USA > West Virginia > History of West Virginia > Part 24
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Raleigh county, Stephen M. Hansley ; Wetzel, R. W. Lauck ; Lewis, Robert Irvine; Clay, Benjamin S. Stephen- son; Harrison, Thomas W. Harrison and John M. Powell , Putnam, Dudley S. Montague ; Upshur, Richard L. ยท Brooks ; Ritchie, A. J. Wilson ; Braxton, G. F. Taylor; Wayne, W. W. Brumfield ; Randolph, Josiah Simmons; Pleasants, Joseph Hubbs ; Gilmer, William W. Warder; Roane, H. D. Chapman, Mason, John Hall ; Brooke,
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James Hervey ; Boone, Robert Hager; Monongalia, Waitman T. Willey and Henry Dering ; Wood, P. G. Van Winkle and William E. Stevenson ; Marion, E. B. Hall and Hiram Haymond ; Ohio, J. W. Paxton, Daniel Lamb and Gordon Battelle ; Hancock, Joseph S. Pom- eroy; Tyler, Abraham D. Soper; Tucker, James W. Parsons ; Doddridge, Chapman J. Stewart; Cabell, Granville Parker ; Barbour, Emmet J. O'Brien ; Taylor, Harmon Sinsel ; Preston, John J. Brown and John A. Dille ; Jackson, E. S. Mahon ; Wirt, Benjamin.F. Stew- art; Hampshire, Thomas R. Carskadon and George W. Sheets ; Logan, Benjamin H. Smith ; Braxton, Gustavus F. Taylor ; Marshall, E. H. Caldwell and T. H. Trainer ; Hardy, Abijah Dolly ; Fayette, James S. Cassady ; Wyoming, William Walker; Kanawha, Lewis Ruffner and James H. Brown ; Mercer, R. M. Cook; McDowell, J. P. Hoback; Nicholas, J. R. Mccutchen.
On the Ist of February, 1862, James S. Cassady, of Fayette, resigned, and the vacancy was filled by the appointment of E. W. Ryan. On the 18th of the same month, James H. Brown, of Kanawha, resigned and the vacancy was not filled.
As has been seen, the Ordinance providing for the formation of a new State, declared that it should be called " Kanawha." For a State bearing that name, the work of preparing a Constitution began, but on the 3d day of December, when the first section of the first article was read as follows : "The State of Kanawha shall be and remain one of the United States of Amer- ica," Sinsel, the delegate from Taylor county, moved to strike out the word "Kanawha." A lengthy debate ensued, but the motion was finally adopted, yeas 30,
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nays 14. Then on motion of Daniel Lamb, the Con- vention proceeded to fill the blank. The roll was called and the vote recorded as follows :-
For "West Virginia "-Messrs. John Hall, Presi- dent-Brumfield, Caldwell, Carskadon, Cassady, Dille, Dolly, Hansley, Haymond, Hubbs, Hervey, Hagar, Irvine, Lauck, Mahon, O'Brien, Parsons, Parker, Sin- sel, Simmons, B. F. Stewart, C. J. Stewart, Sheets, Soper, Taylor Trainer, Willey, Walker, Warder, Wil- son-30
For "Kanawha "-Messrs. Brown, of Kanawha, Bat- telle, Chapman, Harrison, Lamb, Montague, Paxton, Ruffner, Van Winkle-9.
For "Western Virginia "-Messrs. Brooke and Powell-2.
For " Allegheny"-Messrs. Pomeroy and Stevenson, of Wood-2.
For " Augusta"-Mr. Brown, o. Preston-I.
So the blank was filled by inserting "West Vir- ginia." Thus was the name changed, and it seems that while the members were determined to sever their political connection with the "Old Dominion," they were not willing to abandon the name of "Virginia."
The subject of slavery was one of exciting interest. The question to be determined by the Convention was whether it should be perpetuated by the constitution, or whether that instrument should provide for its gradual extinction. Between these views, the body was almost equally divided. Those adhering to the former, claimed that Congress, the President and his Cabinet, desired that the subject should be entirely ignored in the State Constitution, while those enter- taining the latter view, stoutly affirmed that the New
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State would never be admitted into the Union unless her organic law provided for gradual emancipation. These latter based their claim upon the belief that Congress would never create two slave States out of one, and thereby increase the slave power in the United States Senate by the addition of two members from the New State.
