The sectional issues that culminated in the dismemberment of Virginia emerged during the revolutionary period. The Virginia Constitution of 1776 hampered western political participation by placing property-holding qualifications on voters and officeholders and allowing for disproportionate eastern political representation. Confronted with a tax code that benefited slaveholders and large landowners and eastern reluctance to dedicate taxes for western internal improvements, western Virginians clamored for reform. Following two reform conventions held in Staunton (in 1816 and 1825), western political leaders forced the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829–1830 aimed at securing political concessions. Despite protestations from the outnumbered western delegates, the resulting constitution failed to include the expansion of the electorate or western legislative apportionment. Over the next twenty years, western political leaders secured concessions from easterners, including nineteen additional western counties and state funds for internal improvements. Despite these compromises, western politicians demanded another constitutional convention in 1850. The resulting constitution eased sectional tensions by offering westerners several political reforms, including universal white male suffrage, increased western political representation, and the direct election of state and local officials.