Alabama

State of Alabama
Flag of Alabama Seal Nickname(s): Yellowhammer State, Heart of Dixie Motto(s): Audemus jura nostra defendere
Official language(s)	English
Spoken language(s)	English (96.17%) Spanish (2.12%)
Capital	Montgomery
Largest city	Birmingham 229,424 (2006 estimate)
Largest metro area	Greater Birmingham Area
Area	Ranked 30th
- Total	52,419 sq mi (135,765 km²)
- Width	190 miles (306 km)
- Length	330 miles (531 km)
- % water	3.20
- Latitude	30° 11′ N to 35° N
- Longitude	84° 53′ W to 88° 28′ W
Population	Ranked 23rd in the U.S.
- Total	4,627,851 (2007 est.)
- Density	84.83/sq mi  (33.84/km2) Ranked 27th in the U.S.
Elevation
- Highest point	Mount Cheaha 2,407 ft  (734 m)
- Mean	499 ft  (152 m)
- Lowest point	Gulf of Mexico 0 ft  (0 m)
Admission to Union	December 14, 1819 (22nd)
Governor	Robert R. Riley (R)
Lieutenant Governor	Jim Folsom, Jr. (D)
U.S. Senators	Richard Shelby (R) Jeff Sessions (R)
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/DST-5
Abbreviations	AL Ala. US-AL
Web site	www.alabama.gov

Alabama is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland waterways. The state ranks 23rd in population with almost 4.6 million residents in 2006.

From the American Civil War until World War II, Alabama, like many southern states, suffered economic hardship, in part because of continued dependence on agriculture. In the years following World War II, Alabama experienced significant recovery as the economy of the state transitioned from agriculture to diversified interests in heavy manufacturing, mineral extraction, education, and high technology. The state is expected to surpass Detroit and become the largest builder of automobiles in North America.

Alabama is unofficially nicknamed the Yellowhammer State, which is also the name of the state bird. The capital is Montgomery, and the largest city by population is Birmingham. The largest city by total land area is Huntsville. The oldest city is Mobile.

Etymology of state name

The Alabama, a Muskogean tribe, which resided just below the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers on the upper reaches of the Alabama River, served as the etymological source of the names of the river and state. The word Alabama is believed to have originated from the Choctaw language and was later adopted by the Alabama tribe as their name.

Geography

Though winters in the state are usually mild, nightly freezing occurs frequently in the north.

Alabama terrain map: shows lakes, rivers, roads, with Mount Cheaha (right center) east of Birmingham.

The states bordering Alabama include Tennessee to the north; Georgia to the east; Florida to the south; and Mississippi to the west. Alabama has coastline at the Gulf of Mexico, in the extreme southern edge of the state.

Alabama is the 30^th largest state in the United States with 52,423 square miles (135,775 km²) of total area: 3.19 percent of the area is water, making Alabama 23^rd in the amount of surface water, also giving it the second largest inland waterway system in the United States. About three-fifths of the land area is a gentle plain with a general descent toward the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. The North Alabama region is mostly mountainous, with the Tennessee River cutting a large valley creating numerous creeks, streams, rivers, mountains, and lakes. A notable natural wonder is a natural bridge that is the longest east of the Rockies, located just south of Haleyville.

Alabama generally ranges in elevation from sea level at Mobile Bay to over 1,800 feet (550 m) in the Appalachian Mountains in the northeast. The highest point is Mount Cheaha (see map), at a height of 2,407 ft (733 m).

A 5-mile (8 km)-wide meteorite impact crater is located in Elmore County, just north of Montgomery. This is the Wetumpka crater, which is the site of "Alabama's greatest natural disaster". A 1,000-foot (300 m)-wide meteorite hit the area about 80 million years ago.

