The+New+Hampshire+Grants


 * __The New Hampshire Grants __**

Before the end of the French and Indian War , settlers in Vermont were caught in the middle of another struggle .

Remember that in this time of history there were no states, just groups of settlements in areas called **colonies** . Each colony had a governor appointed by the king . People wishing to move to an area had to purchase land from England . This property was called a **//grant//**, which was a large area of land with **vague** boundaries.

By 1764, the English colonies of New York and New Hampshire both claimed ownership of Vermont. Many years earlier, in 1749, King George II of England gave Benning Wentworth, the governor of New Hampshire, permission to issue “grants,” or parcels of land, to English settlers from New Hampshire. The king told Wentworth to let the people settle in the land west of New Hampshire, but he never said exactly how far west. The land Wentworth made available to settlers was called New Hampshire Land Grants.

At the same time, the governor of New York, George Clinton, was making grants to the east of his colony’s borders—the same land that Wentworth had granted to New Hampshire settlers.

After the French and Indian Wars, many more settlers came into “Vermont” and purchased land in the New Hampshire Grants from Governor Wentworth . Settlers came from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Also, a large number came from Scotland. These Scottish settlers had read in Scottish papers advertisements for inexpensive land. Generally, the men would travel to America, clear land, and build a house. Then they would go back to Scotland, get their families, and bring them back to the New Hampshire Grants. <span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">These <span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">s <span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">ales made New York's governor very angry <span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">because he believed all the land west of the Connecticut River belonged to the <span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">c <span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">olony of New York <span style="color: #484848; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">. <span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">He felt New Hampshire had no right to sell these land grants to the settlers.

<span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">The governor of New York sent word to the King of England, asking him to decide the boundary once and for all! The King responded by defining the boundary between New York and New Hampshire at the Connecti <span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">c <span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">ut River <span style="color: #484848; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">. <span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">But unfortunately <span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">instead of settling the argument between these two colonies, the King <span style="color: #383838; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">' <span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">s decision only made things get worse!

<span style="color: #1c1c1c; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Now that New York had control of the area of Vermont, including the New Hampshire Grants, its governor began selling land grants to settlers. Much of the <span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">land being sold now by New York was the **//same land//**already occupied by people holding New Hamp <span style="color: #474747; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">s <span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">hire Grants! As New York settlers began moving into the area <span style="color: #474747; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">they forced the New Hampshire settlers to pay rent for the land that they claimed to be theirs. As you can imagine, this made the New Hampshire settlers angry! They had paid for that land, had worked hard at setting up their homes, and did not want to be forced to leave, or pay rent.

<span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">In 1770, some of these angry New Hampshire settlers got together in the town of Bennington to discuss their problem <span style="color: #474747; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">. <span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">A man named Ethan Allen formed a group called the **Green Mountain Boys** <span style="color: #474747; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">. <span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">They worked hard at making sure no New Hampshire settler lost his home to a “Yorker <span style="color: #474747; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">.” <span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">The Green Mountain Boys made life miserable for the Yorker settlers by burning their homes, destroying their property <span style="color: #474747; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">and harassing the settlers themselves <span style="color: #474747; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">. <span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">This caused many of the Yorker settlers to leave, giving the land back to those first settlers from New Hampshire.

<span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">The New Hampshire settlers cheered on Ethan Allen as a hero, while the New Yorkers thought of him and his Green Mountain Boys as outlaws!

<span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Battles over the land grants continued for many years <span style="color: #474747; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">. <span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Although the area now <span style="color: #323232; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">called <span style="color: #1f1f1f; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Vermont officially belonged to New York at the time, was still called the **New Hampshire Grants** **<span style="color: #474747; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">. **

<span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Information included from: <span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;"> __Uniquely Vermont__ by Emily Raabe <span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">__Vermont__ by Learner Publications Company