HISTORY
What is now Vermont was included in several different grants of land made by British monarchs. The charter of Massachusetts Bay of 1629 laid claim to most of the land west of the Connecticut River. New York claimed the region on the basis of grants first made to the duke of York in 1664. A third claim, by New Hampshire, was based on a 1741 decree of King George II. After Vermont declared itself an independent state in 1777, while the war for independence was going on, the other states finally agreed to recognize its boundary claims. Massachusetts adjusted its differences in 1781, New Hampshire in 1782, and New York in 1790. This paved the way for the admission of Vermont to the Union in 1791.
Exploration and Settlement
The first Europeans to enter the Green Mountain state were Samuel de Champlain and his party of French explorers. In 1609 they paddled up the lake later named for Champlain (see Champlain). For more than 100 years after that, however, the area remained unsettled.
In 1666 the French built Fort St. Anne on Isle La Motte as part of their Lake Champlain fortifications, but the settlement was short-lived. The British established the first permanent settlement, at Fort Dummer in 1724. It was built by Massachusetts Colony to protect its people in the Connecticut Valley. The town of Brattleboro later grew up near the fort.
The close of the French and Indian War in 1763 gave the British possession of the Lake Champlain area. Lord Jeffrey Amherst had built a strong fort at Crown Point, N.Y., and a military road through the wilderness to the Connecticut River. After the war many settlers entered the region.
Beginning in 1749 the governor of New Hampshire had issued grants of land for new towns in the Vermont region. Settlers on these New Hampshire grants cleared forests, built cabins, and planted crops.
After 1764 the New York governor granted charters to land that was already occupied under the New Hampshire Grants. Many settlers could not afford the additional fees needed to repurchase their hard-won acres from New York. Fear of losing their land caused the settlers to revolt against New York authority in several violent incidents, including the seizure of the courthouse in Westminster, during which two of the rebels were killed, in March 1775.
In 1770 Ethan Allen recruited the Green Mountain Boys to protect the interests of New Hampshire settlers in the western part of the territory. Others in this daring band included his brother Ira Allen and Seth Warner. When the American Revolution broke out, hostile actions against New York ceased as both sides concentrated on defending the colonies against the British.
On May 10, 1775, Ethan Allen led his band in the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in New York?one of the first important American victories of the war. Seth Warner helped take Crown Point two days later. Many Green Mountain Boys later followed Allen in a futile attack on Montreal. (See also Allen, Ethan; Revolution, American; Ticonderoga.)
Statehood
In January 1777 a convention of Vermonters met at Westminster and set up a state independent of both New Hampshire and New York. Another convention met at Windsor in July and adopted a state constitution. It was the first American constitution to give suffrage to all men and to forbid slavery.
In July 1777 the British general John Burgoyne sent a force to capture military supplies stored at Bennington. On August 16 this force was routed west of Bennington by patriots under Gen. John Stark. This victory started the series of defeats that led to the vital surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga in October.
Vermont asked the Continental Congress for recognition but failed to get it, largely because of the disputed boundaries with neighboring states. The state then existed as an independent republic for 14 years. Finally, after all the boundary arguments were settled, Vermont was admitted to the Union on March 4, 1791.
During the American Civil War, Confederates raided St. Albans, robbing the town’s banks of more than 200,000 dollars. They escaped to Canada where they were brought to trial and freed.
The first president from Vermont was Chester A. Arthur, born in Fairfield. He became the nation’s 21st president when James A. Garfield was assassinated in 1881. In 1923 the death of Warren G. Harding made Calvin Coolidge of Plymouth president of the United States. The new president was sworn in at the family home by his father, a notary public.
Vermont’s rural population and its number of farms have declined drastically. Family farms have been combined into larger units, and many farmers have sold their lands, unwilling to modernize equipment and unable to expand their herds. The textile and lumber industries have also lost ground. The building of the first ski lodges in the 1930s, during the Depression, laid the foundation for a winter tourist industry. Although the state has succeeded in attracting new industries, the supply of skilled labor and housing has not been sufficient to meet their needs.
From 1970 to 1980 the population of Vermont increased by 66,724, or 15 percent?above the national average of 11.4 percent.