West Virginia Constitutional Convention

Virginia v. West Virginia
Supreme Court of the United States
Decided March 6, 1871
Full case name	State of Virginia v. State of West Virginia
Citations	78 U.S. 39 (more) 20 L. Ed. 67; 11 Wall. 39
Holding
Where a governor has discretion in the conduct of the election, the legislature is bound by his action and cannot undo the results based on fraud.
Court membership
Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase Associate Justices Samuel Nelson · Nathan Clifford Noah H. Swayne · Samuel F. Miller David Davis · Stephen J. Field William Strong · Joseph P. Bradley
Case opinions
Majority	Miller, joined by Chase, Nelson, Swayne, Strong, Bradley
Dissent	Davis, joined by Clifford, Field

Virginia v. West Virginia, 78 U.S. 39 (1871), is a 6-to-3 ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States which held that where a governor has discretion in the conduct of the election, the legislature is bound by his action and cannot undo the results based on fraud. The Court implicitly affirmed that the breakaway Virginia counties had received the necessary consent of both the State of Virginia and the United States Congress to become a separate state, and explicitly held that the counties of Berkeley and Jefferson were part of the new state of West Virginia.

At the beginning of the American Civil War, Virginia seceded from the United States in 1861. But many of the northwestern counties of Virginia were decidedly pro-union. At a convention duly called by the governor and authorized by the legislature, delegates voted on April 17, 1861, to approve Virginia's secession from the United States. Although the resolution required approval from voters (at an election scheduled for May 23, 1861), Virginia's governor entered into a treaty of alliance with the Confederate States of America on April 24, elected delegates to the Confederate Congress on April 29, and formally entered the Confederacy on May 7. For President Lincoln, these actions proved that rebels had taken over the state and turned the machinery of the state toward insurrection. These individuals had not acted with popular support, and thus Lincoln felt justified later in recognizing the Reorganized Government.

Unionist sentiment was so high in the northwestern counties that civil government began to disintegrate, and the Wheeling Intelligencer newspaper called for a convention of delegates to meet in the city of Wheeling to consider secession from the commonwealth of Virginia. Delegates duly assembled, and at the First Wheeling Convention (also known as the May Convention), held May 13 to 15, the delegates voted to hold off on secession from Virginia until Virginia formally seceded from the United States. Concerned that the irregular nature of the First Wheeling Convention might not democratically represent the will of the people, elections were scheduled for June 4 to formally elect delegates to a second convention, if necessary. Virginians voted to approve secession on May 23. On June 4, elections were held and delegates to a Second Wheeling Convention elected. These elections were irregular as well: Some were held under military pressure, some counties sent no delegates, some delegates never appeared, and voter turnout varied significantly. On June 19, the Second Wheeling Convention declared the offices of all government officials who had voted for secession vacant, and reconstituted the executive and legislative branches of the Virginia government from their own ranks. The Second Wheeling Convention adjourned on June 25 with the intent of reconvening on August 6.