With the adoption of Virginia’s Ordinance of Secession on May 23, the Second Wheeling Convention began on June 11 as decided at the First Convention. (The First Wheeling Convention was held on May 13 through May 15. Twenty-seven western Virginia counties were represented. Of the 429 delegates who attended, over one-third were from the area around Wheeling. )
The meeting was held in Washington Hall and later the Custom House. The first measures adopted at the Convention ruled that 88 delegates representing 32 counties were entitled to seats in the convention, though other delegates would be accepted later. Arthur I. Boreman was selected to serve as president, and he declared, “We are determined to live under a State Government in the United States of America and under the Constitution of the United States.”
On June 13, John Carlile introduced to the convention “A Declaration of the People of Virginia,” a document calling for the reorganization of the state government on the grounds that Virginia’s secession had in effect vacated all offices of the existing government. Carlile presented an ordinance for this purpose the next day, beginning the debate. Virtually all the delegates at the Convention recognized the differences between eastern and western Virginia as irreconcilable and supported some sort of separation; the disagreement was over how this separation should occur. Dennis Dorsey of Monongalia County called for permanent and decisive separation from eastern Virginia. Carlile, however, though he had called for a similar plan during the First Convention, persuaded the delegates that constitutional restrictions made it necessary for the formation of a loyal government of Virginia, whose legislature could then give permission for the creation of a new state. On June 19, delegates approved this plan unanimously.
The next day, June 20, officials were selected to fill the offices of the Virginia state government (usually called the Restored government of Virginia to avoid confusion with the government meeting in Richmond). Francis Pierpont of Marion County was elected governor. On June 25, the Convention adjourned until Aug. 6.