Where I Wanna Be

[Mark A Becker]

Ooh, thanks!
Well clearly I don't really know anything about West Virginia xD but if a state was formed due to its distaste for slavery, and if somethin like Logan Lucky was able to be set in it, then it's got potential xD

West Virginia declared its separation from Virginia to become its own state in 1861, at the start of the American Civil War,. It was officially admitted to the Union as a state on June 20, 1863. It entered the Union while still legally practicing slavery, and was actually one of the last states to abolish slavery, in 1865. 

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 only applied to the rebellious Confederate States as it was considered unconstitutional to abolish slavery in the United States, without first passing an official Ammendment to the US Constitution.  WVa sided with the Union (North), as did other slave-holding states such as Maryland and Delaware.

The Emancipation Proclamation also intended to keep European conutries, such as Britain (key traders for Southern goods) from officially recognizing, and possibly supporting the Confederate States, by appealing to European antislavery sentiments.

The US Civil War needed to end before slavery was officially abolished in the re-United States, and the US Congress in 1865 passed the 13th Ammendment.  Texas was the last slave state reached by the Union army, on June 19, 1865.  June 19th, aka JUNETEENTH, became a US Federal holiday on June 15, 2021.  Interestingly, Texas has been observing JUNTEENTH as a State holiday for more than 40 years; since 1980.

Slavery, and on-going racial tension in the United States, has a very complicated history.