Editing Flag of Alabama (section)

===Current flag===
[[File:Alabama state flag.jpg|thumb|left|The Alabama state flag displayed at [[Ivy Green]], [[Helen Keller]]'s birthplace in [[Tuscumbia, Alabama|Tuscumbia]]]]
[[File:Flag of Alabama (square).svg|thumb|130x130px|right|The Alabama state flag with a square shape.]]
Alabama's current flag was adopted in 1895. The legislation introduced by Representative [[John W. A. Sanford Jr.]] stipulates: "The flag of the state of Alabama shall be a crimson cross of St. Andrew on a field of white. The bars forming the cross shall be not less than six inches broad, and must extend diagonally across the flag from side to side."<ref>''Code of 69'' (1975) § 1-2-5</ref> St. Andrew's cross represents the cross on which [[Andrew the Apostle|St. Andrew]] was crucified.<ref name=nyt>{{cite news|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/politics-clipping-mar-28-1906-3120824/|title=Alabama's Red Cross Flag|newspaper=[[New York Times]]|date=March 28, 1906|access-date=March 28, 2022}}</ref>

The legislation that created the state flag did not specify that the flag was to be square but defined the width of the bars of the cross.<ref name=":0" />  In 1987, the office of Alabama Attorney General [[Don Siegelman]] stated in a letter that the proper shape of the state flag is rectangular, as it had been depicted numerous times in official publications and reproductions.<ref name="ag87">{{Cite web |author=Siegelman |first=Don |year=1987 |title=Opinion of Don Siegelman |url=https://www.alabamaag.gov/Documents/opin/8700238.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080414021933/http://www.ago.state.al.us/oldopinions/8700238.pdf |archive-date=April 14, 2008 |access-date=November 17, 2007 |publisher=Office of the Attorney General of the State of Alabama}}</ref> Despite this, the flag is still often depicted as being square, even in official publications of the U.S. federal government.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/cdocuments/sd109-18/sd109-18.pdf|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|year=2007|title=Our Flag|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100805003027/http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/cdocuments/sd109-18/sd109-18.pdf|archive-date=August 5, 2010}}</ref>

The saltire of Alabama's flag most closely resembles the saltire of the [[flag of Florida]], which was derived from the Spanish [[Cross of Burgundy flag|Cross of Burgundy]].<ref name="SJLR">{{cite journal |last1=Mignanelli |first1=Nicholas |last2=Slinger |first2=Sarah |title=A Matter for Interpretation: An Inquiry into Confederate Symbolism and the Florida State Flag |journal=University of Miami Race and Social Justice Law Review |date=2020 |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=126–129, 134–137 |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/umrsj10&id=279&collection=journals&index= |access-date=March 26, 2022}}</ref> Southern Alabama was originally part of [[Spanish Florida]] and subsequently [[West Florida]].

Alabama adopted its flag design in 1895, five years earlier than Florida did.