Chapter VI. for the Admission of the State of “West Virginia” into the Union, and for other Purposes
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Chap. VI.— An Act for the Admission of the State of “West Virginia” into the Union, and for other Purposes.Dec. 31, 1862. *Whereas* the people inhabiting that portion of Virginia known as WestWest Virginia.Preamble. Virginia did, by a Convention assembled in the city of Wheeling on the twenty-sixth of November, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, frame for themselves a Constitution with a view of becoming a separate and independent State; and whereas at a general election held in the counties composing the territory aforesaid on the third day of May last, the said Constitution was approved and adopted by the qualified voters of the proposed State; and whereas the Legislature of Virginia, by an act passed on the thirteenth day of May, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, did give its consent to the formation of a new State within the jurisdiction of the said State of Virginia, to be known by the name of West Virginia, and to embrace the following named counties, to wit:
Hancock,Counties composing the State Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Taylor, Tyler, Pleasants, Ritchie, Doddridge, Harrison, Wood, Jackson, Wirt,634THIRTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS. Sess. III. Ch. 6, 7, 9. 1863. Roane, Calhoun, Gilmer, Barbour, Tucker, Lewis, Braxton, Upshur, Randolph, Mason, Putnam, Kanawha, Clay, Nicholas, Cabell, Wayne, Boone, Logan, Wyoming, Mercer, McDowell, Webster, Pocahontas, Fayette, Raleigh, Greenbrier, Monroe, Pendleton, Hardy, Hampshire, and Morgan; and whereas both the Convention and the Legislature aforesaid have requested that the new State should be admitted into the Union, and the Constitution aforesaid being republican in form, Congress doth hereby consent that the said forty-eight counties may be formed into a separate and independent State.
Therefore— *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That the State of West Virginia be,West Virginia admitted into the Union. and is hereby, declared to be one of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever, and until the next general census shall be entitled to three members in the House of Representatives of the United States: *Provided, always,* That this act shall not take effect until afterafter proclamation of the President. the proclamation of the President of the United States hereinafter provided for.
It being represented to Congress that since the Convention of the twenty-sixth of November, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, that framed and proposed the Constitution for the said State of West Virginia, the people thereof have expressed a wish to change the seventh section ofProposed change of the Constitution of the State. the eleventh article of said Constitution by striking out the same and inserting the following in its place, viz: “The children of slaves born within the limits of this State after the fourth day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, shall be free; and that all slaves within the said State who shall, at the time aforesaid, be under the age of ten years, shall be free when they arrive at the age of twenty-one years; and all slaves over ten and under twenty-one years shall be free when they arrive at the age of twenty-five years; and no slave shall be permitted to come into the State for permanent residence therein:
” Therefore— Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted,* That whenever the people of West VirginiaThis act to take effect when change is ratified and proclaimed by the President. shall, through their said Convention, and by a vote to be taken at an election to be held within the limits of the said State, at such time as the Convention may provide, make, and ratify the change aforesaid, and properly certify the same under the hand of the president of the Convention, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to issue his proclamation stating the fact, and thereupon this act shall take effect and be in force from and after sixty days from the date of said proclamation.
Approved, December 31, 1862.