W.V.
West Virginia is one of the fifty states that, together with Washington D.C., make up the United States of America. Its capital and most populous city is Charleston. It is located in the southern region of the country, South Atlantic division, bordered to the north by Pennsylvania, to the northeast by the Potomac River that separates it from Maryland, to the south by Virginia, to the southwest by the Big Sandy and Tug Fork rivers that separate it from Kentucky, and to the northwest with the Ohio River that separates it from Ohio. With 62,755 km² it is the tenth smallest state, ahead of Maryland, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island, the smallest. It was admitted to the Union on June 20, 1863, as the 35th state.
It seceded from Virginia during the Civil War in 1863, and was admitted to the Union as a seceded state on June 20 of that same year. It is the only state formed as a direct result of this war, and the only one formed from secession. It is known for its mountains, coal mining, and forestry industry. Also for its natural landscapes and as a tourist destination.
History
The region has been populated since prehistoric times. In Moundsville, South Charleston, and Romney there are many traces of mound culture. They are evidence of ancient societies formed by the peoples who had a tribal cultural system based on trade.
Around 1670, the Iroquois drove the other tribes out of the region and reserved it for them as a hunting ground during the Beaver Wars. The area was also inhabited by other Sioux-speaking tribes.
It was disputed territory, including by European Americans. Pennsylvania and Virginia claimed it before the Revolutionary War. Some companies that speculated with the land, such as Vandalia, and later Ohio & Indiana Company, tried unsuccessfully to legitimize their claims and set up shop in West Virginia and Kentucky.
With the final settlement of the Pennsylvania-Virginia boundary dispute, which led to the creation of Kentucky, the people of Kentucky "were satisfied [...], and the people of most of West Virginia were grateful."
It belonged to the Colony of British Virginia between 1607 and 1776, and between that year and 1863 it constituted the western part of Virginia (known as Virginia Trans-Allegheny before the formation of West Virginia). Strong discontent with electoral representation and underrepresentation in state Parliament caused residents to split over secession from the Union during the Civil War.
The western and northern counties established a separate government headed by Francis Pierpont in 1861, which they called the "restored government." The majority voted to secede from Virginia, and the new state was admitted to the Union in 1863. A year later, at a constitutional convention, he wrote the state Constitution. Although Parliament ratified it, it was not submitted to a popular vote. In this period, he abolished slavery and temporarily deprived those who had worked in Confederate offices or had fought for the Confederacy.
The exploration and colonization of Europeans
In 1671, General Abraham Wood, under the orders of the Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia, William Berkeley, sent a group of men led by Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam to Fort Henry, who discovered Kanawha Falls. Some sources say that Governor Alexander Spotswood's 1716 Ultramontane expedition had already penetrated Pendleton County, although original excursion stories to modern historians suggest that neither pilot had ventured west of the Blue Ridge, Harrisonburg.
John Van Meter, an Indian trader, went to the north in 1725. That same year, Pennsylvania German settlers founded New Mecklenburg, present-day Shepherdstown, on the Potomac River, and many followed.
In 1661, Charles II gave that company the strip between the Potomac and Rappahannock, known as Northern Neck. The land eventually came to be owned by Thomas Fairfax, and in 1746 an obelisk was erected at the headwaters of the North Branch of the Potomac, to mark the western boundary of the territory.
Between 1748 and 1751, George Washington surveyed much of the region. The newspaper of that time indicates that there were many occupants, mainly of German origin, who behaved abusively. Christopher Gist was an explorer with the Ohio Company, a company made up almost entirely of Virginians, who between 1751 and 1752 explored the lands along the Ohio River north of the mouth of the Kanawha.
The Ohio Company sought to found a new colony called Vandalia. Many settlers crossed the mountains after 1750, hampered by the resistance of the indigenous people. Some natives lived permanently within the current state limits, but the region was considered a hunting ground, traversed by many routes. During the French-Indian War, the British settlements, scattered throughout the territory, were almost completely destroyed.
