Chapter Overview

Chapter/Alabama : Alabama Special Report

Chapter Overview

Alabama Special Report: The Early Years, Beginnings to 1877

This chapter follows the development of the area of Alabama from early Native American settlements through Reconstruction after the Civil War.

Section 1 describes the conflicts that began to arise between European explorers and the Native American groups in what is today Alabama. The earliest inhabitants to Alabama migrated in about 7000 B.C. and gradually developed from nomads to farmers with a sophisticated culture. In the mid-1500s Spanish explorers came to the area and clashed with the natives in bloody battles. The Spaniards were forced to retreat, however, and the area did not see Europeans until more than a century later when the French came in search of new territories to colonize. They settled along the Mississippi River including the region that is today Alabama and established such towns as Mobile and New Orleans. At the end of the French and Indian war, France was forced to surrender the area east of Mississippi to England. The British rule didn't last long, though. When the Revolutionary War ended in 1783, most of what is today Alabama became part of the new United States of America.

Section 2 discusses how Alabama achieved statehood and struggled with the issue of slavery. After the Revolutionary War, several different parties made claims to assert their authority in Alabama. At the same time, tensions between the United States and Britain were high, and after Native Americans attacked American forces, the United States, believing that the British were aiding Native Americans, declared war against Britain. While the United States and Britain were fighting in the North, the Native Americans and Americans clashed in the South. Despite the Native American victories early on in the war, the U.S. troops forced the natives to surrender. At the end of the War of 1812, all of the area that is today Alabama was part of the United States. The flood of settlers to the Mississippi Territory after the war made it possible for the Alabama region to qualify for statehood. As the number of newcomers to the newly established state rose, premium land grew scarce. As a resolution, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which called for any Native American groups living east of the Mississippi to move west. In the mid-1800s, slavery became a heated issue between the Northern and Southern states. After Abraham Lincoln, who opposed the spread of slavery, won the presidential election in 1860, Alabama voted to secede from the Union.

Section 3 examines the various ways Alabama contributed to the Confederacy during the Civil War. Shortly after Alabama had declared secession, delegates from seven southern states, including Alabama, agreed to form their own nation-the Confederate States of America. When the Civil War broke out, several states of the Upper South joined the Confederacy, and the capital of the Confederacy was moved from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia. Despite the disappointing move of the capital, Alabamians continued to hold important roles in both the Confederate government and the military. In April of 1862, Union troops marched into northern Alabama, which set off a flow of refugees to the southern part of the state. Those who decided to stay, mainly women with young children, assisted in the war effort the best they could. Keeping families clothed and fed in the occupied Alabama was a constant struggle. The Union troops interrupted supplies to Alabama by dismantling railroads, which made life even more difficult. The Union victories over Mobile and Selma crippled Confederate trade and the supply of weapons. With Lee's surrender to Grant in April of 1865, the Civil War ended, and Alabamians were left to overcome the devastation and changes the war brought.

Section 4 details Reconstruction in Alabama. The Civil War left Alabama's economy in shambles. At the same time, thousands of African Americans were freedmen. In June of 1865, President Andrew Johnson issued a proclamation for Alabama in which he described the steps the state would need to take in order to rejoin the Union. Alabama's constitutional convention fulfilled two of the requirements of Johnson's plan. After the elections in Alabama, the newly elected legislature ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, the third requirement for readmission, but at the same time it enacted laws restricting the freedom of African Americans, called black codes. Angered by the black codes, congressional Republicans passed the Civil Rights Act and ratified the Fourteenth Amendment. Already earlier Congress had established The Freedmen's Bureau to assist African Americans with the transition from slavery to freedom. Republicans also passed the Military Reconstruction Act, which called for every Confederate state to hold a new constitutional convention and ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. In June of 1868, Alabama's legislature approved the Fourteenth Amendment and the state was readmitted to the Union. In order to weaken the Republican Party, the most radical Alabamians joined the Ku Klux Klan. Many Democrats voiced their concern about Republican corruption. With the Democratic victory of the 1874 election, it was evident that Reconstruction in Alabama was coming to an end.