WEST VIRGINIA 



025G 



WEST VIRGINIA 



WEST VIRGINIA 



The ol 



Capitol, Wheeling , 

 now the City Hall 



Library, University of 

 West Virginia, Morgantown 



1910 

 1900 

 1890 

 I860 

 1670 

 I860 

 1850 

 1840 

 1830 

 1820 

 1810 

 1800 

 1790 



38.9 



50.8 



1.0 



25.1 



17.9 



122 



_ 7 l Increase fn 



~ , i ' Population Per 

 A o Sc l- Mi ' b V Decades 



T~. <C 



-3.1 

 2.2 



Congressional 

 Districts 



diction, county and city courts and justices of 

 the peace. Supreme court judges are elected 

 for twelve years and judges of the circuit 

 courts for eight years. 



The county is the unit of local government. 

 Workmen's compensation acts and child-labor 

 laws have been passed; statewide prohibition 

 went into effect in 1914, and the shipping of 

 liquor into the state and its use in public places 

 are forbidden. 



Steps toward Statehood. The organization 

 of West Virginia was the result of a double 

 rebellion of 1861 that of the state of Virginia 

 against the Union and that of the northwestern 

 counties against the mother state. (For early 

 history see the article VIRGINIA.) Many years 

 before the War of Secession, which brought 

 about a permanent separation, the two sections 

 into which the Alleghany Mountains divided 

 the state of Virginia differed commercially, 

 politically, and in the sentiment relating to the 



questions of slavery, taxation and public ex- 

 penditure. Commercially the two sections 

 reached out in opposite directions, the eastern 

 trade being carried to the Atlantic and the 

 commerce of the trans-Alleghany section find- 

 ing its only outlet through rivers flowing west. 

 The landed aristocracy of Eastern Virginia, 

 who formed the larger part of the population 

 and held the controlling power in state affairs, 

 opposed the public improvements desired by 

 the western pioneers. 



These and many other questions of local in- 

 terest caused constant friction. When the 

 ordinance of secession was submitted to the 

 people, it was opposed by a large majority in 

 the northwestern counties. After its adoption 

 in April, 1861, by the state of Virginia, the 

 unionist counties declared their independence, 

 and in August provided for the formation of a 

 new state, to be named "Kanawha." In a third 

 convention, in November, a constitution was 



