9Inspired by Alabama's bicentennial celebrations, Alabama from Territory to Statehood compiles the work of experts on the history of Alabama's formative years. In March 1817, the US legislature authorized the eventual split of the Mississippi Territory into a new State of Mississippi to the west and the Alabama Territory to the east. Over the next few years, Alabamians created the vision and laid the framework to create their own state, which formally entered the United States on December 14, 1819. Lavishly illustrated articles illuminate the state's prehistory, border disputes and land surveys, the land rush remembered as "Alabama Fever," early settlements and towns, architecture, foodways, the cultures and experience of Creeks and enslaved persons, and the legal and political creation of the State of Alabama. Conceived, written, edited, and designed for original publication in Alabama Heritage magazine, each article both stands alone and supports the larger work. The landscape, culture, and people of the time come to brilliant life in the rich maps, historical images and paintings, and photography of artifacts, documents, landscapes, and surviving structures. This collectible volume fills a substantial gap in the story of Alabama.