USA > Alabama > The formative period in Alabama, 1815-1828 > Part 4
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Such members as had represented eastern districts in the legislature of Mississippi Territory were empowered to meet at St. Stephens to set the new government in motion. There on January 19, 1818, the first session was held.
St. Stephens stood at the head of schooner navigation on the Tombigbee. In 1811 it consisted of three houses; four
17 Statutes at Large. TII, 490.
1% Ibid., III, 371-372.
19 Tompkins, Charles Tor, 12-16; Tait Papers, J. W. Walker to C. Tait, Jan. 18, 1817.
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39
THE DIVISION OF THE TERRITORY
years later it boasted of nine; and in 1816 the number had grown to forty."" In two rooms in Douglas Hotel, hired for the purpose, the legislature met.21 The House con- sisted of about thirteen members who elected Gabriel Moore their speaker. The Council had but one member, James Titus, who had been president of the old Council. Not to be abashed by the situation, he convened with all due cer- emony, dispatched business, and adjourned from day to day.2:
In his message, the Governor recommended the promotion of education and internal improvements, but added that the latter object could hardly be accomplished without the aid of the Federal Government. Accordingly, a memorial asking for assistance in this matter was drawn up by the legislature and sent to Washington. The legislation accomplished at this session included the establishment of new counties; the in- corporation of a steamboat company, an academy, and a bank at St. Stephens ; and the repeal of the law fixing a maximum rate of interest which could be charged on loans. Thereaf- ter, any percentage agreed upon between the contracting par- ties and stated in writing would be legal. Six men were nom- inated from whom the President was to select three for the Executive Council, and a commission was appointed to report to the next session of the legislature on a favorable site for the permanent seat of the Territorial Government.23
It was during the territorial period of Alabama that the Seminole War broke out upon the Florida frontier. Several white settlers were killed by the restive Indians and militia was rushed to the seat of disturbance. Though troops were sta- tioned at several points in Alabama, and a certain amount of fighting took place within her borders, the struggle went on primarily in Florida. The storm stirred up by Jackson's un- authorized attack upon Pensacola and by the hanging of Ar- buthnot and Ambrister belong to National rather than to State history.
Alabama was not greatly affected by these events and the tide of immigration moved on undisturbed. Among those who came in about this time was a party of Frenchmen, sup- porters of Napoleon, fleeing from the Bourbons who had been
2" Jackson Papers, A. P. Hayne to Andrew Jackson, Nov. 27, 1816.
21 Meek MS., The Alabama Territory.
22 Pickett, History of Alabama, 615; Monette, History of Mississippi Valley, 446-447.
23 Pickett, History ); Alabama, 615-617
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
returned to power. They had moved to America in a body and formed an association with headquarters at Philadelphia. Inquiring for land where the vine and the olive might be grown, their attention had been directed to Alabama. At their request, Congress agreed to sell two townships of land at the confluence of the Black Warrior and the Tombigbee. Here a town was laid out and a settlement established. A number of Napoleon's famous generals, including Grouchy, Desnoettes, Clausel, and l'Allemand, were concerned in the enterprise. Log cabins and agriculture were less familiar to them than the sword, and the vine and olive did not flourish upon the Tombigbee. Though the town of Demopolis owes its beginning to these refugees, most of them finally gave up the attempted settlement. Some returned to their native land when conditions made that possible, others took up their abode among the native population.2+
24 J. S. Reeves, The Napoleonic Exiles in Johns Hopkins University Studies, XXIII, 525-656.
CHAPTER V.
ALABAMA BECOMES A STATE.
So rapid had been the growth of population in Alabama during 1817 and 1818 that, when the second session of the legislature met at St. Stephens in November of the latter year, transition to statehood was expected within a short while. Preparations for this event consequently absorbed the atten- tion of the assembly.