Birmingham, largest city and metropolitan area

Mobile, second largest metropolitan area

Huntsville, third largest metropolitan area

Climate

The climate of Alabama is described as temperate with an average annual temperature of 64°F (18 °C). Temperatures tend to be warmer in the southern part of the state with its close proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, while the northern parts of the state, especially in the Appalachian Mountains in the northeast, tend to be slightly cooler. Generally, Alabama has very hot summers and mild winters with copious precipitation throughout the year. Alabama receives an average of 56 inches (1,400 mm) of rainfall annually and enjoys a lengthy growing season of up to 300 days in the southern part of the state. Snow is a rare event in much of Alabama. Areas north of Montgomery may receive a dusting a few times every winter, with a moderately heavy snowfall every few years. In the southern Gulf coast, snowfall is less frequent.

Alabama is also prone to tropical storms and even hurricanes. Areas of the state far away from the Gulf are not immune to the effects of the storms, which often dump tremendous amounts of rain as they move inland and weaken. South Alabama reports more thunderstorms than any part of the United States.

Tornadoes are common throughout the state, although the peak season varies from the northern to southern parts of the state. Alabama shares the dubious distinction, with Kansas, of having reported more F5 tornadoes (the most powerful) than any other state for the period January 1, 1950 to October 31, 2006. The northern part of the state – along the Tennessee Valley – is one of the areas in the country most vulnerable to violent tornadoes.

Alabama State Symbols

Living Symbols
-Animal	{{{Animal}}}
-Bird	Yellowhammer, Wild Turkey
-Butterfly	Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
-Fish	Largemouth bass, Fighting tarpon
-Flower	Camellia, Oak-leaf Hydrangea
-Furbearer	{{{Furbearer}}}
-Grass	{{{Grass}}}
-Insect	Monarch Butterfly
-Reptile	Alabama red-bellied turtle
-Tree	Longleaf Pine
-Wildflower	{{{Wildflower}}}
Beverage	Conecuh Ridge Whiskey
Capital	{{{Capital}}}
Colors	Red, White
Dance	Square Dance
Fossil	Basilosaurus
Gemstone	Star Blue Quartz
Mineral	Hematite
Motto	{{{Motto}}}
Musical Instrument	{{{MusicalInstrument}}}
Neckwear	{{{Neckwear}}}
Nickname	{{{Nickname}}}
Rock	Marble
Game	{{{Game}}}
Ship(s)	{{{Ships}}}
Song	Alabama
Soil	Bama
Tartan	{{{Tartan}}}
Waltz	{{{Waltz}}}

History

Among the Native American people once living in the area of present-day Alabama were Alabama (Alibamu), Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, Koasati, and Mobile. Trade with the Northeast via the Ohio River began during the Burial Mound Period (1000 B.C.E.-700 C.E.) and continued until European contact. The agrarian Mississippian culture covered most of the state from 1000 to 1600 C.E., with one of its major centers being at the Moundville Archaeological Site in Moundville, Alabama.

The French founded the first European settlement in the state with the establishment of Mobile in 1702. Southern Alabama was French from 1702 to 1763, part of British West Florida from 1763 to 1780, and part of Spanish West Florida from 1780 to 1814. Northern and central Alabama was part of Georgia from 1763 to 1783 and part of the American Mississippi territory thereafter. Its statehood was delayed by the lack of a coastline, a situation rectified when Andrew Jackson captured Spanish-held Mobile in 1814. Alabama was the twenty-second state admitted to the Union, in 1819.

Alabama was the new frontier in the 1820s and 1830s. Settlers rapidly arrived to take advantage of fertile soils. Planters brought slaves with them, and traders brought in more as the cotton plantations expanded. The economy of the central "Black Belt" featured large cotton plantations whose owners built their wealth on the labor of enslaved African Americans. It was named for the dark, fertile soil. Elsewhere poor whites were subsistence farmers. According to the 1860 census, enslaved Africans comprised 45 percent of the state's population of 964,201. There were only 2,690 free persons of color.

In 1861 Alabama seceded from the Union to join the Confederate States of America. While not many battles were fought in the state, Alabama contributed about 120,000 soldiers to the Civil War. All the slaves were freed by 1865. Following Reconstruction, Alabama was readmitted to the Union in 1868.

