History of West Virginia
Categories: West Virginia history
West Virginia is the only American state formed as a direct result of the American Civil War. It was originally the western part of the state of Virginia, whose population became sharply divided over the issue of secession from the Union.
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Virginia 1776-1860: conflicting needs of regions
As Virginia grew, as a Colony and as one of the original 13 states, the portions which remained after the subdivision of the areas of the Northwest Territory which later became the states of Indiana and Illinois, and then Kentucky in 1776, became more populated.
Virginia, albeit smaller, still extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ohio River. For the western areas, problems were the distance from the state seat of government in Richmond and the difference of common economic interests resultant from the tobacco and food crops farming, fishing, and coastal shipping to the east of the Eastern Continental Divide (waters which drain to the Atlantic Ocean) along the Allegheny Mountains, and the interests of the western portion which drained to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and the Gulf of Mexico.
The western area focused its commerce on neighbors to the west, and many citizens felt that the more populous eastern areas were too dominant in the Virginia General Assembly and insensitive to their needs. Major crisis in the Virginia state government over these differences was adverted on more than one occasion during the period before the American Civil War, but the underlying problems were fundamental and never well-resolved.
In the early 1860s, as the conflicts which resulted in the American Civil War became more acute, considerable disagreements existed between those in the western part of Virginia and plantation owners in the plains and tidewater regions.
Issue of secession causes major split; new state created
Under the United States constitution, state boundaries could not be redrawn without the consent of the state in question. However, the American Civil War allowed western Virginia to form its own state. Western Virginia contained several anti-secessionist pockets, particularly around the Wheeling region, and the only three counties in Virginia to vote for Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election. Upon the secession of Virginia from the union on April 27, 1861, anti-secessionist legislators convened a rump legislature and formed a pro-Union reformed government based in Wheeling which claimed to represent all of Virginia. This reformed government authorized the creation of the state of Kanawha, consisting of most of the counties that now make up West Virginia. A little over one month later, Kanawha was renamed West Virginia. Though the new state's government was avowedly unionist, the counties it contained were divided in their secession votes. 18 West Virginia counties voted in favor of secession, 20 voted against secession, and one resulted in a tie. Voting records for the remaining 9 counties were lost during the war.[1] This new state was admitted to the union on June 20, 1863, following Abraham Lincoln's signing of an act on December 31, 1862 that authorized this.
See also article Wheeling Convention.
Possible political motivation of Lincoln
It is a known fact that President Lincoln was in a close campaign when he won reelection in 1864. Thomas DiLorenzo, author of The Real Lincoln, claims that Lincoln "unconstitutionally created the state of West Virginia to shore up his electoral college vote count" [2].
Pre-war debt of Virginia
Following the war, Virginia had hoped for at least partial reunification with West Virginia. However, West Virginia remained as an independent state within the Union, initially with 48 counties. In fact, two more Virginia counties elected to join West Virginia after the War, in 1866. These were Berkeley County and Jefferson County. (Five more counties were formed later, to result in the current 55).
Beginning during Reconstruction, and for several decades thereafter, the two states disputed the new state's share of the pre-war Virginia government's debt, which had mostly been incurred to finance public infrastructure improvements, such as canals, roads, and railroads under the Virginia Board of Public Works, including many which were located in what became West Virginia after its formation. Virginians led by former Confederate General William Mahone formed a political coalition which was based upon this theory, the Readjuster Party. The issue was finally settled in 1915, when the United States Supreme Court ruled that West Virginia owed Virginia $12,393,929.50. The final installment of this sum was paid off in 1939.
Trivia
Even in the 20th century, there were still some disputes about the exact location of the border in some of the northern mountain reaches between Loudoun County, Virginia and Jefferson County, West Virginia. In 1991, both state legislatures appropriated money for a boundary commission to look into 15 miles of the border area. [3]
See also