[4CJ]

I disagree. There is nothing in the Federal Constitution that allows them to pick and choose. If that were true, and a state performed any action the federal government could simply recognize a new group as the "official" government for that state. Ludicrous IHMO ;o)

[Non-Sequitur]

But in the case of Virginia there wasn't any legislature which recognized any obligation to the United States. Now unless the Virginia constitution or the laws of the state laid out how the legislature was to be recreated in the event that most of them were participating in an illegal rebellion then you can't say that the people of western Virginia actually broke any laws by convening the new legislature out of a convention, can you. And without a legislature, Virginia could not have the representation in Congress that the Constitution says that they were entitled to so the federal government had the duty to recognize the reformed Virginian legislature as legitimate. Again, unless you can show where any laws were broken then the illegality of any of these acts are only your opinion.