Editing Barbour County, Alabama (section)

==History==
Barbour County was established on December 18, 1832, from former [[Muscogee]] homelands and a portion of [[Pike County, Alabama|Pike County]]. Between the years of 1763 and 1783 the area which is now Barbour County was part of the colony of [[British West Florida]].<ref>The Economy of British West Florida, 1763-1783 by Robin F. A. Fabel (University of Alabama Press, 2002)</ref>  After 1783 the region fell under the jurisdiction of the newly created United States of America. The Muscogee Creek Confederacy was [[Indian removal|removed]] to territory west of the Mississippi River. The fertile land was developed by southern migrants as large cotton [[plantations in the American South|plantations]] dependent on [[slave]] labor. Due to the number of slaves, the population was soon majority black, a proportion that continued for decades. In the 21st century, the population has a slight white majority, but blacks make up more than 46% of the residents, which results in highly competitive politics.

In 1833, [[Louisville, Alabama|Louisville]] was chosen as the first county seat for Barbour County. The county seat was moved in 1834, after an eleven-member committee selected [[Clayton, Alabama|Clayton]] because of its central geographic location. Its boundaries were altered in 1866 and 1868.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.archives.state.al.us/counties/barbour.html |title=Alabama Counties: Barbour<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=June 27, 2007 |archive-date=April 16, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416000428/http://www.archives.state.al.us/counties/barbour.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Election Riot of 1874]] occurred near Comer.

By the 1870s, the city of [[Eufaula, Alabama|Eufaula]] had surpassed Clayton in size, sparking debate about whether the county seat should be moved to the county's commercial center or remain at its geographic center. Reaching a compromise, the legislature passed Act No. 106 on February 12, 1879, to establish county courts in both Eufaula and Clayton. Today, two county courthouses continue to operate in Barbour County.