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TALOSIG, DAHL A. March 9, 2012

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT/ PS0931 Prof. Johnelyn Tangpus

ALABAMA

Alabama is a State located in southern-central of United States with an area of 51,701

sq mi (133,905 sq km). In the Alabama language, the word for an Alabama person is Albaamo

(or variously Albaama or Albamo in different dialects; the plural form "Alabama persons" is

Albaamaha). The word Alabama is believed to have originated from the Choctaw language and

was later adopted by the Alabama tribe as their name. As of 2010, the states population has

reached 4,779,736. The capital city is Montgomery. It is bordered by Tennessee, Georgia,

Florida, and Mississippi; the Gulf of Mexico lies to the southwest. The Alabama Territory was

created in 1817, and statehood was granted in 1819.

The Alabama Constitution, which was ratified in 1901, is the foundational document for

Alabamas government. It considered being the worlds longest constitution and is roughly forty

times the length of the U.S. Constitution (has reached almost 800 amendments and 310,000

words). There is a significant movement to rewrite and modernize Alabama's constitution. This

movement is based upon the fact that Alabama's constitution highly centralizes power in

Montgomery and leaves practically no power in local hands. Any policy changes proposed

around the state must be approved by the entire Alabama legislature by state referendum. One

criticism of the current constitution claims that its complexity and length were intentional to

codify segregation and racism.

Alabama is divided into three equal branches: The legislative branch is the Alabama

Legislature, a bicameral assembly composed of the Alabama House of Representatives, with

105 members, and the Alabama Senate, with 35 members. The Legislature is responsible for

writing, debating, passing, or defeating state legislation. The executive branch, on the other

hand, is responsible for the execution and oversight of laws. It is headed by the Governor of

Alabama. Other members of executive branch include the cabinet, the Attorney General of

Alabama, the Alabama Secretary of State, the Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and

Industries, the Alabama State Treasurer, and the State Auditor of Alabama. Finally, the judicialbranch is responsible for interpreting the Constitution and applying the law in state criminal

and civil cases. The highest court is the Supreme Court of Alabama.

The current governor of the state is Republican Robert Bentley. The lieutenant

governor is Republican Kay Ivey. The Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court is Democrat

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Sue Bell Cobb. The Republican Party currently holds a majority in both houses of the

Legislature.

During Reconstruction following the American Civil War, Alabama was occupied by

federal troops of the Third Military District under General John Pope. In 1874, the political

coalition known as the Redeemers took control of the state government from the Republicans,

in part by suppressing the African American vote. After 1890, a coalition of whites passed laws

to segregate and disenfranchise black residents, a process completed in provisions of the 1901

constitution. However, provisions which disfranchised African Americans also disfranchised

poor whites. By 1941 more whites than blacks had been disfranchised and almost almost all of

its citizens were disfranchised.

Alabama state politics gained nationwide and international attention in the 1950s and

1960s during the American Civil Rights Movement, when majority whites bureaucratically, and

at times, violently resisted protests for electoral and social reform. Democrat George Wallace,the state's only four-term governor, was a controversial figure. Only with the passage of the

Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 did African-Americans regain

suffrage and other civil rights.

With the disfranchisement of African Americans, the state became part of the "Solid

South", a system in which the Democratic Party became essentially the only political party in

every Southern state. For nearly 100 years, local and state elections in Alabama were decided

in the Democratic Party primary, with generally only token Republican challengers running in

the General Election.

ALABAMAS POLITICAL CULTURE

Basically, developments in the 1986 Democratic primary election led to the election of

the first Republican Governor in more than a century and started Republicans on the road to

political dominance in the state. The incident where the Democratic partys five-member

election committee invalidated the primary election result claiming that thousands of

Republicans had "illegally" voted in the Democratic primary for Attorney General Charles

Graddick and as a result they removed Graddick from the ballot. The Democratic Party then

placed Bill Baxley's name on the ballot as the Democratic candidate instead of Graddick. The

voters of the state revolted at what they perceived as disenfranchisement of their right to

vote and elected the Republican challenger, Guy Hunt, as Governor . That November Hunt

became the first Republican Governor elected in Alabama since Reconstruction when he won

57% of the vote state-wide against Baxley. Since then, voters of Alabama have been

consistently in favour of the Republican Party.

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Subsequently in the years of 1986, Republicans have won six of the seven

gubernatorial elections and become increasingly competitive in Alabama politics at many

levels. They currently control both seats in the U.S. Senate and six out of the state's seven

congressional seats. Republicans hold all nine seats on the Alabama Supreme Court and all ten

seats on the state appellate courts. Until 1994, no Republicans held any of the court seats. Thischange also began due to the same perception by voters of Democratic Party efforts to

disenfranchise voters again in 1994. Today, Republicans also hold all seven of the state-wide

elected executive branch offices. Republicans also hold six of the eight elected seats on the

Alabama State Board of Education. In 2010, Republicans took large majorities of both

chambers of the state legislature giving them control of that body for the first time in 136

years. However, Democrats hold one of the three seats on the Alabama Public Service

Commission.

Since 1980, conservative Alabama voters have increasingly voted for Republican

candidates at the Federal level, especially in Presidential elections. In 2004, George W. Bush

won Alabama's nine electoral votes by a margin of 25 percentage points with 62.5% of the vote,

mostly white voters.

The state's two U.S. senators are Jefferson B. Sessions III and Richard C. Shelby, both

Republicans. In the U.S. House of Representatives, the state is represented by seven members,

six of whom are Republicans: Jo Bonner, Mike D. Rogers, Robert Aderholt, Morris J. Brooks,

Martha Roby, and Spencer Bachus; and one Democrat: Terri Sewell.

In the context ofreligion, Alabama is located in the middle of the Bible Belt, a region of

high Christian adherence. Alabama has been identified as one of the most religious states in

the US, with about 58% of the population attending church regularly . A majority of people in

the state identify as Protestant. As of 2000, the three largest denominational groups in

Alabama are Evangelical Protestant, Mainline Protestant, and Catholic.

In view of the forgoing, the facts mentioned above would clearly explain why people of

Alabama consistently support the Republicans. Basically, they are in favour of the Republicans

for the reason that they want equal justice and highly demand for protection of their freedom

especially in their right to vote. Another is their strong affiliation in church. As mentioned

above, Alabama is one of the most religious states in the US, thus Republican ideology ofconservatism further promotes preservation of their beliefs in tradition, particularly religious

tradition.