Primary Speakers Research Articles

Achievement Effects of Dual Language Immersion in One-Way and Two-Way Programs: Evidence from a Statewide Expansion

Abstract The rising demand for dual-language immersion (DLI) programs, which offer core instruction in two languages from early grades onward, has raised questions about program design and access. We leverage the rapid expansion of DLI schools across the U.S. state of Utah to estimate effects of DLI program availability on the academic achievement of primary English speakers and English learners (ELs) in programs that serve mainly the former (one-way) or at least a third of the latter (two-way). Using within-school variation in first graders’ access to DLI programs, we find no overall effects on English, math, or science scores from grades 3 to 6. However, ELs whose primary languages match the schools’ partner languages in two-way schools show notable outperformance in math and higher English-language proficiency at grade 5. Benefits of DLI access are driven by schools with a larger share of primary speakers of the partner language.

Language-concordant, patient-centered gynecology oncology symptom screening.

85 Background: Patients with advanced gynecologic cancer experience symptoms at diagnosis, on treatment, at recurrence, and at the end of life. There is no standardized screening or interventions for these symptoms. Further, little is known about how primary language affects the screening and treatment of symptoms. Our aim was to understand patients’ preferences when screening for symptoms. The secondary aim was to explore patients’ attitudes using symptom screening tools and to understand obstacles in communication. Methods: Patients with advanced or recurrent gynecologic cancer (ovary, cervix, uterus, vulva), who speak Spanish or English, participated in focus groups facilitated by research staff in a semi-structured discussion on a virtual platform for 1 hour. Spanish language groups were led by native Spanish-speaking research staff. Transcripts of the discussions were translated by certified translators. A validated symptom screening tool and focused gynecologic symptoms screening tool were administered, and feedback elicited. Transcripts were independently reviewed by 3 investigators to identify common themes. Discrepancies were reconciled via consensus. Results: There was a total of 21 participants, 14% were Spanish primary speakers and 85% English speaking. Twenty-nine percent of participants were Black, half of whom identified as Afro-Latinas, 14% Asian, and 5% American Indian. Most patients had ovarian (65%) or uterine cancer (20%). Most patients had recurrent disease (57%), 33% were stage III, 10% were stage IV. Eighty-one percent completed a web-based symptoms survey. Using a symptom screening tool was readily accepted by Spanish- and English-speaking patients. Participants highlighted four important themes: 1) Education and attention to symptoms for early detection of recurrence; 2) mental health and support groups with a noted disparity in access for the Spanish-speaking patients; 3) palliation of treatment-related symptoms; and language concordance between patient; and 4) care team identified by the Spanish-speaking group. Conclusions: Clear communication and education about symptoms are important to patients. Patients experience many mental health symptoms and desire therapy and support groups. Patients want to be screened for symptoms, and there is a strong desire for bilingual resources. Next steps include conducting focus groups with physicians and staff who provide care for this patient population and implementing a screening tool in our clinics.

Heckling and free speech

Heckling receives little attention in the vast literature on freedom of speech. But, in a recent contribution, Jeremy Waldron explores a positive case for the practice. Waldron asks us to see heckling as a spectrum of activities, some of which should be both protected and encouraged. In his view, a primary speaker’s right to speak is not a right to a perfectly tailored (or choreographed) presentation before a subdued audience. A great deal of heckling should be treated as legitimate counter speech, covered by audience members’ own expression rights. Waldron also sees heckling as making an important contribution to broader free speech values such as pursuit of truth and political accountability. I argue that the case for treating heckling as wrongful interference with the free speech rights of primary speakers and their willing listeners is much stronger than Waldron makes out. More boisterous forms of heckling should usually be restricted to presentations by political officials or state sponsored events. In other cases, heckling should be restricted to visual forms and displays that do not directly interfere with a primary speaker’s voice.

Developing Behavioral Coding to Understand Family Communication Breakdown in Dementia Care.

