This past Monday marked the 159th anniversary of formation of the state of West Virginia. This column focuses on what occurred after Virginia seceded from the Union until April 1862
Early Years
John Snyder Carlile was born in Winchester on December 16, 1817, and was the only child of Jonathan Carlile, a lawyer, and Elizabeth Snyder Carlile. Contrary to an accepted family tradition that Carlile’s father died when he was young, Jonathan Carlile was an abusive alcoholic who squandered his wife’s inheritance and whose conduct forced the family to move frequently. After he deserted his family in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Carlile returned to Hampshire County, where she operated a school. On December 17, 1833, she petitioned the Virginia General Assembly for divorce, and after that request was rejected she obtained a judgment of divorce in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, on August 22, 1836.
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 nine