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Vermont Republic
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The Vermont Republic was a North American independent republic founded in 1777 and continuing until 1791, when it became the State of Vermont—the fourteenth state of the United States of America.
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In 1763, the Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War, giving the area to the British. Parts of the region were controlled by the Province of New York and the Province of New Hampshire, with overlap due to controversy surrounding the New Hampshire Grants, and George III's decision to make that part of New York.
Ethan Allen and his "Green Mountain Boys" became the militia, and fought against the British, then later against New York and New Hampshire, and on January 15, 1777 the rebels declared the region independent as the Republic of New Connecticut, although it was sometimes known colloquially as the Republic of the Green Mountains. On July 8 of that same year, the name of the fledgling nation was officially changed to Vermont (from the French for Green Mountains, les Monts Vert) upon the suggestion of Dr. Thomas Young, a Boston Tea Party leader and mentor for Ethan Allen.
The Constitution of the Vermont Republic was drafted and ratified at Elijah West's Windsor Tavern in 1777, and was the first written national constitution in North America. This constitution was modeled after the radically democratic Pennsylvania one on the suggestion of Dr. Young, who worked with Thomas Paine and others on that 1776 document in Philadelphia. It was also the first constitution in the New World to outlaw slavery and allow all adult males to vote, regardless of property ownership. During the Vermont Republic, sometimes referred to as "the first republic", a veiled suggestion of future independence, the government issued its own coinage and currency, and operated a postal service. The general Assembly and Governor's Council adopted the infantry banner of the Green Mountain Boys as the national flag of the nascent republic. The Governor of the Republic, Thomas Chittenden, with consent of his council and the unicameral General Assembly, appointed ambassadors to France, the Netherlands, and the American government seated in Philadelphia.
The Vermont Republic is sometimes referred to as a "reluctant republic" because many early citizens favored political union with the United States. The independent status held until 1791, when Vermont joined the Union, in part as a non-slaveholding counterweight to the slaveholding Kentucky. The admission of Vermont was supported by the North, the smaller states, and states concerned about the impact of the sea-to-sea grants held by other states. Thomas Chittenden served as head of state for Vermont for most of this period, and became its first governor as a member-state in the United States.
The 1793 Vermont state constitution made relatively few changes to the 1777 Vermont republic constitution, for example, retaining many original ideas, as noted above, and keeping the separation of powers. It remains in force with several amendments.[1]
- Allen, Ira [1798] (1969). The natural and political history of the State of Vermont, one of the United States of America. Charles E. Tuttle Company. ISBN 0-8048-0419-2.
- Bryan, Frank, and John McClaughry. The Vermont Papers: Recreating Democracy on a Human Scale. Chelsea Green Publishing: 1989. ISBN 0-930031-19-9.
- Orton, Vrest. Personal Observations on the Republic of Vermont. Academy Books: 1981. ISBN 0-914960-30-X.
- Van de Water, Frederic Franklyn (1974). The Reluctant Republic: Vermont 1724–1791. The Countryman Press. ISBN 0-914378-02-3.
- The Constitution of the State of Vermont: a Facsimile Copy of the 1777 Original. The Vermont Historical Society: 1977.