one inch frame

I had always heard that the process by which West Virginia became a state was not exactly on the up-and up, and in fact, was unconstitutional. This evening, at the annual dinner meeting of the Mineral County Historical Society, Dr. John Stealey of Shepherd University presented this story to us. I found it fascinating and wanted to write it down to help me remember.

(This is my summary of his presentation, so it’s quite possible that factual errors result from my misremembering of his words, not that he was in error.)

The issue that divided western Virginia from the rest of the Commonwealth was one of loyalty and patriotism. When the Virginia General Assembly voted to secede from the union, which happened without the consent of the populace, people all over the western part of the state, which were loyal to the union, decided they would take a stand on this greatest of issues. When the entire Commonwealth later voted to affirm the secession, leaders in the western part acted shrewdly to form a new state, known as the Restored Government of Virginia. The thinking among these men was that, since the Commonwealth had removed itself from the union, its government no longer mattered to the United States, and the congressmen were no longer needed in Washington. So the leaders of the Restored Government decided that they would be known as the state of Virginia. They nominated senators and representatives, and sent them to Washington to be seated in the seats of Virginia congressmen. The U. S. Senate and House ruled to seat these representatives, giving (at least tacitly) legitimacy to the new state.

The executive branch, headed by President Lincoln, also gave legitimacy to the state when it recognized federal funds that the Commonwealth had not claimed, and disbursed them to Francis Pierpont’s government of the Restored Government of Virginia.

In this way, when the local leaders of the state would later vote to become the state of West Virginia, the leaders were all from the Restored Government, not the Commonwealth, as the United States recognized the Restored Government as the actual state of Virginia, the Commonwealth having earlier seceded and therefore not recognized.

I think that’s a pretty clever trick: the ‘old’ state leaving the Union, a sympathizing government swooping in to take its place. The United States, eager to build support, turned a blind eye to the shell game that Pierpont’s government had pulled, and recognized these men as leaders of the “state” of Virginia, basically telling the Commonwealth “you’re dead to me.”