Slavery has been called America’s original sin, and its origins on the Virginia coast made it a tragic staple of the state’s and the South’s economy. Western Virginia counties, like the Northern states, had a far smaller percentage of enslaved residents, but, of course, one slave is one too many. Through a complicated process endorsed by President Lincoln, West Virginia was able to end the atrocity before the Civil War ended, and finally make it’s state motto about freedom ring true.