Republic of Indian Stream
| Republic of Indian Stream | ||||||||||
| Unrecognized state | ||||||||||
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 Location of the Republic of Indian Stream, bordered to the north by the British colony of Lower Canada
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| Capital | Entire area later renamed Pittsburg, New Hampshire | |||||||||
| Languages | English | |||||||||
| Government | Republic | |||||||||
| Justice of the Peace | ||||||||||
| • | 1832−1835 | Luther Parker | ||||||||
| Elected council | ||||||||||
| • | 1835 | Richard J. Blanchard, Jeremiah Tabor, Burley Blood, Abner Hyland, William White | ||||||||
| History | ||||||||||
| • | Independence declared | July 9, 1832 | ||||||||
| • | Annexation by New Hampshire | August 5, 1835 | ||||||||
| • | Citizens resolution favoring New Hampshire | April 2, 1836 | ||||||||
| • | Independence relinquished | 1835 | ||||||||
| Area | ||||||||||
| • | 1830 | 731 km² (282 sq mi) | ||||||||
| Population | ||||||||||
| • | 1830 est. | 300 | ||||||||
| Density | 0.4 /km² (1.1 /sq mi) | |||||||||
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The Republic of Indian Stream or Indian Stream Republic was an unrecognized constitutional republic in North America, along the section of the border that divides the current Canadian province of Quebec from the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It existed from July 9, 1832, to August 5, 1835. Described as "Indian Stream Territory, so-called" by the United States census-taker in 1830, the area was named for Indian Stream, a small watercourse. It had an organized elected government and constitution and served about three hundred citizens.
The area was first settled by Europeans under a land grant, not from the King of Great Britain, but from the St. Francis Indian chief, called King Philip by his white neighbors, after the King Philip who had led many successful raids on New England settlements during the 1670s.
This grant was sold to one land-speculation company, while a second group of Indians from the same tribe made representations to another company of Europeans that their chief had been deposed and that they were empowered to issue a grant to the second company. Following the Revolutionary War, both companies surveyed the territories and issued their own land grants to settlers, which frequently overlapped one another. After the War of 1812, when both companies were in financial straits, they merged and reconciled all land claims.
The establishment of Indian Stream as an independent nation was, essentially, the result of the ambiguous boundary between the United States and the British Province of Quebec as defined in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. There were three possible interpretations of where "the northwesternmost head of the Connecticut River" might be. As a result, the area (in and around the three tributaries that fed into the head of the Connecticut River) was not definitively under the jurisdiction of either the United States or Lower Canada (which the eastern part of Quebec became in 1791).
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