On the 14th of December, Gordon Battelle, one of the delegates from Ohio county, offered the following, since known as the " Battelle Resolutions : " ___
" Resolved, That at the same time when this constitu- tion is submitted to the qualified voters of the proposed New State, to be voted for or against, an additional section to Article XI, in the words following :-
I. "No slave shall be brought, or free person of color come into this State for permanent residence, after this Constitution goes into operation ;"
2. "That all children born of slave mothers after the year eighteen hundred and seventy, shall be free; the males at the age of twenty eight and the females at eighteen ; and the children of such females shall be free at birth ; shall be separately submitted to the qualified voters of the new State for their adoption or rejection ; and if a majority of the votes cast for and against said additional section are in favor of its adoption, it shall be made a part of Article XI. of this Constitution, and not otherwise."
On the same day this resolution was " tabled without day" by a vote of twenty-four yeas, nays twenty-three. Thus the matter rested until February 12, 1862, when John A. Dille, of Preston, reported the following, which was adopted by a vote of forty-eight yeas, nays one :- "No slave shall be brought or free person of color
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come into this State for permanent residence after this Constitution goes into operation "
Thus the Constitution was completed with this the only reference to the "peculiar institution " in it. The third Thursday of April was fixed as that upon which the vote upon the Constitution should be taken. John Hall, James W. Paxton, Peter G. Van Winkle, Elbert H. Caldwell and Ephraim B. Hall were appointed com- missioners to cause to be published the Constitution and schedule, and the body adjourned on the 18th of February, 1862, subject to be reconvened by the last named commissioners on such day as they might pre- scribe.
The election occurred at the specified time and re- sulted in the adoption of the Constitution by a vote of eighteen thousand eight hundred and sixty-two in its favor and five hundred and fourteen against it.
Immediately after the adjournment of the Convention, the friends of the " Battelle Resolutions" were much dis- appointed because of the failure to secure the incor- poration of the second one in the Constitution. Notwithstanding, they resolved to submit it to the people at the April election ; this they did in a number of counties, the .movement being principally superin- tended by Granville Parker, of Cabell county. The result showed a vote of about six thousand in favor of its insertion as a part of the Constitution. The vote, though informal, was an expression of public sentiment, encouraging to the promoters of the movement.
CHAPTER XXVI.
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THE STATE ADMITTED INTO THE UNION.
Act of Assembly Granting Permission to Form a New State within the Limits of Virginia-Commissioners to bring the Subject before Congress-Their Arrival at Washington-The Work of other West Virginians at the National Capital --- The Subject Presented in the Senate-Referred to the Committee on Territories -The Bill Prepared by John S. Carlisle and Reported by the Committee-Car- lisle's Opposition to the Measure-The " Willey Amendment "-The Bill of Hon. William G. Brown-The Senate Passes the Bill-Its Friends and Enemies in that Body-Postponement in the House-Its Final Passage by the Same- Approved by the President-The Constitution Referred Back to the Conven- tion-Again Ratified by the People-The President's Proclamation.
GOVERNOR PIERPONT issued his proclamation an- nouncing the result of the vote on the ratification of the Constitution, and at the same time, convened the Gen- eral Assembly in extra session. That body met in the city of Wheeling, May 6, 1862, and on the 12th of the same month passed an act giving its consent to the formation and erection of a New State within the jurisdiction of Virginia.
All eyes now turned toward Washington City. There was to be the scene of final action, the result of which would be the realization or disappointment of the fondest hopes of the friends of the New State, who were determined to secure, if possible, its admis- sion into the Union before the adjournment of the second session of the Thirty-seventh Congress. In that body sat Waitman T. Willey and John S. Carlisle as Senators, and Kellian V. Whaley, William G. Brown and Jacob B. Blair as representatives from Virginia,
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under the Reorganized Government. Each was relied upon as a firm friend of the movement.
The commissioners appointed to bring the matter before Congress were John Hall, of Mason ; James Paxton, of Ohio county; Elbert H. Caldwell, of Mar- shall ; Peter G. Van Winkle, of Wood, and Ephraim B. Hall, of Marion. Supplied with copies of the rati- fied Constitution and the Act of Assembly granting permission to form the State, they proceeded at once to the National Capital, where they arrived May 22, 1862. They were accompanied by several West Vir- ginians, who went at their own expense, and did all possible to aid in the movement ; among them were Harrison Hagans, of Preston ; Granville Parker, of Cabell, and Daniel Polsley, of Mason, the latter the Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia under the Reorgan- ized Government. In addition, the commissioners received valuable assistance from Hon. Ralph Leete and John Campbell, of Lawrence county, Ohio, who introduced them to the Senators and Representatives from that State.
