Alabama

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Alabama is the 30th largest state in the United States with 52,423 square miles of total area. 3.19% of that is water, making Alabama 23rd in the amount of surface water, and the second largest inland waterway system in the United States. About three-fifths of the land area is a gentle plain with a general decline towards the Mississippi River and 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. The lowest point east of the Mississippi River lies in Dekalb County along a creek cutting tower ridges, and creating Buck's Pocket State Park. Another natural wonder is "Land Bridge" the longest natural bridge span east of the Mississippi River. Alabama generally ranges in elevation from sea level at Mobile Bay, to a little more than 1,800 feet in the Appalachian mountains in the northeast. The highest point is Mount Cheaha.

Other U.S. 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.

National Parks include: Horseshoe Bend National Military Park in Daviston; Little River Canyon National Preserve in Fort Payne; Russell Cave National Monument in Bridgeport; Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Tuskegee; and Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site near Tuskegee.

Alabama also contains sections of the Natchez Trace Parkway, the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail, and the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.

History

The memory of the Native American presence is particularly strong in Alabama. Among Native American people once living in present 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 BC-A.D. 700) and continued until European contact. Meso-American influence is evident in the agrarian Mississippian culture that followed.

The French established the first European settlement in the state with the establishment of Mobile in 1702. Southern Alabama was French from 17021763, part of British West Florida from 17631780, and part of Spanish West Florida from 17801814. Northern and central Alabama was part of British Georgia from 17631783 and part of the American Mississippi territory thereafter. Its statehood was delayed by the lack of a coastline (rectified when Andrew Jackson captured Spanish Mobile in 1814). Alabama became the 22nd state in 1819.

The state of Alabama seceded from the Union on January 11, 1861 and became a Confederate state, known as the Alabama Republic on February 18 1861. While not many battles were fought in the state, Alabama contributed about 120,000 soldiers to the Civil War. After the war a provisional government was set up in 1865, and Alabama was officially readmitted to the Union on July 14 1868.

Alabama was the cradle of the Confederacy during the Civil War and played stage center in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Demographics

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% of the state population), of which an estimated 22.2% were illegal aliens (24,000).

Race and ancestry

The racial makeup of the state and comparison to the prior according to the 2000 census: 71.1% white, 26.0% black, 0.7% Asian, 0.5% Amerindian, 0.7% other and 1.7% white (of any race).

The largest reported ancestry groups in Alabama: American (17.0%), English (7.8%), Irish (7.7%), German (5.7%), and Scotch-Irish (2.0%). 'American' includes those reported as Native American or African American.

Religion

Alabama is part of the Bible Belt, in which evangelicals and fundamentalists are predominant. There is a strong Catholic presence along the Gulf Coast. The major denominations are:

Economy

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the 2003 total gross state product was $132 billion. The per capita income for the state was $26,505 in 2003. Alabama's agricultural outputs include poultry and eggs, [attle, 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 eighth and tenth in national cotton production, according to various reports [1][2], with Texas, Georgia and Mississippi comprising the top three. Its 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.

The city of Mobile is a busy seaport on the Gulf of Mexico with inland waterway access to the Midwest via the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.

Alabama levies a 2, 4 or 5 percent personal income tax, depending upon the amount earned and filing status. The state's sales general tax rate is 4 percent. The collection rate could be substantially higher, depending upon additional city and county sales taxes. The corporate income tax rate is currently 6.5%.

Transportation

Alabama has four major interstate roads that cross it: I-65 runs north-south rough through the middle of the state; I-59/I-20 travels form the central west border to the north-east corner of the state; and I-85 goes from the border of Georgia and ends in Montgomery, providing a main thoroughfare to Atlanta.

Major airports in Alabama include Birmingham International Airport (BHM), Dothan Regional Airport (DHN), Huntsville International Airport (HSV), Mobile Regional Airport (MOB), Muscle Shoals - Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL), and Tuscaloosa Municipal Airport (TCL).

Law and government

Main article: Law and Government of Alabama

Local and county government

Alabama has 67 counties. Each county has its own elected legislative branch, usually called the Board of Commissioners, which usually also has executive authority in the county. Due to the restraints placed in the Alabama Constitution, all but 7 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.

Political climate

The current governor of the state is Bob Riley and the two U.S. senators are Jefferson B. Sessions III and Richard C. Shelby (all three from the Republican Party). The current state constitution was adopted in 1901.

During Reconstruction following the American Civil War, Alabama was occupied by federal troops of the Third Military District under General John Pope. In 1874 the Redeemers took control of the state government from the Republicans. After 1890 a coalition of whites passed laws to segregate and disenfranchise black residents. 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 no Republican challenger running.

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 gave most of their electoral votes as a protest to someone else. In 1964, Barry Goldwater swept the state in reaction to the Civil Rights Law of 1964. However Republican candidates rarely won state or local elections until the 1980s. In 1968, Alabama supported native son and American Independent Party candidate George Wallace, who defeated both Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. The Republican Southern Strategy failed in 1976 as Jimmy Carter won the state, the region, and the nation in 1976. Today, the Republican party has become increasingly dominant in conservative Alabama politics. However, in local politics, Democrats still control many offices. Democrats have majorities in both houses of the Legislature, and registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the state.

In 2004, George W. Bush won Alabama's nine electoral votes by a margin of 25 percentage points with 62.5% of the vote. The only 11 counties voting Democratic were Black Belt counties, where African Americans are in the majority. Template:See

According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, Alabama requires sex education classes to emphasize "that homosexuality is not an acceptable lifestyle to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under the laws of the state." While the mandate is not typically enforced in Alabama classrooms, it is unclear whether or not the official requirements have changed since the Supreme Court's ruling in Lawrence v. Texas. According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2000, Alabama was home to 4,561 same-sex male couples and 4,167 same-sex female couples.

Notes

¹ The phrase The Heart of Dixie is required by state law to be included on standard state vehicle license plates, but has recently been reduced to a very small size and eclipsed by the phrase Stars Fell on Alabama.

References

  • Atkins, Leah Rawls, Wayne Flynt, William Warren Rogers, and David Ward. Alabama: The History of a Deep South State (1994)
  • Flynt, Wayne. Alabama in the Twentieth Century (2004)
  • Owen Thomas M. History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography 4 vols. 1921.
  • Jackson, Harvey H. Inside Alabama: A Personal History of My State (2004)
  • 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. The Deep South States of America: People, Politics, and Power in the Seven Deep South States (1974). Information on politics and economics 1960-72.
  • Williams, Benjamin Buford. A Literary History of Alabama: The Nineteenth Century 1979.
  • WPA. Guide to Alabama (1939)
  • for a detailed bibliography see History of Alabama

External links