Act of December 31, 1862, Public Law 37-4, 12 STAT 633, which admitted the state of West Virginia into the Union.
12/31/1862
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When the Civil War began, Virginia rejected the Federal Constitution and the Union and joined the Confederacy of the South. West Virginians preferred to remain within the Union and seceded from the state in 1861. The new state was admitted into the Union on June 20, 1863
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[noted in top left corner]S. 365 Rew 2nd Jany Public 4
H 83
37 ga
Thirty=seventh Congress of the United States of America;
At the third Session,
Begun and held at the city of Washington, on Monday, the first day of December, eighteen hundred and sixty-two.
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An Act
For the admission of the State of “West Virginia” into the Union, and for other purposes.
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Whereas, the people inhabiting that portion of Virginia known as West 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, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Taylor, Tyler, Pleasants, Ritchie, Doddridge, Harrison, Wood, Jackson, Wirt, 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, Greenbriar, 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.
[bold] Therefore, Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That [end bold] the State of West Virginia be, 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 after 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 of 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 of aforesaid be under the age of ten years, shall be free when they arrive at
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“the age of twenty-one years; and that all slaves over ten and under twenty-one years, shall be free when they arrive at the age “of twenty-five years; and that no slave shall be permitted to come into the State for permanent residence therein.” Therefore,
Sec. 2. Be it further enacted. That whenever the people of West Virginia 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 past, and thereupon this act shall take effect, and be in force from and after sixty days from the date of said proclamation.
Galusha A Grow
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Hannibal Hamlin
Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.
Approved, December 31, 1862 Abraham Lincoln
I certify that this act did originate in the Senate.
J W Forney
Secretary
This primary source comes from the General Records of the United States Government.
National Archives Identifier: 299813
Full Citation: Act of December 31, 1862, Public Law 37-4, 12 STAT 633, which admitted the state of West Virginia into the Union.; 12/31/1862; Enrolled Acts and Resolutions of Congress, 1789–2013; General Records of the United States Government, Record Group 11; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/act-of-december-31-1862-public-law-374-12-stat-633-which-admitted-the-state-of-west-virginia-into-the-union, May 12, 2025]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.