Communication breakdown is a challenge for family caregivers of persons living with dementia. We adapted established theory and scales for computer-assisted behavioral coding to characterize caregiver communication for a secondary analysis. We developed verbal, nonverbal, and breakdown coding schemes and established reliability (κ > .85). Within the 221 family caregiving videos analyzed, 55% of exchanges were interactive, 30% were silence, 4% consisted of talking to self or others, and 8% included a breakdown. An average of 2.4 (SD = 1.9) breakdowns occurred per observation and were successfully resolved 85% of the time, with 31% being resolved most successfully following only one flag and repair strategy. Caregivers were the primary speakers (67%); their communication preceded most breakdown (65%), and they primarily initiated the repairs after a breakdown (70%). Common repair strategies included clarifications (31%), asking questions (24%), and repeating information (24%). Associations between communication strategies and repair success will provide evidence for caregiver training.

The ‘Novel in Poems’ – An Emerging Genre

A new genre has emerged in contemporary literature: the ‘novel in poems.’ This genre hybridizes the novel and poetry in order to construct characters and a plot through relatively autonomous poems in series. The ‘novel in poems’ appears in different subtypes, which can be categorized according to the following criteria: (1) the presence of one speaker versus several speakers, (2) the presence of a speaker as lyric protagonist and/or narrator, and (3) the presence of a blend of distinct modes of lyric, narrative, and dramatic representation in various forms of combination. Specific characteristics of the ‘novel in poems’ are: 1) variation of constituent poetic forms with different degrees of semantic autonomy and brevity; 2) hyper-structuring through symmetries, holism, and equivalences; 3) a tendency to differentiate mediating instances within the text; 4) the reduction or elimination of the narrator or of narrative principles and the use of an omnipresent textual subject; 5) the presence of metapoetic reflections on topics such as poetry and creativity; 6) an emphasis on voice, person, and subjectivity; 7) episodic plot construction through montage techniques and a tendency toward chronological order; 8) the predominance of present speech and action; 9) contradictions between the speaker as subject and addresser, via the lyric fiction of performativity, and the function of narration; 10) a necessity imposed upon the reader to reconstruct the plot and characters. This essay establishes three subtypes within the proposed genre: a lyric ‘novel in poems’ with one speaker (Irina Ermakova), a polyphonically narrative ‘novel in poems’ that combines third-person narration with several alterior speakers (Lana Hechtman Ayers), and, finally, a dramatic ‘novel in poems’ with shifting primary speakers (Glyn Maxwell).

Analysis of germline alterations and testing patterns in Hispanic men with prostate cancer.

Background: Little is known about the prevalence of germline alterations in Hispanic men with prostate cancer (PC). Here, we examine the rates of germline alterations in Hispanic men with PC, compare these rates to non-Hispanic white men, and examine factors associated with clinicians offering testing. Methods: Single center, retrospective analysis of patients (pts) with PC who self-identify as Hispanic and meet the NCCN criteria for germline testing. Pts who consented for testing underwent a commercial multigene germline assay. Among those tested, the proportion of pathogenic alterations and variants of uncertain significance (VUS) were computed in 20 genes associated with germline alterations in PC. This was compared to non-Hispanic white (NHW) pts who also underwent germline testing. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to assess clinical and demographic factors associated with clinicians offering germline testing and/or genetics referral. Results: We identified 136 Hispanic men with PC eligible for germline testing between 2018-2020. 26.1% (n=34) of pts underwent germline testing and among those tested, 14.7% (n=5/34) had a pathogenic alteration detected. Median age of the cohort was 70 years and 46.3% (n=63) had metastatic disease. Spanish was the primary language for 50% (n=68) and 14.0% (n=19) of pts had at least 1 first-degree relative with PC. Alterations were detected in ATM (n=2), CHEK2 (n=1), MSH2 (n=1), MSH6 (n=1). When stratified by disease status, the rate of pathogenic alterations was 7.7% (n=1/13) in localized and 19.0% (n=4/21) in metastatic disease. When compared to NHW pts who underwent testing (n=139), the rate of pathogenic alterations was not significantly different (14.7% in Hispanic vs 12.2% in NWH, p=0.77). The rate of VUS in Hispanic pts was significantly higher than NHW pts (20.6% in Hispanic vs 7.2% in NWH, p=0.047). In a multivariate model examining the factors associated with receipt of testing in Hispanic men (Table), the presence of metastatic disease and a family history of PC were positively associated with testing. Spanish as a primary language was negatively associated with testing. Age was not a significant predictor. Conclusions: Among Hispanic men who underwent germline testing, there was a similar rate of pathogenic germline alterations compared to NHW men. Among Hispanic men, primary Spanish speakers appear to have lower rates of germline testing. Bilingual strategies are needed to improve rates of testing to ensure equity in germline testing for all patients. [Table: see text]

