How West Virginia Became a State
A quick review of how the Mountain State broke from the south during the Civil War.
In 1861, the commonwealth of Virginia joined the Confederate States of America. On April 17, the Virginia General Assembly voted to secede from the Union. On May 23, Virginia held a popular vote and 75% of Virginia citizens agreed to become part of the Confederacy.
Who were the no voters? People from the western part of Virginia — especially those living in the northwest, near Pennsylvania and Ohio. 60% of western Virginian delegates and 66% of western Virginians voted not to join the south.
The Wheeling Conventions
Between the general assembly vote and the popular vote, delegates from western Virginia held the First Wheeling Convention in Wheeling, WV, in the northern panhandle. They scheduled a second convention pending the outcome of the May 23 popular vote.
John Carlile, a merchant and attorney from Winchester, had a curious legal mind. He was a strict Unionist, but had no desire to see Virginia break into two states.
Instead, he posited the Confederate State of Virginia was legally invalid.
During the Second Wheeling Convention, in A Declaration of the People of Virginia, he argued that Virginia had joined the south improperly.
By Carlile’s reasoning, Virginia should not have been allowed to hold a secession vote. Such a vote first required a referendum, which the general assembly neglected.
Therefore, Carlile said, Virginia’s secession was void, and all state office holders affiliated with the Confederate state of Virginia had abandoned their posts.
More importantly, the events required a new government of Virginia to fill the offices abandoned by the old government. The second Wheeling Convention created the Restored Government of Virginia, recognized by both the United States congress and President Lincoln.
As a result, Virginia had two governments — one Union, one Confederate — and for a time was both a Union and a Confederate state.
For one state to break from another, it needed license from the original state to do so. Richmond would not cooperate, but the “Restored Government” could legally grant that authority.
Delegates were favorable to a state called “Kanawha,” but renamed it West Virginia in the weeks that followed.
An Election Nobody Believed was Real
A popular vote to secede from Virginia also led to statehood.
There were 70,000 eligible voters living in western Virginia. During the vote to join the Confederacy in May, 1861, 54,000 came out.
During the vote to break from Virginia on October 24, 1861, only 19,000 people voted. What happened?
The counties closest to Virginia were loyal to the south, and would not participate in an election held by “The Restored Government of Virginia” of the north. They thought the election a sham. Confederate soldiers discouraged voters near Virginia and Maryland, and Union soldiers protected voters in the north.
On the map to the left, the counties indicated in green refused to participate in the West Virginia statehood election. The blue and yellow counties had low voter turnout and limited participation. White counties had high participation, or were added after statehood.
So, 25% of what is now West Virginia voted, casting 18,000 votes for statehood and 500 votes against it. This triggered a state constitutional convention. Northern West Virginians drew the constitution, and southern West Virginians distrusted it.
The restored government filed an application for admission to the Union with the United States Congress, and on December 31, 1862, an President Abraham Lincoln approved an enabling act, admitting West Virginia as the 35th State on June 20, 1863.
After the Civil War, Virginia rejoined the Union. West Virginians were concerned the commonwealth might challenge West Virginia’s statehood. Congress, therefore, set a condition for Virginia’s readmission: it must affirm in its 1869 Constitution that the authority by which the State of West Virginia was created out of Virginia territory had indeed been valid, thus giving its consent to the creation of West Virginia retroactive to 1863.
