1863 West Virginia gubernatorial election explained

Election Name:1863 West Virginia gubernatorial election
Country:West Virginia
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1859 Virginia gubernatorial election
Previous Year:1859 (Virginia)
Next Election:1864 West Virginia gubernatorial election
Next Year:1864
Election Date:May 28, 1863
Image1:Arthur I. Boreman - Brady-Handy.jpg
Nominee1:Arthur I. Boreman
Party1:Unionist politician (American Civil War)
Popular Vote1:25,797
Percentage1:99.99%
Map Size:250px
Governor
After Election:Arthur I. Boreman
After Party:Unionist politician (American Civil War)

The 1863 West Virginia gubernatorial election was the first gubernatorial election, held on Thursday, May 28, 1863. Unionist Arthur I. Boreman was elected virtually without opposition. This was the first of two gubernatorial elections held in West Virginia during the American Civil War; 17 counties were occupied by Confederate military forces on Election Day and did not participate in the balloting.

In a contested convention held at Parkersburg, West Virginia, the Union Party nominated Judge Arthur I. Boreman over his nearest rival, Peter G. Van Winkle. Despite fissures within the statehood movement driven by the Willey Amendment, an abolitionist proposal backed by U.S. Senator Waitman T. Willey, no challenge to the Union ticket emerged from either the radical or conservative ends of the party. Secessionists loyal to the Confederacy did not recognize the legitimacy of the new state and consequently did not participate in the campaign.

Boreman received over 99 percent of the vote in 33 participating counties against only three votes for other candidates. Voter turnout was anemic, and newspapers complained of the slowness of the returns; however, by June 13, sufficient returns had been received for officials to certify Boreman's election. He was inaugurated as the first governor of West Virginia on June 20, 1863, in a ceremony at the Linsly Institute in Wheeling alongside other officers of the new state government.

Background

See main article: article.

Cultural, economic, and regional differences had long separated Western Virginia from the eastern Tidewater counties that dominated political and economic life in Antebellum Virginia. Slavery dominated the Tidewater, while it had a substantially weaker presence in the western counties, which remained economically underdeveloped.[1] By 1830, the disparity between the sections was such that Western Virginia would have elected a majority of members in the General Assembly if representation were allocated in proportion to the free population, (the "white basis,") but the Three-fifths Compromise and the mass disenfranchisement of lower-class whites allowed eastern slaveholders to dominate the Assembly and state offices, although a minority of the overall population.[2] [3] After 1830, the political orientation of the Shenandoah Valley shifted eastward as the region became more closely linked to slavery, while Northwestern Virginia grew increasingly alienated from the Tidewater.[4]

Following the election of Abraham Lincoln and the commencement of hostilities between the United States and the Confederacy, the Virginia Secession Convention voted to secede from the Union on April 17, 1861; 26 of the 31 northwestern delegates voted against the ordinance. Western unionists convened the First Wheeling Convention on May 13 to discuss options for resistance in the event of Virginia's secession; following approval of the secession ordinance by a popular referendum on May 23, the Second Wheeling Convention issued the "Declaration of the People of Virginia" condemning secession as unconstitutional and treasonous, declared all state offices vacant, and installed Francis H. Pierpont as head of the Restored Government of Virginia. The success of the Western Virginia campaign established Union military control over the region and enabled unionist leaders to adopt and ratify a dismemberment ordinance between August 20 and October 24, beginning the process of formally separating from Virginia.[5]

Although broadly popular in the Trans-Allegheny counties that had voted against secession, the new state movement divided Unionist leaders. Conservatives in the Union Party privately opposed dismemberment and attempted to undermine the statehood movement by annexing a number of secessionist southwestern counties to the proposed State of Kanawha. Ultimately, fifty counties would comprise the new State of West Virginia; counties that had voted against the secession ordinance contributed 60 percent of the population of the new state, while 40 percent lived in secessionist counties, several of which remained under Confederate military occupation.[6]

Unionists were further divided by the requirement, introduced by Congress, that West Virginia abolish slavery as a condition for statehood. Despite the opposition of such prominent Unionists as John S. Carlile, the Willey Amendment (so named for its author, U.S. Senator Waitman T. Willey of Morgantown, West Virginia) was ratified by voters in March 1863, and West Virginia duly entered the Union on June 20. Nevertheless, the battle over the Willey Amendment permanently divided West Virginian Unionists. Those who had supported the amendment became known as Unconditional Unionists and eventually provided the cornerstone of the Republican Party in West Virginia, while Carlile and others who argued in defense of slavery in 1863 joined forces with Copperheads in the Democratic Party to oppose Lincoln's reelection in 1864.[7]

Union Party

Convention

From May 6 to 7, 1863, the Union Party's state convention was held to nominate candidates for multiple political offices. Each county delegation was awarded a number of votes equal to its total white population. For the party's gubernatorial nomination Samuel Crane was nominated by James G. West, Boreman was nominated by E. M. Norton, and Peter G. Van Winkle was nominated by Ben Smith.[8] [9]

On the first ballot Van Winkle received a plurality of the vote, but did not receive the nomination due to a majority being required. West withdrew Crane's nomination before the second ballot in which Boreman defeated Van Winkle.

