1. Lesson 3 (page 92) The defeat of the Indians in 1814 encouraged more settlers to move into Alabama. The desire to move to Alabama was called Alabama Fever. Most of the people coming to Alabama came from the south.

2. Lesson 3 (pages 92-93) Whole communities and family groups often moved to Alabama together. Pioneers liked to settle in areas near people they knew. Pioneers needed good land to grow crops, and river bottoms were flat and fertile. The river would allow them to ship their farm products to market. If they were not on the river, they selected homesteads with a spring.

3. Pioneer Life…

4. Lesson 3 (page 94) Many Creeks operated stagecoach inns, or stands, along the Federal Road. They made money by providing places for travelers to sleep and eat. Thomas Hamilton traveled down the Federal Road in 1831 and said the road “was the very worst I have ever traveled in the whole course of my travels. The ruts were axle-deep, and huge crevices occasionally occurred, in which, but for great strategy on the part of the coachman, the vehicle must have been engulfed.”

5. Lesson 3 (page 95) Settlers either purchased their land or simply lived on it, not bothering with a legal title. Government surveyors had to survey and plot the land into townships and sections before it could be sold. Pioneers who settled on frontier land the did not own were called squatters. They were often poor people who did not have enough cash to spend on land.

6. Lesson 3 (page 96) In 1817 an unusual group of settlers arrived at the white bluffs on the Tombigbee River. The settlers were Frenchmen who had supported Napoleon I. When Napoleon was defeated and no longer emperor, he was banished, or sent out of the country to live. Some of his supporters came to America.

7. Lesson 3 (page 97) The French planted grape vines and olive trees, but they were NOT farmers. Grapes and olive trees did not grow well in the Canebrake, so after 15 years of trying the French families gave up. They went down the river to Mobile or to New Orleans, where city life was more comfortable for them.

8. Lesson 3 (page 98) The large number of people moving into Alabama increased the population. Soon the Alabama portion of the Mississippi Territory would have more people than the Mississippi area. So the territory was divided. In 1817 Mississippi became a state, and Alabama became a territory. Alabama was only a territory for 2 years. In 1819 Alabama petitioned Congress for statehood.

9. Mississippi Statehood/Alabama Territory

10. Lesson 3 (pages 99-100) Before Alabama could become a state they had to write a constitution. What is a constitution? Finally, on December 14, 1819 Alabama became a state.

11. Alabama became a state  1819

12. TIMELOG 101 What year did the American Revolution begin? What year did the U.S. win its independence? How many years was it from the beginning of the American Revolution to the U.S. finally getting its independence?