virginia: Surely the creation of West Virginia was handled in a way that had, and still does not have, any precedent. It seems to be a mystery how and when the state was created. At the beginning of the Civil War the western end of Virginia prefered to stay in the Union and the eastern end of Virginia preferred to join the Confederacy. Suddenly there was another state in the Union; West Virginia. There has to be a legal procedure of some kind that is valid for such a major step.|||I will not comment on the constitutionality of it--but.... The United States did not recognize the secession of Virginia. Therefore, it did not recognize the the secessionist government of Virginia, which was in Richmond. Instead, it recognize what remained of the Virginia legislature, the Unionist legislature, under Pierpont Morgan and meeting in Alexandra Virginia. That recognized government, even though it was a rump legislature, authorized a convention in Wheeling, Virginia (not West Virginia) to determine if the western part of Virginia wanted to become its own state. When the convention voted for separation of the new state from Virginia, but the Unionist government of Virginia and the United States accepted that dermination as constitutional and recognized the new jurisidictation. Then West Virginia, just as another other US territory, wrote a constitution and asked for admission to the United State, and the United States accepted it. Meanwhile, even then the USA government recognized the now tiny Unionist goverment as the legstimately government of Virginia, not the secessionist government in Richmond. That's how it worked. As I say, I don't know the constitutional law well enough to judge.|||Neither Pennsylvania or Ohio wanted it lol. But there's a really cool haunted prison there. Moundsville, check it out.|||Texas was admitted to the Union after it's war for Independence from Mexico. The District of Columbia was observed as separate from Virginia and Maryland. Washington Territory was admitted as Washington, Oregon, and part of Idaho. Wisconsin Territory was included as Minnesota and Wisconsin. Dacotah Territory was divided and admitted as North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana Just a few examples/precedents Although the location of a National Capital was highly contested: There was never a"Constitutional " challenge to any of the preceding.............ALL RATIFIED BY THE CONGRESS OF THE U.S. West Virginia(Kanawha 1861- 1863) voted to stay in the Union) It's only difference From the rest that it was the only "Northern State" south of the Mason-Dixon Line|||First the State of West Virginia exists because a group of lawyers met and figured out how to use the US Constitution to create a state from territories claimed by another state, Virginia. When Virginia left the Union the 44 western counties had generally rejected the idea of separation and joining the Confederacy. So when Virginia seceded from the Union the representatives of these disgruntaled counties met in Wheeling and elected to leave Virginia. Article IV, Section 3, of the US Constitution says that no new state can be created from the territory of another without the consent of the losing state's legislature, and the acceptance of the process by the US Congress. When Virginia left the Union the representatives of the 44 western counties met and declared that they constituted the "Loyal and Restored Government of Virginia" and declared tht they were "the government of the State of Virginia in exile". As the "legitimate" legislature of the State of Virginia they declared their separation from Virginia and the process was accepted by the US Congress in 1863. Lincoln, a pretty good country lawyer himself, initially questioned the concept but eventually agreed that the "letter of the law" had been followed and he backed the creation of the State of West Virginia. Was it legal? If you are a southron, probably not, but the US Supreme Court has ruled on a couple of occasions that West Virginia is a legitimate state and Virginia eventually had to give up all of its claims on the 55 western counties. So West Virginia exists as a State and will remain. Hope this helps.|||Had they gone to the Supreme Court instead of Manassas Junction, there might very well be a Confederate States of America today. And Lord knows what would have become of Maryland, where a chunk of the legislature were arrested and habeus corpus suspended to prevent the southern sympathizers' voting. It's Realpolitik, where might makes right.|||Let me explain the Constitutional mechanics of it. Article IV/Section III says that new states can be admitted, but that no new state can be made from another state, or parts of states without the states' permission. Now, here's what happened... When the Commonwealth of Virginia held a convention to determine whether or not to secede from the union, the delegates from the western portion of the state (where slavery never took root) said no. They further stated that they would not accept as valid any attempt made to secede. They were outvoted, and the state seceded. But true to their word, the western delegates would not accept it, and so convened a new legislature in the city of Wheeling. Since the United States did not recognize the legitimacy of the state of Virginia seceding from the union, President Lincoln recognized the Wheeling legislature as the sole legitimate legislature for the WHOLE state of Virginia. This legislature was invited to send Representatives and Senators to Congress. And pursuant to the Constitution, the Wheeling legislature redrew it's own borders, and ceded back to the United States the rebellious counties of the east for later reconstruction after the war. Remember, the Constitution says that new states cannot be created from old states UNLESS the state agrees. And because the Wheeling legislature was recognized in law as the legitimate government for the whole state, they could make it work. After the war, the Commonwealth of Virginia challenged this in the Supreme Court, and lost. The Court's reasoning was essentially the reasoning I've just shared with you. Hope this helps. Cheers, mate.|||The advent of the American Civil War fueled new desires for a politically separate western area. At the Virginia secession convention of April 1861 a majority of the western delegates opposed secession. In subsequent meetings at Wheeling (May 1861), dominated by the western delegates, the ordinance of secession was declared an illegal attempt to overthrow the federal government. The second Wheeling convention (June) pronounced the Richmond government void, established a restored Government of Virginia, and provided for the election of new state officers. The restored governor, Francis H. Pierpont, secured federal recognition and maintained civil jurisdiction over the region until Congress consented to the admission of West Virginia to the Union on June 20, 1863. A condition of entry was the gradual emancipation of slaves in the region. The capital was permanently established at Charleston in 1885.