View source for Alabama Territory

{{Short description|Territory of the US 1817-1819}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox Former subdivision
| native_name            = 
| conventional_long_name = Territory of Alabama
| common_name            = Alabama Territory
| nation                 = United States
| subdivision            = [[Organized incorporated territories of the United States|Organized incorporated territory]]|
| event_start            = 
| date_start             = December 10, 1817<ref name="TN">"An 1820 Claim to Congress: Alabama Territory: 1817"; ''The Intruders''; TNGenNet Inc.; 2001; quick webpage: [http://www.tngenweb.org/tnland/intruders/claim-537.html TN-537]</ref>
| year_start             = 1817
| event_end              = [[Alabama|Statehood]]
| date_end               = December 14, 1819<ref name=TN/>
| year_end               = 1819
| event_pre              = 
| date_pre               = |
| p1                     = Mississippi Territory
| flag_p1                = Star-Spangled Banner flag.svg
| s1                     = Alabama
| flag_s1                = US flag 23 stars.svg
| image_flag             = US flag 21 stars.svg
| image_coat             = 
| symbol                 = 
| symbol_type            = 
| image_map              = Mississippiterritory.PNG
| image_map_caption      = |
| stat_area1             = 
| stat_pop1              = 
| stat_year1             = 
| stat_area2             = 
| stat_pop2              = 
| stat_year2             = |
| capital                = [[St. Stephens, Alabama|St. Stephens]]
| government_type        = Organized incorporated territory
| title_leader           = [[List of Governors of Alabama|Governor]]
| leader1                = [[William Wyatt Bibb]]
| year_leader1           = 1817–1819
}}

The '''Territory of Alabama''' (sometimes '''Alabama Territory''') was an [[organized incorporated territory of the United States]]. The Alabama Territory was carved from the [[Mississippi Territory]] on August 15, 1817<ref>{{USStat|3|371}}</ref> and lasted until December 14, 1819, when it was admitted to the [[United States|Union]] as the twenty-second state.

==History==
The Alabama Territory[[#Notes|<sup>[n]</sup>]] was designated by two interdependent Acts of the [[United States Congress|Congress of the United States]], passed by both chambers, the [[United States Senate|Senate]] and the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] on March 1 and 3, 1817,<ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=003/llsl003.db&recNum=389 "An Act to enable the people of the western part of the Mississippi territory to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the union, on an equal footing with the original state"]</ref><ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=003/llsl003.db&recNum=412 "An Act to establish a separate territorial government for the eastern part of the Mississippi territory"]</ref> but it did not become effective until October 10, 1817.<ref name="TN"/><ref name="TLmiss">"Timeline 1811-1820" (events +sources); Algis Ratnikas; "Timelines of History"; 2007; webpage: [http://timelines.ws/1811_1820.HTML TimeLine Miss] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161116034912/http://timelines.ws/1811_1820.HTML |date=November 16, 2016 }}</ref><ref name="S50">"Statehood Dates"; 50states.com; 1998/2009; webpage: [http://www.50states.com/statehood.htm 50s-statehood]</ref> The delay was due to a provision in the Congressional Organic Act passed in Washington, which stated that the act would only take effect if and when the western part of the [[Mississippi Territory]] (1798–1817) were to form a state constitution and government on the road to statehood. A [[Constitution of Mississippi|state constitution for Mississippi]] was drawn up and adopted by Mississippian delegates on August 15, 1817, elections were held the next month in September, and the first legislative session convened in October,<ref name=TN/> with the western part of the [[Mississippi Territory]] existing since 1798 becoming the [[Mississippi|State of Mississippi]] on December 10, 1817.<ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=003/llsl003.db&recNum=513 "Resolution for the admission of the State of Mississippi into the Union"]</ref>

[[File:1817 Map of Mississippi and Alabama.jpeg|thumb|1817 era map of the former [[Mississippi Territory]] (1798-1817), of the [[southwestern United States]], showing the new U.S. state of [[Mississippi]] (to the west / left), and adjacent remaining Alabama Territory (on the east / right). At the bottom / south is the western panhandle of [[Spanish Florida]] and [[West Florida]] along the southern coast of the [[Gulf of Mexico]], part of the  American purchase of the future [[Florida Territory]] in 1819 and subsequent state of [[Florida]] by 1845.]]

