[MegaSilver]

On one hand you argue that it was not constitutional to withdraw from the union and on the other you argue that since the people of West Virginia didn't agree with the rest of the state, they could do so, also in violation of the Constitution.

All right; let me clarify.

That the Union won the Civil War established that States could not secede from the Union. Thus, Virginia seceding from the Union was unconstitutional, and the loyalists in West Virginia merely stayed in the Union.

The question was whether one's primary loyalty should be to State or to country, and the result of the Civil War established the latter. West Virginia was faced with a choice between fulfilling its Constitutional obligation to the rest of the State and fulfilling its Constitutional obligation to the nation. By the precedent established by the Civil War, West Virginia therefore was vindicated in doing the latter.

Of course, I'm talking in retrospect. Had the Confederacy won the Civil War, it might be a different story. And I'm speaking from a strictly legal standpoint. At least a few Southerners would make the case that the concept of the Confederation (slavery aside, obviously) had the moral high ground. What moral position do I take? Neither. I am neither Northerner nor Southerner but a descendant of late 19th-century immigrants, and I choose to remove myself from this sticky debate and proudly proclaim my allegiance to the United States and then my love for Florida.

[Blood of Tyrants]

But you are picking and choosing the parts of the Constitution that you want to go by. The facts remains that 1)Congress never recognized that Virginia seceded fron the Union and 2) Congress violated the Constitution by admitting a part of Virginia into the Union as a separate state without the permission of the Virginia legislature.

You cannot simply dismiss a part of the Constitution for political expediency, but that is EXACTLY what was done for WV.

If Congress and West Virginia do not have to follow the rules regarding statehood, then neither should the people of western Pennsylvania or eastern Washington.