Statehood


 * __Statehood __**

Before the Revolution started, the people in the New Hampshire Grants were more concerned with the troubles they were having with New York in settling the question of land grant, than those the colonies were having with England. As you remember , the people living in the Grants were part of the colony of New York, but the people li v ing in the Grants had begun thinking about becoming their own separate colony .

In 1775 , in th e town of Westminster, an angry group of New Hampshire Grant colonists took control of the courthouse from New York officials. The sheriffs and deputies surrounded the courthouse , but when the Grants men refused to s urrender, shots were fired. Two of the Grants men were killed and the others surrendered. Once the Re <span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">v <span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">olution started, the problem could not be sol <span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">v <span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">ed so it was <span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">" <span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">put on the back burner." It wasn't until 1777 that the idea of having the New Hampshire Grant territory become a separate colony was brought up again <span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">.

<span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">In July of 1776, in the middle of the Revolution <span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">the American colonies declared themsel <span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">v <span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">es free and independent of England and set up states in place of the original colonies. In January 1777 <span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">a meeting was held in the New Hampshire Grants to set up this territory as the free state of New Connecti <span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">c <span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">ut. A committee was chosen to go to Philadelphia to tell the **Continental Congress** that they wanted to join the United States.

<span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">When New York heard about New Connecticut, some of the Yorkers became angry. The New York **delegates** (members) at the Continental Congress told the other members not to listen to those upstarts from the New Hampshire Grants (now called New Connecticut) who were using the war as an opportunity to cut themselves off from New York. Other states were worried that parts of their territories might do the same thing as New Connecticut <span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">.

<span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">The Congress was in an uncomfortable spot because New York was powerful, yet the men from New Connecticut seemed to have a good cause <span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">too <span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">. <span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">The Congres <span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">s <span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">hemmed and hawed and finally did nothing at all, in order to keep New York happy. Vermont (New Connecticut) was not allowed to join the new <span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">c <span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">ountry of the United StatesVermont was now all by itself -not belonging to anyone or anything. They declared themselves an independent **republic**.

<span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">In June of 1777 <span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">New Connecticut decided they needed a **constitution**, or set of laws <span style="color: #434343; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: #232323; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">and modeled their constitution after the constitution of Pennsylvania that <span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">was written by Benjamin Franklin himself. This constitution, or set of laws, was the first to **prohibit** **slavery** (one person owning another person) and to guarantee all men the right to vote. But when they discovered that Pennsylvania already had an area called New Connecticut <span style="color: #535353; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">a new name was needed. Someone suggested a name <span style="color: #353535; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">that <span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">would tell about our Green Mountains and would be related to our early French settlements. That name was “Verd Mont” which means "Green Mountain" in the French language. It was agreed that the name, Vermont, would be better because it was easier <span style="color: #353535; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">to <span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">say.

<span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">During the next thirteen years many things happened in this new land <span style="color: #353535; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">called <span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Vermont. The republic of Vermont had its own money and postal service. Thomas Chittenden was chosen as our first governor in March of 1778. Ethan Allen <span style="color: #535353; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">who had been a British prisoner since 1775 <span style="color: #535353; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">also returned home in 1778. Allen had been captured when he tried to seize Montreal, Canada from the British during the Revolutionary War. After being home for about a year, Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys continued to fight for Vermont to join the newly formed United States. In 1782, Allen was appointed the head of the Vermont **militia** (volunteer soldiers). Throughout these years <span style="color: #535353; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">, <span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">Vermont remained an independent republic, not belonging to either Britain or the United States <span style="color: #535353; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">.

<span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">With the signing of the **Treaty of Paris** in 1783, the Revolutionary War finally ended with an American <span style="color: #353535; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">victory, <span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">The United States no longer belonged to England and was now its own country. The last British soldiers were <span style="color: #353535; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">withdrawn <span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">from New York City in November, 1783. At this time there were <span style="color: #353535; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">over <span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">30,000 people living in Vermont.

<span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">In 1790, Vermont <span style="color: #353535; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">settled <span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">its dispute with New <span style="color: #353535; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">York <span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">by paying it $30,000. New Hampshire also gave up its claim to Vermont. Such improved relations helped clear the way for Vermont's **admission** to the United States. On March 4, 1791, Vermont became the 14th state! It was the first state to join the **Union** <span style="color: #353535; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">after <span style="color: #212121; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">the original thirteen <span style="color: #353535; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 16px;">colonies.

<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