{{short description|American politician and 1st Governor of Alabama}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = William W. Bibb | image = William Wyatt Bibb, 1819.jpg | caption = Portrait, {{circa|1819}} | order = 1st | office = Governor of Alabama | term_start = December 14, 1819 | term_end = July 10, 1820 | predecessor = ''Position established'' | successor = [[Thomas Bibb]] | office1 = 1st Territorial Governor of Alabama | appointer1 = [[James Monroe]] | term_start1 = March 6, 1817 | term_end1 = December 14, 1819 | predecessor1 = ''Position established'' | successor1 = Himself as Governor | order2 = [[United States Senator]]<br>from [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] | term_start2 = November 6, 1813 | term_end2 = November 9, 1816 | predecessor2 = [[William B. Bulloch]] | successor2 = [[George Troup]] | order3 = Member of the <br>[[U.S. House of Representatives]]<br>from [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]'s [[Georgia's at-large congressional district|at-large]] district | term_start3 = January 26, 1807 | term_end3 = November 6, 1813 | predecessor3 = [[Thomas Spalding]] | successor3 = [[Alfred Cuthbert]] | office4 = Member of the <br>[[Georgia House of Representatives]]<br>from Elbert County | term4 = 1803–1805 | birth_name = William Wyatt Bibb | birth_date = {{birth date|1781|10|2|mf=y}} | birth_place = [[Amelia County, Virginia]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1820|7|10|1781|10|2}} | death_place = [[Elmore County, Alabama|Elmore County]], [[Alabama]] | resting_place = Bibb Family Cemetery, [[Coosada, Alabama]] | party = [[Democratic-Republican Party (United States)|Democratic-Republican]] | spouse = {{marriage|Mary Freeman|1803}} | relatives = | alma_mater = [[College of William & Mary]]<br>[[University of Pennsylvania]] | profession = [[Physician]] | signature = William Wyatt Bibb Signature.svg }}
'''William Wyatt Bibb''' (October 2, 1781 – July 10, 1820) was a [[United States Senate|United States senator]] from [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], the first governor of the [[Alabama Territory]], and the [[list of governors of Alabama|first governor of the U.S. state of Alabama]]. Bibb was a member of the [[Democratic-Republican Party]] and served as governor of Alabama until his death on July 10, 1820, from a horse riding accident. He is the first of only three people in U.S. history to be elected a U.S. Senator from one state and the governor of another. [[Bibb County, Alabama]], and [[Bibb County, Georgia]], are named for him.
==Early life== William Wyatt Bibb was born on October 2, 1781, in [[Amelia County, Virginia|Amelia County]], [[Virginia]], to Captain William Bibb, an officer in the [[Continental Army]] during the [[American Revolutionary War]] (1775–1783) and a member of the state legislature, the [[Virginia General Assembly|General Assembly]] of the newly independent Commonwealth of Virginia, and his wife, Sally (Wyatt) Bibb.<ref name="Auburn">{{cite web|title=William Wyatt Bibb (1819-20)|publisher=Encyclopedia of Alabama - Auburn University|author=Daniel S. Dupre (University of North Carolina - Charlotte)|url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1416|date=January 7, 2008|access-date=May 26, 2018}}</ref>
Around 1784, Bibb Sr. moved with his family south to [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] with a large number of Virginians who accompanied [[George Mathews (Georgia)|General George Mathews]], hero of the [[Battle of Brandywine]] in [[Pennsylvania]]. Most of the general's followers were also veterans and, with their families, took advantage of the new nation's offer of land bounties in lieu of pay for former soldiers. They established tobacco farms on the rich lands around the confluence of the [[Broad River (Georgia)|Broad]] and [[Savannah River]]s in newly developing northeastern Georgia. The Bibbs are recorded as one of the earliest pioneer families in [[Elbert County, Georgia|Elbert County]].<ref name="Auburn" />
Bibb was probably privately educated before he went to the [[College of William & Mary]] in [[Williamsburg, Virginia]], and the [[Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania|University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine]] in [[Philadelphia]]. He was awarded a [[Doctor of Medicine]] (M.D.) degree in 1801, returned to Georgia, and began to practice medicine in [[Petersburg, Georgia|Petersburg]].<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.archives.alabama.gov/govs_list/g_bibbwm.html| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070708121131/http://www.archives.alabama.gov/govs_list/g_bibbwm.html| url-status= dead| archive-date= July 8, 2007|title=William Wyatt Bibb |publisher=Alabama Department ofArchives & History|access-date=July 13, 2012}}</ref> In 1803, he married Mary Freeman.
