Think they are from Virginia. Also it could be when they broke off from Virginia. Not everything is about slavery.

was that the abolition of slavery (gradual) be inserted into the the new state's constitution, so yeah, it was about slavery on the legal side.

Having family from WV and having lived in VA for quite a part of my early life I was never aware of any confusion between Virginians and West Virginians.

More accurately, I guess - it seceded from the Confederacy and sought US state status.

But I was unsure if this was the message being purveyed by the shirt.

so as not to be part of the confederacy. It's not a bad thing to boast about.

how many people don't know that WV is a separate state - when you say "I'm from WV" people will often say "I've been there, to Virginia" "Did you live in Richmond", totally missing the West part. I think the shirt is just saying "we're a state! Since 1863!"

I remember talking with somebody in Las Vegas one time. She was from Boston. When I mentioned I was from Minnesota she said "Oh, that's near Michigan, isn't it?"

New Jersey and Virginia are the same disance as the closest point between Minnesota and Michigan. Anyone who qould get them confused is also ignorant.

For some people:

Supposedly, in his song Country Roads, the 'west Virginia' refers to the western part of Virginia - not the state of West Virginia.

but I hear John Denver didn't get it right. Love the song, but it isn't accurate.

...maybe something Virginia is spreading to claim the song as theirs.

Lets examine the lyrics.
First line, first verse:
"Almost heaven, West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River." The Blue Ridge Mountains are in both Virginia and West Virginia, and the Shenandoah flows through both states, so that line could be about either state.

First line, second verse:
"All my memories gather round her, miner's lady, stranger to blue water." Miner's lady? Stranger to Blue water? (I assume you know what Blue Water is). That line is definitely NOT about Virginia.

The song is about West Virginia, and the would be thieves in Virginia can kiss my ass.

runs thru West Virginia before dumping into the Potomac.

I should have explained further considering....

Most people who know the area associate the Shenandoah with VA, not WV. That's all I was saying. The New River is better known as being in WV, although WV residents might prefer the Greenbrier River, the Elk River, or some other river associated with the State.

BTW have you ever gone to the New River Gorge Bridge when they do the parachute jumping there? Quite a site to see.

So, they seem to like it in WV.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_Me_Home,_Country_Roads#Reception_in_West_Virginia

Lincoln issued a proclamation admitting West Virginia into the Union after they amended their Constitution to prohibit slavery.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia#Separation_from_Virginia

people from West Virginia typically said, "West, by God." Frankly, that was sufficient to distinguish the two.

I had forgotten it until you just mentioned it.

Ass backwards laws against woman.

His next term, in the Governor's Suite at the luxurious Sussex I State Prison, should be starting in just a few months.

I live in southwest Virginia and that often gets turned into West Virginia.

Virginia and West Virginia have a long standing rivalry.

Economics was really the driving factor. The eastern part of Virginia had all the good farmland, raised the tobacco and thus needed/could afford slave labor (slaves were very expensive, out of the reach of most poor farmers).

West Virginia was the western badlands tucked between mountain ranges. There were no good cash crops that would grow there, hence no real use for slave labor.

Western subsistence farmers didn't want to die so the rich eastern planters could keep their slaves.

the area north of NYC and south of Albany gets referred to as Upstate New York... ie... constantly.