Aug. 2, 1819

The U.S. Congress selected Huntsville to host the first Constitutional Convention of Alabama. Delegates to the convention drafted the document in Walker Allen’s cabinet shop from July 5 through Aug. 2, 1819. The building became a historic landmark, having served as the inauguration site of the state’s first governor, William Wyatt Bibb, and the meeting place for the newly created Alabama Legislature.

Read more at Encyclopedia of Alabama.

Map showing the state of Mississippi and the Alabama territory, From the Samuel Lewis atlas, 1817. (Francis Shallus, Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, Washington, D.C.)

Constitution Hall, shown here in this line drawing, was in Huntsville and the site where Alabama’s first state constitution was signed in 1819. A re-creation of the building now stands on the same site in the Alabama Constitution Village living-history park. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

In 1819, the Alabama Territorial Legislature approved the new state’s first constitution in Huntsville. Shown here is an image of the original title page of the document. (From Encyclopedia of Alabama, Courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History)

Constitution Village, Huntsville. (The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division)

For more on Alabama’s Bicentennial, visit Alabama 200.