Project Earthrise: Inspiring Creativity, Kindness and Imagination in Planetary Health

The concept of planetary health blurs the artificial lines between health at scales of person, place and planet. At the same time, it emphasizes the integration of biological, psychological, social and cultural aspects of health in the modern environment. Our grandest challenges in the Anthropocene ultimately stem from human attitudes to each other and to our environment. However, solutions rarely confront the underlying value systems that created these interconnected problems, or the attitudes that perpetuate them. Too often, the dominant focus is on the “worst of human nature”, and devalues or neglects the importance of empathy, kindness, hope, love, creativity and mutual respect—the deeper values that unite, empower and refocus priorities of individuals and groups. Here, we call to normalize more creative, mutualistic approaches—including the perspectives of traditional and indigenous cultures—to positively influence normative value systems. We revisit the power of inspiration with the profound example of the Apollo 8 Earthrise photo which galvanized a fledgling planetary health movement over 50 years ago. Through the inaugural Earth Day that followed, we are reminded that its early organizers were not constrained in how they defined the “environment”. They and their primary speakers were as concerned about value systems as they were about pollution—that we cannot hope to solve our problems without addressing the attitudes that created them in the first place. We explore the ways in which the awe of Earthrise—and the contemporary science of creativity and studies of utopian thinking—might reinvigorate imagination, kindness and mutualism. We revisit the fundamental challenge offered by Pulitzer-Prize-winning microbiologist Rene Dubos and others in the afterglow of the Earthrise photo, and the inaugural Earth Day. This is a question of imagination: What kind of world we want to live in?

Non-Close Renditions: Ways and Consequences of Saying Something Different in Interpreter-Mediated Healthcare Interactions

ABSTRACT In interpreter-mediated interactions the interpreter’s translational activity constitutes the core of mutual understanding. Translating other participants’ verbal productions implies various interactional moves on the part of the interpreter, which reveal his/her coordinating role within the interaction. These two activities originate from the interpreter’s knowledge of the languages and cultures involved as well as of his/her expertise in interpreting, which, in turn, result in his/her power to promote, modify, or block the interaction. Of course, interpreters do not act in a vacuum: it is through the interplay of all interlocutors that interpreters fully participate in the co-construction of the interaction. In this contribution we consider all those cases in which interpreters’ translations depart from the corresponding primary speakers’ turns. These cases are identified here as non-close renditions, a new analytical category integrating Wadensjö’s (1998) classification. We investigate how non-closeness may affect the interpreter’s translation and what repercussions it may have on the unfolding interaction. We specifically focus on the interactional efforts – or the lack thereof – made by the interpreter his-/herself and by other speakers in order to try to retrace their steps back to what was originally said.

Practice as a component of professional training of the elementary school teachers

In this article, the author considers practical training as an independent component of the general system of vocational training for future teachers, as well as goals and objectives, the structure, content, and organization of the practice of future primary school teachers and English speakers.

