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History is what it is.

The secession of West Virginia from Virginia had a lot to do with wealthy eastern planters wanting to suppress the political influence of what they considered lower-class western farmers, who owned little land and generally did not own slaves. Some of them were opposed to slavery for religious reasons, but mostly they were too poor to purchase slaves.

At one point, in Virginia, only white men who owned something like 25 acres of land could vote. (This changed over the years, until all white men could vote.)

Attitudes were very different 150 years ago and even 40–50 years ago. Racism was considered a scientifically accurate principle. Discrimination against women, Catholics, and Jews was common and perfectly legal.

I doubt Chicago ever had a KKK coven (or whatever they were called), but there was no shortage of racists and anti-Semites. I worked for a company where the founder (who was an intelligent, educated man) refused to hire blacks. They had to gently ease him into retirement to avoid violating whatever law made that illegal.

- Jim

Audie Murphy was born this day in 1925, in Kingston, Texas. He was one of the most decorated soldiers in U.S. history, earning a Medal of Honor at age 19. After WW II he as a successful actor. He died rather young, at age 45, in a plane crash.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audie_Murphy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He was of Irish descent, though I personally have no involvement in that.

- Jim

Article IV, section 3 of the Constitution allows for the admission of new states and the splitting or unification of existing states. The Constitution is silent on the issue of secession from the United States.

- Jim

You''re welcome. As I've said before, I don't own the topic. I'm interested in some aspects of history and utterly uninterested in others. Everyone is free to post similar topics.

- Jim

Wow. I had no idea that bit of history was so complicated.

- Jim

1756 - Indian nationalist forces imprisoned British soldiers in a brig called the Black Hole of Calcutta. The details are uncertain, but the name lives on as a place of inhumane brutality.

1819 - The steamship Savannah arrived in Liverpool to become the first steamship to cross an ocean. Her accomplishment has always carried an asterisk, because most of the voyage was under sail.

1863 - West Virginia became the 35th state.

West Virginia is the only state to have broken off from an existing state. The story of its establishment is murky and nearly forgotten: http://www.wvculture.org/hiStory/statehoo.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1893 - Lizzie Borden was found not guilty of the ax murders of her father and stepmother.

1944 - The Central Intelligence Agency came into existence, replacing the Office of Strategic Services.

1963 - The U.S. and USSR agreed to set up a hot line. Though often depicted as a red telephone, it was a teletype. Voice and fax communications were added later.

1967 - Muhammad Ali was convicted of dodging the draft, at a trial in Houston. His conviction was eventually reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

- Jim