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Re: May 18, 2011
In Response To: May 18, 2011 ()

"The blockade of Virginia was completed with the sealing off of the Rappahannock River"

While an Ordinance of Secession had been adopted in Virginia by a convention on April 17th, 1861, that Ordinance still had not been ratified by the required referendum vote of the people by May 18th, 1861. That Referendum vote was not held until May 23rd, 1861.

Therefore a State of War did not "officially" exist on the part of Virginia between Virginia and the United States as the Ordinance of Secession had not been officially adopted by the people of Virginia vote.

What if the secession ordinance had not passed?

I wonder how much this Blockade of the Virginia ports influenced the results of that election?

After Fort Sumter, and the call by Lincoln for 75,000 troops, and the passage of an Ordinance of Secession, and Robert E. Lee's resignation, the waiting for the outcome of a referendum election may have been just a formality, but it was a "legal" formality none the less.

Yes Virginia had already applied for admission to the Confederacy and two days later the Confederate Congress did vote to move the Confederate Government from Montgomery, Ala. to Richmond. But this was all dependent on an affirmative vote of the people of Virginia on May 23rd to Virginia's secession.

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May 18, 2011
Re: May 18, 2011