A petition to Congress praying that the Territory might be admitted to the Union as a state was drawn up by the legis- lature and sent by John W. Walker, the speaker of the House, to his friend, Senator Tait, of Georgia,1 who presented it to the Senate. But the matter was not allowed to rest here. A census of the Territory had been taken, and the legislature proceeded to apportion the representatives for the constitu- tional convention. On this question considerable difficulty arose. Madison was the most populous county in the Terri- tory and the members from the southern counties attempted to reduce the representation of the Tennessee Valley region by providing that no county could have more than a given number of seats in the convention. This was strongly oppos- ed by members from the northern counties and they finally carried their point, securing a proportional representation. But in order to accomplish this it became necessary for them to accept a rider to the apportionment bill providing for the location of the seat of government in the southern part of the Territory.2
As was stated in the last chapter, the first session of the Territorial legislature appointed a committee which was to report on a suitable site for the seat of government. At the second session, Governor Bibb, who was on the committee and seems to have taken the entire responsibility of the choice upon himself, reported in favor of locating the capital at the junction of the Cahawba and Alabama Rivers." This
1 Tait Papers, J. W. Walker to C. Tait, Nov. 11, 1818.
2 Tait Papers, J. W. Walker to C. Tait, Nov. 9, 1818, and Nov. 15, 1818.
3 Tait Papers, W. W. Bibb to C. Tait, Sept. 19, 1818.
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
was the location forced upon the northern members by means of the rider.
The place selected, while convenient for all those who lived on the rivers of southern Alabama, was quite out of communi- cation with the Tennessee Valley, and naturally was opposed by the men from that section. In giving their consent to the bill which established this location, the representatives from the northern counties were making a substantial concession, but, by way of compensation, they secured a provision that Huntsville should be the temporary seat of government until a town could be laid out and buildings erected at Cahawba.
Walker kept Tait posted on all these proceedings. He sent him a copy of the apportionment bill, stating that the Senate was expected to distribute the seats in the constitutional con- vention accordingly, and that Huntsville should be the place of meeting.+ John Crowell had been sent to Washington as Territorial delegate, but his finger is to be seen in none of these transactions. Indeed, Walker wrote to Tait that he did not hold a very high opinion of the delegate,5 and there is ev- idence to show that Crowell, in so far as he was able to bring any weight to bear, opposed the plans of Walker and Tait." However, the Senator from Georgia succeeded in getting his enabling act through as desired, and it was signed on March 2, 1819.ª The convention was to meet in Huntsville on the first Monday in July, Madison County securing eight dele- gates against four for the next largest county. Provision was made for granting to the new State the sixteenth section of land in each township for the use of schools ; all salt springs within her borders; three per cent. of the proceeds of all sales of public lands within the State to be applied in the construc- tion of roads; two townships for the use of a seminary of learning ; and 1620 acres at the junction of the Cahawba and Alabama Rivers where the seat of government was to be laid out.
Among the men elected to the convention were some who had had experience in the public affairs of the states from
+ Tait Papers. J. W. Walker to C. Tait, Nov. (?), 1818.
5 Ibid., J. W. Walker to C. Tait, Feb. 8, 1819.
" Huntsville Republican, Feb. 6, 1819. The editor states that Mr. Crowell said that he remonstrated before a Congressional Committee in regard to the admission of Alabama, and that this remonstrance was likely against the rule of representation for the Constitutional Conven- tion as adopted by the Alabama Legislature.
" Statutes at Large, III, 489-492.
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ALABAMA BECOMES A STATE
which they came. Three former Congressmen and two su- preme court judges from North Carolina sat in the body along with a number of others who had seen less conspicuous public service.` Nor was it considered incongruous that Sam Dale, the most notable pioneer and Indian fighter of the Alabama country, should sit among them. On the whole, the members seem to have been selected quietly and with the intention of securing the best available men. From among their number six governors, six state supreme court judges, and six United States Senators were later selected."
The convention assembled at Huntsville on July 5, 1819, and John W. Walker was elected to preside. A committee of fifteen was instructed to draw up and submit a frame of gov- ernment; no journal was kept of the proceedings of this com- mittee. The instrument of government which was prepared was accepted by the convention with practically no amend- ments, so that we know very little concerning the process by which the constitution was framed.1º It was modeled large- ly after that of Mississippi and the striking feature is that it made the legislature superior to the other branches of gov- ernment. The Governor's vote could be over-ridden by a ma- jority of those elected to each House of the legislature, and all State judges were elected by a joint vote of that body. These judges held office during good behaviour, but could be remov- ed on an address to the Governor adopted by a two-thirds vote of the legislature. The heads of the executive depart- ments,-the Secretary of State, the Treasurer and Comptrol- ler, the Attorney General,-were elected by a joint vote of the general assembly, it being the duty of the first of these to keep a record of the acts of the Governor and to lay the same be- fore the assembly.
