Episode 1 of 3

Approval of Enabling Act

When: December 31, 1862
Where: Washington D.C.
Part of: Event of 1862: American Civil War: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs an act that admits West

President Lincoln approved an enabling act admitting West Virginia to the Union on December 31, 1862, contingent on slavery abolition provisions.

On December 31, 1862, President Lincoln approved an enabling act admitting West Virginia to the Union. The act stipulated that a provision for the gradual abolition of slavery must be inserted in the Constitution. This followed the state legislature's approval of the new state's formation in May 1862.

Sources

History of West Virginia Wikipedia

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.