List of governors of Alabama
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The governor of Alabama is the head of government of the U.S. state of Alabama. The governor is the head of the executive branch of Alabama's state government and is charged with enforcing state laws.
There have officially been 54 governors of the state of Alabama; this official numbering skips acting and military governors.<ref name="adah">Template:Cite web</ref> The first governor, William Wyatt Bibb, served as the only governor of the Alabama Territory. Five people have served as acting governor, bringing the total number of people serving as governor to 59, spread over 63 distinct terms. Four governors have served multiple non-consecutive terms: Bibb Graves, Jim Folsom, and Fob James each served two, and George Wallace served three non-consecutive periods. Officially, these non-consecutive terms are numbered only with the number of their first term. William D. Jelks also served non-consecutive terms, but his first term was in an acting capacity.
The longest-serving governor was George Wallace, who served 16 years over four terms. The shortest term for a non-acting governor was that of Hugh McVay, who served four and a half months after replacing the resigning Clement Comer Clay. Lurleen Wallace, the first wife of George Wallace, was the first woman to serve as governor of Alabama, and the third woman to serve as governor of any state. The current governor is Republican Kay Ivey, who took office on April 10, 2017 following Robert J. Bentley's resignation amidst a corruption scandal. She is the second female governor of Alabama.
List of governors
Territory of Alabama
Alabama Territory was formed on March 3, 1817, from Mississippi Territory.<ref>Template:Usstat</ref> It had only one governor appointed by the President of the United States before it became a state; he became the first state governor.
| Template:Abbr | Governor | Term in office | Appointed by | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | File:William Wyatt Bibb.jpg | William Wyatt Bibb Template:Small Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref name="nga-bibb-william">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="al-bibb-william">Template:Cite web</ref> |
September 25, 1817Template:Efn – November 9, 1819 Template:Small |
James Monroe |
State of Alabama
Alabama was admitted to the Union on December 14, 1819.<ref>Template:Usstat, Template:Usstat</ref> It seceded from the Union on January 11, 1861,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and was a founding member of the Confederate States of America on February 4, 1861.<ref>Constitution for the Provisional Government of the Confederate States of America Template:Webarchive, accessed July 8, 2015</ref> Following the end of the American Civil War, Alabama during Reconstruction was part of the Third Military District, which exerted some control over governor appointments and elections. Alabama was readmitted to the Union on July 14, 1868.<ref>Act authorizing readmission on ratification of 14th amendment: Template:Usstat. Proclamation of Alabama's ratification: Template:Usstat.</ref>
The first Alabama Constitution, ratified in 1819, provided that a governor be elected every two years, limited to serve no more than 4 out of every 6 years. This limit remained in place until the constitution of 1868, which simply allowed governors to serve terms of two years. The current constitution of 1901 increased terms to four years, but prohibited governors from succeeding themselves. An amendment in 1968 allowed governors to succeed themselves once; a governor serving two consecutive terms can run again after waiting out the next term.Template:Sfn The constitution had no set date for the commencement of a governor's term until 1901, when it was set at the first Monday after the second Tuesday in the January following an election. However, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled in 1911 that a governor's term ends at midnight at the end of Monday, and the next governor's term begins the next day, regardless of if they were sworn in on Monday.Template:Sfn<ref name="oberhaus" />
The office of lieutenant governor was created in 1868, abolished in 1875, and recreated in 1901. According to the current constitution, should the governor be out of the state for more than 20 days, the lieutenant governor becomes acting governor, and if the office of governor becomes vacant the lieutenant governor ascends to the governorship.Template:Sfn The governor and the lieutenant governor are elected at the same time but not on the same ticket.
Alabama was a strongly Democratic state before the Civil War, electing only candidates from the Democratic-Republican and Democratic parties. It had two Republican governors following Reconstruction, but after the Democratic Party re-established control, 112 years passed before voters chose another Republican. Since 2002, the state has continuously elected Republicans to the governorship.
