We last looked in on Vermont way back in Episode 177 when the people of Vermont declared themselves a free and independent Republic. Vermont had never been an independent colony. Various other colonies claimed all or part of it, but the primary fight was between New Hampshire and New York. Both colonies sold conflicting land grants in the region, resulting in fights between people who claimed to own the same land.
Vermont Independence
During the colonial era. The Privy Council in London ruled that the region belonged to New York. The leadership in New York took that to mean that all the land grants made by New Hampshire were null and void and that those holding claims from New Hampshire were simply trespassers. London officials later clarified that, while New York had sovereign control over the land claims, it had to do something to respect the private property claims that had already been made. New York’s so-called accommodation was to allow New Hampshire claims holders to pay for their land again in New York.
This was the state of things when the Revolutionary War began. The New Hampshire faction in the region, the Green Mountain Boys, became active supporters of the patriot cause. Their early action in seizing Fort Ticonderoga in New York under Ethan Allen, and eventually forming a Continental Regiment under Seth Warner. By contrast, many of the New Yorkers backed the loyalists and ended up fleeing to Canada.
In 1777, the people in the region decided they would not be part of either New York or New Hampshire. Instead, they declared their own independence and formed the state of Vermont, using the French name for the Green Mountains that made up much of the region.
The problem was that New York was not willing to go along with this. While many New Yorkers had been loyalists, there were a great many patriot New Yorkers who did not want to see the eastern part of their state to break away. Many of them still had land claims in that area as well.
While Vermont declared itself to be a free and independent state, the Continental Congress refused to recognize them. Representatives from Vermont, which called itself New Connecticut at the time, came to the Congress in Philadelphia in the summer of 1777, seeking recognition and representation. They used the same arguments outlined in the Declaration of Independence for removing and replacing New York’s control over them. The New York delegation threatened to abandon the Congress and the war effort if the Congress recognized Vermont’s claims. So for the time being at least, Congress sided with New York, refusing to recognize Vermont.
In 1778, New York governor George Clinton attempted to reassert control over Vermont, offering to confirm private land titles if settlers acknowledged New York’s authority there. The Vermont settlers, however, had felt so cheated by previous efforts to settle their land claims in New York that they refused any consideration of the offer.
In 1779, New York insisted that Congress adopt a resolution that no new state could be formed out of the land of an existing state without that state’s consent. This law later made its way into the new US Constitution. Other states generally took New York’s side. Many of them were also concerned about having some of their own state land taken away from them. Also, some states viewed the whole Vermont scheme as an effort by New England to get another delegation and have more power in Congress. So the people of Vermont found themselves on the outs with Congress. They could not get recognition without New York's permission.
The Cow War
With New York threatening its existence, and with Congress unwilling to support them, the Vermont legislature responded by passing a law formalizing a Vermont militia, complete with a provision to draft soldiers. The stated purpose of the militia was to defend against possible attacks from Canada. But the effect of the new law reopened the active violence between Vermont and Canada.
Any draftee who refused to serve could be subject to a fine or prison time. The state most commonly enforced this by seizing one cow from any militiamen who refused service. Many of the men in Vermont having their property seized recognized New York’s authority and refused to participate in a militia run by the so-called Vermont Republic. Many of them were members of a militia, but one overseen by New York.
Officials seized several dozen cattle from these pro-New York farmers. Thee men, under the authority of their New York militia, took up arms and marched north to take back their cows by force. This began what became known as the Great Cow War.
To support the pro-New York militia, Governor Clinton called out more militia from arnound Albany to support the pro-New York faction in Vermont. Clinton, however, could not commit a very large force to this action. Remember, this was in the middle of the war, when New York was focused on Indian and loyalist incursions from Canada.
When New York militia entered Vermont, Ethan Allen marched his Vermont militia to the region, where his larger force captured the New York militia. Because the Yorker militia surrendered without a fight, they were treated leniently. Those from New York were sent home. Those who lived in the territory claimed by Vermont eventually had to swear loyalty to Vermont or be expelled from the state.
Governor Clinton complained to Congress about these actions, but Congress was fighting its own war with the British. It showed no interest in intervening in this local squabble. Vermont’s actions effectively blunted any pro-New York activity in the state. But Vermont continued to rile its neighbors. On sticking point was annexing a bunch of New Hampshire and New York towns on its borders, where the residents asked to join Vermont.