After the Civil War, the state was still chiefly rural and tied to cotton. Planters resisted working with free labor and sought to re-establish controls over African Americans. Whites used paramilitary groups, Jim Crow laws, and segregation to reduce the freedoms of African Americans and restore their own dominance.

In its new constitution of 1901, the elite-dominated legislature effectively disfranchised African Americans through voting restrictions. While the planter class had engaged poor whites in supporting these efforts, the new restrictions resulted in disfranchising poor whites as well. By 1941 more whites than blacks had been disfranchised, due mostly to the effects of the cumulative poll tax.

The damage to the African-American community was more pervasive, as nearly all its citizens lost the ability to vote. The shutout was long-lasting. The disfranchisement was ended only by federal legislation in the mid-1960s intended to protect their voting and civil rights. Such legislation also protected the rights of poor whites.

The rural-dominated legislature continued to underfund schools and services for African Americans in the segregated state but did not relieve them of paying taxes. Continued racial discrimination, agricultural depression, and the failure of the cotton crops due to boll weevil infestation led tens of thousands of African Americans to seek out opportunities elsewhere. They left Alabama in the early twentieth century as part of the Great Migration to industrial jobs and better futures in northern industrial cities. The rate of population growth rate in Alabama dropped by nearly half in the decade from 1910 to 1920, reflecting the outmigration.

At the same time, many rural whites and blacks migrated to the city of Birmingham for work in new industrial jobs. It experienced such rapid growth that it was nicknamed "The Magic City." By the 1920s, Birmingham was the 19th largest city in the United States and held more than 30 percent of the population of the state. Heavy industry and mining were the basis of the economy.

Despite massive population changes in the state from 1901 to 1961, the rural-dominated legislature refused to reapportion House and Senate seats based on population. They held on to old representation to maintain political and economic power in agricultural areas. In addition, the state legislature gerrymandered the few Birmingham legislative seats to ensure election by persons living outside Birmingham.

One result was that Jefferson County, home of Birmingham's industrial and economic powerhouse, contributed more than one-third of all tax revenue to the state, yet it received back only 1/67th of the tax money, as the state legislature ensured that taxes were distributed equally to each county, regardless of population. Urban interests were consistently underrepresented. A 1960 study noted that because of rural domination, "A minority of about 25 per cent of the total state population is in majority control of the Alabama legislature."

Because of the long disfranchisement of African Americans, the state continued as one-party Democratic for decades. Industrial development related to the demands of World War II brought prosperity. Cotton faded in importance as the state developed a manufacturing and service base. In the 1960s, under Governor George Wallace, many whites in the state opposed integration efforts.

Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, cases were filed in federal courts to force Alabama to properly redistrict by population both the state House and Senate. In 1972, for the first time since 1901, the Alabama constitution's provision for periodic redistricting based on population was implemented. This benefited the many urban areas that had developed.

After 1972, the state's white voters shifted much of their support to Republican candidates in presidential elections (as also occurred in neighboring southern states). Since 1990 the majority of whites in the state have also voted increasingly Republican in state elections.

Economy

Alabama's quarter depicting famous resident Helen Keller along with the longleaf pine branch and Camellia blossoms from the 50 State Quarters program. Released March 19, 2003.

According to the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis, the 2006 total gross state product was $160 billion, or $29,697 per capita for a ranking of 44th among states. Alabama's GDP increased 3.1 percent from 2005, placing Alabama number 23 in terms of state-level GDP growth. The single largest increase came in the area of durable goods manufacturing. In 1999, per capita income for the state was $18,189.

Alabama's agricultural outputs include poultry and eggs, cattle, plant nursery items, peanuts, cotton, grains such as corn and sorghum, vegetables, milk, soybeans, and peaches. Although known as "The Cotton State," Alabama ranks between eight and ten in national cotton production, according to various reports, with Texas, Georgia and Mississippi comprising the top three.

Alabama's industrial outputs include iron and steel products (including cast-iron and steel pipe); paper, lumber, and wood products; mining (mostly coal); plastic products; cars and trucks; and apparel. Also, Alabama produces aerospace and electronic products, mostly in the Huntsville area, which is home of the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center and the US Army Missile Command, headquartered at Redstone Arsenal.

