History of Vermont

The history of  begins more than 10,500 years before the present day.

Early history
Little is known of the history of Vermont. The western part of the state was originally home to a small population of -speaking tribes, including the and  peoples. Between 8500 to 7000 BCE, glacial activity created the Champlain Sea, and inhabited and hunted in Vermont. From 7000 to 1000 BCE was the Archaic Period. During that era, Native Americans migrated year-round. From 1000 BCE to 1600 CE was the Woodland Period, when villages and trade networks were established, and ceramic and technology was developed. Sometime between 1500 and 1600, the drove many of the smaller native tribes out of Vermont, later using the area as a  ground and warring with the remaining Abenaki. The population in 1500 is estimated to have been around 10,000 people.

European settlement
The first European to see the area that is now Vermont is thought to be, in 1535. On, ,  claimed the area of what is now , giving to the mountains the appellation of les Verts Monts (the Green Mountains). However, as in the french language adjectives come after the noun, the correct structure of this name would be "les Monts Verts." A possible alternative name was "Vers Monts," meaning "towards mountains." In light of the fact that Champlain was coming from the relatively flat plains south of Quebec towards mountainous Vermont (towards mountains), this explanation of the name seems to make more sense.

France claimed Vermont as part of, and erected on  in 1666 as part of their  of Lake Champlain. This was the first European settlement in Vermont and the site of the first.

During the later half of the 17th century, non-French settlers began to explore Vermont and its surrounding area. In 1690, a group of -British settlers from under Captain Jacobus de Warm established the De Warm Stockade at  (eight miles west of ). This settlement and trading post was directly across the lake from, (Pointe à la Chevelure).

In 1731, the French arrived. Here they constructed a small temporary wooden stockade (Fort de Pieux) on what was Chimney Point until work on began in 1734. The fort, when completed, gave the French control of the New France/Vermont border region in the Lake Champlain Valley and was the only permanent fort in the area until the building of Fort Carillon more than 20 years later. The government encouraged French colonization, leading to the development of small French settlements in the valley. The British attempted to take the Fort St. Frédéric four times between 1755 and 1758; in 1759 a combined force of 12,000 British regular and provincial troops under Sir captured the fort. The French were driven out of the area and retreated to other forts along the. One year later, a group of burnt the settlement to the ground, leaving only chimneys and giving the area its name.

Colonial history
The first permanent British settlement was established in 1724 with the construction of in Vermont's far southeast under the command of Lieutenant Timothy Dwight. This fort protected the nearby settlements of and  in the surrounding area. These settlements were made by the to protect its settlers on the western border along the. The second British settlement was the 1761 founding of in the southwest.

During the, some Vermont settlers, including , joined the colonial militia assisting the British in attacks on the French. on the -Vermont border, a French fort constructed in 1755, was the site of two British offensives under Lord Amherst's command: the and the  with no major resistance (most of the garrison had been removed to defend, , and the western forts). The British renamed the fort (which became the site of two later battles during the ).

staged their attack against the village of from  in 1759. Separating afterwards, they fled the angered through northern Vermont back to safety in  and.

Following France's loss in the, the gave control of the land to the British.

New Hampshire Grants and the Vermont Republic
The end of the war brought new settlers to Vermont. A fort at had been built, and the Crown Point Military Road stretched from the east to the west of the Vermont wilderness from  to Chimney Point, making traveling from the neighboring  easier than ever before. Three colonies laid claim to the area. The Province of Massachusetts Bay claimed the land on the basis of the 1629 charter of the. The claimed Vermont based on land granted to the Duke of York (later ) in 1664. The also claimed Vermont based upon a decree of  in 1740. In 1741, George II ruled that Massachusetts's claims in Vermont and New Hampshire were invalid and fixed Massachusetts's northern boundary at its present location (except for Maine, which remained part of Massachusetts until it entered the Union in 1820 as the 23rd state). This still left New Hampshire and New York with conflicting claims to the land.

The situation resulted in the, a series of 135 s made between 1749 and 1764 by New Hampshire's colonial governor,. The grants sparked a dispute with the New York governor, who began granting charters of his own for New Yorker settlement in Vermont. In 1770, Ethan Allen&mdash;along with his brothers and Levi, as well as Seth Warner&mdash;recruited an informal militia, the, to protect the interests of the original New Hampshire settlers against the new migrants from New York. When a New York judge arrived in with New York settlers in March 1775, violence broke out as angry citizens took over the  and called a sheriff's posse. This resulted in the deaths of Daniel Houghton and William French in the "Westminster Massacre."

On, , representatives of the New Hampshire Grants convened in Westminster and declared their land an independent republic. For the first six months of the republic's existence, the state was called.