Negotiations with Canada
What would have been even more concerning, but was not publicly known at the time, was that Vermont officials began negotiations with British officials in Canada to form an alliance against the United States.
In 1779 and 1780, British officials were actively looking for ways to divide the enemy. This was around the same time they were negotiating to turn General Benedict Arnold. Vermont was an obvious opportunity. These people wanted to be independent. The Continental Congress refused to recognize their claims, siding more with their enemy, New York. Vermont found itself surrounded by hostile neighbors. At some point, they would likely turn on Vermont and crush its claims to independence.
Lord Germain wrote to Frederick Haldimand, who had succeeded Guy Carlton as Governor of Quebec as well as the North American commander at the time, General General Clinton, the North American military commander at the time. Beyond a promise of protection, Germain suggested that they offer the Vermont leadership bribes to accept an offer for Vermont to become its own British colony, complete with the protection of the British army.
Virginia loyalist Colonel Beverly Robinson, was working closely with Major John André to turn Benedict Arnold at the time, under Clinton’s authority in New York. Robinson initiated contact with Ethan Allan with the British proposal. The Robinson proposal came with the implication that the king would be willing to appoint Allen as the Royal Governor of Vermont.
Allen did not reject the offer out of hand. He recognized Vermont’s precarious position, surrounded by hostile states that refused to recognize the Vermont Republic. Even if Vermont had to return to colonial status, a good argument could be made that rule under British authority would be better than rule by New York authority. Allen later claimed that he just played along, thinking that the British proposal could be used to pressure the Continental Congress into recognizing the Vermont Republic. Allen did not respond to Beverly’s proposal.
Vermont continued to press its case with the Continental Congress, but the Congress kept delaying making any sort of decision. President of Vermont Thomas Chittenden got frustrated with Congress, saying it had no authority to judge whether or not the Vermont Republic was valid. It was already done. Vermont would never accept being merged back into New York. Vermont was only seeking a rightful place with representation in the Continental Congress. If that was not forthcoming, Vermont reserved the right to negotiate with the British to assure its continued independence from New York.
Around this same time, in the fall of 1780, Chittenden wrote to Haldimand, offering a truce and a discussion of an exchange of prisoners. Seeing an opening, Haldimand appointed Justus Sherwood, a loyalist who had lived in Vermont before the war and serving as an officer in the Queen’s Royal Rangers, to negotiate with the Vermont Republic.
Sherwood travelled to Vermont, publicly to discuss a truce and prisoner exchange. Sherwood, however, also had private discussions with Ethan Allen. According to Sherwood’s report to Haldimand, Allen was open to the idea, as long as Vermont remained a separate province with its own military command. He also insisted negotiations must be kept secret, and that negotiations would end if Congress recognized the Vermont Republic.
This was a particularly dangerous time for such discussions since in the midst of them, Arnold’s plot with the British was exposed, and concern over other possible traitors became a prominent concern for the Continental leadership. Sherwood quickly made his departure from Vermont. Allen reported the meetings to the Vermont legislature, but this only raised suspicions about him. Allen angrily resigned his military commission on the spot and stormed out of the meeting. After that, Allents brother Ira Allen and Joseph Fay were appointed to continue any further negotiations with the British.
With the threat of throwing in with Britain as leverage, Chittenden wrote to the three governors who had land claims on Vermont. Chittenden suggested that keeping an independent Vermont on their side was better than forcing Vermont to ally with the British. Massachusetts agreed not to make any claims on Vermont territory if Congress took up consideration of Vermont’s application to join the confederation. New Hampshire did not give a definitive answer, but it appeared it would be willing to support Vermont’s claims, only if Vermont ceded any claims to the annexed territories that had joint the Republic from the east bank of the Connecticut River.
New York was still the biggest opponent. Governor Clinton showed the Vermont legislature to the legislature and essentially said it was an insult to New York. The state Senate, however, understood the concern that Vermont might unite with Canada. It voted to send commissioners to Vermont to at least open negotiations. The Senate, however, dropped the idea of negotiations after Governor Clinton threatened to dissolve the legislature if it did not drop the idea.
In early 1781, Robinson sent a second letter to Ethan Allen. Shortly after receiving it, Allen had a discussion with Seth Warner, who expressed the concern that secret negotiations with the enemy was arguably treason. Allen turned over both letters to the Vermont legislature, noting that he had not responded to either of them. The legislature sent them to the Continental Congress, which found itself too busy with other things to give it any consideration.