Alabama is also home to the largest industrial growth corridor in the nation, including the surrounding states of Tennessee, Mississippi, Florida, and Georgia. Most of this growth is due to Alabama's rapidly expanding automotive manufacturing industry. In Alabama alone since 1993, it has generated more than 67,800 new jobs. Alabama currently ranks second in the nation behind Detroit in automobile output. With recent expansions at sites in Alabama, by early 2009 the state will surpass Detroit and become the largest builder of automobiles in North America.

In the 1970s and 1980s, Birmingham's economy was transformed by investments in biotechnology and medical research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and its adjacent hospital. The UAB Hospital is a Level I trauma center providing health care and breakthrough medical research. UAB is now the area's largest employer and the largest in Alabama, with a workforce of about 20,000. Health-care services provider HealthSouth is also headquartered in the city.

Birmingham is also a leading banking center, serving as home to two major banks: Regions Financial Corporation and Compass Bancshares. SouthTrust, another large bank headquartered in Birmingham, was acquired by Wachovia in 2004. The city still has major operations as one of the regional headquarters of Wachovia. In November 2006, Regions Financial merged with AmSouth Bancorporation, which was also headquartered in Birmingham. They formed the eightth Largest U. S. bank (by total assets). Nearly a dozen smaller banks are also headquartered there.

Telecommunications provider AT&T, formerly BellSouth, has a major presence with several large offices in the metropolitan area. Major insurance providers are headquartered in Birmingham and employ a large number of people. The city is also a powerhouse of construction and engineering companies.

The city of Mobile, Alabama's only saltwater port, is a busy seaport on the Gulf of Mexico with inland waterway access to the Midwest via the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. The Port of Mobile is the 10th largest by tonnage in the United States. In May 2007, a site north of Mobile was selected by German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp for a $3.7 billion steel production plant, with the promise of 2,700 permanent jobs.

File:Alabama.JPG

Alabama state welcome sign

Law and government

The State Capitol, built in 1850

State government

The foundational document for Alabama's government is the Alabama Constitution, which was ratified in 1901. It is the world's longest constitution and is roughly forty times the length of the U.S. Constitution. There is a significant movement to rewrite and modernize Alabama's constitution. This movement is based upon the fact that Alabama's constitution highly centralizes power in Montgomery and leaves practically no power in local hands. Any policy changes proposed around the state must be approved by the entire Alabama legislature and, frequently, by state referendum. One criticism of the current constitution claims that its complexity and length were intentional to codify segregation and racism.

Alabama is divided into three equal branches: The legislative branch consists of the House of Representatives, with 105 members, and the Senate, with 35 members. The executive branch is headed by the governor Other members of the executive branch include the cabinet, the attorney general, the secretary of state, the commissioner of agriculture and industries, the state treasurer, and the state auditor. The highest court is the Supreme Court of Alabama.

Local and county government

Alabama has 67 counties. Each county has its own elected legislative branch, usually called the County Commission, which usually also has executive authority in the county. Due to the restraints placed in the Alabama Constitution, all but seven counties (Jefferson, Lee, Mobile, Madison, Montgomery, Shelby, and Tuscaloosa) in the state have little to no home rule. Instead, most counties in the state must lobby the Local Legislation Committee of the state legislature to get simple local policies such as waste disposal to land use zoning.

Alabama is an alcoholic beverage control state; the government holds a monopoly on the sale of alcohol. However, counties can declare themselves "dry"; the state does not sell alcohol in those areas.

State politics

File:Bob Riley greeting soldiers in Birmingham, 19 Jan, 2004.jpg

Alabama Governor Bob Riley

The current governor of the state is Republican Bob Riley. The lieutenant governor is Jim Folsom Jr. The Democratic Party currently holds a large majority in both houses of the legislature. Due to the legislature's power to override a gubernatorial veto by a mere simple majority (most state legislatures require a two-thirds majority to override a veto), the relationship between the executive and legislative branches can be easily strained when different parties control the branches.