Timeline
| Timeline of Alabama governors |
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<timeline>
ImageSize = width:1500 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:20 right:130 left:10 AlignBars = late DateFormat = x.y Period = from:1816.90 till:{{#expr:{{#time:Y}}+{{#time:m}}/6}} TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:1820 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1817 Define $now = {{#expr:{{#time:Y}}+{{#time:m}}/12}} Colors = id:5year value:rgb(0.8, 0.8, 0.8) id:0year value:rgb(0.6, 0.6, 0.6) id:noparty value:rgb(0.7, 0.7, 0.7) id:demrep value:rgb(0, 0.5, 0) id:jackson value:rgb(0.87, 0.93, 1) id:dem value:rgb(0.2, 0.2, 1) id:whig value:rgb(0.94, 0.78, 0.34) id:rep value:rgb(0.91, 0.11, 0.14) id:seat1 value:rgb(0.60, 0.10, 0.10) id:blank value:white BarData = barset:GovernorLine barset:Governors #barset:blankline PlotData= width:1 align:right fontsize:S shift:(-3,-4) anchor:from fontsize:8 color:black barset:GovernorLine from:1832 till:end text:Governors width:6 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till fontsize:10 barset:Governors from:1819.86 till:1820.52 color:demrep text:"William W. Bibb" from:1820.52 till:1821.86 color:demrep text:"Thomas Bibb" from:1821.86 till:1825.9 color:demrep text:"Israel Pickens" from:1825.9 till:1829.89 color:jackson text:"John Murphy" from:1829.89 till:1831.17 color:jackson text:"Gabriel Moore" from:1831.17 till:1831.9 color:jackson text:"Samuel B. Moore" from:1833 till:1835.89 color:dem text:"John Gayle" from:1835.89 till:1837.54 color:dem text:"Clement Comer Clay" from:1837.54 till:1837.89 color:dem text:"Hugh McVay" from:1837.89 till:1841.89 color:dem text:"Arthur P. Bagby" from:1841.89 till:1845.94 color:dem text:"Benjamin Fitzpatrick" from:1845.94 till:1847.96 color:noparty text:"Joshua L. Martin" from:1847.96 till:1849.96 color:dem text:"Reuben Chapman" from:1849.96 till:1853.97 color:dem text:"Henry W. Collier" from:1853.97 till:1857.92 color:dem text:"John A. Winston" from:1857.92 till:1861.92 color:dem text:"Andrew B. Moore" from:1861.92 till:1863.92 color:dem text:"John Gill Shorter" from:1863.92 till:1865.34 color:whig text:"Thomas H. Watts" from:1865.47 till:1865.95 color:noparty text:"Lewis E. Parsons" from:1865.95 till:1868.53 color:noparty text:"Robert M. Patton" from:1867.17 till:1868.03 color:noparty text:"Wager Swayne" from:1868.53 till:1870.9 color:rep text:"William Hugh Smith" from:1870.9 till:1872.9 color:dem text:"Robert B. Lindsay" from:1872.9 till:1874.9 color:rep text:"David P. Lewis" from:1874.9 till:1878.91 color:dem text:"George S. Houston" from:1878.91 till:1882.92 color:dem text:"Rufus W. Cobb" from:1882.92 till:1886.92 color:dem text:"Edward A. O'Neal" from:1886.92 till:1890.92 color:dem text:"Thomas Seay" from:1890.92 till:1894.92 color:dem text:"Thomas G. Jones" from:1894.92 till:1896.92 color:dem text:"William C. Oates" from:1896.92 till:1900.92 color:dem text:"Joseph F. Johnston" from:1901.44 till:1907.04 color:dem text:"William D. Jelks" from:1900.92 till:1901.44 color:dem text:"William J. Samford" from:1907.04 till:1911.04 color:dem text:"B. B. Comer" from:1911.05 till:1915.05 color:dem text:"Emmet O'Neal" from:1915.05 till:1919.05 color:dem text:"Charles Henderson" from:1919.06 till:1923.04 color:dem text:"Thomas Kilby" from:1923.04 till:1927.05 color:dem text:"William W. Brandon" from:1935.04 till:1939.04 color:dem text:"Bibb Graves" from:1931.05 till:1935.04 color:dem text:"Benjamin M. Miller" from:1939.05 till:1943.05 color:dem text:"Frank M. Dixon" from:1943.05 till:1947.05 color:dem text:"Chauncey Sparks" from:1955.05 till:1959.05 color:dem text:"Jim Folsom" from:1951.04 till:1955.05 color:dem text:"Gordon Persons" from:1959.05 till:1963.04 color:dem text:"John M. Patterson" from:1983.05 till:1987.05 color:dem text:"George Wallace" from:1967.05 till:1968.35 color:dem text:"Lurleen Wallace" from:1968.35 till:1971.05 color:dem text:"Albert Brewer" from:1995.05 till:1999.05 color:rep text:"Fob James" from:1987.05 till:1993.31 color:rep text:"H. Guy Hunt" from:1993.31 till:1995.04 color:dem text:"Jim Folsom Jr." from:1999.05 till:2003.05 color:dem text:"Don Siegelman" from:2003.05 till:2011.05 color:rep text:"Bob Riley" from:2011.05 till:2017.27 color:rep text:"Robert J. Bentley" from:2017.27 till:$now color:rep text:"Kay Ivey" LineData= from:1817.73 till:1819.86 atpos:989 color:noparty width:6 # WWB noparty from:1831.9 till:1833 atpos:883 color:jackson width:6 # JG jackson from:1900.92 till:1900.99 atpos:441 color:dem width:6 # WDJ 1st term from:1927.05 till:1931.05 atpos:318 color:dem width:6 # BG 1st term from:1947.06 till:1951.04 atpos:247 color:dem width:6 # JF 1st term from:1963.04 till:1967.04 atpos:194 color:dem width:6 # GW 1st term from:1971.05 till:1979.04 atpos:194 color:dem width:6 # GW 2nd term from:1979.04 till:1983.05 atpos:141 color:dem width:6 # FJ 1st term layer:back # This section creates the vertical lines. at:1820.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1825.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1830.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1835.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1840.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1845.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1850.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1855.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1860.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1865.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1870.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1875.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1880.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1885.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1890.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1895.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1900.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1905.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1910.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1915.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1920.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1925.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1930.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1935.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1940.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1945.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1950.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1955.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1960.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1965.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1970.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1975.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1980.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1985.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:1990.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:1995.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:2000.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:2005.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:2010.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:2015.00 width:0.1 color:5year at:2020.00 width:0.1 color:0year at:2025.00 width:0.1 color:5year</timeline> |
See also
Notes
References
- General
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- Specific
External links
Template:Governors of Alabama Template:Current U.S. governors Template:US Chief Executives Template:US state navigation box Template:Alabama statewide elected officials Template:Elections in Alabama footer