With no action by Congress on recognition, Vermont negotiators met with the British at the Fort at Ile-aux-Noix, in the spring of 1781. The Vermont delegation refused to put anything in writing. Ira Alllen told Sherwood that while some Vermont leaders were open to the possibility, the people of Vermont were not. Without popular support, there was no way this could work. Allen said that if British incursions into Vermont stopped, they might be able to begin to sway public opinion. Sherwood’s report after the fact, stated that he thought the Vermont delegation was not serious. They were just bargaining for time, and that they probably hoped to use the British offer as leverage to get recognition from the Continental Congress. The two sides met several more times over the coming months, with the British threatening to restarting raids into the state unless some progress was made.
Sherwood was right that Vermont saw these negotiations as leverage with Congress. In August of 1781, Congress once again took up consideration of Vermont’s application and agreed to allow Vermont’s entry if it gave up its claims on the territories it annexed from New Hampshire.
That fall, an army under General Barry St. Leger moved down to Ticonderoga, with the expectation that the Vermont Assembly would vote on the alliance and would welcome them as liberators. The British, who were supposed to treat anyone from Vermont as an ally, got into a firefight with some Vermont militia, killing one and taking five others prisoner. St. Leger wrote a public letter of apology, which inadvertently revealed elements of this very secret and very unpopular deal between Britain and Vermont.
Feeling it was in the driver’s seat, Vermont rejected Congress’ condition that it give up its annexed territories but agreed to continue negotiations over its borders. The moment seemed to pass though. The public voted out politicians who were considering the British alliance. News of the British loss at Yorktown seemed to sour others on the idea of continuing negotiations with Britain.
In 1782, the pro-New York faction in southern Vermont sent a series of petitions to both New York and the Continental Congress, expressing their concerns about the Republic’s negotiations with the British and the fact that they wanted to remain Americans. At the same time, New York offered to guarantee all land claims in Vermont, without any additional payments or fees, if the territory would just agree to accept New York’s authority.
Governor Clinton continued to add pressure by encouraging Yorkers in Vermont to continue their acts of resistance. He even appointed New York judges with jurisdiction over cases that arose in Vermont. Once again, Allen took an army of Vermont militia to the area that was the center of pro-New York activity. They seized the property and arrested and banished several leaders of the pro-New York faction. Allen wrote to Haldimand that he planned to do everything in his power to return Vermont to a British province.
Congress reiterated its willingness to recognize Vermont only if it gave up on its annexed territories. When the war finally came to an end, efforts to resolve the issue also seemed to wane. The threats from Canada had ended, and New York did not seem to press its claims as hard as it had in the past. Vermont had no war debts, and actually ran a surplus from all the loyalist property it had seized. It did not seem in any hurry to join the Confederation and take on the war debt for the entire country, at least not on any terms but its own.
Several Canadian leaders, including the new Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, tried to use trade agreements to pressure Vermont into returning to British control. The easiest way to get goods to market was up the river to Quebec. Britain’s trade restrictions made that uneconomical. That would change if Vermont became a British province.
Nothing came of that though. The British realized that the trade restrictions only kept them more divided. In 1787, Lord Dorchester (formerly known as Guy Carleton) in Quebec created a free trade zone between Vermont and Quebec on most goods.
The Allen brothers, Ethan, Ira, and Levi, all seemed to warm up to the idea of making Vermont into a British Province. Levi secured a contract to provide the British navy with masts made from Vermont timber. Ira worked on plans to dig a canal connecting lake Champlain to the St. Lawrence River to facilitate trade. Ethan was still writing to Lord Dorchester in 1788 asking for British arms so that Vermont could defend itself if the new United States decided to attack Vermont.
For the longest time, Vermont’s position was that it would only consider being a British Province if Congress denied entry into the US. By 1789 though, Levi was writing to British officials that he preferred the idea of being a province to US statehood. He also encouraged the Church of England to send a Bishop to Vermont to encourage more Anglican converts.
Statehood
By 1790 though, the US Congress was ready to settle this matter. It had finally gotten Rhode Island to join the Union, and had gotten other states to cede land for new western states, meaning the Vermont issue could finally be resolved. A big incentive for many northern states was the Kentucky was probably going to seek admission soon, and so Vermont would provide another northern state for balance.
