About

ANDREW BARRY MOORE, Alabama’s 16th governor, was born in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, on March 7, 1807. Moore’s family moved to Perry County, Alabama, in 1823, but Andrew remained in South Carolina to finish his education. In 1826 he rejoined his family in Alabama and taught school at Marion in Perry County for two years. Moore studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1833. He served as justice of the peace for Perry County for eight years. Moore served in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1842 to 1845. He was speaker of the house from 1843 to 1845, and was on the ticket as a Whig presidential elector in 1848. Governor Henry W. Collier appointed Moore in 1851 to fill a vacancy on the circuit bench; he served in that capacity until 1857 when he accepted the Democratic nomination for governor. He was elected on August 3, 1857, without opposition, and sworn into office on December 1, 1857. During Moore’s term, education and internal improvements received his prominent attention. The Medical College of Alabama was founded, and the Institute for the Deaf and Blind was established at Talladega. He also favored state aid and federal grants to promote railroad construction. Moore was considered a moderate on the slavery issue, and he won reelection on August 1, 1859. During Moore’s second term, a state convention was called to discuss the question of secession, and Alabama troops were ordered to seize the federal army forts within the state. The legislature appropriated $500,000 for defense, and $3 million was authorized to help offset the indebtedness of the war.  Prohibited reelection by the 1819 Alabama Constitution, Moore left office on December 2, 1861. He was appointed special aide-de-camp to Governor John Gill Shorter, coordinating the acquisition and transportation of supplies to General Albert Sidney Johnston in northern Alabama. Moore was arrested by federal troops following the surrender of Lee at Appomattox. He was imprisoned with other Confederate leaders at Fort Pulaski in Savannah, Georgia. He was released from prison in August of 1865 because of declining health. Moore returned to Marion, Alabama, where he continued to practice law until his death on April 5, 1873.

Source

Alabama Department of Archives and History

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 1, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.

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