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History of the borders of Alabama

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Alabama Territory was organized from the eastern half of Mississippi Territory on March 3, 1817. The act defined its borders as:

...beginning at the point where the line of the thirty-first degree of north latitude intersects the Perdido river, thence east to the western boundary line of the state of Georgia, thence along said line to the southern boundary line to the state of Tennessee, thence west along said boundary line to the Tennessee river, thence up the same to the mouth of Bear creek, thence by a direct line to the north-west corner of Washington county, thence due south to the Gulf of Mexico, thence eastwardly, including all the islands within six leagues of the shore, to the Perdido river, and thence up the same to the beginning...

The border between Georgia and Spanish Florida along the 31st parallel north was surveyed in 1799 by Andrew Ellicott, and this line was inherited by Alabama Territory.

The western boundary of Georgia was defined in 1802 as:

... a line beginning on the western bank of the Chatahouchie River where the same crosses the boundary line between the United States and Spain; running thence up the said River Chatahouchie, and along the western bank thereof to the great bend thereof, next above the place where a certain creek or river, called "Uchee" (being the first considerable stream on the western side, above the Cussetas and Coweta towns), empties into the Chatahouchie River; thence in a direct line to Nickajack, on Tennessee River; thence crossing the said last-mentioned river, and thence running up the said Tennessee River and along the western bank thereof to the southern boundary line of the State of Tennessee.

The location of Nickajack was surveyed in 1818, with the report being filed on July 13, and it being approved on December 18, though it is an open question whether that law was sufficient.. While the southern boundary of Tennessee was intended to be the 35th parallel north, the line was incorrectly surveyed south by a mile, so the described border never reaches the Tennessee River. The great bend of the Chattahoochee was surveyed as being located at Miller's Bend (now West Point) and the line from Nickajack to Miller's Bend was surveyed in 1826, but Alabama didn't accept this survey until January 24, 1840.

The southern boundary of Tennessee was inherited from North Carolina, and was defined in the 1776 North Carolina constitution as the 35th parallel north. However, this was not surveyed until the early 19th century. In October 1807, this line was surveyed from a point near 87th meridian west, just east of the Elk River, eastward to the old Cherokee line, about 30 miles. In 1817, the line was extended west to the Tennessee River, and between 1822 and 1839 the line was run east to Georgia.

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• Van Zandt, Franklin K. (1976). Boundaries of the United States and the Several States: With Miscellaneous Geographic Information Concerning Areas, Altitudes, and Geographic Centers. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. OCLC 69426475.

notes

1819-03-02: Enabling Act for admission defined boundaries as above; sec 3 provided: if the south line encroaches on Wayne, Green, or Jackson Counties in Mississippi, the line will be changed to a point 10 miles east of the mouth of the Pascagoula

1820-10-12: field notes filed for survey from bear creek to washington county

1820-07-19: demarcation of new line from washington county to gulf

1822-1839: 1817-? border run east as far as georgia

1831: 4 Stat L. 479 defined AL-FL border was 31 N

1847: AL-FL line described as Ellicott's Line: beginning on the Chattahoochee near "Irwin's Mills" West to the Perdido

1853: Ellicott's Line resurveyed

1906: AL-MS boundary described as: West bank of tennessee, six four-pole chains south of and above the mouth of yellow creek Up that to the mouth of Bear Creek Line to what was formerly the NW corner of Washington County Line to a point 10 miles east of the mouth of the Pascagoula

1911: Ellicott's Line resurveyed

1954-05-06: AL and FL defined boundary at mouth of perdido and extend it into the gulf

Check code of alabama "1876, p. 189" for GA border, see vz 104

1. 3 Stat. 371
2. Van Zandt 1976, pp. 108–109. sfn error: no target: CITEREFVan_Zandt1976 (help)
3. https://dlg.usg.edu/record/dlg_zlna_tcc775?canvas=0&x=400&y=400&w=1164
4. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40577307?searchText=georgia+tennessee+line&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dgeorgia%2Btennessee%2Bline%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A192d121bc98e4e65840ae02d9d42c549&seq=10 page 278
5. Van Zandt 1976, p. 103. sfn error: no target: CITEREFVan_Zandt1976 (help)
6. Van Zandt 1976, p. 109. sfn error: no target: CITEREFVan_Zandt1976 (help)