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Rh were single, except that in conveying or mortgaging her real estate she must be joined by her husband. A widow has a dower interest in one-third of her husband's real estate unless barred by a jointure or an agreement. A widower is in any case entitled by courtesy to one-third of his wife's real estate, and he may choose between his rights by courtesy and the provisions of his wife's will. Where there is no issue and the deceased dies intestate the surviving spouse is entitled to the whole estate, both real and personal, if it does not exceed $2000, and if it exceeds that sum the survivor is entitled to $2000 and one-half of the remainder; if there are no kindred, the whole of the estate goes to the surviving spouse. The causes for a divorce are adultery, sentence to confinement in the state prison for three years or more and actual confinement at the time of the suit, intolerable severity, wilful desertion for three consecutive years or absence for seven years without being heard from, or wanton and cruel refusal or neglect of the husband to provide a suitable maintenance for his wife. The plaintiff must have resided in the state for at least the year preceding the application, and if the cause accrued in some other state or country before the parties lived together in Vermont and while neither party lived there, the plaintiff must have been a resident at least for two years preceding the action. When a divorce is granted, the defendant is not permitted to marry other than the plaintiff for three years, unless the plaintiff dies. The homestead of a householder or head of a family to the value of $500 is, so long as it continues to be used as the homestead, exempt from levy or attachment other than upon causes existing at the time it was acquired and for taxes. If the owner is a married man, he cannot sell or mortgage it, except for the purchase money, unless his wife joins him in the execution.

Education.—The public-school system is under the supervision of a state superintendent of education, elected biennially by the General Assembly, and local schools are under union superintendents and in a few cases under town superintendents. The district system was displaced in 1893 by a township system. The revenues for educational purposes are derived mainly from a state tax of 8% on the general list, from local taxes, and from the interest on the permanent school fund, which (including the money paid to Vermont by the United States government when a portion of the treasury surplus was distributed among the states in 1837) amounted in 1908 to $1,120,218. The schools are open to all children between the ages of 5 and 20, and attendance for twenty-six weeks in each year is made compulsory for those who are between the ages of 8 and 15. The average number of weeks in the &ldquo;legal schools&rdquo; (about 95% of the public schools) was 32 weeks in 1907-1908. The chief institutions for higher instruction are the university of Vermont and State Agricultural College (1800, 1865), a land-grant college at Burlington, Middlebury College (1800) at Middlebury, Norwich University (1819) at Northfield, and the state normal schools at Randolph (1867), Johnson (1867) and Castleton (1868).

Charitable and Penal Institutions.—The charitable and penal institutions of the state are controlled by separate boards of directors, but all are subject to the general supervision of a board of visitors composed of the governor, lieutenant-governor and speaker of the House of Representatives, and a woman appointed by the governor. There are a state prison at Windsor (1808), a house of correction at Rutland (1878), an industrial school at Vergennes (1866), and hospitals for the insane at Brattleboro (1836) and Waterbury (1891). Biennial appropriations are made for the support of the deaf and dumb, the blind and imbecile children at various institutions in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Finance.—The chief sources of revenue for the state are a corporation tax, a collateral inheritance tax (1904) and a licence tax. There is no general property tax except a special levy of 8% on the general list for school purposes and 5% for the construction of roads. For the year ending on the 30th of June 1908 the total receipts were $1,822,390, the expenditures were $1,871,166. The state is practically free from debt, the only obligation of this character being $135,500 in 6% bonds, payable in 1910, which were issued in behalf of the Agricultural College. The banking institutions are supervised by an inspector of finance, who reports annually to the General Assembly. There were no banks in the state until 1806, when a state bank (controlled by the state) was established which was finally closed up in 1845, although as early as 1812 a law was passed to close it. The first private state bank was opened in 1817; an act of 1831 provided for a safety fund guaranteeing bank circulations and derived from a 4% tax on capital stock and a 10% tax on profits; but this law was modified in 1842, the tax being removed from banks giving specie guarantees; and a free banking act was passed in 1851. Owing to the high rate of taxation on deposits, a considerable part of the savings of the people is sent into other states.