In 1774, the Governor of the Crown of Virginia, John Murray, led an expedition beyond the mountains. In turn, a corps of militia under Colonel Andrew Lewis dealt the Shawnee, led by Cornstalk, a devastating blow at the Battle of Point Pleasant at the confluence of the Kanawha and Ohio. In the Camp Charlotte treaty that ended Dunmore's War, Cornstalk recognized the new border with Ohio, with the Long Knives of Virginia.
In 1776, however, the Shawnee waged a new war, joined by the Chickamauga. Native American attacks continued until the Revolutionary War. Settlers in this area were generally active Whigs and many joined the Continental Army. The Claypool Rebellion of 1780 to 1781, in which a group of men refused to pay colonial taxes, showed their war-weariness.
The Virginia Transallegheny
Social conditions in western Virginia were very different from those in the eastern part. The population was not homogeneous, as much of the immigration came from Pennsylvania and included Germans, Scotch-Irish Protestants, and settlers from the northern states. The eastern and southern counties settled mostly from eastern Virginia.
During the Revolutionary War, the movement to create a state beyond the Alleghenys was revived and a petition for the birth of "Westsylvania," was presented to Congress, arguing that to the east the mountains they were an almost impenetrable barrier. Wilderness also made slavery unnecessary and unprofitable.
In 1829 a commission was created to write a new constitution. This, contrary to the claims of the ultramontane counties, ruled that one had to own land in order to vote, and gave the slaveholding counties an advantage corresponding to three-fifths of their slave population in the allocation of state seats. in the House of Representatives. As a result, all counties beyond Allegheny (except one) voted against the Constitution, which was passed, however, to the support of the eastern counties.
The Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850 and 1851, known as the Reform Convention, extended voting rights to all white men age 21 and older and provided that the governor, lieutenant governor, judges, sheriffs, and all county offices were to be decided by popular election. In turn, the composition of the General Assembly changed: representation in the House of Delegates was assigned on the basis of white skin and the 1850 census, while the Senate was arbitrarily divided between the West, which received 20 senators, and East 30.
Westerners accepted that clause because they were promised that the seats would be redistributed based on the 1865 census, or a referendum. In any case, this gave a fiscal advantage to the East, since a property tax was collected based on the real and present value of the goods, with the exception of slaves. Slaves under 12 years of age were not taxed, while those over 12 years of age had to pay $300, that is, a fraction of their real value. However, the goods, animals and land of small farmers did have to pay their full value. Despite this and the lack of improvements in the West, the new Constitution received 75,748 in favor and 11,063 against, especially from the East, dissatisfied with the advantages for the West.
As a result, many in the West continued to seek to form a separate state, including attorney Francis Harrison Pierpont. In addition to the differences over slavery, the central government was perceived in that region as having little interest in repairing roads and railways.
Virginia Separation
West Virginia was the only territory to secede from a confederate state, Virginia, during the Civil War, forming a separate state. At the Richmond convention, convened for the sole purpose of deciding on the secession of Virginia of the United States on April 17, 1861, of the 49 delegates delegated from western Virginia, 17 were in favor of secession, 30 against, and 2 abstained.
Almost immediately thereafter, a mass meeting in Clarksburg recommended that each county in the Northwest (present-day West Virginia) send delegates to a convention in Wheeling, to begin its work on May 13, 1861. When the convention met, there were 425 delegates from 25 counties.
Some delegates were in favor of the new state. Others argued that, since secession had not been approved by referendum, it was an act against the United States. It was decided that if Virginia approved secession, another convention would be constituted at Wheeling in June 1861, including elected members of the state legislature. In the May 23 vote across Virginia, secession was ratified by a large majority of the state as a whole. But in the western counties, there were 34,677 votes against secession and 19,121 in favor.
The Second Wheeling Convention met as agreed on June 11 and declared that since the Secession Convention had been called without popular consent, all its acts were void and all who had adhered to it had ceased in their public offices. On June 19, a law for the reorganization of the government was approved. The following day, Convention delegates elected Francis Harrison Pierpont as Governor of Virginia, and other officials from a rival state government and two US Senators (Willey and Carlile) to replace the secessionists, before adjourning. The federal government quickly recognized the new government, and Congress accepted the two new senators. Thus there were two state governments in Virginia: one loyal to the United States and the other loyal to the Confederacy.
