The Protestant churches, not ably the Baptists and Methodists, are in the ascendency in Alabama as throughout all the South. The other religious bodies in order of numerical strength are Roman Catholics, Pres byterians, Christians or Disciples, and Episco palians.
The hospitals, orphanages. homes for the aged and other benevolent institutions, including asylums for the deaf, dumb, blind and insane, number 48. The charitable institu tions include insane hospitals at Tuscaloosa and Mount Vernon, the Confederate Soldiers' Home at Mountain Creek, the Industrial School at East Lake, School for the Deaf and Blind at Linville and a school for the negro deaf and blind. Rules for the support of the poor are made by county commissioners. Within certain degrees, relatives are liable for the support of the poor. For infirm and necessi tous Confederate veterans the following an nual pensions are allowed according to rating: First-class, $100; second-class, $80; third-class, $64. On 1 Jan. 1910, the number of paupers in almshouses was 739, being 34.6 per 100,000 of population.
Although the harsh conditions formerly governing the convict system have been greatly modified, prisoners are still hired out to contractors. Since 1907 special pro vision is made for dealing with juvenile of fenders and in 1911 a State prison inspector was appointed. There is a State cotton mill and cotton farms where women and boy con victs are employed, a penitentiary, a reforma tory for wayward women, a reform school for juvenile negro offenders and 20 prisons where State convicts are kept. On 1 Jan. 1910 there were 3,687 prisoners in penal institutions, be ing 172.4 per 100,000 of the population.
Population, Chief 127,901 in 1820 the population had increased to 996,992 in 1870, to 1,828,697 in 1900, and to 2,138,093 in 1910, the increase being 16.9 per cent in the last decade, or 41.7 inhabitants per square mile as against 35.7 in 1900. Alabama ranks 18th in pop ulation among the States. In 1910 the popula tion comprised 625,891 white males, 602,941 white females, 447,794 colored males, 460,488 colored females, 454 Indian males, 455 Indian females and 70 male Asiatics. The foreign born included 3,599 Germans, 2,348 English, 1,167 Irish, 1,120 Scotch. The capital, Mont gomery, has a population of (1915 est.) 42,530; other large cities are: Birmingham, 174,108; Mobile, 56,336; Selma, 13,640; Anniston, 12,794; Bessemer, 10,864, and Gadsden, 10,557. There were 22 cities with a population in excess of 4,000 in 1910. The total State population in 1916 was estimated at 2,332,600.
The Territory of Alabama was organized in 1817 by act of Congress. Population from the Southern Atlantic States from Maryland downward flocked there rapidly. By authority of act of Congress 45 deputies from 23 counties assembled in convention at Huntsville in July 1819, and framed the State Constitution that was accepted and the State was admitted to the Union 14 Dec. 1819. The census of 1820 gave the population, not includ ing any Indians, 127,901. The next census showed 142 per cent increase, of which 18 per cent was slaves and 124 white. No white wage class appeared. Increase of population not Indians fell from 1830 to 1840 to 90 per cent but slaves increased by immigration and nat ural rule to 115 per cent. The first State Con stitution, that of 1819, was made by cotton planters, university men fresh from their for est-opened plantations. It was an aristocratic democracy. The general assembly contained the kernel. The lower branch was elected every year ; the higher once in three years. It
met every year. The governor was chosen at the polls every two years. The general as sembly elected all courts of record for life. The deputies to the constitutional convention were mostly South Carolinians, North Caro linians, Virginians or Georgians. The Consti tution, with certain amendments, endured until by convention an ordinance of secession from the United States made expedient a new Con stitution in 1861. The scheme of government was not changed. The original right of eman cipation of slaves by individual masters was forbidden. The third State Constitution was framed in 1865 within six months of the col lapse of the Southern Confederacy. The Pres ident of the United States ordered the con vention. The Constitution thus framed re yoked the ordinance of secession and emanci pated slaves within the borders of the State except for crime convicted. This Constitution went into effect two months prior to the 13th article of amendment of the Federal Consti tution emancipating slaves.. The electoral vote was given to white males but by special pro vision it secured to negroes the civil rights pos sessed by white women and minors. This third Constitution was set aside by the act of Con gress in 1867. By that act the army took con trol of the Southern States, Alabama becoming part of °Military District No. 3," Maj.-Gen. John Pope commanding. General Pope ordered an election to be held during several days in October for the selection of delegates to a constitutional convention. Under this act of Congress the free men were eligible voters. The fourth State Constitution was made under military authority by outsiders, mainly chosen by followers left from the army of occupation, a few citizens and illiterate negroes. In 1875 by State election a fifth Constitution was made. The object was to curtail the power of taxa tion hitherto held by the general assembly. The military constitution of 1867 had been in force from 1868 to 1875. Under the Constitu tion of 1875 a debt commission of three made readjustment of the State debt contracted under the military constitution. The debt of about $30,000,000 was reduced to $9,057,000. The debt commission reported that assessable values of the State, which in 1860 exceeded $700,000,000, had been reduced by 1875 to some thing in excess of $100,000,000. The electorate created by the military constitution was not disturbed by that of 1875. Under that the State government was administered for 33 years. Toward the close of the last century State elections had become impracticable. The belt of white counties were upon the verge of insurrection. The negroes, uneducated, were politically dominant in the black belt, and their votes either purchasable or suppressed at option of partisans. The sixth and last State Constitution was framed by convention in 1901, and ratified at the polls after severe opposition from white leaders and the solid negro senti ment. The only registration list is of date 1908. That presents white electors, 250,381; negro electors, 3,742 and Statistical State Dept. Archives and History, 1915, p. 363). The Constitution of 1901 prac tically eliminates negro suffrage through sev eral of its provisions, such as that requiring an applicant for registration prior to 20 Dec. 1902, to be the descendant of one who took part in the early wars of the nation, the Spanish war or as a member of the Confederacy. Another provision requires that the applicant be able to read and write in English and be physically able to work.