 1767 the province of West Florida was extended northward to 32 degrees 28' N. lat., In the early part of the Civil War Alabama and a few years later, during the American was not the scene of military operations, yet Revolutionary War, this region fell into the the state contributed about 120,000 men to hands  of  Spain. the Confederate service, practically all her white population capable of bearing arms. By the Treaty of Versailles (1783), on Most were recruited locally and served with September 3, 1783, Great Britain ceded West men they knew, which built esprit and Florida to Spain; but by the Treaty of Paris strengthened ties to home. Medical conditions (1783), signed the same day, she ceded to the were severe; about 15% died of disease, and United States all of this province north of 10% from battle. Alabama had few 31 degrees, and thus laid the foundation for well-equipped hospitals but it had many women a  long  controversy. who volunteered to nurse the sick and wounded. Soldiers were poorly equipped, By the Treaty of Madrid, in 1795, Spain ceded especially after 1863, and often resorted to to the United States her claims to the lands pillaging the dead for boots, belts, east of the Mississippi between 31 degrees canteens, blankets, hats, shirts and pants. and 32 degrees 28'; and three years later Uncounted thousands of slaves worked with (1798) this district was organized by Confederate troops; they took care of horses Congress as the Mississippi Territory. A and equipment, cooked and did laundry, hauled strip of land 12 or 14 m. wide near the supplies, and helped in field hospitals. present northern boundary of Alabama and Other slaves built defensive installations, Mississippi was claimed by South Carolina; especially those around Mobile. They graded but in 1787 that state ceded this claim to roads, repaired railroads, drove supply the general government. Georgia likewise wagons, and labored in iron mines, iron claimed all the lands between the 31st and foundries and even in the munitions 35th parallels from its present western factories. The service of slaves was boundary to the Mississippi river, and did involuntary, their unpaid labor was impressed not surrender its claim until 1802; two years from their unpaid masters. About 10,000 later the boundaries of the Mississippi slaves escaped and joined the Union army, Territory were extended so as to include all along  with  2,700  white  men. of  the  Georgia  cession. Thirty-nine Alabamians attained flag rank, In 1812 Congress annexed to the Mississippi most notably Lieutenant General James Territory the Mobile District of West Longstreet and Admiral Raphael Semmes. Josiah Florida, claiming that it was included in the Gorgas who came to Alabama from Pennsylvania, Louisiana Purchase; and in the following year was the chief of ordnance for the General James Wilkinson occupied this Confederacy. He located new munitions plants district with a military force, the Spanish in Selma, which employed 10,000 workers until commandant offering no resistance. The whole the Union raiders in 1865 burned the area of the present state of Alabama then for factories down. Selma Arsenal made most of the first time became subject to the the Confederacy's ammunition. The Selma Naval jurisdiction  of  the  United  States. Ordnance Works made artillery, turning out a cannon every five days. The Confederate Naval In 1817 the Mississippi Territory was Yard built ships and was noted for launching divided; the western portion became the state the CSS Tennessee in 1863 to defend Mobile of Mississippi, and the eastern portion Bay. Selma's Confederate Nitre Works procured became the Alabama Territory, with St. niter, for gunpowder, from limestone caves. Stephens, on the Tombigbee River, as the When supplies were low, it advertised for temporary  seat  of  government. housewives to save the contents of their chamber pots--urine, a rich source of The Indian problem was important. With the nitrogen. encroachment of the white settlers upon their hunting-grounds the Creek Indians began to Alabama soldiers fought in hundreds of grow restless, and the great Shawnee chief battles; the state's losses at Gettysburg Tecumseh, who visited them in 1811, fomented were 1,750 dead plus even more captured or their discontent. When the outbreak of the wounded; the famed "Alabama Brigade" took 781 second war with Britain in 1812 gave the casualties. In 1863 the Federal forces Creeks assurance of British aid they rose in secured a foothold in northern Alabama in arms, massacred several hundred settlers who spite of the opposition of General Nathan B. had taken refuge in Fort Mims, near the Forrest. From 1861 the federal blockade shut junction of the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers, Mobile, and in 1864 the outer defenses of and in a short time no white family in the Mobile were taken by a Federal fleet; the Creek country was safe outside a palisade. city itself held out until April 1865. The Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians, however, [Rogers,  ch  12] remained the faithful allies of the whites, and volunteers from Georgia, South Carolina Reconstruction,  1865-1875 and Tennessee, and later United States troops, marched to the rescue of the According to the presidential plan of threatened settlements. In the campaign that reorganization, a provisional governor for followed the most distinguished services were Alabama was appointed in June 1865; a state rendered by General Andrew Jackson, whose convention met in September of the same year, vigorous measures broke for ever the power of and declared the ordinance of secession null the Creek Confederacy. By the treaty of Fort and void and slavery abolished; a legislature Jackson (August 9, 1814) the Creeks ceded and a governor were elected in November, the their claims to about one-half of the present legislature was at once recognized by state; and cessions by the Cherokees, President Andrew Johnson, but not by Chickasaws and Choctaws in 1816 left only Congress, which refused to seat the about  one-fourth  of Alabama to the Indians. delegation. Johnson ordered the Army to allow the inauguration of the governor after the A  State  in  the  Union legislature ratified the thirteenth amendment in December, 1865. But the passage, by the In 1819 Alabama was regularly admitted as the legislature, of Black Codes or vagrancy and 22nd  state  to  the  Union. apprenticeship laws designed to control the Freedmen who were flocking from the One of the first problems of the new plantations to the towns, and its rejection commonwealth was that of finance. Since the of the fourteenth amendment, intensified the amount of money in circulation was not congressional hostility to the presidential sufficient to meet the demands of the plan. In 1867 the congressional plan of increasing population, a system of state Reconstruction was completed