Methodological Challenges in Examining Family and Child Perspectives on Lived Experiences of Disability in Daily Life

Abstract Date Presented 4/7/2016 The authors discuss the salience of family and child perspectives, conceptualization of study design, methodological innovations designed to elicit data related to lived experiences, scientific rigor, analytic approaches, and moral dilemmas. Primary Authors and Speakers: Mary Lawlor, Olga Solomon

Engaging voices

Engaging voices

Abstract WP246: Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients With a Primary Language Other Than English Do Not Have Significantly Increased Door-to-Needle Times for Intravenous TPA

Background: Rapid administration of intravenous alteplase (IV tPA) leads to better outcomes, but language barriers have the potential to introduce delays and to hinder effective communication with patients and collateral historians during the acute evaluation. Hypothesis: Acute ischemic stroke patients with a non-English primary language will have significantly longer door-to-needle times for IV tPA. Methods: We abstracted information on primary language for all adults that received IV tPA for acute ischemic stroke in the emergency department of an academic referral center in San Francisco, CA, from February 2008 to May 2015. Approximately 38% of San Francisco residents speak a language other than English at home. Primary language was determined from the electronic medical record and was confirmed by reviewing specific documentation in subsequent speech therapy evaluations and admission notes. Age, sex, race, presenting NIHSS, aphasia as a presenting symptom, whether the patient was accompanied to the emergency department by a family member or caregiver, discharge disposition, and door-to-needle (DTN) administration time for IV tPA were abstracted from clinical records and quality improvement registries. Results: A total of 237 patients received IV tPA for acute ischemic stroke in the emergency department during the study period. Median age was 76 years (IQR 64-86), 53% were female, and median DTN time was 62 minutes (IQR 48-86). A total of 34% of patients had a primary language other than English (20% Cantonese, 6% Russian, 3% Spanish). These patients were more likely to be older (median age 80 vs. 73 years, p = 0.001), to be accompanied by a family member or caregiver (80% vs. 59%, p = 0.003), and to have a higher NIHSS (median 9 vs. 11, p = 0.03), but DTN times were similar among English and non-English primary language speakers (median 62 vs. 62, p=0.88) and short-term outcomes were not significantly different (in-hospital mortality 9% English primary language vs 14% non-English primary language, p=0.27; discharge to home 43% vs 32%, p=0.16) . Conclusions: At a center serving a multiethnic population, a patient’s primary language did not appear to predict DTN times for acute ischemic stroke.

Gatekeeper Liability and Article 19(1)(A) of the Constitution of India

This paper argues that access to information and free flow of information need to be seen as significant parts of our freedom of expression jurisprudence. In particular, it highlights the role played by information gatekeepers in the free circulation of information. Starting from Ranjit Udeshi v. State of Maharashtra in which the strict liability of gatekeepers was used to restrict the circulation of obscene material, up to the current system for government-ordered blocking of content by internet intermediaries in India, information gatekeepers are used to control information.Our freedom of expression norms need to take this into account in addition to their focus on the rights of primary speakers, since information gatekeepers gatekeepers can be used to censor speech in an opaque fashion that leaves little room for accountability.

The impact of additions in Shona and English consecutively-interpreted rape trials in Zimbabwean courtrooms

This article investigates the conflict between interpreters’ ethical guidelines and the reality in Zimbabwean courtrooms. Although court interpreters’ instructions generally prescribe verbatim translations of original utterances, the reality in the courtroom may demand deviation from what the guidelines prescribe. Focusing on the effect of emphasising and down-toning additions on source language texts in four consecutively-interpreted rape trials heard in Shona and English, this study reveals that court interpreters are aware that their primary goal is to ensure that participants fully understand each other’s intentions. Interpreters therefore adopt a strategy for conveying renditions which would ensure that a speaker’s communicative intention, and not only his/her words, is available to an end receiver. The resultant renditions would nevertheless reveal some additions which may impact on the propositional content and style of the source message and hence the administration of justice. I therefore argue that interpreted courtroom dialogues are essentially ‘three-party’ (Mason, 2000: 9) face-to-face transactions involving two primary speakers and one interpreter.

