Interesting you mention West Virginia. Lincoln created the state in
contravention of Article 4, Section 3 of the Constitution which required the
approval of the State of Virginia:
New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new
States shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor
any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or parts of
States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as
of the Congress.
I guess the judge who interviewed Lincoln for his joining the Illinois bar
didn't bring this up either.
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