Virginia seceded from the Union, the U.S. Constitution was hardly applicable to them at that point.
“Virginia seceded from the Union, the U.S. Constitution was hardly applicable to them at that point.”
Not according to the Yankees. The Yankees screeched that Virginia (and the other seceding states) had no constitutional right to secede, and that therefore it was legally still part of the Union, and had not seceded but was, instead, in rebellion. So, in typical fashion, they were hypocrites by saying on the one hand that Virginia was still in the Union, and thus subject to the Constitution; and on the other hand that it was out of the Union and thus not subject to and bound by the Constitution.