PHASAL REALIZATIONS IN CLASSROOM DISCOURSE A Systemic-Functional Analysis

This article examines the phasal realizations characteristic of the classroom discourse. The data are collected by means of audio-visual recordings and transcriptions, and they are analyzed by employing a complementary method of analysis of Young’s model. The primary instrument of this study is the researcher herself, whereas the secondary instruments are (1) classification schemes of the semiotic aspect in focus, (2) data sheets that contain 4 classroom discourse-in-texts, and (3) notes on each classroom discourse-in-text. The findings reveal that the CD-in-text as a whole is typically realized and characterized by the following: (1) Substantiation (SU) as the most prominent macro-function and the Conclusion (CO) as the least prominent, (2) the Interchange (IC) as the most prominent micro-function and the Apology (AP) as the least prominent. Based on the main findings, there is strong evidence to suggest that the ‘semiotic behavior’ of the CD-in-text as a whole is motivated by the goal-oriented need, and the goal to achieve has tended to be more academic-oriented than social-oriented. In this, the teachers as the primary speakers of the classroom interactions have tended to focus on the transformation of intellectual values (academic knowledge/skills) with the least social values involved therein. The most prominently occurring SU macro-function and IC micro-function are clear indicators of this endeavor. The scope and the objectives of this study have been delimited to investigate CD phenomena at the levels of phase and sub-phase.

Abstract C47: Hispanic/Latino lung cancer patients overcoming barriers for accessing cancer care: A qualitative study

Abstract Introduction: Hispanic/Latino lung cancer patients typically present at a more advanced stage and are less likely to undergo surgical resection. Prior studies have identified multiple barriers for seeking diagnostic work-up though few studies have focused on difficulties encountered in navigating the health care system. Our study aim was to identify obstacles experienced by Hispanic/Latino patients in accessing timely lung cancer care, as well as the strategies employed to overcome these obstacles. Methods: We conducted semi-structured individual interviews with Hispanic/Latino patients diagnosed with lung cancer to explore their comfort with health care professionals, perceptions about barriers to care, and the process by which they made treatment-related decisions. We analyzed the data through thematic text analysis. Four coders independently summarized the data for conceptual themes focusing on challenges overcome in accessing care, and solutions to address these barriers. The coders then met to reach consensus on overall themes describing perceived difficulties in access to care and strategies used to surmount such barriers. Results: Participants were 24 Stage I-IV Hispanic/Latino lung cancer patients (79% female, ages 20-87, M=63 years), treated at a tertiary cancer center, equally divided as primary English and Spanish speakers. As expected, they reported experiencing multiple patient-, provider-, and health care system-level barriers to cancer care. Patient-level barriers included difficulties understanding providers' recommendations, comprehending medical jargon, lack of knowledge about lung cancer treatment options, emotional distress, and being overwhelmed which led to denial of diagnosis and confusion about treatment options. Provider-level barriers included providers overlooking symptoms, and lack of detailed explanation about lung cancer symptoms, disease course, and treatment options. Health care system level-barriers included fragmentation with lack of continuity of care, variable primary care provider (PCP)-patient relationships, use of numerous primary care facilities resulting in gaps in medical history and current health status, disagreement among providers about optimal treatment, and PCPs' referrals to multiple specialists, all leading to delayed diagnosis and access to treatment. Strategies devised to address barriers to care included: using family members as patient advocates and cultural brokers to help patients access providers, navigate the health care system, schedule appointments, determine the best treatment course, and translate physician discussions; and being assertive to pursue more responsive providers and specialized cancer treating facilities, seeking second opinions, asking providers to clarify treatment options and explain medical jargon, independently researching effective treatments, and finding creative solutions to finance care. Surprisingly, ability to pay for care was rarely perceived as being an obstacle for accessing cancer care. No significant differences were found between primary Spanish and English-speaking participants regarding barriers to care and solution strategies. Conclusions: Hispanic/Latino lung cancer patients identified successful strategies in overcoming barriers to accessing specialized cancer care. Future studies on improving the cultural competence and communication skills of the healthcare workforce, involving family caregivers, and patient navigation are warranted. Citation Format: William Alago, Elyse Shuk, Ana-Motta Moss, George Brandon, Abraham Aragones, Idalid Franco, Roberto Valentin, Mutiat A. Akinsemoyin, Melissa Rodriguez, Hector Velez, Tyler Barretto, Uriel Castaneda, Jamie Ostroff. Hispanic/Latino lung cancer patients overcoming barriers for accessing cancer care: A qualitative study. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Sixth AACR Conference: The Science of Cancer Health Disparities; Dec 6–9, 2013; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2014;23(11 Suppl):Abstract nr C47. doi:10.1158/1538-7755.DISP13-C47