[[St. Stephens, Alabama|St. Stephens]], located in the central area of the Alabama Territory on the [[Tombigbee River]], was the only [[territorial capital]] during the period. [[William Wyatt Bibb]] (1781–1820), formerly of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] was the only territorial governor, later elected to that position after achieving statehood.

On December 14, 1819, [[Alabama]] was admitted to the federal Union as the 22nd [[U.S. state|state]],<ref name="TLmiss"/><ref>[http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=003/llsl003.db&recNum=649 "Resolution declaring the admission of the state of Alabama into the Union"]</ref> with appointed territorial governor [[William W. Bibb]] (1781-1820), formerly of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|&Georgia]], becoming the elected first state governor (1819–1820).

==Territorial evolution of Alabama==

*Territories of the [[Spain|Kingdom of Spain]] and its worldwide [[Spanish Empire]] that would later become part of the future territories of Alabama:
**[[Spanish Florida|La Florida (Spanish Florida)]], 1565–1763
**[[West Florida|Florida Occidental (West Florida)]], 1783–1821
***[[Mobile District]]
*Possession of the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]] since 1763, in the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)]] ending the [[French and Indian War]] (1756–1763), (known as the [[Seven Years' War]] in Europe), until 1783, with the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)]] that the lands would later be ceded to become part of the newly independent [[United States]] after 1776,
*Organized as the old [[Southwest Territory]] or Territory of the Southwest [also then occasionally known as the "Territory South of the Ohio River"] (1790–1796), then later
*Reorganized and renamed as the [[Mississippi Territory]] (1798–1817), then the
*Territory of Alabama was carved out of the eastern half in 1817 until 1819:
*[[West Florida]], 1763–1783 (briefly possessed by Britain, acquired from Spain.
*[[U.S. state]]s that [[State cessions|ceded territorial claims]] that would later become part of the future [[Alabama|State of Alabama]]:
**[[State of South Carolina]], 1787
**[[Georgia (U.S. state)|State of Georgia]], 1802 (sold the disputed [[Yazoo lands]] to the U.S. Federal government)
*[[U.S. territories|U.S. territory]] with land that would later become part of the Territory of Alabama:
**[[Mississippi Territory]], 1798–1817
*U.S. state created from the Alabama Territory, 1817–1819:
**State of Alabama, December 14, 1819 to present

==See also==
{{Portal |Alabama|United States|History}}
*[[Historic regions of the United States]]
*[[History of Alabama]]
*[[Territorial evolution of the United States]]

==Notes==
{{Refbegin}}&nbsp; <small>[n]</small> - Name "Territory of Alabama" was often used in the time period, rather than "Alabama Territory".{{Refend}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
* Williams, Lewis et al.; [http://www.tngenweb.org/tnland/intruders/claim-537.html "An 1820 Claim to Congress: Alabama Territory : 1817."] Op. cit.: Gales & Seaton; ''American State Papers''; Washington: 1834; retrieved 21 February 2010.

== External links ==
*[https://archive.org/details/journalofconvent00alab Journal of the Convention of the Alabama territory, begun July 5, 1819] (a 1909 reprint)

{{Territories of the United States}}
{{Alabama}}
{{Coord|32|39|N|86|48|W|region:US|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alabama Territory}}
[[Category:Alabama Territory| ]]
[[Category:Mississippi Territory]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Alabama]]
[[Category:1817 establishments in Alabama Territory]]
[[Category:1819 disestablishments in the United States]]