1862 WEST VIRGINIA. Extra Session of Virginia Assembly - Civil War, Slavery, West Virginia Statehood.

Very rare Wheeling, Virginia, soon to be West Virginia, Confederate imprint of the Acts of the General Assembly of the State Virginia during the emergency Extra Session in December of 1862.

During this extra session, not only were many necessities of the ongoing Civil War addressed, but, more importantly, a great many acts were passed in haste to make way for the establishment of West Virginia, which would formally be recognized in June of 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln responded to the December 1862 Acts with an Emergency meeting with Thaddeus Stevens and others. He was deeply concerned with the precedent but was keenly on the side of voters' rights and therefore leaned toward support of the split if it were the will of the people. He ultimately supported the move. 

Important acts passed in the December sessions included: The Incorporation of the City of Wheeling; An Act Appropriating Forty Thousand Dollars to the Lunatic Asylum West of the Allegheny Mountains [Yes, West Virginia became the Destination of All "Lunatic" Virginians as Part of the Deal]; Act Authorizing the Board of Public Works to Hire Out Convicts; Various Acts Establishing Voting and Other Legal Operations "West of the Allegheny Mountains" [so they would have infrastructure in place for Statehood]; Taxes on Property [Including on Slaves over 12 and Free Negroes]; Act to Apprehend Suspicious Persons in Time of War; An Act Conferring to the Proposed State of West Virginia Its Uncollected and Unpaid Taxes, etc.,; An Act Making Appropriation to the Proposed New State of West Virginia; Joint Resolution Requesting the President of the United States and Secretary of War to Direct the Transfer of Seventh Union Regiment Virginia Volunteer Infantry to the Western Virginia Service, etc,. 

It was likely this last that made it official, that Lincoln had to engage and be prepared with what his response would be. 

Issued at Richmond and Wheeling. The Wheeling imprint not offered at auction in 25 years, when it fetched $200.00. 

Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Virginia. Passed at the Extra Session, Commenced December 4, 1862 in the 87th Year of the Commonwealth. Wheeling: John F. M'Dermot. Public Printer. 1863. 108pp. 

Good, original quarter leather, rubbed, but attractive and solid with label loss. Marbled boards. Rubbed. Early Wytheville inscription. Some minor foxing. Generally solid and clean.