On the 25th of May, Senator Willey laid the matter before the United States Senate, by which body it was at once referred to the Committee on Territories, of which Benjamin F. Wade, of Ohio, was Chairman, and John S. Carlisle, the other Virginia Senator, a member. To the latter was assigned the work of preparing and reporting the bill providing for the admission of the State. Now for the first time, notwithstanding the fact that in 1861, he had been one of the principal actors in the New State movement, it became evident that he was an enemy to the same. His opposition was first made apparent by his delay in the preparation of the
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bill. Nothing was heard of it until the 23d day of June, when it came from the committee, and if any one still entertained a doubt of his hostility to the measure, the text of his report must have removed it. It was known as " Senate Bill No. 365," and may be seen entire by reference to the Congressional Globe, for 1862, page 2942. The friends of the measure were completely astounded, for by it, all that had been done by the people was lost, rendered of no effect. It pro- vided first, that in addition to the counties named in the Constitution, fifteen others, viz. : Berkeley, Jeffer- son, Clarke, Frederick, Warren, Page, Shenandoah, Rockingham, Augusta, Highland, Bath, Rockbridge, Botetourt, Craig and Allegheny, should be included within the limits of the New State. A second provi- sion was that when an "Enabling Act" should be passed, these counties, together with those west of the Alleghenies, should elect members to a convention to be held at as early a date as possible, and should then have power to frame a constitution to be submitted to the people of the several counties for ratification, and if by them ratified, and the Assembly of Virginia pass an act assenting to the formation of the State of West Virginia, then the Governor of Virginia shall certify the same to the President of the United States, who shall by proclamation announce the fact, and W'est Virginia shall be one of the United States without fur- ther action by the Congress thereof. But the fatal clause was that which provided that " all children born of slave parents within the New State, after July 4, 1863, should be free." When Carlisle drew the bill, he knew that in the fifteen Valley counties which he proposed to add, there existed almost as great hostility
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to the New State as was to be found in any section of Eastern Virginia, and that the people residing within them would never frame and ratify a constitution con- taining a clause which provided for the gradual extinc- tion of slavery.
June 26, Senator Wade called up the bill, where- upon Charles Sumner protested against the Gradual Emancipation Clause, and proposed to insert instead thereof the following from the Ordinance of 1787, pro-' viding for the organization of the North-Western Ter- ritory : " Within the State there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude other than in punishment of crime whereof the party is convicted." This, it was believed the people of the proposed State would not accept, especially if the provisions of the "Carlisle Bill" were retained.
The most earnest friends and supporters of the measure were now almost dismayed. Carlisle had thrown off the mask and openly proclaimed his oppo- sition. Willey stood firm, but seemed almost power- i less to act amid the hostility apparent on all sides. Brown, Blair and Whaley, though still entertaining hope, were nearly forced to the conclusion that the movement was dead, the latter giving expression to the belief that the bill in its present form would not receive a single vote in the Lower House.
Determined to make yet another effort, Senator Willey, on the Ist of July, again called up the bill. A heated discussion ensued, in which Senators Wade, Hale, Collamar, and Willey participated, the latter of . whom closed by submitting what was known as the " Willey Amendment." This was really a substitute for the Carlisle Bill. It omitted the fifteen counties
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which the latter incorporated within the confines of the proposed State, and contained Senator Wade's amend- ment, "that all slaves under twenty-one years of age, the 4th day of July, 1863, shall be free on arriving at that age." Carlisle now saw that his efforts to defeat the bill in the Senate would prove abortive, and deliv- ered a speech in favor of postponing further action on the subject until the first Monday in the following December. His address brought eloquent replies from Senators Wade and Ten Eyck, and Carlisle's motion for postponement was lost by a vote of 23 to 17.
Meanwhile, Hon. William G. Brown, one of Vir- ginia's representatives in the Lower House, fearing the failure of the measure in the Senate, prepared, and on the 26th of June-five days before Senator Willey called up the bill the last time-submitted a Bill in the House, the provisions of which Senator Willey accepted together with amendments. The following is a complete text of the Bill as it came up for final action in the Senate :-
AN ACT FOR THE ADMISSION OF WEST VIRGINIA INTO THE UNION.