==Early political career== Bibb was elected to the [[Georgia House of Representatives]] in 1802 as a member at the age of 21. He took office in 1803 and served one two-year term.<ref>{{cite web|title=Georgia Official and Statistical Register 1975-1976|publisher=State of Georgia|page=1484|url=http://statregister.galileo.usg.edu/statregister/view?docId=statregister/stat1975/stat1975-1486.xml|access-date=May 26, 2018|archive-date=December 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205022121/http://statregister.galileo.usg.edu/statregister/view?docId=statregister/stat1975/stat1975-1486.xml|url-status=dead}}</ref> In 1806 he was elected as a [[Democratic-Republican Party|Democratic-Republican]] to the [[9th United States Congress|Ninth session]] of the [[United States Congress]] to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of [[Thomas Spalding]], and was re-elected four times, serving until November 6, 1813.<ref>{{cite web|title=Georgia Official and Statistical Register 1975-1976|publisher=State of Georgia|page=550|url=http://statregister.galileo.usg.edu/statregister/view?docId=statregister/stat1975/stat1975-0553.xml|access-date=May 26, 2018}}</ref>
As was then the practice, he was elected at that time by the [[Georgia General Assembly|state legislature]] to the [[US Senate]] to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of [[William H. Crawford]], a nationally known presidential candidate. Bibb served until November 9, 1816.<ref>{{cite web|title=Georgia Official and Statistical Register 1975-1976|publisher=State of Georgia|page=549|url=http://statregister.galileo.usg.edu/statregister/view;jsessionid=83D04334399439800FE72B2E07448B48?docId=statregister/stat1975/stat1975-0552.xml&query=&brand=default|access-date=May 26, 2018|archive-date=May 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527023119/http://statregister.galileo.usg.edu/statregister/view;jsessionid=83D04334399439800FE72B2E07448B48?docId=statregister%2Fstat1975%2Fstat1975-0552.xml&query=&brand=default|url-status=dead}}</ref><!-- Did he seek election to the Senate when his partial term expired or was something already in the works (such as appointment as Governor of the Territory of Alabama? -->
As a Senator in 1816, Bibb opposed the first attempt to abolish the Electoral College and elect the president by popular vote, speaking very forthrightly about the advantages slave states derived from the Electoral College. He stated on the Senate floor that with Popular Vote, these states "would lose the privilege the Constitution now allows them, of votes upon three-fifths of their population other than freemen. It would be deeply injurious to them."<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/opinion/electoral-college-racism-white-supremacy.html "How Has the Electoral College Survived for This Long?" by Alexander Keyssar, New York Times, August 3, 2020]</ref>
== Governor of Alabama == US President [[James Monroe]] appointed Bibb as the first governor of the newly formed [[Alabama Territory]] (from the larger previous [[Mississippi Territory]]) in 1817. Alabama became the 22nd state on December 14, 1819.
Bibb's primary duties were establishing the state government.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Abernethy|first1=Thomas Perkins|title=The Formative Period in Alabama, 1815-1828|date=1990|publisher=University of Alabama Press|location=Tuscaloosa|isbn=9780817352134|page=5}}</ref> [[Huntsville, Alabama|Huntsville]] was designated to be the site of the constitutional convention. Bibb was elected governor by defeating [[Marmaduke Williams]] and receiving 8,342 votes to Williams's 7,140 votes.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dupre|first1=Daniel S.|last2=Webb|first2=Samuel L.|last3=Armbrester|first3=Margaret E.|title=Alabama Governors : A Political History of the State|date=2014|publisher=University of Alabama Press|location=Tuscaloosa|isbn=9780817318437|page=16}}</ref> The capital was chosen to be the newly created town of [[Cahawba, Alabama|Cahawba]] in 1820 on the Alabama frontier but moved to [[Tuscaloosa, Alabama|Tuscaloosa]] in 1826 and finally to the central city of [[Montgomery, Alabama|Montgomery]] in 1846.
During Bibb's tenure, the Alabama state [[militia]] was established, and the beginnings of the state judicial system, along with the organization of and appointments to the [[Supreme Court of Alabama]], were accomplished.
[[Henry Hitchcock]] was elected the first [[Attorney General of Alabama]] and initially held the position of [[Secretary of State of Alabama]] as well. However, shortly afterward, [[Thomas A. Rodgers]] was elected as the second [[Secretary of State of Alabama]]. The first session of the [[Alabama state legislature]] was held from October 25, 1819, to December 17, 1819. [[William R. King]] and [[John Williams Walker|John W. Walker]] were chosen as the state's first [[US Senators]].
