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The Formative Period in Alabama, 1815-1828
The Formative Period in Alabama, 1815-1828 is a beautifully crafted history of the evolution of the state written by Thomas Perkins Abernethy in 1922. The work shows how Alabama grew out of the Mississippi Territory and discusses the economic and political development during the years just before and just after Alabama became a state.
Abernethy’s story begins when Alabama existed as the eastern part of the Mississippi Territory, settled primarily by Cherokees, Choctaws, and Creeks, a few traders, and some brave but foolhardy “squatters” who thought to supplant the Indians and carve out a home for themselves and their descendants from Indian territory. Friction with the Creeks escalated into war and, with their defeat at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, the successful move began to wrest land from the Indians for white settlement. The availability of good land, the promise of transportation of goods along the waterways, and the opening of the Federal Road brought rapid population growth to an area blessed (and cursed) with forceful leaders. Abernethy describes in detail the political maneuverings and economic strangleholds that created territorial division and turmoil in the early days of Alabama’s statehood.
Abernethy’s story begins when Alabama existed as the eastern part of the Mississippi Territory, settled primarily by Cherokees, Choctaws, and Creeks, a few traders, and some brave but foolhardy “squatters” who thought to supplant the Indians and carve out a home for themselves and their descendants from Indian territory. Friction with the Creeks escalated into war and, with their defeat at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, the successful move began to wrest land from the Indians for white settlement. The availability of good land, the promise of transportation of goods along the waterways, and the opening of the Federal Road brought rapid population growth to an area blessed (and cursed) with forceful leaders. Abernethy describes in detail the political maneuverings and economic strangleholds that created territorial division and turmoil in the early days of Alabama’s statehood.
232 pages, Paperback
First published October 30, 1995
About the author
Thomas Perkins Abernethy
17 books Thomas P. Abernethy, who died in December 1975, taught American history at the University of Virginia from 1930- 1961, holding the title of Richmond Alumni Professor. He had also taught at Vanderbilt University, Indiana University, the University of Alabama, and the University of Texas. A native of Alabama, he received the B.A. degree from The college of Charleston, the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University, and an honorary Litt.D from Washington and Lee University.
Abernethy’s previous publications include The Burr Conspiracy, Three Virginia Frontiers, Western Lands and the American Revolution, From Frontier to Plantation in Tennessee, and the Formative Period in Alabama.
Abernethy’s previous publications include The Burr Conspiracy, Three Virginia Frontiers, Western Lands and the American Revolution, From Frontier to Plantation in Tennessee, and the Formative Period in Alabama.
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October 16, 2011
(This review is based on the Google ebooks version of "The formative period in Alabama, 1815-1828", Issue 6, http://books.google.com/ebooks?id=Pms....)
It is amazing to discover what historians have cemented as truth based upon their own experiences. In my cynical decrepitude, I've almost totally lost that blissful ability to allow history to unfold before me in the pages of a book.
But Dr. Abernethy has given me something else. The rancorous analysis of the split between North Alabama and South Alabama before 1830 because of those inferior Madison county planters from Georgia, combined with the Yankee newspapermen (mostly described in, YES!, Madison county), and the greedy bankers originating from Tennessee in, YOU GUESSED IT!, Madison county was so absolutely...fabulous! I am literally wriggling with pleasure, even as I write.
Part of the enjoyment is because I live in Huntsville. I imagine myself going on field trips with my children to Twickenham and asking about those "Georgia scoundrels" in my best coastal southern accent.
Truthfully, there is a huge split between North and South Alabama politically. I'd always linked it to the Civil War (excuse me, War of Northern Aggression) in my mind. Politically, Dr. Abernethy links it to the presidential race between Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams. This is a good place to start, because it was an ugly, corrupt election.
For Alabama, Jackson was a bit of a hero...and a bit of a bogeyman. For Abernethy, he is all hero. After all, John Quincy Adams was [sharp intake of breath] a Yankee! But there were parts of North Alabama (where the large planters weren't) that Jackson considered his own personal playground. All he had to do was get rid of those pesky Indians, and he could grow his own grapes, raise his own horses, erect his own town (Melton's Bluff, in Lawrence county, Alabama), and generally have a grand old time!