The Wheeling Convention and its delegates were never actually elected by the people to act on behalf of West Virginia. Of the 103 members of this Convention, 33 had been elected to the Virginia General Assembly, in the regular elections of the may 23. This number also includes some state senators elected in 1859, who left office to meet in Wheeling. Other members "were elected even more irregularly: some at mass meetings, others by the county committee, and still others apparently self-nominated." This irregular assembly appointed unionists to all other state offices.
The Wheeling Convention reconvened on August 20 and called for a popular vote for the formation of a new state and for a convention to write a constitution, in the event of a vote in favor of the creation of the new state. In the elections of October 24, 1861, 18,408 people voted in favor of the new State and only 781 against. The results of these elections have been questioned several times, as the Union Army occupied the area and its troops were present at many polling places, discouraging Confederate sympathizers from voting. Most of the votes in favor of statehood (or separation of the territory from the rest of Virginia) came from 16 counties in its northern zone. If for the Secession vote (On May 23) some 50,000 voters had participated, for the vote on the independence of the state only a little more than 19,000 participated.
In Ohio County, the site of the Convention, only 25% of registered voters went to the polls. At the Constitutional Convention in November 1861, Mr. Lamb of Ohio County and Mr. Carskadon claimed that in Hampshire County, out of a total of 195 ballots, only 39 were cast by citizens, while the rest were illegal ballots by Union soldiers. In most of the territory that would become West Virginia, not even elections were held, since two-thirds of the West Virginia territory had voted to secede, and the elected officials in those counties were still loyal to Richmond. Ballots cast in counties that had voted for secession secession were issued by unionist refugees in other counties.
Despite this controversy, delegates met to draft a constitution for the new state. The Convention began on November 26, 1861 and completed the work on February 18, 1862. The constitution was ratified on April 11, 1862, with 18,162 votes in favor and 514 against.
On May 13, the state legislature of the reorganized government of Virginia (acting on behalf of all Virginia, as a government loyal to the Union and with its recognition) approved the formation of the new state. An application for admission to the Union was presented to Congress, by Senator Waitman Willey of the Restored Government of Virginia. On December 31, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Act admitting West Virginia as a state, provided that a provision for the gradual abolition of slavery be inserted into its constitution. Although the entry of West Virginia was thought by many to be illegal and unconstitutional, Lincoln upheld his opinion on the legality of the admission of West Virginia, saying that "the body that consents to the entry of West Virginia is the Legislature of Virginia" and that his admission was therefore constitutionally expedient.
The Convention met again on February 12, 1863, and approved the changes required by the federal government. The revised constitution was adopted March 26, 1863, and on April 20, 1863, President Lincoln issued the official announcement that the state was admitted to the Union, effective June 20, 1863. Meanwhile, government officials were elected of the state, while Governor Pierpont moved the capital of Virginia to the city of Alexandria, occupied by the Unionists, and exercised his jurisdiction over all the remaining counties in Virginia.
The question of the constitutionality of the formation of the new state was then brought before the Supreme Court. Berkeley and Jefferson counties, located on the Potomac River to the east of the mountains, voted in 1863 for annexation to West Virginia, with the consent of the reorganized Virginia government. Many voters in these strongly pro-Southern counties were serving in the Confederate army at the time of the vote, and therefore upon their return, refused to recognize the transfer.
The Virginia General Assembly struck down this act of secession and in 1866 sued West Virginia, asking the Supreme Court to declare those counties part of Virginia, which would have made West Virginia's admission as a state unconstitutional. Meanwhile, on March 10, 1866, Congress passed a joint resolution recognizing the transfer. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of West Virginia in 1870.
During the civil war, Union forces from General George B. McClellan took control of the main part of the territory in the summer of 1861, culminating in the Battle of Rich Mountain, and Union control was never restored. seriously threatened, despite an attempt by Robert Edward Lee in the same year. In 1863, General John D. Imboden, with 5,000 Confederates, recaptured a sizeable portion of the state. Guerrilla bands broke out and looted some areas, and were not fully suppressed until after the war. The counties in the eastern section were hardest hit by the war, with military control changing several times over the years.