" WHEREAS the people inhabiting that portion of Vir- ginia known as West Virginia, did, by a Convention assembled in the city of Wheeling on the twenty-sixth of November, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, frame for themselves a Constitution with a view of becoming a separate and independent State ; and whereas, at a general election held in the counties composing the territory aforesaid, on the third day of May last, the said Constitution was approved and adopted by the qualified voters of the proposed State ; and whereas,
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the Legislature of Virginia, by an act passed on the thirteenth day of May, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, did give its consent for the formation of a new State within the jurisdiction of the said State of Virginia, to be known by the name of West Virginia, and to embrace the following named counties, to wit: Han- cock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel, Marion, Monon- galia, Preston, Taylor, Tyler, Pleasants, Ritchie, Dodd- ridge, Harrison, Wood, Jackson, Wirt, Calhoun, Roane, Gilmer, Barbour, Tucker, Lewis, Braxton, Upshur, Randolph, Mason, Putnam, Kanawha, Clay, Nicholas, Cabell, Wayne, Boone, Logan, Wyoming, Mercer, McDowell, Webster, Pocahontas, Fayette, Raleigh, Greenbrier, Monroe, Pendleton, Hardy, Hampshire and Morgan ; and whereas, both the Legislature and the Convention aforesaid have requested that the New State should be admitted into the Union, and the Con- stitution aforesaid being republican in form, Congress doth hereby consent that the said forty-eight counties may be formed into a separate and independent State : Therefore,
" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen- tatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of West Virginia be and is hereby declared to be one of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever, and until the next general census shall be entitled to three members in the House of Representatives of the United States: Provided always, that this act shall not take effect until after the proclamation of the President of the United States hereinafter provided for.
"It being represented to Congress that since the
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Convention of the twenty-sixth of November, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, that framed and proposed the Constitution for the said State of West Virginia, the people thereof have expressed a wish to change the seventh section of the eleventh article of the said Con- stitution by striking out the same and inserting the fol- lowing in its place, namely: 'The children of slaves born within the limits of this State after the fourth day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, shall be free ; and that all slaves within the said State who shall. at the time aforesaid, be under the age of ten years, shall be free when they arrive at the age of twenty-one years ; and all slaves over ten and under twenty-one years shall be free when they arrive at the age of twenty-five years ; and no slave shall be permitted to come into the State for permanent residence therein :' Therefore,
SEC. 2. " Be it further enacted, That whenever the people of West Virginia shall, through their said Con- vention, and by a vote to be taken at an election to be held within the limits of said State, at such time as the Convention may provide, make and ratify the change aforesaid, and properly certify the same under the hand of the President of the Convention, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to issue his proclamation stating the fact, and thereupon this act shall take effect and be in force from and after sixty days from the date of said proclamation."
The vote on its final passage in the Senate was as follows :-
Yeas .- Messrs. Anthony, Clarke, Collamar, Fessen- den, Foot, Foster, Grimes, Hale, Harlan, Harris, Howe, Lane, of Indiana, Lane, of Kansas, Morrill, Pomeroy,
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Rice, Sherman, Simmons, Ten Eyck, Wade, Wilkinson, Willey, and Wilson, of Massachusetts-23.
Nays .- Messrs. Bayard, Browning, Carlisle, Chand- ler, Cowan, Davis, Howard, Kennedy, King, McDou- gall, Powell, Saulsbury, Stark, Sumner, Trumbull, Wilson, of Missouri, and Wright-17.
Thus the bill passed the Senate by a majority of six. The most earnest friends of the measure in the Senate were Willey, of Virginia; Wade, of Ohio; Collamar, of Vermont; Hale, of New Hampshire ; Fessenden, of Maine; Ten Eyck, of New Jersey ; Pomeroy and Lane, of Kansas, and Wilkinson, of Minnesota. The most active in opposition were Car- lisle, of Virginia ; Bayard, of Delaware ; Trumbull and Wilson, of Missouri, and Sumner, of Massachusetts.
It has been seen that Carlisle voted against the bill. The General Assembly, in session at Wheeling, on the 12th of December, 1862, after reciting in a lengthy preamble " that the Hon. John S. Carlisle * * * *, by his speeches and vote in the Senate, opposed the bill for the admission of West Virginia into the Union," passed the following joint resolution :--
" Resolved, By the General Assembly, That inasmuch as he has neither regarded the instructions aforesaid, nor the will of the loyal people of the State, he is hereby respectfully requested to resign his seat."
From the Senate the bill went to the House, in which it was reported July 16th, six days after its pas- sage in the Senate. Adjournment was near at hand, and the same day it was postponed until the second Tuesday in the ensuing December, by a vote of 63 to 33. But the friends of the measure were far from
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being discouraged ; the bill had passed the Senate, and they were assured by many members of the House that it should have their support at the ensuing session.
