Westsylvania
Westsylvania was a name suggested for an unrealized 14th
colony of the
United States. The same region was called
Pittsylvania by other petitioners.
According to historian George Swetnam, "In March, 1759, less than half a year after Forbes had taken
Fort Duquesne and named
Pittsburgh, a letter from
New Jersey to the
Maryland Gazette reported a movement for application to the Crown . . . 'to settle a New Colony on the Ohio, by the name Pittsylvania.'"
It was to include southwestern
Pennsylvania, the western panhandle of
Maryland, nearly the whole of what is now
West Virginia, a small part of what is now
Virginia, and a small part of eastern
Kentucky. Westsylvania's creation was petitioned in October
1775 by settlers in that region of the
Second Continental Congress, believing the state governments apathetic to their concerns; however, shortly thereafter, the
American Revolutionary War broke out and, in the interest of unity between the states, Congress chose to ignore their request.
The matter arose again in
1782, and
Hugh Henry Brackenridge of
Pittsburgh worked to stop the statehood movement. He later wrote, "The idea was to declare themselves independent of Virginia or Pennsylvania, in the same manner as
Vermont had done of the states of
Massachusetts and
New York. It was suggested that a new state might be formed with a seat of government at Pittsburgh, having the Kanhaway on the one side for a boundary, with Miskingum and
Lake Erie on the other, and to the eastward the Allegheny mountain. I will not say that but for me this would have taken place; but I certainly contributed very much to obstruct the proposition."
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Westsylvania Heritage Corporation*
Whiskey Rebellion*
Pittsylvania County, Virginia (which although having the same name, would not have been within the proposed state)
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History of Westsylvania*
Westsylvania Magazine
