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QUESTIONS

1. Give the boundaries of Alabama. 2. Describe its principal rivers. 3. Describe the surface of the State. 4. What is its area, and into what belts is it divided? 5. Give the extent, describe the soil, and name the farm products of the cereal belt; of the mineral belt. 6. Sketch the causes that delayed mineral development. 7. Give an account of the beginning of mineral development. 8. Tell the early history of Birmingham. 9. Describe the growth and prosperity of the city. 10. Name the principal industries of Birmingham. 11. What advantages has the city? 12. Describe "Greater Birmingham." 13. Give the extent and describe the soil and people of the cotton belt. 14. Give a word-picture of a typical farm. 15. Describe social life in the cotton belt. 16. What crops are being raised? 17. Sketch the history of Montgomery. 18. Give the extent and name the products of the timber belt. 19. What is said of the cement industry?

ALABAMA IN POLITICS

CHAPTER XXVII

From West Florida to Statehood (1763-1819)

1. Under English and Spanish Rule.-The Treaty of Paris in 1763 gave to England all of Spanish Florida and all French territory east of the Missis

1763

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sippi river, except the Isiand of Orleans, on which is the city of New Orleans.

The Ling of England divided Florida into two

1763

Feb.,

1764

Oct. 7, provinces, East Florida and West Florida, which were separated by the Appalachicola river. He fixed the northern boundary of West Florida on the line of 31° north latitude, but finding that Natchez and other settlements were north of this parallel, he made 32° 28′ the northern boundary-line. West Florida then extended to the Mississippi river and embraced a large portion of southern Alabama, while the province of Illinois embraced the larger section of the northern territory of the State. The dividing line began at the mouth of the Yazoo river, and passed eastward a little south of Demopolis, a little north of Montgomery, and south of Wetumpka.

1765

to 1783

During the Revolutionary War, West Florida was loyal to Great Britain. The Spanish subjects in Louisiana had for several years sided neither with the American colonists nor with the British; but Oliver Pollock, of New Orleans, had regularly aided the Americans and their friends in Louisiana. It is said that on his journey to Mobile with Captain James Willing he distributed many copies of the Declaration of Independence. Captain Willing had tried in vain along the Mississippi river to arouse interest in the American cause. He was captured at Tensaw and put in irons until exchanged for Colonel Hamilton, of Detroit, in 1779.

The supplies from New Orleans to the Americans show that although the Spaniards who held the city pretended to be neutral, yet they wished a check on the British conquerors in the southern colonies. France openly made known her interest in the cause of American independence. England declared war

against her. Spain offered to be a peacemaker. England rejected the offers, and declared war against Spain. The king of Spain, angry because his offer had not been accepted, recognized American independence; he ordered Galvez, the young and gallant colonel in command at New Orleans, to drive the English from Louisiana and Florida. By right of his conquest, Spain occupied West Florida.

1781

1783

2. Overlapping Claims.-In 1783, at the Treaty of Sept. 3, Paris, England acknowledged the independence of the American colonies, and agreed that their southern boundary should be the line of 31° north latitude. England transferred West Florida to Spain without defining its limits. Spain then claimed the country to 32° 28', as that was the northern boundary of West Florida under British control. This overlapping of claims caused trouble between Spain and the United States for many years. Finally, by the Treaty of Madrid, the United States secured an agreement that the boundary should be the line of 31° north latitude from the Mississippi river eastward to the Chattahoochee. In this same treaty Spain agreed to open the Mississippi river to American trade and to allow the Americans to store mer chandise in warehouses at its mouth.

1795

1798

Andrew Ellicott, a civil engineer, began making a survey along the parallel of 31° on April 11, 1798. Apr. 11, He started near the Mississippi. The next year he finished the survey to St. Stephens, and in 1800 completed it to the Chattahoochee. The Spaniards were much astonished when Ellicott's line showed St. Stephens to be in the United States. Spanish gen

Apr. 7,

1798

1798 to

1801.

tlemen living in the town were very angry, and rather than live under American government moved down to Mobile so as to be within Spanish territory.

Georgia claimed the country that afterwards formed the Mississippi Territory, except a twelvemile strip along the northern portion, which belonged to South Carolina. In 1785, it established Houstoun county out of its portion of present Alabama lying north of the Tennessee river. The Georgia legislature made laws

for the rascally sale of
large tracts of land in the
territory which afterward
formed a part of Alabama.
These sales, known as
the "Yazoo Sale," did
scarcely anything more
than advertise the excel-
lent soil and climate.
When it became known
that they had been dis-
honestly made, there was
great excitement. The next legislature repealed the
law.

[graphic]

Winthrop Sargent

3. Mississippi Territory Formed. That portion of our country lying between latitude 31° and 32° 28' north, and stretching from the Mississippi river to the Chattahoochee, was formed into the Mississippi Territory by act of Congress, approved April 7, 1798. 4. Governor Sargent.-President John Adams appointed Winthrop Sargent, of Massachusetts, the first governor of the Mississippi Territory.

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