Alabama Alabama. This article is about the U S State for other meanings see disambiguation.
Jeff Sessions R.
Alabama is a state located in the southern United States.
 History.Main article History of Alabama
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 B C A D 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 Southern Alabama was French from part of British West Florida from and part of Spanish West Florida from Northern and central Alabama was part of British Georgia from and part of the American Mississippi territory thereafter Its statehood delayed by the lack of a coastline rectified when Andrew Jackson captured Spanish Mobile in Alabama became the state in.
The state of Alabama seceded from the Union on January and became the Alabama Republic and on February became a Confederate state While not many battles were fought in the state it contributed about soldiers to the Civil War After the war a provisional government was set up in and Alabama was officially readmitted to the Union on July.
The cradle of the Confederacy during the Civil War Alabama was at stage center in the civil rights movement of the and.
 Law and government.Main article Law and Government of Alabama
 Local amp County Government.Alabama has counties each having 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 counties Jefferson Lee Mobile Madison Montgomery Shelby and Tuscaloosa in the state have little to no home rule Instead most counties in the state have to lobby to the Local Legislation Committee the state legislature to get simple local policies such as waste disposal to land use zoning.
 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 Alabama Constitution was adopted in.
During Reconstruction following the American Civil War Alabama was occupied by federal troops of the Third Military District under General John Pope In the Reconstruction period ended with the recognition of Rutherford B Hayes as President elect White Southerners assumed control of the government and 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 years local and state elections in Alabama were decided in the Democratic Party primary with generally no Republican challenger running.
From through Alabama supported only Democratic presidential candidates by margins as high as percentage points In Alabama gave most of its electoral votes to segregationist candidate Harry F Byrd In the national Republican Party began to win more votes in the South by following a Southern Strategy which emphasized states' rights and the increasing liberalism of the national Democratic Party The first such candidate was conservative Barry Goldwater who became the first Republican candidate supported by Alabama In Alabama supported native son and American Independent Party Segregationist candidate George Wallace.
The last Democratic candidate to win Alabama's votes in a presidential election was Southerner Jimmy Carter in Today the Republican party has become increasingly dominant in conservative Alabama politics However in local politics.