Encyclopedia
Alabama is a
U.S. state located in the
Southern United States.
Geography
Alabama is the 30
th largest state in the United States with 52,423 square miles of total area. 3.19% of that 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 decline towards 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. 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.. Trade with the Northeast via the
Ohio River began during the Burial Mound Period and continued until
European contact. Meso-American influence is evident in the agrarian
Mississippian culture that followed.
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 British Georgia from 1763 to 1783 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 was the twenty-second state admitted to the Union, in 1819.
The economy of the central "Black Belt " featured large rich slave plantations that grew cotton, with
Texas,
Georgia and
Mississippi comprising the top three.
Alabama's
industrial outputs include
iron and
steel products ;
paper,
lumber, and
wood products;
mining ;
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.
Also, the city of
Mobile is a busy seaport on the
Gulf of Mexico, and 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 five major interstate roads that cross it:
I-65 runs north-south roughly through the middle of the state; I-59/I-20 travels from the central west border to Birmingham, where
I-59 continues to the north-east corner of the state and
I-20 continues east;
I-85 goes from the border of Georgia and ends in Montgomery, providing a main thoroughfare to Atlanta; and
I-10 traverses the southernmost portion of the state, running from west to east through Mobile. Another interstate road,
I-22, is currently under construction. When completed , it will connect Birmingham with
Memphis, Tennessee.
Major airports in Alabama include Birmingham International Airport , Dothan Regional Airport ,
Huntsville International Airport , Mobile Regional Airport , Muscle Shoals - Northwest Alabama Regional Airport , and Tuscaloosa Regional Airport .
Law and government
State government
Alabama's government is supervised by the Alabama Constitution, which was ratified in 1901. At more than 770 amendments and 310,000 words, it is the world's longest constitution and is roughly forty times the length of the
U.S. Constitution.
Alabama is divided into three co-equal branches:
The
legislative branch is the
Alabama Legislature, a
bicameral assembly composed of the
Alabama House of Representatives, with 105 members, and the
Alabama Senate, with 35 members. The Legislature is responsible for writing, debating, passing, or defeating state legislation.
The executive branch is responsible for the execution and oversight of laws. It is headed by the Governor of Alabama. Other members of executive branch include the cabinet, the Attorney General of Alabama, the Alabama Secretary of State, the Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, the Alabama State Treasurer, and the Alabama State Auditor.
The judicial branch is responsible for interpreting the Constitution and applying the law in state criminal and civil cases. 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 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 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.
State politics
The current governor of the state is Bob Riley. The lieutenant governor is
Lucy Baxley. 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 , the relationship between the executive and legislative branches can be easily strained when different parties control both branches.
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. It was not until the 1980s that Republicans began to successfully challenge and win elections in local and state offices.
Alabama state politics gained nationwide and international attention in the 1950s and 1960s during the
American Civil Rights Movement, when it bureaucratically, and at times, violently resisted protests for electoral and social reform. This ended up hurting Alabama's image and making it out to be a hotbed for racism. The state's governor during the period,
George Wallace, remains a notorious and controversial figure.
Federal politics
Presidential elections results
| Year | Republican | Democrat |
|---|
| 2004 | 62.46% 1,176,394 | 36.84% 693,933 |
| 2000 | 56.47% 944,409 | 41.59% 695,602 |
| 1996 | 50.12% 769,044 | 43.16% 662,165 |
| 1992 | 47.65% 804,283 | 40.88% 690,080 |
| 1988 | 59.17% 815,576 | 39.86% 549,506 |
| 1984 | 60.54% 872,849 | 38.28% 551,899 |
| 1980 | 48.75% 654,192 | 47.45% 636,730 |
| 1976 | 42.61% 504,070 | 55.73% 659,170 |
| 1972 | 72.43% 728,701 | 25.54% 256,923 |
| 1968* | 13.99% 146,923 | 18.72% 196,579 |
| 1964 | 69.45% 479,085 | 30.55% 210,732 |
| 1960 | 42.16% 237,981 | 56.39% 318,303 |
*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 gave most of their electoral votes as a protest to someone else. In
1964, Republican
Barry Goldwater carried the state. 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 carried the state, the region, and the nation, but Democratic control of the region slipped thereafter. Since 1980, the Republican party has become increasingly dominant in Alabama's federal elections. In local politics, by contrast, Democrats still control many offices, such as their large and long standing 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. The only 11 counties voting Democratic were Black Belt counties, where
African Americans are in the majority. Alabama is one of the most
conservative states in the country;
Shelby County, in suburban Birmingham, and the city of
San Francisco,
California are the closest pair of greatly populated areas to being political polar opposites. In 2004, Bush won Shelby County, and
John Kerry won San Francisco, each with approximately 80% of the vote. Although it must be said, the above mentioned black belt counties voted the most Democratic in the country, giving 97% of the vote to Kerry.
The state's two current
U.S. senators are
Jefferson B. Sessions III and
Richard C. Shelby, both from the Republican Party.
In the
U.S. House of Representatives, the state is represented by seven members, five of whom are Republicans, and two Democrats. The Representatives are
Jo Bonner,
Terry Everett,
Mike D. Rogers,
Robert Aderholt,
Bud Cramer,
Spencer Bachus, and
Artur Davis.
Important cities and towns
In order of populationCities 200,000+
Cities 150,000-200,000
Cities 65,000-150,000
Cities 50,000-65,000
Cities 35,000-50,000
Cities 20,000-35,000
...
- 28,936
...
- 27,622
The first white settlers in the area now known as Opelika arrived in the late 1830s and established a...
- 23,483
Metropolitan and Combined Statistical Areas
Also see Alabama's Metropolitan Areas.MSAs 1,000,000+
MSAs 500,000 - 1,000,000
MSAs 300,000 - 500,000
- Huntsville Metropolitan Area - 342,376
- Montgomery Metropolitan Area - 333,055
MSAs 150,000 - 300,000
- Tuscaloosa Metropolitan Area - 164,875
MSAs 100,000 - 150,000
Education
Colleges and Universities
...
...
- Jefferson State Community College System
- Jefferson State Community College at Jefferson Campus
- Jefferson State Community College at Shelby Campus
- Jefferson State Community College at Pell City Campus
- Judson College
- Miles College
- Oakwood College
- Regions University
- Remington College
- Samford University
- Selma University
- Southeastern Bible College
| Spring Hill CollegeStillman CollegeStrayer UniversityTalladega CollegeTroy University System- Main Campus
- Troy University at Dothan
- Troy University at Montgomery
- Troy University at Phenix City
Tuskegee UniversityUnited States Sports AcademyUniversity of Alabama System
...
...
|
Miscellaneous topics
¹ The phrase
The Heart of Dixie is a nickname for the Southern United States [i]. ...
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.
The rock band
Lyn 
