1802 Georgia formally cedes western claims for its southern boundary at the 31st parallel. 1803 Louisiana Purchase from France gives U.S. immense new territory and port of New Orleans. 1803 .. 1811 Federal Road conceived and built connecting Milledgeville, Georgia, and Fort Stoddert, an American outpost north of Mobile. 1805 .. 1806 Indian cessions opened up to white settlement large portions of western (Choctaw) and northern (Chickasaw and Cherokee) Alabama. 1810 West Florida, from Pearl River to the Mississippi, annexed by U.S. from Spain. 1811 .. 1812 Schools established at St. Stephens (Washington Academy, 1811) and Huntsville (Green Academy, 1812). 1811 .. 1816 Newspapers established in Mobile (Centinel, May 23, 1811; Gazette, 1812) and Huntsville (Alabama Republican, 1816). 1812 .. 1815 War of 1812 between U.S. and Great Britain. April 1813: U.S. annexes West Florida, from the Pearl River to the Perdido River, from Spain; Spanish surrender Mobile to American forces (April 15). September 15, 1814: British attack on Fort Bowyer on Mobile Point fails, prompting them to abandon plans to capture Mobile and turn towards New Orleans. February 11, 1815: British forces take Fort Bowyer on return from defeat at New Orleans, then abandon upon learning that the war is over. 1813 .. 1814 Creek Indian War, a part of the War of 1812, fought largely within the boundaries of present-day Alabama. Andrew Jackson of Tennessee becomes a military hero as he leads U.S. forces against the "Red Stick" Creeks. 2007 Archives Week Art July 27, 1813: Battle of Burnt Corn Creek August 30, 1813: Fort Mims Massacre 2007 Archives Week Art November 3, 1813: Battle of Tallushatchee November 9, 1813: Battle of Talladega November 12, 1813: The Canoe Fight 2007 Archives Week Art November 18, 1813: Hillabee Massacre November 29, 1813: Battle of Autosse December 23, 1813: Battle of Holy Ground (Econochaca) January 22, 1814: Battle of Emuckfau Creek January 24, 1814: Battle of Enitachopco January 27, 1814: Battle of Calabee Creek March 27, 1814: Battle of Horseshoe Bend (Tohopeka) 2007 Archives Week Art August 9, 1814: Treaty of Fort Jackson finalized; 23 million acres of Creek territory ceded to the United States, opening up half of the present state of Alabama to white settlement. 2007 Archives Week Art 1817 March 3: The Alabama Territory is created when Congress passes the enabling act allowing the division of the Mississippi Territory and the admission of Mississippi into the union as a state. 1818 Janurary 19: The first legislature of the Alabama Territory convenes at the Douglass Hotel in the territorial capital of St. Stephens. The Alabama, the area's first steamboat, constructed in St. Stephens. Cedar Creek Furnace, the state's first blast furnace and commerical pig-iron producer, established in present-day Franklin County. November 21: Cahaba designated by the territorial legislature as Alabama's state capital. Huntsville would serve temporarily as state capital. 1819 March 2: President Monroe signs the Alabama enabling act. 2007 Archives Week Art July 5 - August 2: Constitutional Convention meets in Huntsville and adopts state constitution. September 20-21: The first general election for governor, members of Congress, legislators, court clerks, and sheriffs is held as specified by state constitution. Territorial governor William Wyatt Bibb is elected the state's first governor. 2007 Archives Week Art October 25 - December 17: General Assembly [legislature] meets in Huntsville while the Cahaba capitol is constructed. October 28: Legislature elects William Rufus King and John W. Walker as Alabama's first U.S. senators. December 14: Alabama enters Union as 22nd state. 2007 Archives Week Art 1820 1820 Federal Census: Alabama population=144,317 White population=96,245 African-American population=48,082 Slave population=47,449 Free black population=633 Urban population=n/a Rural population=n/a 1820 May 8: The Alabama Supreme Court, composed of Alabama's circuit court judges, convenes for the first time. July 10: Gov. William Wyatt Bibb dies as a result of injuries received in a riding accident. His younger brother Thomas Bibb, president of the state senate, automatically becomes governor, as required by the state constitution October 22: The steamboat Harriet reaches Montgomery after ten days of travel from Mobile. This was the first successful attempt to navigate so far north on the Alabama River, and it opened river trade between Montgomery and Mobile. 1822 December: Legislature charters Athens Female Academy, which later becomes Athens State University. 1825 French general and American Revolution hero, the Marquis de Lafayette, tours Alabama at Gov. Israel Pickens' invitation. 1826 Capital moved to Tuscaloosa. 1830 1830 Federal Census: Alabama population=309,527 White population=190,406 African-American population=119,121 Slave population=117,549 Free black population=1,572 Urban population=3,194 Rural population=306,333. January 19: LaGrange College chartered by legislature; eventually becomes the University of North Alabama. The college actually opened its doors to students on January 11, 1830. 