The social and political temper of the convention may be judged from the constitutional provisions in regard to suf- frage and representation. All white, adult males who were citizens of the United States and who had resided for a year in the State were given the right to vote. Representation, both in the Senate and in the House, was to be apportioned according to the white population, nor was there any proper- ty qualification for representatives. Slaves were to be grant-
Tompkins, Charles Tait, 12-16; Tait Papers, J. W. Walker to C. Tait, Jan. 18, 1817.
: Thomas, Birth of the Constitution of Alabama, 4-5.
10 Journal of the Constitutional Convention of 1819.
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
ed trial by jury in cases more serious than petty larceny, and in case of personal injury to a slave, the offending party should be punished just as though the person injured had been a white man. The legislature was given no power to emanci- pate slaves without the consent of their owners; but owners might secure the emancipation of their slaves, and the legis- lature might prohibit the bringing of slaves into the State as merchandise.
The constitution provided that a State bank might be es- tablished with as many branches as the legislature might di- rect, but no branch was to be established nor bank charter re- newed except by a two-thirds vote of each House, nor could more than one branch be established or bank charter renew- ed at any one session of the general assembly. It was also provided that the banks already existing might become branches of the State bank by agreement between them and the assembly, in which case, however, they were bound by the same rules as applied to other branches. And in all such banks and branches, it was necessary that two-fifths of the stock and a proportional representation in the directory be reserved to the State.11
It was provided that the first session of the general as- sembly should meet at Huntsville, and after that it was to meet at Cahawba until 1825. The first session which should meet in that year would have power, without the consent of the Governor, to designate a permanent seat of government, but if this were not done, the seat was to remain permanently at Cahawba.
The general assembly might, by a two-thirds vote of each House, propose amendments to the constitution. These had to be published three months before the next general election of representatives; and if a majority of votes were cast in favor, the next session of the assembly might incorporate them into the constitution by a two-thirds vote of each House. Thus the initiative as well as the final action in changing the constitution was in the hands of the legislature.
This instrument of government was, judged by the stand- ards of the time, liberal. In the older states, restricted suf- frage, discrimination between religious denominations. un- equal representation, and imprisonment for debt, were still common. In Alabama, imprisonment for debt was to be for-
11 Constitution of Alal ama, 1819.
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ALABAMA BECOMES A STATE
bidden, slaves were to be treated as liberally as circumstances seemed to warrant, nor was any interest or section to be given special weight in the councils of the State. It is significant that the slave holder was given no advantage over the non- slave holder in the matter of suffrage and representation.
All this looks like pioneer democracy as it came to be under- stood under Andrew Jackson. But there was a difference. Manhood suffrage meant a government by the people, but once they had voted, their power passed to a remarkable de- gree into the hands of their representatives. The legislature controlled the executive and the judiciary and dominated in the matter of constitutional amendment. Pure Jacksonian democracy would not have consented to a bench elected by the legislature and holding office during good behaviour. Though the government was framed along liberal lines, the conserva- tive element was strongly marked. Instead of reserving as much power as possible to the hands of the people, it was placed in the hands of those whom the people should choose to represent them.
The convention made provision for the election of repre- sentatives and officials under the new government, and the constitution went into effect without submission to the peo- ple.12 It served Alabama until the War of Secession with but three amendments.
