The Alabama Territory[n] was designated by two interdependent Acts of the Congress of the United States on March 1 and 3, 1817,[3][4] but it did not become effective until October 10, 1817.[1][5][6] The delay was due to a provision in the Congressional Act which stated that the act would only take effect if and when the western part of the Mississippi Territory (1798–1817) were to form a state constitution and government on the road to statehood. A state constitution for Mississippi was adopted on August 15, 1817, elections were held in September, and the first legislative session convened in October,[1] with the western part of the Mississippi Territory existing since 1798 becoming the State of Mississippi on December 10, 1817.[7]
1817 map of the new U.S. state of Mississippi, and Alabama Territory
Organized as the old Southwest Territory or Territory of the Southwest [also then occasionally known as the "Territory South of the Ohio River"] (1790–1796), then later