With the disfranchisement of African Americans, the state became part of the "Solid South," a one-party system in which the Democratic Party became essentially the only political party in every Southern state. For nearly 100 years, local and state elections in Alabama were decided in the Democratic Party primary, with generally only token Republican challengers.

In the 1986 Democratic primary election, the then-incumbent lieutenant governor lost the Democratic nomination for governor. The state Democratic Party invalidated the election and placed the lieutenant governor's name on the ballot as the Democratic candidate instead of the candidate chosen in the primary. The voters of the state revolted at what they perceived as disenfranchisement of their right to vote and elected Republican challenger Guy Hunt. This was the first Republican governor elected in Alabama since Reconstruction. Since then, Republicans have been increasingly elected to state offices until in 2006 Democrats were barely holding a majority in the state legislature. Since 1986, only one Democrat, Don Siegelman, has managed to win the governor's office. A corruption probe and eventual trial, the timing of which coincided with the 2006 state primary, relegated Siegelman to one term.

Alabama state politics gained nationwide and international attention in the 1950s and 1960s during the American Civil Rights Movement, when majority whites bureaucratically, and at times violently, resisted protests for electoral and social reform. George Wallace, the state's governor, remains a notorious and controversial figure. Only with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 did African Americans regain suffrage and other civil rights.

In 2007, the Alabama legislature passed, and the governor signed, a resolution expressing "profound regret" over slavery and its lingering impact. In a symbolic ceremony, the bill was signed in the Alabama State Capitol, which housed the Congress of the Confederate States of America.

National politics

Presidential elections results

Year	Republican	Democratic	State winner
2004	62.46% 1,176,394	36.84% 693,933	George W. Bush
2000	56.47% 944,409	41.59% 695,602	George W. Bush
1996	50.12% 769,044	43.16% 662,165	Bob Dole
1992	47.65% 804,283	40.88% 690,080	George Bush
1988	59.17% 815,576	39.86% 549,506	George Bush
1984	60.54% 872,849	38.28% 551,899	Ronald Reagan
1980	48.75% 654,192	47.45% 636,730	Ronald Reagan
1976	42.61% 504,070	55.73% 659,170	Jimmy Carter
1972	72.43% 728,701	25.54% 256,923	Richard Nixon
1968	13.99% 146,923	18.72% 196,579	George Wallace
1964	69.45% 479,085	30.55% 210,732	Barry Goldwater
1960	42.16% 237,981	56.39% 318,303	John F. Kennedy
*State won by George Wallace of the American Independent Party, at 65.86%, or 691,425 votes

From 1876 through 1956, Alabama supported only Democratic presidential candidates, by large margins. 1960 was a curious election. The Democrats won with John F. Kennedy on the ballot, but the Democratic electors from Alabama gave 6 of their 11 electoral votes as a protest to Harry Byrd. In 1964, Republican Barry Goldwater carried the state, in part because of his opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which restored the franchise for African Americans.

In the 1968 presidential election, Alabama supported native son and American Independent Party candidate George Wallace over both Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. In 1976, Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter from Georgia carried the state, the region, and the nation, but Democratic control of the region slipped after that.

Since 1980, conservative Alabama voters have increasingly voted for Republican candidates at the Federal level, especially in Presidential elections. By contrast, Democratic candidates have been elected to many state-level offices and comprise a longstanding majority in the Alabama Legislature.

In 2004, George W. Bush won Alabama's nine electoral votes by a margin of 25 percentage points with 62.5% of the vote, mostly white voters. The eleven counties that voted Democratic were Black Belt counties, where African Americans are the majority racial group.

The state's two U.S. senators are Jefferson B. Sessions III and Richard C. Shelby, both Republicans.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, the state is represented by seven members, five of whom are Republicans: (Jo Bonner, Terry Everett, Mike D. Rogers, Robert Aderholt, and Spencer Bachus) and two are Democrats: (Bud Cramer and Artur Davis).