On, a second convention of 72 delegates met at Westminster, known as the "Westminster Convention." At this meeting, the delegates adopted the name "Vermont" on the suggestion of Dr. Thomas Young of, a supporter of the delegates who wrote a letter advising them on how to achieve statehood. The delegates set the time for a meeting one month later. On, the was drafted at the  owned by Elijah West during a violent thunderstorm, and was adopted by the delegates on  after four days of debate. This was among the first written constitutions in and was the first to constitutionally provide for the  of,  for men who did not own land, and public schools. The tavern has been preserved as the, administered as a.

On, 1777, the took place, not at Bennington but just across the New York border. However, Vermont men played the most important role in the battle and were led by General and Colonel  of Vermont. Ordered to retreat by leaders, Stark had refused and instead led his men to fight the British troops and  mercenaries. Stark prepared his men to fight to the death, telling them that: "There are your enemies, the s and the . They are ours, or this night Molly Stark sleeps a widow!" With reinforcements from the Vermont militia, American forces routed the British, leading to the surrender of 's 6000-man force at on. The battle is seen as the turning point in the Revolutionary War because it was the first major defeat of a British general and it convinced the French that the Americans were worthy of military aid. Stark became widely known as the "Hero of Bennington" and the anniversary of the battle became a legal holiday in Vermont, known as "Bennington Battle Day."

Vermont continued to govern itself as a sovereign entity based in the eastern town of Windsor for 14 years. , who came to Vermont from in 1774, acted as chief magistrate of Vermont from 1778 to 1789 and from 1790 to 1791. In 1791, Vermont joined the federal Union as the fourteenth state–becoming the first state to enter the union after the original thirteen colonies, and as a counterweight to slaveholding, which was admitted to the Union later the same year.

Statehood and the nineteenth century


Because of the proximity of Canada, Vermonters were somewhat alarmed during the War of 1812. Five thousand troops were stationed in Burlington at one point, outnumbering residents. About 500 of these died of disease. An expeditionary force of Quebec ’ volunteers destroyed a barracks built at Derby with no personnel casualties. The war, fought over what seemed like obscure maritime considerations to landlocked Vermont, was.

Vermont had a legislature until 1836.

In 1853, Vermont passed a strict law prohibiting the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Some towns followed the law, others ignored it.

French migration started before the Civil War and accelerated during the 1860s.

Civil War era
An 1854 report on slavery echoed the Vermont Constitution's first article, on the rights of all men, questioning how a government could favor the rights of one people over another. The report fueled growth of the abolition movement in the state, and in response, a resolution from the Georgia General Assembly authorizing the towing of Vermont out to sea. The mid to late 1850s saw a transition from Vermonters mostly favoring slavery's containment, to a far more serious opposition to the institution, producing the and. As the party shriveled, Vermont changed its allegiance to the emergent. In 1860, it voted for, giving him the largest margin of victory of any state.

More than 28,100 Vermonters served in Vermont volunteer units. Vermont fielded 17 infantry regiments, 1 cavalry regiment, 3 light artillery batteries, 1 heavy artillery company, 3 companies of sharpshooters, and 2 companies of frontier cavalry. Instead of replacing units as they were depleted, Vermont regularly provided recruits to bring the units in the field back up to normal strength.

Nearly 5,000 others served in other states' units, in the or the. The 54th Massachusetts Infantry (Colored) included 66 Vermont blacks; a total of 166 black Vermonters served out of a population of 709 in the state. Vermonters, if not Vermont units, participated in every major battle of the war.

Vermonters suffered a total of 1,832 men killed or mortally wounded in battle; another 3,362 died of disease, in prison or from other causes, for a total loss of 5,194. More than 2,200 Vermonters were taken prisoner during the war, and 615 of them died in, or as a result of, their imprisonment.

Among the most famous of the Vermont units were the, the , and the.

A large proportion of Vermont’s state and national-level politicians for several decades after the Civil War were veterans.

The northernmost land action of the war, the, took place in Vermont.

The twentieth century
In 1902, Vermonters approved a law for local option on the sale of alcoholic beverages, countermanding the prior law of 1853 which banned them entirely. That year 94 towns approved the sale of alcoholic beverages locally. The number of approving towns fell each year until there were only 18 in 1917, shortly before became law.

The political scene 1791-1830
Vermont preferred the Jeffersonian Party in its early existence, which became the Democratic Party in the early 1820s. Along with many other dissidents Vermont stopped voting Democratic, reacting to the personality of Andrew Jackson, and not for objective reasons. The state voted Anti-Jackson, Whig, then Republican. It did so consistently until 1962.

The Vermont legislature chose presidential electors through the general election of 1824. Vermont citizens first started voting directly for presidential electors in 1828.

Politically upward mobility 1830-1916
Politicians aspiring to statewide office in Vermont normally had to be nominated at a state convention or “caucus.” Factions dominated these caucuses. Some of these were family. A look at the list of Governors, Senators and Representatives over time shows the Chittendens, Fairbanks, Proctors, and Smiths. Nomination was tantamount to election. The state legislature chose US senators until 1913. Governors normally served just one term of two years. Up to six seats in the US House of Representatives gave ambitious politicians an ample stage for their talent.

