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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