Alabama Social Studies SS24.AS.9
The Standard
Outline the chronology of Alabama’s path to statehood in the early nineteenth century, including the shifting of capital locations.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students trace how Alabama went from part of the Mississippi Territory to its own territory in 1817 and a state in 1819. They put its territorial and state capitals in time order.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can place St. Stephens, Huntsville, Cahaba, Tuscaloosa, and Montgomery in order on a timeline. They can identify St. Stephens as the territorial capital and Huntsville as a temporary state capital.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may call St. Stephens a state capital, though it served the territory. They may skip Huntsville or put Montgomery first because it is the capital now.
How to Assess It
- Give students a blank timeline marked 1817, 1819, 1820, 1826, and 1846. Ask them to add statehood and the five capitals in order, then circle the territorial capital.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Pin the five capital sites on a blank Alabama map, then connect them with arrows in time order.
Read a short note about flooding in Cahaba, then ask: Why might lawmakers choose a new capital?
Play a timeline relay: teams place year, capital, and statehood cards in order.
Use a current road map to plan a trip through the five capital sites and estimate the driving distance.
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Related Standards
- SS24.US1.5e
Compare major events in Alabama from 1781 to 1823, including statehood as part of the expanding nation, acquisition of land, settlement, and the Creek War, to e...
- SS24.AS.7
Outline the chronology of Alabama’s colonial history, identifying the shifting claims by imperial powers and Indigenous peoples engaged in colonial-era conflict...
- SS24.4.10
Explain how “Alabama fever” influenced Alabama's settlement, economic growth, and political development, leading to statehood and the 1819 constitution.
- SS24.4.10b
Outline political and geographic reasons for changing the location of Alabama’s state capital.
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