Which brings me to some of the best portions of Abernethy's Harvard doctoral dissertation (which this reviewed work is): his statistics and maps. While Abernethy focuses on how planter society shaped the politics of Alabama leading to the Civil War, he also gives, unwittingly it seems, a window into how the underclasses of society would shape Alabama after the Civil War.
Abernethy refers to a "farmer" or "pioneer" class, which he doesn't emphasize as a power player in Alabama politics, but which he can't seem to ignore. It's almost as if he realizes they play a role, but they are so foreign to him as to be an unknown variable.
His maps that indicate the increasing percentages of slave populations in certain counties are also very telling. Indicative of his perspective is his attitude toward the slaves, whom he describes as if he, too, were a planter. As a financial burden, he details the problems that slaves gave their masters by running away or being untrustworthy.
I appreciate his detailed maps of agricultural areas of Alabama based on early surveys and his corresponding descriptions of migrations to each of the areas from Eastern states, combined with census statistics of residents of each Alabama county and their listed state of origin. To Abernethy, some states of origin seemed to indicate a political predisposition toward Whiggery.
One last thing I wanted to mention was something that Abernethy touched on in the first few paragraphs of his dissertation: he brings these events in Alabama directly into contact with world events. How I longed for that when I was taught history by those poor football coaches in high school!
It is amazing to discover what historians have cemented as truth based upon their own experiences. In my cynical decrepitude, I've almost totally lost that blissful ability to allow history to unfold before me in the pages of a book.
But Dr. Abernethy has given me something else. The rancorous analysis of the split between North Alabama and South Alabama before 1830 because of those inferior Madison county planters from Georgia, combined with the Yankee newspapermen (mostly described in, YES!, Madison county), and the greedy bankers originating from Tennessee in, YOU GUESSED IT!, Madison county was so absolutely...fabulous! I am literally wriggling with pleasure, even as I write.
Part of the enjoyment is because I live in Huntsville. I imagine myself going on field trips with my children to Twickenham and asking about those "Georgia scoundrels" in my best coastal southern accent.
Truthfully, there is a huge split between North and South Alabama politically. I'd always linked it to the Civil War (excuse me, War of Northern Aggression) in my mind. Politically, Dr. Abernethy links it to the presidential race between Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams. This is a good place to start, because it was an ugly, corrupt election.
For Alabama, Jackson was a bit of a hero...and a bit of a bogeyman. For Abernethy, he is all hero. After all, John Quincy Adams was [sharp intake of breath] a Yankee! But there were parts of North Alabama (where the large planters weren't) that Jackson considered his own personal playground. All he had to do was get rid of those pesky Indians, and he could grow his own grapes, raise his own horses, erect his own town (Melton's Bluff, in Lawrence county, Alabama), and generally have a grand old time!
Which brings me to some of the best portions of Abernethy's Harvard doctoral dissertation (which this reviewed work is): his statistics and maps. While Abernethy focuses on how planter society shaped the politics of Alabama leading to the Civil War, he also gives, unwittingly it seems, a window into how the underclasses of society would shape Alabama after the Civil War.
Abernethy refers to a "farmer" or "pioneer" class, which he doesn't emphasize as a power player in Alabama politics, but which he can't seem to ignore. It's almost as if he realizes they play a role, but they are so foreign to him as to be an unknown variable.
His maps that indicate the increasing percentages of slave populations in certain counties are also very telling. Indicative of his perspective is his attitude toward the slaves, whom he describes as if he, too, were a planter. As a financial burden, he details the problems that slaves gave their masters by running away or being untrustworthy.
I appreciate his detailed maps of agricultural areas of Alabama based on early surveys and his corresponding descriptions of migrations to each of the areas from Eastern states, combined with census statistics of residents of each Alabama county and their listed state of origin. To Abernethy, some states of origin seemed to indicate a political predisposition toward Whiggery.
One last thing I wanted to mention was something that Abernethy touched on in the first few paragraphs of his dissertation: he brings these events in Alabama directly into contact with world events. How I longed for that when I was taught history by those poor football coaches in high school!
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