Alabama, state, United States: Government, Politics, and Higher Education

Alabama's constitution, adopted in 1901, provides for an elected governor and a bicameral legislature that is made up of a 35-member senate and a 105-member house of representatives. The state elects two senators and seven representatives to the U.S. Congress and has nine electoral votes.

Alabama politics was dominated by the Democratic party from Reconstruction until the 1980s, but since then the governorship has alternated regularly between both parties, although Republicans have dominated over the last two decades.

Among Alabama's educational institutions are the Univ. of Alabama, at Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, and Huntsville; Auburn Univ., at Auburn; Birmingham-Southern College and Howard College, at Birmingham; Huntingdon College, at Montgomery; the Univ. of Montevallo, at Montevallo; and Tuskegee Univ., at Tuskegee.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• The Integration Years to the Present
• Industrialization
• Civil War and Reconstruction
• Early History to Statehood
• Government, Politics, and Higher Education
• Economy
• Geography
• Facts and Figures

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