Vermont Declares Independence

Context

For decades before the American Revolution, overlapping land grants created bitter conflicts in what is now Vermont. New Hampshire’s royal governor Benning Wentworth issued dozens of patents in the region during the 1750s and 1760s, while New York asserted its own earlier claims to the same territory. In 1764, King George III ruled in New York’s favor, but many settlers who held New Hampshire titles refused to recognize the decision or pay new fees to New York speculators.

What Happened

The outbreak of the Revolution gave the settlers an opening to assert local control. Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys, already experienced in resisting New York authorities, turned their attention to suppressing Loyalists under the Sequestration Act. On January 15, 1777, delegates from twenty-eight towns gathered in Westminster and formally declared the territory independent of Great Britain and New York. They initially styled the new polity the Republic of New Connecticut.

Aftermath

The convention chose Thomas Chittenden as its leading figure and began organizing a provisional government. In June 1777 the name was changed to Vermont at the suggestion of Thomas Young. One month later, seventy-two delegates met in Windsor and adopted a constitution that abolished adult slavery and extended voting rights to all adult males, not merely property owners. Thomas Chittenden took office as the first governor in 1778.

Legacy

Vermont remained an independent republic for fourteen years, issuing its own currency and conducting limited diplomacy while the Continental Congress refused recognition because of New York’s objections. It finally entered the Union on March 4, 1791, as the fourteenth state, helping balance the admission of slaveholding Kentucky the following year. Its 1777 constitution influenced later state frameworks and stands as one of the earliest written constitutions in North America to enshrine broad male suffrage and restrictions on slavery.