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Poll: Please select yes or no. After your choice please comment why.

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Poll: Please select yes or no. After your choice please comment why.

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https://goo.gl/GSvTko

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- Population: 4.849 million
- Sixty-Seven counties
- 460+ cities and towns
- Most populated city- Birmingham
- Area: 52,423 sq.mi (135,775 sq.km.)
- Land: 50,750 sq.mi. (131,442 sq.km.)
- Water: 1,673 sq.mi. (4,333 sq.km.)
- Coastline: 53 mi. (85 km)
- Shoreline: 607 mi. (977 km.)
- Capital: Montgomery
- Bird: Yellowhammer
- Tree: Southern Longleaf Pine
- Flower: Camellia
- Nicknames: Yellowhammer State, the Heart of Dixie, the Cotton State

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Wanderlust Wisdom: Travel, History, & Science

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Correction: Mentioned in the video as a Cross of St. Andrew (and labeled as such in the original legislation for the flag), the red cross on the state flag is actually a red saltire with connections to the Confederate battle flag. Learn about Alabama's flag and those that came before it.

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Alabama was known for their agriculture, manufacturing, and wide range of slavery, which affected the history of Alabama in the twentieth century. Alabama is important because this state helped provide to many other states.

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As in almost every southern state during this time, slavery was the most important labor system. Alabama's economy was based off cotton, which slaves picked daily. Slaves made up approximately thirty-one percent of the population in Alabama (pictured right). With slaves bringing in a lot of cotton, may individuals thought a state bank would be necessary, especially since the "Black Belt" was booming. The Black Belt was a region where slaves picked cotton. Land was a huge agricultural need. Some regions in Alabama were occupied by white settlers who then auctioned off pieces of their land for other settlers who wanted to keep slaves. Un-used land was sold to either farmers or slaveholders. Cotton was not the only thing produced in Alabama at this time. Farmers planted corn, wheat, grapes, etc. These events soon affected to economy and government in Alabama as the years passed.

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Experienced statesmen and frontiersmen gather in July 1819 at Huntsville (a temporary capital at this time) in Alabama's Territory. At this point, the men came up with a constitution for this territory which legalized slavery and set up educational programs. There were already legal systems set up in Mississippi and Louisiana which there were limits on suffrage and imprisonment of debts, but the men refused to implement these legal systems and came up with this new system. This process took five months to be officially implemented. Alabama became the twenty-second state on December 14, 1819. Since it became a state in the south, Alabama became apart of the Confederate States of America. The Confederate States of America was composed of eleven states that seceded from the United States of America in order to preserve their slavery tactics (see confederate flag pictured left). Alabama's first governor was named William Wyatt Bibb.

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During Alabama's territorial period, there were three main inhabitants groups-- Indians, African Americans (slaves) and white Europeans. Tensions immediately grew in this territory. The Indian inhabitants (Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw) did not enjoy the fact that the European settlers arrived in the Alabama Territory and immediately tried to make this land, theirs. This thus caused the Creek War of 1813-1814 (pictured right). After this war, Indians were forced to change from their lifestyle, to the lifestyle of the Europeans. From education to agriculture, Indians were forced to change everything. Europeans even made Indians use labor systems which relied on African Americans. Indians who once stayed in Alabama either moved to new land, changed to fit the European needs, or died from diseases brought over by Europeans.

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Before becoming a state, Alabama was a territory. At first, Alabama was not their on territory. As you can see (pictured left). Alabama was once apart of the Mississippi Territory. During this time, slavery was a huge problem in the US. White southerners saw the Mississippi Territory as an opportunity for not one, but two slave states. With great determination from those southerners, Congress made Alabama a territory out of the eastern half of the Mississippi Territory on March 3, 1817 (see picture above). After becoming a territory, Alabama's population grew rapidly. This rapid growth also caused an uprising of petitions for Alabama to immediately become a state.

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This site will include the history of how Alabama became a state. I will cover what process this territory had to go through to become a state , how long it took, what happened during this event, the importance of this event, and some quick modern day facts about Alabama. There will also be pictures along this website (according to the passage). Enjoy!