History.—Samuel de Champlain, as governor of Quebec, entered what is now Vermont in July 1609 in an expedition against the Iroquois, and thus laid the basis for the French claim. In 1665 the French built a fort on Isle la Motte. The first English settlement was probably made at Chimney Point, in Addison township, in 1690 by a party from Albany. The first permanent white settlement was established by Massachusetts at

Fort Dummer (near the present Dummer, in the south-eastern part of the present town of Brattleboro) in 1724. Similar outposts were located during the next few years at Sartwell's Fort and Bridgman's Fort in the township of Vernon (Windham county) and at Fort Hill in the township of Putney (N. of Brattleboro, in Windham county). The territory in which these settlements had been made was involved in the boundary dispute between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, which was settled in 1741 by a decision of the king in council favourable to (q.v.). The extension of the southern boundary line by this decision due westward until it met His Majesty's other governments gave rise, however, to a controversy with New York. New Hampshire claimed that her territory extended as far to the west as those of Massachusetts and Connecticut, whereas New York, under the charter of 1664, claimed eastward to the Connecticut river. New York protested against the Bennington grant in 1749, but the question did not become serious until the chief obstacle to settlement was removed by the conquest of Canada in 1760-61. From 1761 to 1763 Governor John Wentworth of New Hampshire issued 108 grants, and settlements were established in Brattleboro, Putney, Westminster, Halifax, Marlborough, Wilmington, New Fane, Rockingham, Townshend, Vernon (Hinsdale) and Dummerston (all in Windham county, except Vernon, which is in Cheshire county). A privy council decree recognizing the claims of New York was issued on the 20th of July 1764, and the settlers were soon afterwards ordered to surrender their patents and repurchase the land from the proper authorities at Albany. Under the leadership of Ethan Allen, Seth Warner and Remember Baker (1737-1775), they refused obedience and took up arms in defence of their rights. About the close of 1771 Colonel Allen organized a regular military force among the inhabitants of the district W. of the mountains, which came to be known as the Green Mountain Boys. The trouble was soon complicated by the conflict with the mother country. On the 13th of March 1775, a riot occurred at Westminster between the people of Cumberland county and the royal authorities, in which two of the people were killed. The Green Mountain Boys, with some help from Connecticut, captured Fort Ticonderoga on the 10th of May 1775, and took part in the Canadian expedition of 1775 under Montgomery and Schuyler. Within the state itself battles were fought at Hubbardton on the 7th of July and Bennington on the 16th of August 1777. The representatives of the towns assembled in convention at Dorset and Westminster in 1776 (Jan. 16-17, July 24-25, September 25-28, October 30), and on the 15th of January 1777 adopted a declaration of independence, assumed the name New Connecticut and appointed Dr Jonas Fay (1737-1818), Thomas Chittenden (1730-1797), Hemon Allen (1740-1788), Dr Reuben Jones and Jacob Bayley a committee to submit their proceedings to the Continental Congress. The chief adviser of the committee in Philadelphia was Dr Thomas Young, a prominent physician, who had helped to draft the Pennsylvania constitution of 1776. Young advised them to call their state Vermont, and he also sent through them a circular letter, dated the 11th of April 1777, urging the people to adopt a state constitution on the Pennsylvania model. The advice was followed. A convention met at Windsor (July 2-8, 1777), and drafted a document which contained almost all of the important provisions of the constitution of Pennsylvania, such as a unicameral legislature, a plural executive and a council of censors, which was not abolished until 1870. One important variation, however, was a clause in the bill of rights providing for the abolition of slavery, Vermont being the first state in America to take such action. The first legislature of the state met at Windsor in March 1778, and voted to admit sixteen towns east of the Connecticut river which were dissatisfied with the rule of New Hampshire. As a result, New York and New Hampshire formed a secret agreement to divide the state between themselves, the mountains to be the line of division. In this crisis the British government through General Sir Frederick Haldimand offered to recognize Vermont as a separate province and to give her very liberal terms provided she would desert the other states.