1830 .. 1838 President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Bill approved by Congress (1830); land cession treaties follow between the U.S. and each of the Indian peoples with a presence in Alabama, each of whom cede their remaining lands east of the Mississippi in exchange for western lands. September 27, 1830: Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek (Choctaw) March 24, 1832: Treaty of Cusseta (Creek) October 20, 1832: Treaty of Pontotoc (Chickasaw) December 29, 1835: Treaty of New Echota (Cherokee) May 1838: Alabama Indians moved to the western lands in the "Trail of Tears". 2007 Archives Week Art 1831 Nat Turner slave insurrection in Virginia. April 18: University of Alabama formally opens its doors. 1832 Bell Factory (Madison County), state's first textile mill, chartered by legislature. June 12: Alabama's first railroad, the Tuscumbia Railway, opens, running the two miles from Tuscumbia Landing at the Tennessee River to Tuscumbia. 2007 Archives Week Art 1833 November 12-13: A fantastic meteor shower causes this night to be known as “the night stars fell on Alabama.” 2007 Archives Week Art Daniel Pratt establishes cotton gin factory north of Montgomery; his company town, Prattville (founded 1839), would become a manufacturing center in the antebellum South. 1835 Alabama gold rush, concentrated in east-central hill country, begins; peaks the next year. Dr. James Marion Sims, "the Father of Modern Gynecology," establishes medical practice in Mt. Meigs, then in nearby Montgomery (1840). He moved on to New York in 1853 to found renowned Woman's Hospital. 1836 Texas War for Independence from Mexico. 1836 .. 1837 Second Creek War (Seminole War); Battle of Hobdy's Bridge last Indian battle in Alabama (1837). 1839 January 7: Judson Female Institute, a Baptist college, opens in Marion; renamed Judson College in 1903. January 26: State prison established by legislature; first convict incarcerated in 1842. 1840 1840 Federal Census: State population=590,756 White population=335,185 African-American population=255,571 Slave population=253,532 Free black population=2,039 Urban population=12,672 Rural population=578,084. 1844 Methodist Episcopal Church, South, established as Methodists split nationally over sectional issues. 1845 .. 1848 U.S. annexes Texas; war with Mexico follows. Alabamians volunteered in large numbers to fight, but only the 1st Alabama regiment, a battalion, and several independent companies actually were received into federal service. 1846 January 21: Legislature selects Montgomery as new capital; begins its first session there December 6, 1847. 2007 Archives Week Art 1849 December 14: On the thirtieth anniversary of statehood the capitol in Montgomery is destroyed by fire. Construction of new capitol completed in 1851. 2007 Archives Week Art 2007 Archives Week Art 1850 1850 Federal Census: State population=771,623. White population=426,514 African-American population=345,109 Slave population=342,844 Free black population=2,265 Urban population=35,179 Rural population=736,444 Cotton production in bales=564,429 Corn production in bushels=28,754,048 Number of manufacturing establishments=1,026. 1852 February 6: Alabama Insane Hospital established at Tuscaloosa; received first patient in 1861. Its first director, Dr. Peter Bryce, became renowned for his innovative and humane treatment of patients. Running on ticket with Democratic presidential nominee Franklin Pierce, Alabama Senator William Rufus King is elected Vice President of United States. Inaugurated March 24, 1853, in Cuba, where he had gone to recover his failing health, King died April 18, 1853, at home in Selma, never formally serving as Vice President. 1854 February 15: Alabama Public School Act creates first state-wide education system by providing funding for schools and establishing office of State Superintendent of Education. 2007 Archives Week Art 1856 Alabama Coal Mining Company begins first systematic underground mining in the state near Montevallo. East Alabama Male College established at Auburn by Methodists; evolved into Auburn University. 1858 October 4: Alabama School for the Deaf founded in Talladega; evolved into the state-supported Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind. 2007 Archives Week Art 1860 1860 Federal Census: State population=964,201. White population=526,271 African-American population=437,770 Slave population=435,080 Free black population=2,690 Urban population=48,901 Rural population=915,300 Cotton production in bales=989,955 Corn production in bushels=33,226,282 Number of manufacturing establishments=1,459. 2007 Archives Week Art November: Abraham Lincoln, Republican candidate (although not on Alabama ballot), elected President of the U.S.

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