In the selection of officials, the contest for the governor- ship and for the Federal judgeship are of especial interest in that they foreshadow political alignments that were of more than temporary importance. Bibb, the Territorial governor, was at first the only candidate for the governorship. Later Marmaduke Williams, of Tuscaloosa, came out against him. Bibb lived in the southern section of Alabama and his choice of Cahawba as the seat of government had provoked strong opposition in the northern section.13 Of course, there was no chance of locating the capital in the Tennessee Valley, but Tuscaloosa was accessible to that section by way of the Jones Valley Route. This town, though within a few miles of the Mississippi line, was also fairly easy of access from the south- ern part of Alabama, because of its situation on navigable water and on the thoroughfare between the two sections of the State. The Tennessee Valley region united with the Black Warrior and upper Tombigbee regions in support of
12 Constitution of 1:19, Schedule, section 7.
13 Tait Papers, W. W. Bibb to C. Tait, Sept. 19, 1818.
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
this place as the logical seat of government, and Williams was fitted to express this sentiment. Bibb was the stronger candidate, however, and his influence with the National gov- ernment would likely prove of much use to the new State. He was supported by conservative men and carried two counties in the Tennessee Valley, but, aside from this, the line which separates the waters of the Black Warrior and Tombigbee from the waters of the Alabama was the line which separated the supporters of Bibb from those of Williams.14 The elec- tion was won by Bibb.
The first general assembly of the State met at Huntsville in October, and one of its most important duties was to elect the two United States Senators. There was an understanding that one was to come from the south and one from the north, each section being ready to vote for the candidate put forward by the other. The choice of the Tennessee Valley easily fell upon John W. Walker, nor did it take the Alabama and Tom- bigbee section long to decide on William R. King.15 This gentleman had represented North Carolina in Congress dur- ing those exciting days when the second war with England was decided upon, and he had been of the "war hawks." He had later served as secretary of legation to William Pinckney at Naples and St. Petersburg, and a long political career now awaited him in Alabama.16
Because of the agreement between the two sections, the choice of the Senators passed off quietly enough in the legis- lature, but there was commotion below the surface. Tait, after his valuable services to Alabama in the United States Senate, had returned to private life and taken up his residence in the southern part of the new State. It was not natural that he should be passed over in the matter of political preferment, and he had at least one friend who did not intend that he should be overlooked. That friend was William H. Crawford!, Secretary of the Treasury. Crawford and Tait had become fast friends while teaching together in Augusta, and they lat- er came to be political allies.
The Secretary was anxious for Tait to be sent to the Sen- ate from Alabama,17 and Tait would not have objected. But Walker and his friends in the north could not further this am-
14 House Journal, 1819, 37.
15 Tait Papers, J. W. Walker to C. Tait, Aug. 7, 1819.
16 Pickett, History of Alabama, 641-647.
17 Tait Papers, W. H. Crawford to C. Tait, Nov. 7, 1819.
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ALABAMA BECOMES A STATE
bition, for the south was choosing its own candidate, and it chose King. Tait indicated that his second choice would be for the Federal judgeship in Alabama,' but there was another candidate for this place also. Toulmin had been Federal judge for Alabama Territory and it was natural that he should expect to retain his place when Alabama became a state. William Crawford, of Alabama, had applied to Gov- ernor Bibb for the appointment, and Bibb had recommended him to the Secretary of the Treasury; but when the Alabama Crawford heard that Tait wanted the position, he withdrew his request.19 Bibb then recommended Tait to the Secre- tary,20 and by this time Walker was in Washington and able to help his friend. He went to the President with the matter, and the appointment was easily put through, Monroe answering a letter from Toulmin to the effect that he could do nothing for him.21
Crawford was in control of the patronage of Alabama and put his friends into office wherever he could. He even of- fered a land office receivership to King in order to get him out of the way of Tait's senatorial ambitions. This situation naturally aroused the antagonism of those who sought office in vain, and tended to unite all elements against the men from Georgia who were strongest numerically in the neighborhood of Montgomery County, but who constituted a powerful minority in Huntsville and other towns. Denunciation of the "Georgia faction" became common, and the Georgia men, see- ing the danger in this, did what they could to allay it, even securing the appointment of some outsiders to office,=> But here was a political situation which cast a long shadow down the early history of Alabama.