On the 9th day of December, 1862, the General Assembly, sitting at Wheeling, passed a joint resolution declaring : "That feeling the greatest anxiety and in- terest in the successful issue of the movement for a new State in West Virginia, we earnestly request the House of Representatives of the United States to take up and pass, without alteration or amendment, the bill which passed the Senate of the United States on the Ioth of July last."
This resolution was telegraphed to Washington the same evening, and the next morning William G. Brown called up the bill in the House of Representatives, it having been put in charge of Hon. John A. Bingham, of Ohio. A spirited debate ensued, continuing through- out the day and until late in the evening, when a vote was reached and resulted as follows :-
Yeas .- Messrs. Aldrich, Arnold, Babbitt, Baker, Bax- ter, Beaman, Bingham, Jacob B. Blair, S. S. Blair, Blake, William G. Brown, Buffington, Burnham, Camp- bell, Casey, Chamberlain, Clarke, Clements, Colfax, Frederick A. Conkling, Covode, Cutler, Davis, Duell, Dunn, Edgerton, Edwards, Eliot, Ely, Fenton, Samuel C. Fessenden, Thomas A. D. Fessenden, Franchot, Frank, Goodwin, Gurley, Haight, Hale, Harrison, Hick- man, Hooper, Horton, Hutchins, Julian, Kelley, Francis WV. Kellogg, William Kellogg, Killinger, Lansing, Lch- man, Loomis, Lovejoy, Low, McKnight, McPherson, Maynard, Mitchell, Moorhead, Anson P. Morrill, Justin S. Morrill, Nixon, Noell, Olin, Patton, Timothy G. Phelps, Pike, Pomeroy, Porter, Potter, John H. Rice,
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Riddle, Edward H. Rollins, Sargent, Sedgwick, Shanks, Sheffield, Shellabarger, Sherman, Sloan, Spaulding, Stevens, Stratton, Trimble, Trowbridge, Van Horn, Van Valkenburgh, Van Wyck, Verree, Walker, Wall, Wash- burne, Whaley, Albert S. White, Wilson, Windon, and Worcester-96.
Nays .- Messrs. William J. Allen, Alley, Ancona, Ashley, Bailey, Biddle, Cobb, Roscoe Conkling, Con- way, Cox, Cravens, Crisfield, Crittenden, Delano, Dela- plaine, Diven, Dunlap, Gooch, Granger, Grider, Hall, Harding, Holman, Johnson, Kerrigan, Knapp, Law, Mallory, Menzies, Morris, Noble, Norton, Odell, Pen- dleton, Price, Alexander H. Rice, Richardson, Robinson, James S. Rollins, Segar, Shiel, Smith, John B. Steele, William G. Steele, Stiles, Benjamin F. Thomas, Francis Thomas, Train, Vallandingham, Voorhees, Ward, Chil- ton A. White, Wickliffe, Wright, and Yeaman-55.
The most active advocates of the bill in the House were William G. Brown, Kellian V. Whaley and Jacob B. Blair, of Virginia; Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana ; Stevens, of Pennsylvania ; Edwards, of New Hamp- shire ; Olin, of New York; Sheffield, of Rhode Island ; Noell, of Missouri; Maynard, of Tennessee, and Hutchins and Bingham, of Ohio, the latter of whom made one of the best efforts of his life in behalf of the bill. Its most violent opposers were Segar, of Virginia ; Conway, of Kansas; Dawes, of Massachusetts, and Crittenden, of Kentucky.
When the bill went to President Lincoln, he requested the opinion of each member of his Cabinet in writing. Harlin was absent from the city, but the other six responded, and it appeared that Seward, Chase and Stanton recommended its approval, while Wells, Blair
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and Bates opposed it. With his advisers thus equally divided, the President jocosely remarked that it only illustrated an idea which he had entertained for some time, viz., that "A President is as well off without a Cabinet as with one." Congressman Jacob B. Blair, who was untiring in his efforts to secure the success of the measure, called on the President on the evening of the 31st of December, and was told by him to call in the morning and receive a "New Year's Gift." Im- patience combined with anxiety led the Congressman to call at the White House at an early hour, before the doors were opened. The President met him at a win- dow, and, exhibiting the bill with his signature affixed, remarked, " Here is the New Year's Gift I promised you."
As has been seen, the second clause of the bill ad- mitting the State required the Convention, which framed the State Constitution, to again assemble and change the seventh section of the eleventh article of the same, relative to the gradual extinction of slavery. This done, the Constitution thus amended was to be a second time submitted, and if ratified, then the Presi- dent of the Convention should certify the same to the President of the United States, who should then issue proclamation of the same, and sixty days thereafter West Virginia should be one of the United States.
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