West Virginia - TimeLines of Liberty

TimeLines of Liberty
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TimeLine of West Virginia

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WEST VIRGINIA

WV Political History

June 20, 1863 - West Virginia is the 35th state admitted to the Union.
Area - 24,232 sq. miles Capital - Charleston © Copyright 2005 Roger W Hancock
Motto - Montani semper liberi (Latin - Mountaineers are always free.) Nickname - Mountain State

- Virginia Colony was established by England in 1607.
- The Survey of Mason-Dixon Line in 1766 reaches western boundary between Maryland and western Virginia.
- Virginia ratifies the U.S. Constitution in 1788.
- In 1789, Daniel Boone became Lieutenant Colonel of the West, Virginia state militia.
- Daniel Boone, in 1790, was elected to the Virginia General Assembly.
- Charles Town is renamed Charleston in 1818.
- The Civil War begins in 1861 West Virginia will contribute nearly 32,000 soldiers to the Union Army and 10,000 to the Confederate cause.
- The "Restored Government of Virginia" petitions the U. S. Congress for re-admission to the Union in 1862.
- The West Virginia Statehood bill is passed in 1862 by the Senate, changing the State Constitution to allow for the gradual emancipation of slavery.
- Voters approve the new West Virginia State Constitution in 1862.
- The first public school for blacks in West Virginia is established in 1862.
- West Virginia is the 35th state admitted to the Union in 1863.
- Wheeling becomes the State Capital in 1865.
- In 1865 Slavery in the state is abolished.             © Copyright 2005 Roger W Hancock
- Voting rights and citizenship is denied to those who supported the Confederacy in 1866.
- The 14th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution is ratified in 1867 by the state Legislature.
- The first Married Women's Property Act is passed in 1868 by the West Virginia Legislature. Married women still were not permitted to transfer or sell property without the approval of their husbands.
- Charleston becomes the state capitol in 1870.
- In 1871 the State Constitution is amended to allow the vote to all males of age regardless of race. Citizenship is restored to those who were denied in 1866.
- The State Capital is moved to Wheeling in 1875.
- In 1877 a public referendum makes Charleston the state capital effective 1885.
- The first local chapter of the Women's Christian Temperance Union was formed in Wheeling before 1877.
- The statewide WCTU is organized in 1883. The first convention was held in Parkersburg in 1884.
- In 1888 the State has three people claiming the Governorship. Nathan Goff Jr. contests the election having lost to Aretas Brooks Fleming by 130 votes. Robert S. Carr, as president of the state senate, also claims the governorship. The state Supreme Court rules incumbent governor Wilson is to continue serving until the matter was settled. The legislature, controlled by Democrats, declares Fleming the Governor in January 1890,
- On March 14, 1891 the West Virginia Legislature passed an act protecting the earnings of a married women from her husband when living separately.
- On February 16, 1893. the governor approves an act that defines the legal property and other rights of married women.
- A patriotic society of women related to Union soldiers in the Civil War, was created on April 27, 1893. The purpose of the West Virginia department of the Woman's Relief Corps; was to assist the Army; honor Civil War nurses; provide aid to the widows and orphans of, and perpetuate memory, of the fallen.
- In Shepherdstown, Jefferson County on June 2, 1898 the West Virginia Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy was formed.             © Copyright 2005 Roger W Hancock
- The West Virginia chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution were first organized in 1899.
- Three acts regarding prostitution were passed on February 6, 1911 by the West Virginia Legislature.
- The West Virginia Legislature on February 23, 1915 proposed an amendment to the state constitution that would give women the right to vote. The governor signed the act on March 3. West Virginia voters, still all male, defeated the amendment in November.
- Lenna Lowe Yost in 1920 becomes the first woman to preside when she chairs the Republican state party convention in West Virginia.
- West Virginia becomes the 34th state to ratify the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Two more state approvals are needed for final ratification.
- Izetta Jewell Brown, a former D.C. actress and widow of former Preston County Congressman William G. Brown, Jr., in 1922 becomes the first woman south of the Mason-Dixon Line to run for the United States Senate.