Co-construction of interpreted conversation in medical consultations

AbstractIt has been largely accepted that face-to-face consecutive interpreting should be studied as a communicative event and an interactive process. Linguistic methods, including conversation analysis, have been used to investigate interactive elements in the discourse, such as turn-taking, adjacency pair, overlapping speech, repair, etc. Researchers acknowledge that participants' verbal behaviours in the turn-by-turn interactions are co-constructed by all participants; however, little has been said about the co-constructive mechanism. This research aimed to provide a better understanding of the generic mechanism of such co-construction, hoping to inform the training for interpreters and medical professionals who work with them.Using conversation analysis, I recorded seven naturally occurring interpreter-mediated GP consultations in the UK. Participants included two GPs, three professional and ad hoc interpreters and seven patients speaking either Urdu, Mirpuri Punjabi or Czech.My analysis elaborates on the inter-determination between the types of information the primary speakers (doctor and patient) produce in the current turn and the consequent actions the interpreter undertakes in the next turn, and also points out that such inter-determination is not definite in that the interpreter's turn design is also influenced by their own characteristics. This analysis emphasises that the interpreter, both professional and ad hoc, is key to the quality of the doctor-patient communication and doctors can alter their own behaviours to optimise the interpreter's turn-design and thus the communication outcome.This research provides an insight into the co-construction of the triadic interactions in interpreted medical consultations. With a better understanding of this mechanism, doctors may be taught to alter their verbal behaviours to optimise the interpreter's performance and thus improve their communication with patients. This interactional framework may also help us understand other critical issues of power, identify, cultural competence, etc.

Absolute pitch is associated with a large auditory digit span: A clue to its genesis

Absolute pitch (AP) is very rare in North America and Europe, and its genesis is unclear. Its prevalence is far higher among tone language speakers, and among those with early onset of musical training. However, most nontone language speakers with early and extensive musical training do not possess AP. To test the hypothesis that an unusually large auditory memory is involved in the genesis of AP, at least in nontone language speakers, we recruited 7 AP possessors, and 20 AP nonpossessors. All subjects were primary speakers of English, had begun musical training at ≤ age 6, and were UCSD students or recent graduates. The two groups were matched for age and years of musical experience. All subjects were administered an auditory digit span test, followed by a visual digit span test, with digits presented 1/sec. While the average auditory digit span was 8.1 digits for the AP nonpossessors, it was 10.0 digits for the AP possessors. This difference between the two groups was highly significant (p = 0.0015, 1-tailed). The AP possessors also marginally outperformed the nonpossessors on the visual digit span test; however this difference was nonsignificant. These new findings provide a clue to a genetic component of AP.

Securing recipiency in workplace meetings: Multimodal practices.

As multiparty interactions with single courses of coordinated action, workplace meetings place particular interactional demands on participants who are not primary speakers (e.g. not chairs) as they work to initiate turns and to interactively coordinate with displays of recipiency from co-participants. Drawing from a corpus of 26 hours of videotaped workplace meetings in a midsized US city, this article reports on multimodal practices - phonetic, prosodic, and bodily-visual - used for coordinating turn transition and for consolidating recipiency in these specialized speech exchange systems. Practices used by self-selecting non-primary speakers as they secure turns in meetings include displays of close monitoring of current speakers' emerging turn structure, displays of heightened interest as current turns approach possible completion, and turn initiation practices designed to pursue and, in a fine-tuned manner, coordinate with displays of recipiency on the parts of other participants as well as from reflexively constructed 'target' recipients. By attending to bodily-visual action, as well as phonetics and prosody, this study contributes to expanding accounts for turn taking beyond traditional word-based grammar (i.e. lexicon and syntax).

