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JULY 8, 1777 — The Republic Of Vermont

Tuesday June 24, 2008

By M. Stuart Parks

    On July 8, 1777, at the Windsor Tavern in Windsor, Vermont the first Constitution of the “Free and Independent State of Vermont” was adopted.  This historic document was a declaration of independence from New Hampshire, New York and Massachusetts, all of whom laid claim to what is now Vermont.

    It all began in 1609 when Samuel deChamplain came south from Quebec and claimed the lake for the French.  He named the mountains “les monts verts” or the  Green Mountains.   Over the next century and a half settlers came from many places.

    The French came south from Quebec, Dutch-British settlers came north from Albany, Massachusetts settlers moved north and New Hampshire settlers came across the Connecticut River to western Vermont.  

    From 1754 to 1763 Vermont became a battleground for the French and Indian war.  During this war Ethan Allen and a group of Vermont settlers joined the Colonial Militia and assisted the British in attacks on the French.  In 1759 the British finally captured the Lake Champlain forts and drove the French north.  The end of the war brought many new settlers and claims from the neighboring provinces. The Province of Massachusetts claimed the land on the basis of the 1629 Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  The Province of New York's claim rested on the early Dutch Charter to the West India Company for lands to the west of the Connecticut River.  The Province of New Hampshire claimed Vermont based on a decree by King George II in 1740.

    After many years of argument and infighting, particularly between New Hampshire and New York, King George III in 1765 declared the Connecticut River the boundary between New Hampshire and Vermont.  New York now considered Vermont part of its territory and many new settlers arrived.  This influx of New Yorkers upset Ethan Allen and others who held land titles from New Hampshire and in 1770 Allen recruited his militia, the Green Mountain Boys, to protect the interests of the New Hampshire settlers against the new migrants from New York.

    By the early 1770's the Green Mountain Boys had become an armed military force based in Bennington, only a short distance from the New York seat of government in Albany.  They effectively prevented the Albany government from exercising its authority over what it considered the northeast portion of the Province of New York.  Surveyors and other officials who were sent to Vermont were sometimes severely beaten and at the least prevented from performing their missions.  New York issued warrants for the rebels, but they were unable to carry them out.  No one could dispute that the Green Mountain Boys were the government in Vermont.  

    At the same time the fever for independence was sweeping the country.  The Boston Tea Party took place in December, 1773.  The Battle of Lexington and Concord was fought on April 19, 1775 and on May 10, 1775 the Green Mountain Boys captured Fort Ticonderoga.  The heavy guns from the fort were taken back to Boston and helped to force the British out of that city but the Vermont soldiers went back to Vermont.  Vermont had become a haven for outlaws.  Deserters from both the British and the

    American armies congregated here and were clearly not willing to submit to the authority of either London or Philadelphia.  

    In January of 1777 Representatives of the New Hampshire Grants convened a meeting in Westminster (in the southeast corner of the state) and declared their independence from Britain, New York, New Hampshire and everyone else.  They declared themselves to be the new nation of New Connecticut.  A second convention met on June 2, 1777 and adopted the name “Republic of Vermont”.  A constitution was drafted on July 4 and was adopted four days later on July 8, 1777.  This was among the first constitutions written in North America and indisputably the first to abolish slavery and to require support of public schools.  It was also the first allowing all adult males to vote.  Prior to this a man had to own property to be able to vote.

    There were challenges from the usual places, New York, New Hampshire, Great Britain and even from the new United States, none of whom recognized its sovereignty.  

    However,  Vermont's army of yankee farmers, with help from the New Hampshire Militia, killed or captured virtually the entire British detachment under General Burgoyne at the Battle of Bennington.  This victory gave a legitimacy that would sustain it until Vermont became the 14th state in 1791.

    During the fourteen years that the Republic of Vermont existed as a sovereign nation it behaved as nations do.  It issued its own currency and minted it own copper coins.  It operated a state wide postal service.  Vermont exchanged ambassadors with France, the Netherlands and the American government which was then at Philadelphia.

    Thomas Chittenden acted as Head of State, preferring the title Governor to President.  In 1791 Vermont joined the Union as the fourteenth state; the first to enter after the original thirteen colonies.  

    John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem called “The Song Of The Vermonters, 1779”.  The last stanza reads:   “Come York or come Hampshire, come traitors or knaves,  If ye rule o'er our land ye shall rule o'er our graves;   Our vow is recorded - our banner unfurled, In the name of Vermont we defy all the world!”

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