Soon after his election, President Washington made clear his wishes that Vermont be admitted as a state. Alexander Hamilton, a New Yorker, also became a leading advocate. In the summer of 1789, New York Governor Clinton finally authorized the legislature to appoint commissioners to begin talking about the possibility of ceding Vermont, allowing it to become its own state.
By this time Vermont had its own concerns about joining the Union. Vermont had no war debt, but would be responsible for paying off part of the US war debt. It was also concerned that New Yorkers with land clams in Vermont could bring those claims in federal court, and possibly win. It could also lose the free trade agreements that it had in place with Quebec at the time.
After considerable discussions with New York, Vermont agreed to pay $30,000 to cover any possible land claims based on New York grants of land in Vermont. It also agreed to take on its share of the US war debt. Vermont also worked out its border disputes conceding the annexed lands that were in New York, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.
Officials held a statewide convention that met in Bennington in January, 1791 to discuss the concerns over joining the Union. While many delegates voiced some concerns, the consensus for joining was prety overwhelming. The delegates voted 105-4 to ratify the US Constitution and join the Union.
President Washington received the news and forwarded it to Congress with the recommendation that Congress admit Vermont. Since New York had already signed onto the agreement, there was little opposition. The main arguments in Congress were over how many representatives Vermont would get. They settled on two. Because all the objections with the neighboring states were settled, Congress passed the resolution relatively quickly. President Washington signed it on February 18, 1791. The Resolution set admission for March 4. With that, Vermont became the fourteenth state.
Next week: Federal officials lay out their plans to build a new capital on the bank of the Potomac River.
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Next Episode 371 Planning Washington, DC (coming soon)
Previous Episode 369 First Bank of the United States
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Further Reading
Websites
Vermont’s Admission to the Union “The Vermonter” March 1902: https://books.google.com/books?id=nFMSAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA101#v=onepage&q&f=false
Vermonters clash during the Great Cow Wars: https://www.reformer.com/community-news/local-history-vermonters-clash-during-the-great-cow-wars/article_3540630b-a61e-409c-a5ff-68d771fc0747.html
Graffagnino, J. Kevin “Vermonters Unmasked” Vermont History, Summer, 1989. https://vermonthistory.org/journal/misc/VermontersUnmasked.pdf
Then Again: Defiant ‘Yorkers’ brought to heel during 1783 ‘Cow Wars’ https://vtdigger.org/2020/07/19/then-again-defiant-yorkers-brought-to-heel-during-1783-cow-wars
Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)
Collections of the Vermont Historical Society, Vol. 2 [Haldimand Papers], 1871.
Allen, Ira The Natural and Political History of the State of Vermont, London: J.W. Myers, 1798.
Bemis, Samuel F. “Relations between the Vermont separatists and Great Britain, 1789-1791” American Historical Review, Spring, 1916.
Dexter, Warren W. and Hanson, Barbara C. Vermont: Wilderness to Statehood, 1748-1791, Rutland: Academy Books, 1989. (borrow only).
Hall, Henry Ethan Allen: The Robin Hood of Vermont, New York: D. Appleton and Co. 1895.
Kingsford, William The History of Canada, Vol. 7, Toronto: Roswell & Hutchinson, 1887.
Van de Water, Frederic F. The Reluctant Republic; Vermont, 1724-1791, New York, The John Day Co. 1941.
Wilbur, James B. Ira Allen: Founder of Vermont, 1751-1814, Vol 1 & Vol. 2, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1928.
Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*
Bordewich, Fergus M. The First Congress: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government, Simon & Schuster, 2016.
Chernow, Ron Alexander Hamilton, Penguin Press, 2004.
Chernow, Ron Washington, A Life, Penguin Press, 2010.
Elkins, Stanley M. and Eric McKitrick, The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788–1800, Oxford Univ. Press, 1993 (borrow on archive.org).
Ellis, Joseph J. Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, Knopf, 2000.
Ellis, Joseph J. The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution 1783-1789, Alfred A. Knopf, 2015.
Mello, Robert A. Moses Robinson and the Founding of Vermont, Vermont Historical Society, 2014.
Randall, Willard Sterne Ethan Allen: His Life and Times, W.W. Norton & Co, 2011.
Sherman, Michael (ed) A More Perfect Union: Vermont Becomes a State, 1777-1816, Vermont Historical Society, 1991 (borrow on archive.org).
* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
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