| Rita's ~
VINTAGE READING®
~ Notebook
Since 1947 "Mrs. B" has found and verified countless people, events . .
.
and--at times--even figments of imagination. We offer another
example.
DECEMBER 2007 -- JANUARY 2008 :: © 2007 AND 2008 Buday Books Vintage Reading ®
|
The Republic of Vermont in North America
A Separate, Sovereign, Independent Nation
:::
Adapted from Accounts of Jared Sparks (1858); Benson Lossing (1858);
Albert Clark (1891); M. W. Hazeltine (1903) & Other Contemporaries
By Rita Buday
The
change in language concerned a patch of virgin forest in a then-Royal
Colony. It should have been of no more than passing interest.
Bureaucratic arrogance, greed, and Congressional diddling turned it
into a first-class tempest during its fifty-year chronicle.
1741 -- Britain's King George the Second decreed New
Hampshire went from Maine on the east, then went west past the Connecticut
River, and ended where it touched New York.
1764 -- Britain's King George the Third decreed the boundary line did not go
west past the River; instead, New Hampshire ended at the Connecticut
River. Land west of the River belonged to New York.
Simple, really!
For years New Hampshire Royal Governor Wentworth claimed jurisdiction
all the way to New York on the west resulted from
George II's decree, and sold over 100 "Grants" to farmers who paid
their money, cleared their land, built cabins, grew crops, and fed
their cattle.
Selling Royal Land was an unadvertised gold mine for His
Majesty's Governors, especially if they bought co-conspiratorial
involvement. Retired British Navy Admiral George Clinton (no
relation to our later N.Y. State Governor), was appointed N.Y. Royal
Governor in 1741--safely beyond reach of his pursuing creditors. He
returned to England twelve years later with £80,000 in the bank!
When--or if--Wentworth's "Grants" money reached the King's Purse is unclear.
Opportunity appears where you find it.
Increasingly, Admiral Clinton and his successors lost
customers to Wentworth who charged only one-tenth of N.Y.'s
prices. Something had to be done before that country bumpkin Wentworth
"sold" lands in N.Y. also!
1763--New York announced it owned territory clear
to the Connecticut River due to grants made by an even earlier King
Charles to the Duke of York. Wentworth countered, "Not
so"--citing George II's decree.
1764--Enough was enough! N.Y. appealed for a
decision from then-King George III. He decided for N.Y.
That made Wentworth's land sales null-and-void. "Grants" settlers
had become squatters with no legal claim or right. Wealthy Royal
Governor Robert Livingston, of the extensive landowning Livingstons,
ordered those "squatters" to bring their now-worthless deeds to be
registered--after they paid N.Y. to buy their land again! "It's unfortunate that you must pay again--at N.Y. prices--but, the law is the law . . . pay it or lose it."
Of course, settlers saw it differently. "This
dispute does not involve us; it's between two Colonies. They're
the ones to settle it, not us. We're caught in the middle of what
looks like a swindle."
|
The Sheriff was ordered to eject and dispossess the "squatters."
That brought Ethan Allen and The Green Mountain Boys with
their loaded fowling pieces, long Pennsylvania and Kentucky rifles, and
"Trespassers Are Shot" signs to settler properties for "a little
shooting" whenever there was word a Sheriff's posse was coming.
By 1774--tensions had escalated to where
recently-appointed N.Y. Royal Governor Tryon, fresh from crushing the
Regulators in North Carolina, allowed as how he'd show how to deal with
that troublemaking rabble. He commanded Ethan Allen, Seth
Warner, Remember Baker, and five others to Surrender! or suffer conviction of felony and death. He offered £150 bounty for Allen and £50 each for the others. (No takers.)
They, in turn, offered £5 to apprehend N.Y.'s Attorney-General. The Revolution suspended more tit-for-tat.
~
1775--Ethan
Allen, his cousins Seth Warner and Remember Baker, with 80-some Green
Mountain Boys awoke Fort Ticonderoga's British Army garrison, demanding
immediate surrender. That unexpectedly successful demand brought 75
cannon and much-needed gunpowder to American forces in Boston.
1776--"Grants"
settlers petitioned Congress for admission to the Colonies, then in
revolt. Petition denied due to N.Y.'s opposition. Settlers
declared themselves the Independent Republic of Vermont.
1777--Vermont petitioned again; N.Y. was opposed again.
Meanwhile, Congress diddled and fiddled, doing nothing.
Vermonters finally said "Forget it."
Britain secretly offered military protection if Vermont
joined Canada. That gave a lightning-like jolt to Congress, but
the Revolution ended; Britain and Congress lost interest.
Four years later, Congress offered to admit Vermont if she
trimmed her borders considerably. Vermonters heatedly refused, and more
years passed.
Of the Allens, Ethan was the bulldozer, battering his way
through a problem. Brother Ira was more a natural politician who found
ways to run around the end of the wall for a solution. He made
overtures to Alexander Hamilton, soon to be Secretary of the Treasury,
close friend of George Washington, and a powerhouse in Federalist politics.
Hamilton mentioned to New York and New Hampshire
politicians that both he and the President favored admitting Vermont .
. . both he and the President had great influence in Congress . . .
both his and the President's influence could be very helpful--or
harmful . . . "Do you see where this is going, my friends?"
N.Y. began cordial negotiations to settle the
whole tired affair. Vermont agreed to pay $30,000 to N.Y.
claimants as settlement of their claims.
1791--Washington signed the Act that made Vermont
the fourteenth State, after it had been a Separate, Sovereign, Independent
Republic for fourteen years. It is governed today by the same
annual Citizens' Town Meetings that governed it then.
Seth
Warner succumbed to failing health in 1784. Remember Baker died
in a skirmish at St. Johns in 1775. Ethan Allen died peacefully
at home a few days before the President signed the Act. The Green
Mountain Boys resumed peaceful pursuits.
~
What should have been a minor-size Mouse was turned into a very
determined, large-size, "Draw the line here" Mountain by bureaucrats,
politicians, and wishy-washy Congresses . . . demonstrating a
disturbing truth about centuries past and to come--The more things have
changed since Adam and Eve, the more they remain the same . . . today . . .
tomorrow . . . maybe forever . . . because Human Nature "just doesn't want to get it."
|
|
|
