# 1654 - 1976 13c State Flags: Alabama

U.S. 1654
1976 Alabama
State Flags
American Bicentennial Series

• First time a sheet 50 had all different stamp designs
• Part of the American Bicentennial Series

Stamp Category: Commemorative
Series: American Bicentennial Series
Value: 13¢ First-class postage rate
First Day of Issue: February 23, 1976
First Day City(s): Washington, DC
Quantity Issued: 8,720,100 (panes of 50)
Printed by: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Photogravure
Format: Sheet of 50
Perforations: 11

Why the stamp was issued:
    The United States Postal Service celebrated the American Bicentennial with a full pane of the Union’s fifty state flags.

About the stamp design:
    Although the southern state of Alabama was admitted to the Union in 1819, its citizens waited until the Civil War to adopt their first flag. Designed after the Secession Convention, Alabama’s first official flag was known as the “Republic of Alabama” flag.

    During the 1861-65 Civil War, Alabama recognized the Confederate States of America flag as its own. With the Union restored, Alabama authorized a “crimson cross of St. Andrew on a field of white” as its official flag, effective February 16, 1895. Governor William Oates approved the design, which closely mirrors the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. Oates, as well as most of the 120,000 Alabama soldiers, had fought under this banner during the Civil War.

About the printing process:
    Printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on their seven-color Andreotti gravure press (601) which was their work horse for multicolored stamps.

About the American Bicentennial Series:
     In the 1970s, America celebrated its 200th anniversary with hundreds of national events commemorating the heroes and historic events that led to our nation’s independence from Great Britain. The U.S. Postal Service issued 113 commemorative stamps over a six-year period in honor of the U.S. bicentennial, beginning with the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission Emblem stamp (U.S. #1432). As a group, the Bicentennial Series chronicles one of our nation’s most important chapters, and remembers the events and patriots who made the U.S. a world model for liberty.

   Several of the stamps honored colonial life – craftsmen and communication. Other stamps honored important battles including Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, and Saratoga. Significant events such as the Boston Tea Party, the meeting of the First Continental Congress, and the Declaration of Independence were featured as well. The stamps also honored many significant people such as George Washington, Sybil Ludington, Salem Poor, and the Marquis de Lafayette.

    Many of the stamps feature classic artwork. For instance, the set of four souvenir sheets picture important events recreated by noted artists such as John Trumbull. The Bicentennial Series also includes an important US postal first – the first 50-stamp se-tenant – featuring all 50 state flags. The format proved to be popular with collectors, and has been repeated many times since.

    The American Bicentennial Series is packed with important US history – it tells the story of our nation’s fight for independence through stamps.

History the stamp represents:
   On December 14, 1819, Alabama was admitted to the Union as the 22nd state.

   As far back as 8,000 years ago, American Indian groups lived in the area that is now Alabama. Much later, Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Indians moved into the region. After white settlers arrived in the area, they referred to these Indians as the “Civilized Tribes,” as they adopted many European customs.

    The Spanish explorer Alonso Álvarez de Piñeda reached Mobile Bay in 1519. Hernando de Soto, also a Spaniard, led an expedition into Alabama in 1540, making him the first European to explore the interior of the region. In 1559, Tristán de Luna ventured into Alabama searching for gold. He organized settlements around Mobile Bay and near today’s Claiborne, but these were soon abandoned after De Luna was relieved of his command and had to return to Mexico.

    In 1699, a group of Frenchmen and French-Canadians sailed to Dauphin Island in Mobile Bay. They founded Fort Louis along the Mobile River in 1702. Later, Fort Louis became the capital of the French colony of Louisiana. Flooding in 1711 forced Fort Louis to be relocated 27 miles south, to the current location of Mobile. This became the first permanent white settlement in Alabama.

    In 1763, the French gave up most of the colony of Louisiana to the British in the Treaty of Paris, which concluded the French and Indian War. The Spanish declared war on Britain in 1779. Bernardo Gálvez captured Mobile in 1780. The 1783 Treaty of Paris gave the Mobile area back to Spain.

    Thomas Pickney of the U.S. negotiated the Treaty of San Lorenzo in 1795. This treaty fixed the U.S. border along the 31st parallel of north latitude, which meant all of Alabama, except the Mobile area, was part of the U.S. This area was made part of the Mississippi Territory in 1798. During the War of 1812, the U.S. seized the Mobile area from Spain. In 1813, Creek Indians massacred several hundred pioneers at Fort Mims, near today’s Timsaw.

    In 1838, U.S. troops marched into the remaining territories in Alabama that were controlled by American Indians. The Indians were forced to move west of the Mississippi River. By 1840, only a few scattered tribes remained in the entire state.

    Alabama’s economy suffered many economic setbacks from the 1840s until the Civil War. A state bank had been created during the 1820s. Poorly managed, the bank soon ran into trouble. During the 1840s, Governor Benjamin Fitzpatrick began closing the bank. Many Alabamians lost all their savings. Drought and an outbreak of yellow fever also caused economic difficulties for residents of Alabama.

    In the years leading up to the American Civil War, Alabama established itself as a leader in the fight to preserve the right of states to protect slavery. In 1848, the state government adopted the “Alabama Platform,” which declared the U.S. government did not have the right to bar slaves from new territories. Disagreements between the industrial North and agricultural South intensified during the 1850s. Many Southerners were outraged when Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860. On January 11, 1861, Alabama withdrew, or seceded, from the Union. It declared itself the Republic of Alabama.

    Alabama’s elected officials invited representatives from other Southern states to a convention in Montgomery. On February 8, 1861, this convention established the Confederate States of America, with Montgomery as its capital city. This earned Montgomery the nickname, the “Cradle of the Confederacy.” In May 1861, Richmond, Virginia, became the capital of the Confederacy.

    Several Civil War battles were fought in Alabama. However, most of the state escaped the damage that devastated much of the South. Alabama was readmitted to the Union on June 25, 1868. During Reconstruction, the state’s debt grew rapidly – from $8 million in 1866 to $32 million in 1873. A new state constitution was adopted in 1875.