Lincoln went to war to crush secession, but backed it when WV seceded from Virginia. A tad hypocritical if you ask me.
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Lincoln went to war to crush secession, but backed it when WV seceded from Virginia. A tad hypocritical if you ask me.
No that's incorrect 75 percent of seats in the senate for WV are Democrat, and you'd see WV is still very blue compared to a red state like North Carolina. You must just be referring to Bush's 2004 win, and of course they're not going to be as enthused about a black president as a state like CA ...WV is a dixiecrat state just like someone already said.
Ive lived in very red states like North Carolina and Nevada and I can assure you WV is more liberal, though not as liberal as parts of California. Its a different sort of liberal. Which is what a dixiecrat is.
Even Democrats in your state are conservative. West Virginia is now trending Republican big time. The state legislature is usually the last to change because of entrenched incumbents. Even McCain won WV, and won it in a landslide by 13 points, as terrible a candidate he was. He lost badly to Obama nationwide. West Virginia is so red now, it's been written off by Democrats.
The only reason Manchin won the Senate race was because he ran as a conservative and was a very popular Governor, and he still barely beat the Republican.
Obama has no chance in WV, but is ahead in VA. Matter of fact, I believe Romney's lead in WV is the biggest gap of any red state. He leads Obama by 21 points there. Considering this is your home state, I'm surprised you weren't aware of this trend in recent years.
BTW, North Carolina and Nevada are regarded as battleground swing states, not red states.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epo...llege_map.html
I've pondered on a consolidation of some Southern States afore in the past, reunifying the Old Dominion (Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia, parts of Southern Ohio) and the Province of Carolina (North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee). I would stress this has been nowt but fancy thinking, it is impractical in the end. I still reference those old posts from time to time only because of the Census data I cited which illustrates our principle stock.
As for West Virginia, as Marmie already stated, it is very unique from Virginia as an entirely Upland region with a State culture reflective.
As a Tennessean of the Mountain District with a West Virginian grandmother I see more in common between we upland Tennesseans and the West Virginians than between the flatland peoples (which most Virginians are). The main divide between us being what color uniform we wore in the 1860's, and even W. Virginia had its share of Confederates (Stonewall Jackson, his hometown being a Union depot of all things).
EDIT:
I would hate for Tennessee to have to share government with South Carolina again of all places, North Carolina I don't mind so much, so I'd be a hypocrite if I wished for West Virginia to share government with Virginia if the West Virginians would not have it. Damn South Carolina. :p
The Appalachian people weren't too fond of the slave owning plantation class. In the hill country of north Alabama, they were pro Union during the war. Some wore the blue uniform.
I'm from the coastal area that produced timber and cotton. Needless to say, they were for secession.
That we weren't, the plantation class hated us and we hated them. Even though there were prosperous Uplanders like my own family we rarely owned slaves (my direct kin non-slave owning). We took up the Confederate cause along with the flatlanders (who were motivated differently) only because of Lincoln's threats of invasion which became dreadful reality, the repercussions of which have not worn off completely even now.
Sure, but only if the people want to unify. If not, let it be.
Many people don't seem to understand that. Most Confederate soldiers didn't fight for slavery, but to defend their land from invasion. Athens, Alabama was so pro-Union, that they refused a state order to lower the flag of the USA and raise the new Confederate one after the state seceded. Later, the Union burned the town to the ground, because they were driven out earlier by a Confederate force. The entire town was punished collectively even though many had opposed secession. After that, the town was solidly pro-Confederate.