The State That Seceded from a Secession RoadyGoat

1861

West Virginia is the only state in the Union created by seceding from another state during a war about secession. When Virginia voted to leave the Union on May 23, 1861, the western counties refused to go. They had fewer slaves, more Unionist sentiment, and closer ties to Ohio and Pennsylvania than to Richmond. Delegates from the western counties met at the Wheeling Convention in June 1861 and pulled off a constitutional magic trick. They formed a Restored Government of Virginia, claimed they were the legitimate government of the entire state, and then gave themselves permission to split off. The Constitution requires a state legislature's consent to carve out a new state, and the Restored Government provided that consent for its own dismemberment. Congress went along with it. Lincoln signed the statehood bill on December 31, 1862. On June 20, 1863, West Virginia became the 35th state. The new state constitution included a provision for gradual emancipation of slaves, which was the political price of admission. The border between Virginia and West Virginia follows the Allegheny Mountains, a natural divide that had separated two different cultures for generations. Eastern Virginia was tidewater plantations and slave labor. Western Virginia was small farms, coal, and timber. The mountains made the border. The war made it official.

The Greenbrier Congressional Bunker

1958

A secret underground bunker built beneath the Greenbrier resort to shelter Congress during nuclear war.

White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia

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The State That Seceded from a Secession RoadyGoat

The Greenbrier Congressional Bunker

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