Candidates

Results

1863 West Virginia Union gubernatorial convention[10]
CandidateFirst ballotSecond ballot
County
units		Votes%County
units		Votes%
align=left Arthur I. Boreman8.31780,886 26.6723.002181,18559.70
align=left Peter G. Van Winkle16.950135,52844.7016.998122,29140.30
align=left Samuel Crane14.53284,14427.74rowspan=2 colspan=3
align=left James W. Paxton0.2002,6360.87
TOTAL40303,194100.0040303,476100.00

General election

On May 28, 1863, Boreman won the gubernatorial election without opposition.[11]

Results

Results by county

CountyArthur I. Boreman
Union		Total
VotesPercent
Barbouralign=right 770align=right 100.00align=right 770
Berkleyalign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
Boonealign=right 102align=right 100.00align=right 102
Braxtonalign=right 212align=right 100.00align=right 212
Brookealign=right 678align=right 100.00align=right 678
Cabellalign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
Calhounalign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
Clayalign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
Doddridgealign=right 742align=right 100.00align=right 742
Fayettealign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
Gilmeralign=right 289align=right 100.00align=right 289
Greenbrieralign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
Hampshirealign=right 135align=right 100.00align=right 135
Hancockalign=right 418align=right 100.00align=right 418
Hardyalign=right 91align=right 100.00align=right 91
Harrisonalign=right 2,037align=right 100.00align=right 2,037
Jacksonalign=right 534align=right 100.00align=right 534
Jeffersonalign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
Kanawhaalign=right 655align=right 100.00align=right 655
Lewisalign=right 1,184align=right 100.00align=right 1,184
Loganalign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
Marionalign=right 1,428align=right 100.00align=right 1,428
Marshallalign=right 2,067align=right 100.00align=right 2,067
Masonalign=right 747align=right 100.00align=right 747
McDowellalign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
Merceralign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
Monongaliaalign=right 1,585align=right 100.00align=right 1,585
Monroealign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
Morganalign=right 261align=right 100.00align=right 261
Nicholasalign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
Ohioalign=right 2,905align=right 100.00align=right 2,905
Pendletonalign=right 161align=right 100.00align=right 161
Pleasantsalign=right 239align=right 100.00align=right 239
Pocahontasalign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
Prestonalign=right 1,639align=right 100.00align=right 1,639
Putnamalign=right 232align=right 100.00align=right 232
Raleighalign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
Randolphalign=right 239align=right 100.00align=right 239
Ritchiealign=right 667align=right 100.00align=right 667
Roanealign=right 177align=right 100.00align=right 177
Tayloralign=right 867align=right 100.00align=right 867
Tuckeralign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
Tyleralign=right 720align=right 100.00align=right 720
Upshuralign=right 879align=right 100.00align=right 879
Waynealign=right 289align=right 100.00align=right 289
Websteralign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
Wetzelalign=right 870align=right 100.00align=right 870
Wirtalign=right 375align=right 100.00align=right 375
Woodalign=right 1,603align=right 100.00align=right 1,603
Wyomingalign=center colspan=2 Did not participatealign=right —
TOTALalign=right 25,797align=right 99.99align=right 25,780

Notes and References

  1. Book: McPherson . James M. . Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era . 1988 . Oxford University Press . New York . 297–98 .
  2. Simpson . Craig . Political Compromise and the Protection of Slavery: Henry A. Wise and the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850-1851 . Virginia Magazine of History and Biography . October 1975 . 83 . 4 . 387–405 . 4247978 .
  3. Book: Chandler . Julian A. C. . Representation in Virginia . 1896 . Johns Hopkins Press . Baltimore . 38n1 .
  4. Book: Curry, Richard Orr . Curry . Richard Orr . Radicalism, Racism, and Party Realignment: The Border States during Reconstruction . Johns Hopkins Press . Baltimore . 1969 . 87 . Crisis Politics in West Virginia, 1861–1870 . https://archive.org/details/radicalismracism0000unse_o8g5/page/80/mode/2up.
  5. McPherson, 298–99.
  6. Curry, 83–84; 89–90.
  7. Curry . Richard Orr . A Reappraisal of Statehood Politics in West Virginia . Journal of Southern History . December 1962 . 28 . 4 . 407; 419–20 . 10.2307/2205406 . 2205406 .
  8. News: May 9, 1863 . The Nominations . 2 . The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer . live . https://archive.today/20200621165229/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53870701/the-wheeling-daily-intelligencer/ . June 21, 2020 . Newspapers.com.
  9. News: May 26, 1863 . Letters of Acceptance . 2 . The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer . live . https://archive.today/20200621165728/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53872195/the-wheeling-daily-intelligencer/ . June 21, 2020 . Newspapers.com.
  10. News: Parkersburg Convention . Daily Intelligencer . May 9, 1863.
  11. News: June 25, 1863 . West Virginia 1863 Gubernatorial election . 2 . Civilian and Telegraph . live . https://archive.today/20200621143354/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53863911/civilian-and-telegraph/ . June 21, 2020 . Newspapers.com.

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