Smaller West Virginia

[Ricardolindo]

The Eastern Panhandle and Southern West Virginia were pro-Confederate. What if they remained part of Virginia? West Virginia would have been much more Northern and Republican. For decades after the Civil War, a coalition of former Confederates and former Copperheads dominated West Virginia. Ignoring butterflies, Virginia would be more conservative and Republican in the 21st century but those areas would not be strong enough to prevent the state turning Democratic.

 

[Stikfigur]

The Eastern Panhandle and Southern West Virginia were pro-Confederate. What if they remained part of Virginia? West Virginia would have been much more Northern and Republican. For decades after the Civil War, a coalition of former Confederates and former Copperheads dominated West Virginia. Ignoring butterflies, Virginia would be more conservative and Republican in the 21st century but those areas would not be strong enough to prevent the state turning Democratic.

WV became more Dem in the 20th century due to support of the New Deal from the coal miners, I think. So having more of the mines on Virginia might give some more leverage to pro-New Deal Democrats in VA when large parts of the south began turning against FDR.

 

[Ricardolindo]

WV became more Dem in the 20th century due to support of the New Deal from the coal miners, I think. So having more of the mines on Virginia might give some more leverage to pro-New Deal Democrats in VA when large parts of the south began turning against FDR.

It would indeed weaken the Byrd organization.

 

[Delta Force]

WV became more Dem in the 20th century due to support of the New Deal from the coal miners, I think. So having more of the mines on Virginia might give some more leverage to pro-New Deal Democrats in VA when large parts of the south began turning against FDR.

West Virginia actually went Democrat in every presidential election between 1876 and 1892. The pairing of Democrat West Virginia and Republican Virginia first started occurring in 1952.

 

[Ricardolindo]

West Virginia actually went Democrat in every presidential election between 1876 and 1892. The pairing of Democrat West Virginia and Republican Virginia first started occurring in 1952.

I was refering to that when I said West Virginia was dominated by a coalition of former Confederates and former Copperheads for decades following the Civil War or, actually, the removal of the test oaths.

 

[Ricardolindo]

Expanding on this, Richard Orr Curry explained it was important to distinguish between the Northwest, the Southwest and the Shenandoah Valley/Eastern Panhandle. Initially, those three areas had, in fact, between united against the slave owners of Eastern Virginia (Tidewater and Piedmont). However, already by 1830, the Shenandoah Valley had deserted the West politically and the Trans-Allegheny Southwest followed in the next few decades, leaving the Northwest as the only true west. This was partly because slavery was taking root in those areas, especially in the Valley, and also because internal improvements connected them to the rest of Virginia. This did not happen in the Northwest. The improvements the Northwest did get linked it with the North.
Read https://books.google.pt/books?id=q9...Orr Curry "Trans-Allegheny Southwest"&f=false and http://www.virginiaplaces.org/boundaries/wvboundary.html.