To date, Bibb is one of only three individuals to have served as governor of a state and as a US senator from a different state.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://editions.lib.umn.edu/smartpolitics/2017/09/14/mitt-romney-prepares-for-unusual-us-senate-bid/|title=Mitt Romney Prepares for Unusual US Senate Bid {{!}} Smart Politics|website=editions.lib.umn.edu|date=14 September 2017 |language=en-CA|access-date=2018-04-01}}</ref> The others are [[Sam Houston]], who (among his other political offices) served as the sixth [[Governor of Tennessee]] and a [[List of United States senators from Texas|US Senator from Texas]] (a state, like Alabama, which also had not existed when he held his governorship), and [[Mitt Romney]], who served as the seventieth [[Governor of Massachusetts]] and a [[List of United States senators from Utah|US Senator from Utah]].<ref name=":0" />
==Death== On July 10, 1820, Bibb was thrown from his horse during a violent thunderstorm,<ref name="NorthenGraves1910">{{cite book|author1=William J. Northen|author2=John Temple Graves|title=Men of Mark in Georgia: A Complete and Elaborate History of the State from Its Settlement to the Present Time, Chiefly Told in Biographies and Autobiographies of the Most Eminent Men of Each Period of Georgia's Progress and Development|url=https://archive.org/details/menmarkingeorgi00nortgoog|year=1910|publisher=A. B. Caldwell|pages=[https://archive.org/details/menmarkingeorgi00nortgoog/page/n200 145]–}}</ref> and died from internal injuries. He was 38 years old. His brother, [[Thomas Bibb]], was president of the State Senate and filled out his term as governor.
William Bibb is buried in [[Coosada, Alabama]]. His likeness appears on the [[Alabama Centennial half dollar]] minted in 1921.
==See also== * [[Thomas Bibb]] - William's brother
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-2543051R-bk William Wyatt Bibb's ''An inquiry into the modus operandi of medicines upon the human body'' (Philadelphia, 1801).] *[http://www.archives.state.al.us/govs_list/g_bibbwm.html Alabama Department of Archives and History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111208134236/http://www.archives.state.al.us/govs_list/g_bibbwm.html |date=2011-12-08 }} {{CongBio|B000434}} *[http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/beucher-biddis.html#R9M0IPFDW Political Graveyard] *[http://www.alabama200.org/educators/primary-sources/cotton-state/alabama-territorial-and-early-statehood/detail/william-wyatt-bibb-first-term-voucher Image of "Voucher for the salary to be paid to Governor William Wyatt Bibb"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803030117/http://www.alabama200.org/educators/primary-sources/cotton-state/alabama-territorial-and-early-statehood/detail/william-wyatt-bibb-first-term-voucher |date=2021-08-03 }} *[https://www.loc.gov/resource/maj.01050_0275_0277/?st=gallery Library of Congress - Letter from "William Wyatt Bibb to Andrew Jackson, October 1, 1818"]
{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box |state = Georgia |district = AL |before= [[Thomas Spalding]] |after= [[Alfred Cuthbert]] |years=January 26, 1807 – November 6, 1813 }} {{s-par|us-sen}} {{U.S. Senator box|class=2|state=Georgia| before = [[William Bellinger Bulloch|William B. Bulloch]]| after = [[George Troup]] | years =November 6, 1813 – November 9, 1816| alongside=[[Charles Tait (politician)|Charles Tait]] }} {{s-off}} {{succession box | before = (none) |title=[[List of governors of Alabama|Territorial Governor of Alabama]] | years = 1817–1819 | after = [[Governor of Alabama]] }} {{succession box | before = ''Position established'' |title=[[List of governors of Alabama|Governor of Alabama]] | years = 1819–1820 | after = [[Thomas Bibb]]}} {{s-end}} {{USSenGA}} {{Governors of Alabama}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bibb, William Wyatt}} [[Category:1781 births]] [[Category:1820 deaths]] [[Category:People from Amelia County, Virginia]] [[Category:Democratic-Republican Party United States representatives from Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:Democratic-Republican Party United States senators from Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:Members of the Georgia House of Representatives]] [[Category:Alabama Democratic-Republicans]] [[Category:Territorial governors of the United States]] [[Category:19th-century Alabama politicians]] [[Category:Alabama Territory officials]] [[Category:Governors of Alabama]] [[Category:Democratic-Republican Party state governors of the United States]] [[Category:College of William & Mary alumni]] [[Category:Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni]] [[Category:Deaths by horse-riding accident in the United States]] [[Category:Accidental deaths in Alabama]] [[Category:United States senators who owned slaves]] [[Category:19th-century United States senators]] [[Category:19th-century members of the Georgia General Assembly]] [[Category:19th-century United States representatives]]