Virginia and Virginians eminent Virginians, executives of the colony of Virginia from Sir Thomas Smyth to Lord Dunmore. Executives of the state of Virginia, from Patrick Henry to Fitzhugh Lee. Sketches of Gens. Ambrose Powel Hill, Robert E. Lee, Thos. Jonathan Jackson, Commodore Maury |
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 | Virginia and Virginians |  |
THE NEW CONSTITUTION—THE WORK COMPLETED.
The General Assembly of the reorganized government convened on
the 6th of May, 1862, and gave its formal assent to the formation of
the new State of West Virginia within the territory of the State of Virginia,
by the people. A memorial, together with the bill granting assent to
the erection of the State, and a copy of the donstitution, was transmitted
to Congress, praying for the admission of West Virginia into the
Union. Senators Carlisle and Willey presented the bill in the United
States Senate on the 27th of May, 1862. No action was taken until
December 31st, following, when it was again taken up and passed by
both houses with the understanding that "West Virginia was and should
be one of the members of the Federal Union" whenever she struck out
from her constitution the seventh section, known as the Battelle provision
for the gradual extinction of slavery within the State. On the
12th day of February, 1863, the convention reassembled and amended
the constitution according to the requirements of Congress; submitted it
to a vote of the people, who a second time ratified it by a majority of
about 17,000. The result was certified to President Lincoln, and on the
19th of April he issued his proclamation to the effect that after sixty
days "West Virginia should be one of the United States of America;
admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States in
all respects whatever."
The convention, before adjourning in February, provided that in case
the revised constitution should be ratified, an election should be held on
the fourth Thursday of May following, for the purpose of electing members
of both houses of the Legislature, a Governor, and other State officers,
Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals, etc.
The election was held at the appointed time. Hon. Arthur I. Boreman,
of Wood county, was chosen Governor, and thus became the first
chief executive of West Virginia; Samuel Crane, of Randolph was elected
Auditor; Campbell Tarr, of Brooke, Treasurer; J. Edgar Boyers, of
Tyler, Secretary of State, and A. Bolton Caldwell, of Ohio, Attorney-General.
Hons. Ralph L. Berkshire, of Monongalia, William A. Harrison,
of Harrison, and James H. Brown, of Kanawha, were elected
Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals.
When, therefore, the sixty days after the President's proclamation had
elapsed, on the 20th of June, 1863, West Virginia, "the daughter of
the rebellion," born amid the throes of civil war, entered upon her
career as one of the members of the Sisterhood of States.
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