and Alabama was banks was instituted. State bonds were issued placed under military government. The and public lands were sold to secure capital, Freedmen were now enrolled as voters and and the notes of the banks, loaned on large numbers of white citizens were security, became a medium of exchange. disfranchised. The new Republican party, Prospects of an income from the banks led the comprised of Freedmen, Scalawags and legislature of 1836 to abolish all taxation Carpetbaggers now took control, two years for state purposes. This was hardly done, after the war ended. A constitutional however, before the panic of 1837 wiped out a convention, controlled by this element, met large portion of the banks' assets; next came in November 1867, and framed a constitution revelations of grossly careless and even of which conferred universal manhood suffrage. corrupt management, and in 1843 the banks Whites who had fought for the Confederacy were placed in liquidation. After disposing were disfranchised. The Reconstruction Acts of all their available assets, the state of Congress required every new constitution assumed the remaining liabilities, for which to be ratified by a majority of the legal it  had  pledged  its  faith  and  credit. voters of the state. The whites of Alabama largely stayed away from the polls, and, In 1832 the national government provided for after five days of voting, the constitution the removal of the Creeks; but before the wanted 13,550 to secure a majority. Congress terms of the contract were effected, the then enacted that a majority of the votes state legislature formed the Indian lands cast should be sufficient, and thus the into  counties,  and  settlers  flocked  in. constitution went into effect, the state was readmitted to the Union in June 1868, and a The state became a prosperous center of slave new  governor  and  legislature were elected. plantations growing cotton in the Black Belt, with subsistence farmers (with few slaves) The next two years are notable for eking out a living on the poorer lands. All legislative extravagance and corruption, the whites were committed to a spirit of according to white Alabamians. The state frontier democracy and egalitarianism, and a endorsed railway bonds at the rate of $12,000 fierce defense of their republican values of and $16,000 a mile until the state debt had civic virtue and opposition to corruption. J. increased from eight millions to seventeen Mills Thornton (1978) argues that Whigs millions of dollars, and similar corruption argued for positive state action to benefit characterized local government. The native society as a whole while the Democrats feared white people united, formed a Conservative any increase of power in government or in party and elected a governor and a majority such private institutions as state-chartered of the lower house of the legislature in banks, railroads and corporations. Fierce 1870; but, as the new administration was political battles raged in Alabama on issues largely a failure, in 1872 there was a ranging from banking to the removal of the reaction in favor of the Radicals, a local Creek Indians, but Thornton suggests that term applied to the Republican party. In there was actually only one issue in the 1874, however, the power of the Radicals was state's politics: how to protect liberty and finally broken, the Conservative Democrats white equality, or, to put the matter another electing all state officials. A commission way, how to avoid slavery. Fears that appointed to examine the state debt found it Northern agitators threatened their value to be $25,503,000; by compromise it was system angered the voters and made them ready reduced to $15,000,000. A new constitution to secede when Abraham Lincoln was elected in was adopted in 1875, which omitted the 1860.  [Thornton  1978] guarantee of the previous constitution that no one should be denied suffrage on account Until 1832 there was only one party in the of race, color or previous condition of state, the Democratic, but the question of servitude, and forbade the state to engage in nullification caused a division that year internal improvements or to give its credit into the (Jackson) Democratic party and the to  any  private  enterprise. State's Rights (Calhoun Democratic) party; about the same time an opposition party After 1874 the Democratic party had constant emerged, the Whig party. It drew support from control of the state administration. The plantation owners and townsmen, while the Republicans were by now largely a Black party Democrats were strongest among poor farmers which held no local or state offices, but did and Catholics in the Mobile area. For some have some federal patronage. It failed to time the Whigs were almost as numerous as the make nominations for office in 1878 and 1880 Democrats, but they never secured control of and endorsed the ticket of the Greenback the state government. The State's Rights party in 1882. The development of mining and faction were in a minority; nevertheless manufacturing was accompanied by economic under their active and persistent leader, distress among the farming classes, which William L. Yancey (1814-1863), they prevailed found expression in the Jeffersonian upon the Democrats in 1848 to adopt their Democratic party, organized in 1892. The most radical views. During the agitation over regular Democratic ticket was elected and the the Wilmot Proviso which would bar slavery new party was then merged into the Populist from territory acquired from Mexico, Yancey party. In 1894 the Republicans united with induced the Democratic State Convention of the Populists, elected three congressional 1848 to adopt what is known as the "Alabama representatives, secured control of many of Platform." It declared that neither Congress the counties, but failed to carry the state, nor the government of a territory had the and continued their opposition with less right to interfere with slavery in a success in the next campaigns. Partisanship territory, that those who held opposite views became intense, and Democratic charges of were not Democrats, and that the Democrats of corruption of the ignorant Black electorate Alabama would not support a candidate for the were matched by Republican and Populist presidency if he did not agree with them on accusations of fraud and violence by these questions. This platform was endorsed Democrats. Consequently, after division on by conventions in Florida and Virginia and by the subject among the Democrats themselves, the legislatures of Georgia and Alabama. Old as well as opposition of Republicans and party lines were broken by the Compromise of Populists, a new constitution with 1850. The State's Rights faction, joined by restrictions on suffrage was adopted in 1901. many Democrats, founded the Southern Rights 1 A B C D E F 85 86 87 88 89 90 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134