The area that became West Virginia provided an almost equal contingent to both the Union and Confederate armies, approximately 22,000-25,000 soldiers each. As a result, in 1865 the Wheeling government removed the entitlement to the soldiers of the new state, who had served in the Confederate army, to stay in power. James Ferguson, who proposed the law, said that without it he would have lost the election by 500 votes. Confederate property could also be forfeited, under an amendment to the state Constitution to expropriate those who had served the Confederacy. The 14th and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution provoked reactions in the state. The Democratic party returned to power in 1870 and in 1871 the 1866 amendment was repealed, although the first steps for this change had been taken by the Republican party in 1870. On August 22, 1872, a totally new Constitution was approved.
Starting at the time of Reconstruction and continuing for several decades, the two states repeatedly argued over the division of Virginia's prewar state debt and the funds that were used to finance public infrastructure such as canals, highways and railroads by the Virginia Public Works Agency. Virginians, led by former Confederate General William Mahone, formed a political coalition based on precisely this, and it was called the Party of Readjustment. Even though West Virginia's first constitution had laid the groundwork for assuming some of Virginia's debt, negotiations that opened in 1870 were unsuccessful. In 1871 Virginia decided to assume two-thirds of the debt and arbitrarily assign the rest to West Virginia. The issue was finally resolved in 1915, when the United States Supreme Court ruled that West Virginia owed Virginia $12,393,929.50. The last installment of this sum was paid in 1939.
Physical geography
It is the only state located entirely within Appalachia, and in which all areas are mountainous; for this reason it is nicknamed The Mountain State (The mountainous state). Approximately 75% of the state is within the Cumberland Plateau and Allegheny Plateau regions. Although the relief is not very high, these regions are extremely rugged in most areas.
On the eastern state line with Virginia, the high peaks in the Monongahela National Forest region create an island with a cooler climate and ecosystems similar to those of northern New England and eastern Canada. Its highest point is Spruce Knob at 1,482 masl and is covered by dense boreal spruce forest at altitudes above 1,220 m. This is in the Monongahela National Forest and is a part of the Spruce Knob-Seneca Rocks National Recreation Area. A total of six páramo areas can also be found within the forest. Emerging from the forest to the south, the New River Gorge is a 304m deep canyon carved by the New River. Other areas under protection and control include:
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Native vegetation was originally hardwood forest with a mix of oak, chestnut, maple, beech, and white pine, with willow and American sycamore along the waterways. Many of the areas are rich in biodiversity and scenic beauty, a fact that is appreciated by the population, who refer to their home as Almost Heaven.
The underlying rock strata are sandstones, shales, bituminous coal beds, and limestone deposited near the surrounding sediment rims from mountains to the east, and in a shallow inland sea to the west. Some beds present a coastal swamp environment, some river delta, some surface water. Sea level rose and fell many times during the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian eras (Epoques of the Carboniferous Period), creating a variety of rock strata. The Appalachian Mountains are some of the oldest on earth, at 300 million years old.
Maps of the main rivers of the state
The Ohio River forms its entire northwest border with Ohio
The Big Sandy River and one of its sources—the Tug Fork—mark the West Virginia Southwest Border with Kentucky
The Potomac River marks its northeastern boundary, with Maryland
Climate
The climate is between a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) in the lower elevations of the southwestern part (including Huntington) and parts of the Eastern Panhandle east of the Appalachians with hot, humid summers and mild winters. The remainder have a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa, except Dfb in the higher elevations) with hot, humid summers and cold winters, which increase in severity when elevation increases. However, the weather is changeable in all parts of the state. The most severe zones extend from zone 5b in the central Appalachians to zone 7a in the hottest parts of the lower foothills. In the Eastern Panhandle and Ohio River Valley temperatures are warm enough to see and grow subtropical plants such as magnolia grandiflora, albizia julibrissin, American sweetgum, and the occasional needle palm and lesser sabal. These plants do not thrive in other parts of the state.
Average temperatures in January range from -2°C near the Cheat River to 5°C along sections of the Kentucky border. The July average ranges from 19 °C along the north branch of the Potomac River to 24 °C on the western side. The climate is colder in the mountains than in the less elevated sections.
