Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/110

VERMONT. 1749 Governor Wentworth, of New Hampshire, made lavish grants, and small settlements sprang up everywhere. New York, though she had acquiesced in the Massachusetts boundary, claimed this territory to the Connecticut River. Proclamations and counter-proclamations were issued, but in 1764 a royal order was issued declaring the Connecticut the boundary between New Hampshire and New York. The New York Government considered this to mean that the ‘New Hampshire Grants’ were annulled, and ordered the settlers to repurchase from New York. This was generally refused, and the settlers secured, in 1767, another royal order forbidding the granting of disputed lands until further instructions. New York continued, however, to grant the lands not previously sold. A convention of settlers was held at Bennington and they determined to resist by force any processes of the New York courts. The grand jury at Albany in 1770 indicted some of them as rioters, and several were arrested in 1771. Committees of safety were organized in the several towns, and it was decreed that no New York officer should take any one out of the district without consent of the committee. To enforce these rules the ‘Green Mountain Boys’ were organized under (q.v.) and others, and they prepared to resist a reported expedition under Governor Tryon, who, however, ordered all prosecutions stopped until the matter might be submitted to the King. Nevertheless some grantees were dispossessed. The New York Assembly offered a reward of £100 for Ethan Allen or Remember Baker in 1774, but to no effect. At Westminster in the east a contest between a sheriff's posse and citizens resulted in the ‘Westminster Massacre’ on March 13, 1775. In April a convention met there and proclaimed the territory independent of New York, but declared itself willing to await the King's pleasure as to whether it should become a separate province or be annexed to some other province.

During the Revolution the colonists waged practically a separate war against the British and Indians. The capture of Ticonderoga, May 10, 1775, was almost entirely the work of the ‘Green Mountain Boys.’ In January, 1776, a convention at Dorset sent a commission to Congress, which, however, would not consider the proposition of making a new State. On January 15, 1777, another convention met at Westminster, and declared the territory an independent State with the name New Connecticut, and asked for admission. The present name was substituted in June, at the advice of Dr. Thomas Young, of Philadelphia, and a constitution similar to that of Pennsylvania was adopted, but with a clause prohibiting shivery. The government went into effect March 12, 1778, and sixteen towns east of the Connecticut River were united to the State in June, but the union was dissolved the next year, because of the resentment of New Hampshire, which now began to press its claim to the territory. New York also renewed its claims. No action was taken by Congress, and in retaliation Vermont extended its jurisdiction over the New Hampshire towns and over New York east of the Hudson, but, owing to the advice of Washington, the claim was given up February 22, 1781. After the close of the Revolution a gradual change in feeling took place in New York, and on July 15, 1789, a commission to treat with Vermont was appointed. In October, 1790, it was agreed that New York should cease opposition to the admission of Vermont to the Union on payment of $30,000 for disputed land claims. This was soon paid, and the State became a member of the Union March 4, 1791, the first State admitted under the Constitution.

The State was more democratic from the beginning than any other of the New England States. There were no rich and no aristocracy. The capital was laid out at Montpelier, the geographical centre of the State, in 1808. The University of Vermont was incorporated in 1791 and the first class graduated in 1804. There was considerable emigration after 1825, but there has been a gradual settlement of French Canadians to replace those departing. The State furnished more than its quota during the Civil War. Some Southern sympathizers from Canada invaded the town of Saint Albans in October, 1864, and this was made a point in the Geneva Arbitration. The Fenian operations against Canada, in 1866 and 1870, had their base in this town. The State adopted a prohibitory amendment to the Constitution in 1852, but abandoned the policy of prohibition in 1902, when the voters of the State declared for high license. This measure, amounting to local option regulation, became law in 1903.

In 1792, 1796, and 1800, the State was carried for Federalist electors, but was Democratic-Republican thereafter to 1824. In that year, and again in 1828, the Adams Republicans were successful. In 1832 the vote was cast for the Anti-Masonic candidate. After that time it was steadfastly Whig to 1852, and has been Republican, by large majorities, ever since.