President Monroe signed the Alabama enabling act on March 02, 1819 giving the people of the Alabama Territory permission to create a constitution for state government. In July 1819 delegates came to the temporary capital of Huntsville, Alabama for the constitutional convention. The delegates elected John Williams Walker as their president and Jon Campbell as secretary. A committee of fifteen members were appointed to draft the constitution. Many of these members were very talented: four later became governors of Alabama, three went to Washington, D.C. as senators, one became a federal Supreme Court Justice, and one became the Vice President of the United States
Due to the Panic of 1819, which effected most people in Alabama, the delegates placed restrictions on banking, In 1819, three private banks operated in Alabama: the Mobile Bank, the Tombeckbe Bank at St. Stephens, and the Planters and Merchants Bank at Huntsville.
The Alabama Constitution of 1819 was a liberal document for its time. Governors were to be elected for two years and were restricted to two terms. The constitution established a supreme court and circuit courts. The constitution also gave the legislature the ability to establish other courts when necessary. The Alabama governor was to be elected by the people, not the legislature. The bill of rights section on freedom of religion did not dictate any belief in God, as many of the older states did. The provisions protecting slavers were also different from other Southern constitutions. Although slavery was sanctioned, slaves were to be treated "with humanity" and provided with "necessary food and clothing." Owners were also to "abstain from all injuries to them extending to life and limb." Toward the end of the convention, Thomas Bibb and Israel Pickens tried but failed in an effort to enfranchise free blacks.
The constitution's most conservative feature was also very fundamental: the document, which was adopted on August 02, 1819, was never submitted to the people for ratification. Instead, as soon as the delegates finished their work at the convention, campaigning began for the elective offices.