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ALABAMA. the Chickasaws remained hostile, and the English planted their trading posts in the wilderness north of Mobile. When France ceded her possessions east of the Mississippi to England, in 1763, Alabama, north of 32° 40′, was added to the Illinois territory, and the part south of the line to West Florida. During the Revolution, West Florida, which had by that time gained English and Scotch settlers, remained loyal, and in 1779-80 Spain took advantage of her own war with Great Britain to seize the province. After 1783, the United States, as the successor of England, claimed as far south as the thirty-first degree, but Spain continued to hold the territory south of 32° 40′ till 1798. Georgia claimed between 31° and 35° to the Mississippi, but sold her rights in 1802. In 1798 Congress organized the region included between the Mississippi River on the west, the Chattahoochee on the east, the 31st parallel on the south, and a line drawn from the mouth of the Yazoo into Mississippi Territory, and in 1804 extended its northern boundary to Tennessee; in April, 1813, the Mobile district was taken from the Spanish by the United States and annexed to Mississippi territory.

Incited by the British, the Creeks and their allied tribes rose in 1812 against the whites, their atrocities culminating in the great massacre at Fort Mimms, on the Alabama River, August 30, 1813. General Jackson headed the forces sent against the Indians, and by his victories at Talladega and the Horse Shoe Bend of the Tallapoosa, 1813-14, forced them to surrender their territory west of the Coosa and south of Wetumpka. In a number of subsequent treaties the Indians gradually abandoned the larger portion of their land, until, between 1830 and 1836, they were removed in a body west of the Mississippi River. ( See .) Mississippi was set off March 1, 1817, and on March 3 was formed the territory of Alabama, with its seat at St. Stephens. The first legislature met at Huntsville, January 19, 1818, and the State was admitted to the Union December 14, 1819. In 1820 the seat of government was removed to Cahaba, in 1826 to Tuscaloosa, and in 1847 to Montgomery. The people of Alabama were aggressive champions of territorial expansion for slavery purposes, and took a prominent part in the Mexican War. They entered very zealously into the secession movement, and early in December, 1860, urged the Southern States to withdraw from the Union. At Montgomery, on January 11, 1861, an ordinance of secession was passed by a vote of 61 to 39—the minority representing the northern part of the State, where the Whig party had been especially strong. Forts Gaines and Morgan, at the entrance to Mobile Bay, were seized, and on January 21 the senators and representatives withdrew from Congress. Delegates from the seceded States met at Montgomery, February 4, and organized the Confederate Government. A Confederate arsenal, foundry, and navy yard were soon established at Selma. In February and April of 1862 Federal troops occupied the Tennessee Valley. In August, 1864, Farragut destroyed a Confederate fleet in Mobile Bay, and, aided by General Granger with a land force, reduced Forts Gaines and Morgan. In April, 1865, the Union forces took Selma, Tuscaloosa, Montgomery, and Mobile. A provisional government was established June 21, 1865, and a convention repealed the act of secession and altered the constitution. State officers and members of

Congress were chosen; but Congress, in conflict with President Johnson, refused admission to the representatives from Alabama. By the reconstruction act of March 2, 1867, Alabama was included with Georgia and Florida in the third military district, under General Pope. In November a new constitution was framed, which received, February, 1868, 70,182 votes out of 71,817 cast, and though the majority of registered voters had remained away from the polls, Congress declared the constitution operative, and it continued in force till 1875, when a new constitution was adopted. On July 14, 1868, military rule ceased, and on November 16, 1870, the State ratified the fifteenth amendment to the Federal constitution. For a decade after the Civil War, Alabama suffered from maladministration. Party spirit ran very high, and elections were bitterly contested. The dishonesty of officials and the extravagant railway policy they pursued brought the State and the chief towns into serious financial difficulties. With the reorganization of the public debt in 1876 began an era of quiet and prosperity. Cotton and steel manufactures and the mining industries thrived enormously, and many large towns sprang up in the northern part of the State. Lumbering, too, became of great importance. The agricultural interests, by comparison, showed little growth. Educational progress did not keep up with economic development until the end of the nineteenth century. Since 1874 Alabama has been invariably Democratic. In 1901 a constitutional convention was busy with the problem of changing the organic law in such a manner as to insure political supremacy to the white population.

The following is a list of the governors of the State, and the parties to which they belonged: