Richmond: William F. Ritchie, public printer, 1861
No. 1.:Resolutions upon the subject of the Coercion of a State.
Adopted January 8, 1861.
1. Resolved by the general assembly of Virginia, that the Union being formed by the assent of the sovereign states respectively, and being consistent only with freedom and the republican institutions guaranteed to each, cannot and ought not to be maintained by force.
2. That the government of the Union has no power to declare or make war against any of the states which have been its constituent members.
3. Resolved, that when any one or more of the states has determined, or shall determine, under existing circumstances, to withdraw from the Union, we are unalterably opposed to any attempt on the part of the federal government to coerce the same into reunion or submission, and that we will resist the same by all the means in our power.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: January 1861