Demographics

Alabama Population Density map

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1800	1,250		–
1810	9,046		623.7%
1820	127,901		1313.9%
1830	309,527		142.0%
1840	590,756		90.9%
1850	771,623		30.6%
1860	964,201		25.0%
1870	996,992		3.4%
1880	1,262,505		26.6%
1890	1,513,401		19.9%
1900	1,828,697		20.8%
1910	2,138,093		16.9%
1920	2,348,174		9.8%
1930	2,646,248		12.7%
1940	2,832,961		7.1%
1950	3,061,743		8.1%
1960	3,266,740		6.7%
1970	3,444,165		5.4%
1980	3,893,888		13.1%
1990	4,040,587		3.8%
2000	4,447,100		10.1%
Est. 2007	4,627,851		4.1%

As of 2005, Alabama has an estimated population of 4,557,808, which is an increase of 32,433, or 0.7%, from the prior year and an increase of 110,457, or 2.5%, since the year 2000. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 77,418 people (that is 319,544 births minus 242,126 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 36,457 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 25,936 people, and migration within the country produced a net increase of 10,521 people.

The state had 108,000 foreign-born (2.4 percent of the state population), of which an estimated 22.2 percent were illegal immigrants (24,000).

Race and ancestry

The racial makeup of the state and comparison to the prior census: The largest reported ancestry groups in Alabama: African American (26.0%), American (17.0%), English (7.8%), Irish (7.7%), German (5.7%), and Scots-Irish (2.0%). 'American' does not include those reported as Native American.

Religion

Alabama is located in the middle of the Bible Belt. In a 2007 survey, nearly 70 percent of respondents could name all four of the Christian Gospels. Of those who indicated a religious preference, 59 percent said they possessed a "full understanding" of their faith and needed no further learning. In a 2007 poll, 92 percent of Alabamians reported having at least some confidence in churches in the state. The Mobile area is notable for its large percentage of Catholics, owing to the area's unique early history under French and Spanish rule. Today, a huge percentage of Alabamians identify themselves as Protestants. The top two largest denominations in the state are the Baptists (40%), Methodists (10%).

Resources

• Anderson, William L., ed. 1991 Cherokee Removal, Before and After. Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press.
• Atkins, Leah Rawls, Wayne Flynt, William Warren Rogers, and David Ward. 1994. Alabama: The History of a Deep South State.
• Flynt, Wayne. 2004. Alabama in the Twentieth Century.
• Foreman, Grant. 1972. Indian Removal. Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press.
• Owen, Thomas M. 1921. History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, 4 vols.
• Jackson, Harvey H. 2004. Inside Alabama: A Personal History of My State.
• Mohl, Raymond A. "Latinization in the Heart of Dixie: Hispanics in Late-twentieth-century Alabama" Alabama Review 2002 55(4): 243-274. ISSN 0002-4341
• Peirce, Neal R. 1974. The Deep South States of America: People, Politics, and Power in the Seven Deep South States. Information on politics and economics 1960–72.
• Perdue, Theda, and Michael D. Green. 2005. The Cherokee Removal: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's Books.
• Somervill, Barbara A. 2008. Alabama. New York: Children's Press. ISBN 9780531185568
• Williams, Benjamin Buford. 1979. A Literary History of Alabama: The Nineteenth Century.

External links

• Alabama.gov – Official website.
• Alabama State Databases - Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Alabama state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association.
• Alabama Association of Regional Councils
• Energy Data & Statistics for Alabama- From the U.S. Department of Energy
• TourAlabama.org – Alabama Department of Tourism and Travel
• All About Alabama, at the Alabama Department of Archives and History site
• AlabamaMosaic, a digital repository of materials on Alabama's history, culture, places, and people
• Code of Alabama 1975 – at the Alabama Legislature site
• Alabama at the Open Directory Project
• USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of Alabama
• Alabama QuickFacts from the U.S. Census Bureau
• Alabama State Fact Sheet from the U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Alabama State Parks
• National Parks of Alabama
• Encyclopedia of Alabama

Template:Alabama Template:Confederate States of America Preceded by: Illinois List of U.S. states by date of statehood Admitted on December 14, 1819 (22nd) Succeeded by: Maine

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