The government of Virginia that was recognized by the US government recognized the creation of West Virginia. What's the problem? When you consider that the other government was trying to wage war on the country it doesn't look like there was much of a problem with recognizing another government. If there was nothing wrong with breaking with the federal government, stealing federal property and making war with the rest of the country, what was so "sacred" about Virginia's control of the land and people on the other side of the mountains.
It is not at all clear that the Constitution bars a state from leaving the union. Indeed, the organization of the federal government reads like a confederation.
Does it really? There's plenty in there about Congress admitting new states, and nothing about states or peoples leaving.
What I'm saying is the slave-owners should have used their heads and exercised some restraint and courtesy, and recognized that they were and had been part of a country for almost a century, and that they perhaps owed some consideration to the country.
If they had worked within the system to achieve their goals there would have been no war. A procedural question was at the root of the conflict. They wanted the satisfaction of doing for themselves what should have been done in concert with the rest of the country. And look at the result.
Careful or SimpleMind will call you a Nazi LOL
Anyone who would begin an argument by pointing to the legitimacy of a non-representative puppet government created by the opposing force is either not to be taken seriously or to be scorned. Whichever you prefer doesn't matter. Your opinions appear too disingenuous to acknowledge.