West Virginia's Constitutional Critique of Virginia: The Revolution of 1861-1863

West Virginia's Constitutional Critique of VirginiaThe Revolution of 1861-1863 John Edmund Stealey III (bio) No citizen or governmental official of the United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia could have anticipated the chain of events that occurred at the Virginia Convention in Richmond on April 17, 1861, when it secretly adopted the Ordinance of Secession. Popular and scholarly attention has normally concentrated on national ramifications and how the Commonwealth responded constitutionally and militarily during its secession crisis. No modern study has investigated the full implications of the state-level constitutional response of western Virginia delegates and leaders to the event. Fleeing after the disheartening assembly vote, the delegates loyal to the United States had daily faced epithets, hangman's nooses, and secessionist flags on Richmond streets among the enflamed people. On the convention floor itself, the term "western Virginian" had become one of opprobrium and mocking ridicule. Five decades of continual Commonwealth constitutional and political discrimination had devolved on the national loyalists who secessionists cast out as "black Republicans" and "submissionists." The latter slur, perhaps worse than the former, on their honor suggested their cowardice and unmanliness. The unionist delegates had no certain idea how they and their constituents might respond.1 [End Page 9] Submit, they did not. Spontaneously, mass meetings immediately materialized in many western Virginia towns and villages. Several of the recent convention delegates, forming the leadership in rending the Commonwealth, were primary speakers. Some were more radical than others. The most important meeting occurred on two days' notice in Clarksburg on April 22. There, convention delegate John Snyder Carlile spoke and introduced a preamble and resolutions that condemned Virginia's actions and called for an assembly on May 13 in Wheeling "to consult and determine upon such action as the people of Northwestern Virginia should take in the present fearful emergency." The assembled twelve hundred citizens could not have comprehended that they had initiated a constitutional process that severed a state and created a new one.2 The separation of the Virginias in 1861-1863 is notable and exceptional enough in U.S. history to warrant detailed attention to contemporary constitutional grievances that western Virginians had long articulated and soon had the opportunity to address. Perhaps no greater failure in domestic statecraft has transpired than the Commonwealth of Virginia's inability to preserve its state union and its territorial integrity. As contemporary westerners observed with wonder in 1861, the Commonwealth always seemed obsessed with chimerical national wrongs rather than unjust and threatening internal political and constitutional discrimination and oppression within its realm. The western section's constitutional objectives reflect in undeniable ways like a mirror the Commonwealth's antebellum inadequacies that proved so detrimental. In fundamental terms, the American Civil War represented a conflict about the nature of the Union and constitutional legitimacy. Its course and outcome [End Page 10] had penetrating results on two levels, the national and the state. The U.S. victory definitively answered questions about legitimacy and surely changed national fundamental law and its interpretation in numerous spheres. Extensive constitutional ferment also existed in the states. The war effort itself and mobilization had great impact on the modernization process that required constitutional adaptation in loyal states to address national governmental and economic centralization, urbanization, economic and financial growth, the end of chattel slavery, demographic changes, public education growth, and transportation developments. Loyal Virginia itself, initially operating under the 1850-51 frame, in 1864 held a constitutional convention in Alexandria and adopted organic law that governed the Commonwealth until 1869. The war era's cathartic impact on state constitutional change in rebel states is widely known, but the effects extended beyond former Confederate states.3 In Virginia, Abraham Lincoln's election and the secession of four slave states created a volatile situation. Most westerners believed that the January 14 call by the extra session of the Virginia General Assembly, convened by Governor John Letcher, for a convention to meet on February 13 (with delegates elected on February 7) was unduly precipitous and constitutionally flawed. The bypassing of a referendum on the question of calling a convention violated Virginia precedent in summoning the conventions of 1820-39 and 1850-61. A...