West Virginia is a state in east USA. The western and north-western parts of the state of Virginia refused to be bound by the ordinance of secession of April the 17th, 1861. A convention was called at Wheeling in May, 1861, which summoned a State convention. This convention refused to recognize the State officers who were in opposition to the National Government, elected Frank Pierpont Governor of Virginia, and called a State legislature to meet at Wheeling. The convention voted to erect a new State to be called Kanawha, and the State Legislature, which had been called by this convention and which claimed to be the Legislature of the State of Virginia, gave its consent to the division of the State. West Virginia became a State of the Union on June the 19th, 1863. An amendment to the State constitution of 1866 disfranchised all persons who had aided the Rebellion. The 'Flick Amendment', of 1871, extended the suffrage to negroes and removed the disfranchising clause of 1866. Research West Virginia
Abbreviations
Gazetteer
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