We the People: Alabama’s Defining Documents
Haws Gallery
June 30 – August 11, 2019
The Alabama Department of Archives and History have uploaded all of the historical documents for public view onto a special website.
Click here to view their website for full information about our founding document’s history.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 11 ONLY: Adults, Seniors, Active Military and Educators can take advantage of $8 admission!
In the summer of 1819, forty-four delegates met in Huntsville to draft Alabama’s first constitution, the defining document that provided the framework for the state’s government and made Alabama the 22nd of the United States. Two hundred years later, the Constitution of 1819 is returning to the city as part of a special bicentennial exhibition curated by the Alabama Department of Archives and History (ADAH).
We the People: Alabama’s Defining Documents will feature all six of Alabama’s constitutions along with the 1861 ordinance of secession, which declared Alabama’s separation from the Union on the eve of the Civil War.
For two centuries, Alabamians have been engaged in a civics conversation. Whose voice matters? What do we value? What is the role of state government? Who can vote? The people of Alabama have debated these issues through political conventions, referendums, and in the courts. At crucial moments in history, these fundamental questions have been answered in the state’s principal governing documents: its constitutions. This exhibition will explore how these documents, some of the most important in state history, reflect their framers’ values, hopes and fears.
The exhibition is curated and designed by the staff of the ADAH in Montgomery, where the documents permanently reside. In preparation for the celebration of Alabama’s bicentennial year, extensive conservation work has been conducted on the documents by the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) in Andover, Massachusetts.
We the People will be the first public display of these historic records since returning from their conservation, and the first time they have been displayed together outside of Montgomery. This exhibition is part of a statewide celebration of Alabama’s bicentennial in 2019. For more information, visit Alabama200.org.
Free Museum Day!
Sunday, June 30, 2019 | 12-5 p.m.
Official Ribbon Cutting: 1 p.m.
Lecture in Great Hall: 3 p.m.
Lecture by ADAH Director Steve Murray and Conservator Katie Boodle
Museum admission is Free to the public – one day only!
Thank you Sponsors!
Media Sponsors
Alabama Public Radio
Thank you, Huntsville!
We had an incredible exhibit opening with 700+ visitors on June 30! Thank you to everyone who came out, supported the exhibit, and helped put it together!