Annual precipitation ranges from less than 810 mm in the lower eastern section, to more than 1,400 mm in the upper reaches of the Allegheny Front. Practically more than half of the rainfall occurs from April to September. Dense fogs are common in many valleys of the Kanawha section, especially the Tygart Valley. Snow usually lasts only a few days in the lower elevations, but can persist for weeks in the higher mountain areas. An average of 34 inches of snow falls annually in Charleston, although during the winter of 1995-1996 more than three times that amount fell in several cities, setting new highs on snowfall records.
Demographics
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According to the United States Census Bureau's 2000 national census, the population of 2000 was 1,808,344, an increase of 0.8% over the 1990 population of 1,793,477 inhabitants. An estimate made in 2005 calculates the population at 1,816,856 inhabitants, a growth of 1.3% in relation to the population in 1990, 0.5% in relation to the population in 2000, and 0.2% in relation to the estimated population in 2004.
The natural population decline between 2000 and 2005 was 3,296 inhabitants - 108,292 births 111,588 deaths - population growth caused by immigration was 14,209 inhabitants, while interstate migration increased by 3,691 inhabitants. Between 2000 and 2005, the population of grew by 8,506 inhabitants.
5.6% of the population is under 5 years of age, 22.3% is under 18 years of age, and 15.3% of the population is 65 years of age or older. The female population make up approximately 51.4% of the population.
Races and Ethnicities
Racial composition of the population of West Virginia:
- 94.1% White (European or European descendants)
- 3.2% African American
- 0.8% Hispanic
- 0.6% Asian
- 0.2% Native Americans
- 1.1% Two or more races
The five largest groups by ancestry are: Americans who make up 23.2% of the population (mainly of Irish or Scottish descent), Germans (17.2%), Irish (13.5%), English (12%) and Italians (4.8%). It is the state with the lowest percentage of Asian people in the entire United States along with Montana (both 0.6% of the population). [1]
Education
When it became a state in 1863, it established a public school system. In 1933, the state's 398 school districts were reorganized into 55 districts, each operating within each county.
Currently all educational institutions need to follow rules and regulations issued by the Board of Education, made up of nine members chosen by the governor for terms of up to nine years. This council is administered by a superintendent, elected for four years. It has 55 school districts, each operating in a county. Each school district has its own superintendents. Charter schools - independent public schools, which are not administered by school districts, but which depend on public budgets to operate, are not allowed to operate. Schooling is compulsory for all children and adolescents over six years of age, until the conclusion of secondary education or until fifteen years of age.
In 1999, public schools served about 291,800 students, employing approximately 21,100 teachers. Private schools served about 15,900 students, employing approximately 1,500 teachers. The public school system accounted for about $1.987 billion, and public school spending is about $7,200 per student. About 78.7% of the inhabitants over 25 years of age have a high school diploma.
The first library was founded in 1808, in Wheeling. The first public library, for its part, was founded on May 18, 1859, in Ohio County. Currently, it has about 97 public library systems, which move an average of 4.4 books per inhabitant.
West Virginia University has 37 institutions of higher learning, of which 15 are public and 22 are private. The first state institution of higher learning, West Virginia University, was founded in 1867, in Morgantown. This is the largest institution of higher learning.
Economy
The gross domestic product was 53,782 million dollars in 2005. The per capita income, for its part, was 29,602 dollars, the second smallest in the country, behind only Mississippi. The unemployment rate is 5.3%.
The primary sector accounts for 5% of GDP. Together, agriculture and livestock account for 1% of GDP, and employ approximately 29,900 people. The effects of the logging industry and fishing are not of great magnitude in the economy. It has about 21,000 farms, covering about 85%. The main products of the agricultural industry are poultry, bovine meat and milk, straw, corn, tobacco, apples and peaches.
