THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.
The October election was held in nearly every county of the proposed
State; 19,189 votes were polled, of which 18,408 were in favor of the
new State, and 781 against it.
Delegates to the constitutional convention were chosen at the same
time, and on the 26th of November, 1861, that body convened in the
Federal court room at Wheeling, all the counties then within the limits
of the proposed State being represented except Jefferson, Berkeley,
Webster and Monroe. The session continued eighty-two days, during
which time a constitution was framed and submitted to the people, to
be voted upon on the 3d day of April, 1862. The convention adjourned
on the 18th of February.
The constitution thus submitted was voted upon, on the day appointed,
and resulted in its adoption by a vote of 18,862 for it, and 514 against
it. By the census of 1860 it will be seen that the counties voting had
a population of 334,921 whites, and 12,771 colored. The reader will
have noticed the decrease in the number of votes polled at the above
election, from that polled at the time of the vote polled upon the ordinance
of secession, which was more than 54,000; but we must remember
that up to this time 10,000 men from Western Virginia were enrolled
in the Federal army, and several thousand had gone South, and
were fighting the battles of the Confederacy. Hence the difference in
the number of votes polled at the two elections.