- Irene E. Chilton Moats, served in 1924 as the Director of Republican Activities among African-American women in West Virginia. She was an alternate delegate to the 1932 Republican National Convention and served eight years on the Advisory Council to the Board of Education.
- Minnie Buckingham Harper is the first black woman to serve in a legislative body in the United States when she is appointed to the House of Delegates on January 10th, 1928.
- A Women's Christian Temperence Union for African-American women was formed in 1930 in Elkins, Randolph County. The WCTU was the first major women's group to admit whites and blacks.
- Voters pass an amendment to the state Constitution in 1932 that limits property taxes.
- US Supreme Court rules in 1943, that students cannot be required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in West Virginia State Board of Education vs Barnett .
- Elizabeth Simpson Drewry of McDowell County, in 1950, becomes the first black woman elected to the House of Delegates. She serves until 1964.
- Elizabeth Kee of Bluefield is elected in 1951 to fill the unexpired term of Rep. John Kee, her husband. She was the first woman in West Virginia history to serve in Congress.
- Virginia Mae Brown becomes the first woman in 1953 to be appointed Assistant Attorney General of West Virginia.
- A 1954 Law allowing blacks to attend state colleges and universities is enacted.
- Being the last state to do so, west Virginia voters approve jury service for women in 1956.
- George Howard Mitchell in 1957 is appointed the first black Assistant Attorney General.
Elizabeth Virginia Hallanan becomes the first woman appointed to a judgeship in the state when in 1959 she is named to the Juvenile Court in Kanawha County. She also became the first woman to Chair the Public Service Commission.
- In 1960 John F. Kennedy defeats Hubert Humphrey in the West Virginia primary.
- Virginia Mae Brown becomes the first woman in 1961 to become State Insurance Commissioner.
- Capital punishment abolished in 1965.
- Virginia Mae Brown becomes the first woman in 1969 to head a U.S. regulatory commission, when named the chair of the Interstate Commerce Commission.
- Former Governor W. W. "Wally" Barron is sentenced in 1969 to a five-year prison term for tampering with a jury.             © Copyright 2005 Roger W Hancock
- Arch A. Moore, Jr. in 1972 is the first West Virginia governor reelected since 1872.
- Governor Arch Moore acquitted in 1976 by a federal court of charges that he had accepted bribes.
- Governor John D. Rockefeller defeats Arch A. Moore in 1980
- Governor John D. Rockefeller IV imposes major spending cutbacks in 1983.
- Arch Moore wins his third term as governor in 1984. John D. Rockefeller is elected to the U.S. Senate.
- Margaret Workman of Charleston, in 1988, becomes the first woman justice when elected to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
- Former Governor Arch Moore pleads guilty in 1990 for charges of extortion, mail and tax fraud, and obstruction of justice; he is sentenced to prison.
- Democratic state Senator Charlotte Pritt of Kanawha County announced in January she would run for governor in the 1992 election. Being defeated by incumbent Gaston Caperton in the Democratic primary she runs in the general election as a write-in candidate.
- Charlotte Pritt is the first woman nominated by a major party in 1996. She wins the democratic primary election for Governor.
- In 1998 Marie Redd, a professor at Marshall University, is the first Black woman elected to the state senate.

One Vote Counts in West Virginia.
Sources - www.shgresources.com - www.polsci.wvu.edu/wv/history.html - www.wvculture.org/history/timetrl/ttfeb.html - http://www.blogofdeath.com/archives/001036.html - http://members.aol.com/jeff560/wv-hist.html - http://www.wvculture.org/history/womtime.html - http://www.elmersflag.com/products.cfm - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_mottos - http://www.livgenmi.com/statemotto.htm

TimeLine of West Virginia

States – AL – AK – AZ – AR – CA – CO – CT – DE – FL – GA – HI – ID – IL – IN – IA – KS – KY
LA – ME – MD – MA – MI – MN – MS – MO – MT – NE – NV – NH – NJ – NM – NY – NC
ND – OH – OK – OR – PA – RI – SC – SD – TN – TX – UT – VT – VA – WA – WV – WI – WY
United States Territories
District of Columbia - American Soma - Guam - Northern Marianas
Puerto Rico - U.S. Virgin Islands - Other Outlying Areas

TimeLines of Liberty

Election TimeLines	U.S. TimeLine	TimeLine Index	State TimeLines	Holiday TimeLines
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