The Green Mountains effectively split Vermont in two. Culturally the eastern Vermonters were often descended from immigrants from New Hampshire. Western Vermonters often had their roots in New York. Recognizing this as a source of potential problems, politicians began following an unwritten “mountain rule,” rotating the Lieutenant Governor and Governor residing in opposite sides of the state.

The first election in which women were allowed to vote was on December 18, 1880, when women were granted limited and were allowed to vote in  elections.

Primaries 1916-1946
General annoyance with this system of selecting leadership by a few people, led to statewide primaries in 1916. Down to only one congressional seat to compete for, Governors started trying to serve two terms, beginning with Governor Weeks in 1927. This worked until World War II.

Senator died in 1940. The governor appointed his son, to fill out the remainder of his term. With little prior political experience on his own merits, Gibson did not run for reelection. Instead he devoted himself to preparing the state for war. He served in the South Pacific and emerged as a colonel. There was a tsunami that year in American politics. Returning veterans were popular. Gibson ran an unprecedented campaign against the incumbent Governor and ousted him in the primary.

Interregnum - Liberal Republicans prevail 1946-1962
Gibson was the first of the liberal Republicans. While conservatives like Harold Arthur and Lee Emerson were able to get elected to Governor, they seem, in retrospect, to be transitory figures.

A "normal" path to the top became: Representative, Speaker of the House, Senator, Speaker Pro Tem, Lieutenant Governor, Governor, US Representative, and US Senator.

In 1962, Phillip Hoff was elected Governor, the first Democrat since before the Civil War.

Democratic dominance 1962- current
The demographics of the state had changed. In 1960, 25% of the population was born outside the state. Most of these immigrants were from Democratic states and brought their voting inclinations with them. Anticipating this change, the Republicans conducted a massive free-for-all in 1958, the last good chance many of them saw to capture a congressional seat. They were wrong. Democrat won, the first from his party in 102 years.

While the climate had changed, the legislature had not. With one representative per town and two senators per county, the rural areas dominated and set the agenda much to the frustration of urban areas, particularly Chittenden County. In 1964, the US Supreme Court forced “one-man, one-vote” redistricting on Vermont, giving cities an equitable share of votes in both houses.

Unlike yesteryear, no party nominee can be assured of election. The unwritten “two term” rule has been jettisoned. Governors usually serve as long as they can, not being able to guarantee that their policies will be continued after they leave office. Vermonters have alternated parties in the Governor’s office since 1962. However, Democrats have served an overwhelming majority of that time.

Sources and further reading

 * Adams, James Truslow. Revolutionary New England, 1691-1776 (1923)
 * Adams, James Truslow. New England in the Republic, 1776-1850 (1926)
 * Benedict, G. G., Vermont in the Civil War. A History of the part taken by the Vermont Soldiers And Sailors in the War For The Union, 1861-5, Burlington, VT: The Free Press Association, 1888.
 * Bidwell, P. W. and John Falconer, The History of Agriculture in the Northern United States to 1860 (1925)
 * Black, John Donald. 'The Rural Economy of New England: A Regional Study'' (1950).
 * Cumbler, John T. Reasonable Use: The People, the Environment, and the State, New England, 1790-1930 (1930)
 * Lowenthal, David. George Perkins Marsh: Versatile Vermonter (1958)
 * Conforti, Joseph A. Imagining New England: Explorations of Regional Identity from the Pilgrims to the Mid-Twentieth Century (2001)
 * Flanders, Ralph E. Senator from Vermont (1961) autobiography 	AĊdd To
 * Harrison, Blake. "The View from Vermont: Tourism and the Making of an American Rural Landscape" (Hanover: University Press of New England, 2006).
 * Holbrook, Stewart H. Ethan Allen (1940)
 * Klyza, Christopher McGrory and Stephen C. Trombulak. The Story of Vermont: A Natural and Cultural History (Middlebury Bicentennial Series in Environmental Studies) (1999)
 * Squires, James Duane. The Granite State of the United States: A History of New Hampshire from 1623 to the Present - Vol. 1 (1956) has material on Vermont
 * Van de Water, Frederic F. Reluctant Republic: Vermont, 1724-1791 (1941)
 * Welter, Rush, Bennington, Vermont an Industrial History (1959)
 * Wilson, H. F. The Hill Country of Northern New England: Its Social and Economic History, 1790-1930 (1936)
 * WPA. Guide to Vermont (1939)
 * Zimmerman, Joseph F. The New England Town Meeting: Democracy in Action (1999)


 * Carmer, Carl and Ralph Nading Hill. Yankee Kingdom: Vermont and New Hampshire (1960)
 * Duffy, John J. and Vincent Feeney. Vermont: An Illustrated History (2000)