Vermont Republic | ||||||||||||||
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Motto Freedom and Unity on Great Seal Stella quarta decima on Vermont coinage in English "the fourteenth star" |
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Capital | Windsor, then Castleton | |||||||||||||
Languages | English | |||||||||||||
Government | Republic | |||||||||||||
Governor | ||||||||||||||
• | 1778–1789 | Thomas Chittenden | ||||||||||||
• | 1789–1790 | Moses Robinson | ||||||||||||
• | 1790–1791 | Thomas Chittenden | ||||||||||||
Legislature | House of Representatives of the Freemen of Vermont | |||||||||||||
Historical era | American Revolution | |||||||||||||
• | Independence | January 15, 1777 | ||||||||||||
• | Admitted to Union | March 4, 1791 | ||||||||||||
Currency | Vermont copper | |||||||||||||
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Vermont Republic is a term used by historians to refer to the government of Vermont that existed from 1777 to 1791. In January 1777, delegates from 28 towns met and declared independence from the jurisdictions and land claims both of the British colony of Quebec and of the American states of New Hampshire and New York. They also abolished adult slavery within their boundaries. Many people in Vermont took part in the American Revolution, although the Continental Congress did not recognize the jurisdiction as independent. Because of vehement objections from New York, which had conflicting property claims, the Continental Congress declined to recognize Vermont, then known as the New Hampshire Grants.Vermont's overtures to join the British Province of Quebec failed. In 1791, Vermont officially joined the United States as the 14th state.
Vermont coined a currency called Vermont coppers from a mint operated by Reuben Harmon in East Rupert (1785–1788), and operated a postal system. While the Vermont coppers bore the legend Vermontis. Res. Publica (Latin for republic or state of Vermont), the constitution and other official documents used the term "State of Vermont". It referred to its chief executive as a "governor". The 1777 constitution refers to Vermont variously: the third paragraph of the preamble, for example, mentions "the State of Vermont", and in the preamble's last paragraph, the constitution refers to itself as "the Constitution of the Commonwealth".
The historian Frederic F. van de Water called the Vermont Republic the "reluctant republic" because many early citizens favored political union with the United States rather than full independence. Both popular opinion and the legal construction of the government made clear that the independent State of Vermont would eventually join the original 13 states. While the Continental Congress did not allow a seat for Vermont, Vermont engaged William Samuel Johnson, representing Connecticut, to promote its interests. In 1785 the Vermont General Assembly granted Johnson title to the former King's College Tract as a form of compensation for representing Vermont.