The secondary sector contributes 18% of GDP. The manufacturing industry, with 16% of GDP, employs approximately 84,600 people. The total value of the products manufactured in the state is 9 billion dollars. The main industrialized products manufactured in the state are chemical products, wooden furniture and transport equipment. Mining contributes 7% of GDP, employing about 26,300 people. The main natural resource extracted in the state is coal. The state of West Virginia is the second largest coal producer in the United States. The extraction of coal from the tops of the mountains is a common practice in different regions, which has produced several ecological consequences such as soil erosion, ecosystem degradation and deforestation. Despite these impacts, few studies show evidence that these extractive practices provide benefits to local communities. Other important natural resources are oil and granite. The construction industry accounts for 5% of GDP, employing approximately 48,900 people.
The services sector accounts for the majority of GDP, with 77%. About 18% of GDP is generated through community and personal services. This sector employs about 263,600 people. Government services account for 16% of GDP, employing approximately 84,600 people. Wholesale and retail trade account for 15% of GDP, and employ approximately 192,800 people. Financial and real estate services account for about 15% of GDP, employing approximately 46,900 people. Transport, telecommunications and public services employ some 44,900 people, and account for 11% of GDP. 99.5% of the electricity generated in the state is produced in coal-fired thermoelectric plants. The rest is produced in small hydroelectric plants and in oil or natural gas thermoelectric plants.
The Bush administration has promoted the interests of the mining industry by facilitating the extraction of coal on mountaintops and, more generally, has responded to company demands, including the relaxation of sanitary regulations.
Infrastructures
Transportation
Its main transportation hub is Charleston. In 2002 it had 3,595 kilometers of railways. Coal accounts for 95% of the rail freight transported. In 2003, it owned 59,534 kilometers of public roads, of which 884 kilometers were interstate highways, considered part of the United States federal highway system.
Media
The first newspaper, the Potomak Guardian and Berkeley Advertiser, was first published in 1790, in Shepherdstown. The oldest newspaper still in circulation, for its part, is The Intelligencer, first printed in Wheeling in 1852. There are currently 97 newspapers published, of which 21 are daily newspapers.
The first radio station was founded in 1923, in Huntington. The first television station was founded in 1949, also in Huntington. Currently, it owns 123 radio stations -of which 51 are AM and 72 FM- and 11 television stations.
Cities and other urban centers
Historical capitals
From 1863 to 1870, the capital was Wheeling and from 1870 to 1875, it was Charleston. That year she returned to Wheeling, but in 1885 the Capitol burned down, so she was again displaced to Charleston, where she stayed.
Main cities
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Other urban centers
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Statistical metropolitan areas
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Statistical micro-metropolitan areas
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Morgantown
Wheeling
Beckley
Fairmont
Martinsburg
Counties
- 55 counties are divided:
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Culture
Symbols
The symbols and emblems of West Virginia are:
- Flower: Rhododendron maximum (from 1903)
- Tree: Arce sairine (Acer saccharum(since 1949)
- Ave: Cardinal (Cardinalidae) (since 1949)
- Animal: American Black BearUrsus americanus(since 1973)
- Butterfly: Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus)
- Nicknames:
- The Mountain State
- The Panhandle State (non-official)
- Colors: Blue and Gold
- Fruit: Apple
- Gema: Lithostrotionella fossilized
- Insect: Bee
- Lema: Montani semper liberi (Latin: Mountains are always free)
- Music:
- The West Virginia Hills (West Virginia hills)
- This Is My West Virginia (This is my West Virginia)
- West Virginia, My Home Sweet Home (West Virginia, My Sweet Home)
- Take Me Home, Country Roads (non-official, John Denver music)
- Pez: TruchaSalvelinus fontinalis)
- Eslogan: Wild and Wonderful (Salvaje and wonderful), also present in the plates of the vehicles marketed in the state as Wild, Wonderful.
Sports
It doesn't have teams in the major American professional leagues, but it does have great representation at the college level with the Mountaineers from West Virginia University, and also the Thundering Herd from Marshall University, both competing in NCAA Division I.
Famous people
They're from West Virginia:
- Cyrus Vance, politician and secretary of state during the presidency of Jimmy Carter.
- John Forbes Nash, mathematician, Nobel Prize in Economics.
- Mary Lou Retton, gymnast, first American woman to win the gold medal at the Olympic Games.
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