During the first session of the general assembly, there oc- curred another event which will serve to complete the politi- cal picture of Alabama in 1819. General Jackson came to Huntsville with his horses to take part in some racing. Such an occasion could not be passed over in silence and the legis- lature took the opportunity to celebrate.23 A resolution ad- mitting the General within the bar of both Houses was passed,
18 Walker Papers, H. Toulmin to J. W. Walker, Feb. 21. 1819.
19 Walker Papers, C. Tait to J. W. Walker, Nov. 19, 1819.
20 Tait Papers. W. H. Crawford to C. Tait, Nov. 29, 1819.
21 Ibid., J. W. Walker to C. Tait. Dec. 20, 1819.
22 Walker Papers, C. Tait to J. W. Walker. Oct. 9. 1819; Tait Papers, W. H. Crawford to C. Tait. Nov. 7, 1819, and Nov. 29, 1819.
23 Pickett, History of Aleb una, 661-662.
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THE FORMATIVE PERIOD IN ALABAMA
and another approving his course in the Seminole War was introduced. This latter resolution read as follows : "And.be it further resolved that this General Assembly do highly dis- approve of the late attempt made by some members of the Congress of the United States at the last session to censure the military course of this inestimable officer from motives (as we believe) other than patriotic." It was carried in the House by a majority of twenty-seven to twenty-one; five counties, two in the north and three in the south, going against it, ten well scattered counties voting in favor of it and six splitting their vote equally.2+
This, on the surface, does not appear to be a very decisive affair. But James G. Birney, who lived in Huntsville in the days before he became a leader of abolitionists and who was now a member of the assembly, signed his political death war- rant in Alabama by opposing Jackson on this occasion."" The same is true of most of the others who took a similar course. Jacksonism had not been an issue when the assembly was elected and many got seats whose opinions would have de- barred them at a later time.
But such men as Birney had strong company. Governor Bibb wrote to Tait concerning Jackson's attack on Pensacola in the Seminole War as follows :
· "Government has done right respecting the occupation of Florida, except in apologies for Genl. Jackson. In that they have erred (according to my judgment) most egregiously. They will gain nothing by it with his friends, and lose much with the thinking part of the nation. Not a moment should have been lost in arresting the Genl. and thereby showing a just regard to the preservation of our constitution. No man should be permitted in a free country to usurp the whole pow- ers of the whole government and to thwart with contempt all authority except that of his own will."2";
Walker showed a different spirit. He wrote to Tait :
"I fear we think too much alike about some things touch- ing the Seminole War. I would to God they were undone. He is a great man with great defects. One cannot help lov- ing or blaming him. But I follow your exemplary course-
2+ House Journal, 1819, 45.
25 Birney's Birney, 40.
26 Tait Papers. W. W. Bibb to C. Tait, Sept. 19, 1818.
#7 Ibid., J. W. Walker to C. Tait, Jan. 19, 1819.
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ALABAMA BECOMES A STATE
and perhaps go further : when I cannot praise I try to be si- lent."27
As for the opinion of the more eminent friends of these Alabama leaders, Crawford expressed his very clearly in a let- ter to Governor Holmes, of the Mississippi Territory, in 1818. He said : "Persons so regardless of our laws as those engaged in the expedition against Pensacola deserve their severest penalties, and you may rely upon my exertions to bring them to punishment."""
Calhoun, Crawford's colleague in the Cabinet as Secretary of War, wrote to Tait palliating the conduct of Jackson and upholding the course of the Administration.2?'
But there was evidently trouble ahead in Alabama for those who did not uphold "The General."
28 Mississippi Transcripts, W. H. Crawford to Gov. Holmes, April 22. 1818.
29 Tait Papers, J. C. Calhoun to C. Tait, Sept. 5, 1818.
CHAPTER VI.
THE PUBLIC LANDS
As previously stated, when the War of 1812 and the blockade of our coast cut off cotton from its British market, the price fell to a low figure in America, while it rose in England. With the return of peace, this condition was reversed. English mills bought heavily to make up for lost time, and the price went up with a bound, averaging nearly thirty cents a pound for 1816. This situation would hardly have been expected to last, and the next year the market fell off to an average of about twenty- seven cents. At these figures the production of the staple was distinctly profitable, and planters began to move out in large numbers to the new lands in Alabama. But 1818 proved to be an exceptional year. Instead of continuing to fall off, the price of cotton now rose to the unprecedented average of about thirty-four cents a pound.1 A rush to the western lands resulted and prices ranging from fifty to a hundred dollars an acre were paid for farms. lying in a virgin wilder- ness.
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