A Promise Delayed

Résumé du livre

This study offers an interpretation of Alabama's economic development in the antebellum period. It argues that Alabama's approach to railroad and mineral development grew from the altered political and economic environment caused by the collapse of Alabama's state-run banking system. Since bank debt precluded the state legislature from funding railroad projects, modernizing Alabamians invested in railroads to develop the region's mineral resources. This thesis identifies and analyzes the business and political activities of investors associated with three mineral railroads. Further, this thesis traces the politics of railroad development throughout the 1850's and demonstrates how railroad supporters from the black belt and the Tennessee Valley formed a political coalition during the 1859 session to pass legislation that provided more than 1.5 million dollars in railroad aid. The chief beneficiary of the bill was North Alabama's Tennessee and Alabama Central Railroad.