Why did West Virginia stay

Derek Jackson · Jul 23, 2011

I get the creation of West Virginia during the Civil War. The people in that part of the State very clearly opposed thetreason. However once the rest of Virginia was back in the Union why did the state not re unite

By the way if that had happened might a whole Virginia have supported the Readjuster movement longer than in otl??

The Ubbergeek · Jul 23, 2011

I'd be interested to do something original in ACW, like... a total FAIL of the first step of secession, internet sense - like one or two states dare... but they are 'betrayed' by the rest, or they shy away?

wilcoxchar · Jul 23, 2011

They didn't just secede because of slavery. Practically all of West Virginia is cut off from the rest of Virginia by the Appalachians. The people of WV didn't like being ruled by Richmond when communication was so slow and there was so much cultural disconnect so they left when they had the chance.

Thespitron 6000 · Jul 23, 2011

Derek Jackson said:
I get the creation of West Virginia during the Civil War. The people in that part of the State very clearly opposed thetreason. However once the rest of Virginia was back in the Union why did the state not re unite

By the way if that had happened might a whole Virginia have supported the Readjuster movement longer than in otl??

Why would they recombine? The West Virginians had separated not just because they did not support secession, but also for cultural reasons that had to do with the differing geography, levels of education and trade, lack of slaves in the more mountainous regions, etc. Having seceded during the war, they now had regional autonomy. Why would they want to give that up, just to be governed by people they resented?

Dathi THorfinnsson · Jul 23, 2011

Thespitron 6000 said:
Why would they recombine? The West Virginians had separated not just because they did not support secession, but also for cultural reasons that had to do with the differing geography, levels of education and trade, lack of slaves in the more mountainous regions, etc. Having seceded during the war, they now had regional autonomy. Why would they want to give that up, just to be governed by people they resented?

Because the split was unconstitutional? The cconstitution says that states can only split or merge if the state(s) agree(s)

If virginia doesnt, and takes it to the supreme court, wv would surely lose.

mowque · Jul 23, 2011

Dathi THorfinnsson said:
Because the split was unconstitutional? The cconstitution says that states can only split or merge if the state(s) agree(s)

If virginia doesnt, and takes it to the supreme court, wv would surely lose.

I don't think the USA is going to forcibly intergrate Virginia and West Virginia.

Domoviye · Jul 23, 2011

Dathi THorfinnsson said:
Because the split was unconstitutional? The cconstitution says that states can only split or merge if the state(s) agree(s)

If virginia doesnt, and takes it to the supreme court, wv would surely lose.

Virginia was in a state of rebellion at the time. So the constitutional legalities could be overlooked temporarily. As a loyal region the USA would not want to punish its supporters after the war.
Also if Virginia had pushed its claim, even if they won they'd have a rebellious region that was hard to control and was liable to shoot any state officials that came into the area.

Elfwine · Jul 23, 2011

Also, it being unconstitutional has been contested.

The government of Kanawha (West Virginia) was treated as the government of Virginia for purposes of consent, which might have something to do with it.

http://www.wvhumanities.org/Statehood/virginiavwestvirginia.htm

http://www.wvculture.org/history/statehood/cabinetopinions.html one aye and one nay.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=371340 - this might be interesting reading, too. Haven't read it yet.

dgharis · Jul 23, 2011

Domoviye said:
Virginia was in a state of rebellion at the time. So the constitutional legalities could be overlooked temporarily. As a loyal region the USA would not want to punish its supporters after the war.
Also if Virginia had pushed its claim, even if they won they'd have a rebellious region that was hard to control and was liable to shoot any state officials that came into the area.

On June 20th 1863 West Virginia was admitted to the Union as the 35th state. After the war the Virginia state government did challenge the legality of the cession of two counties to West Virginia (Virginia vs. West Virginia, 1871) but the Supreme Court ruled against them, stating that at the time of the cession all parties had agreed to it. This implicitly settled the question of the legality of the secession of West Virginia from Virginia as well and the matter has not been brought up again.

Snake Featherston · Jul 23, 2011

West Virginia's core areas were more economically connected to Ohio and Pennsylvania and more culturally akin to those two states, at least the Butternut section of Ohio and southern Pennsylvania than to the Tidewater. On top of this the wartime state had several majority-secessionist regions and had a civil war within the civil war during the bigger war, hardly the kind of situation to lead to a re-unified Virginia, while amplifying the cultural gap of Appalachia with the Tidewater.

Snake Featherston · Jul 23, 2011

Dathi THorfinnsson said:
Because the split was unconstitutional? The cconstitution says that states can only split or merge if the state(s) agree(s)

If virginia doesnt, and takes it to the supreme court, wv would surely lose.

Actually the Union answered that by creating the Wheeling Virginia government under some influential Virginia Unionists, and it was this government that proposed West Virginia and formed the core of it. The later shift to abolition of slavery as a war aim led to the 1861 pro-US secessionists disavowing the state, but the second set of leaders passed a constitution that did abolish slavery. Regardless, the Union could simply have claimed Pierrepont's government consented and so it was legal.