In a message dated 9/4/2001 6:53:56 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:
<< The story of secession in Virginia is a fascinating one, >>
There is a chapter in Virginia: The Old Dominion, Andrews, "Before the
Tempest." There is an extensive treatment (from the Confederate perspective)
in Vol I History of Virginia Democracy, Glass (out of print and hard to come
by)
Both of these sources do support the view there was a strong and broad based
sentiment against secession in Virginia before the war, and in fact secession
was first rejected by popular vote. There was as strong an opinion that a
state did have the right to withdraw from the Union, which is another
counterpoint in the "slavery was the cause of the civil war." Certainly,
slavery was the main catalyst in the seven states that formed the
Confederacy, but in Virginia, it was the action of Lincoln to meet the
withdrawal by force that turned the Virginia vote completely around. I think
you work too hard at making Pierpont's government representative of Virginia
sentiment. At the time of the second vote, most of the "nays" came from the
western counties (as you point out, about 1/3 of the population) which were
the same voters who voted again following the Wheeling Convention to take
West Virginia out of Virginia, and the same delegates at the Wheeling
Convention that called themselves the "restored government" of Virginia. So,
Pierpont was elected by pro-Union West Virginians. His government spent the
war behind the federal lines in Alexandria. Following the war, he was
displaced by what came to be known as the Underwood Convention orchestrated
by the Union commander.
_____________________________________________________________________
Richard E. Dixon
Attorney at Law
4122 Leonard Drive
Fairfax, VA 22030
703-691-0770 fax 703-691-0978
______________________________________________________________________
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