Haldimand Affair

The Haldimand Affair (also called the Haldimand or Vermont Negotiations) was a series of negotiations conducted in the early 1780s (late in the American Revolutionary War) between Frederick Haldimand, the British governor of the Province of Quebec, his agents, and several people representing the independent Vermont Republic. Vermonters had been battling Indian raids sponsored by the British, as well as engaging in a long-running dispute with New York State over jurisdiction of the territory. At issue was Vermont officially joining the British. Just as Haldimand offered generous terms for reunion in 1781, the main British army surrendered at Yorktown, and it was clear that the United States would achieve independence. Vermont, surrounded on three sides by American territory, rejected the British overtures and negotiated terms to enter the United States as the 14th state in 1791. The secret nature of the negotiations, which excluded significant portions of Vermont's political power structure, led to accusations against some of the negotiators, notably Ethan Allen.

In 1749, Benning Wentworth, the British provincial governor of New Hampshire, began issuing land grants for territory west of the Connecticut River. This area, now the United States state of Vermont, was also claimed by the Province of New York. In 1764 King George III issued an order-in-council resolving the territorial dispute in favor of New York. New York refused to honor the grants issued by Wentworth, who had persisted in issuing grants even after he had agreed to stop issuing them in light of the territorial dispute. Holders of the Wentworth grants, in order to validate their claims, were effectively required to repurchase their grants at higher prices from New York, a situation to which the land-rich and cash-poor grantees objected.

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