Virginia Governor's Communication Enclosing a Communication from the Commissioner from Mississippi

This collection consists of a printed communication, in pamphlet form, from Peter B. Starke, commissioner from Mississippi, to the Virginia General Assembly, dated March 1860. Starke is requesting the Virginia General Assembly to give him an answer as to whether Virginia will participate in South Carolina's proposed convention of Southern states to be held in Atlanta, Georgia. The purpose of the proposed convention was to discuss a union (not disunion or secession) which the North would respect. Starke also mentions a recent abolitionist raid into Virginia and the refusal of the northern states to apprehend or punish the criminals, thereby neglecting the federal law. The governor of Iowa, in particular, had refused to extradite one of the known perpetrators of the raid. Starke was anxious to receive a definite reply before the General Assembly ajourned. At that point, South Carolina and Mississippi had been the only two states to agree to the proposed convention. It was hoped that an affirmative reply from Virginia would influence other states. Prior to secession, the only conventions held were for economic purposes.

In the preface, John Letcher, Governor of Virginia, urges the General Assembly to respond however they saw fit, but to respond. His political background would indicate that he personally favored the convention.

This item is Virginia State Document No. 83, March 1860.