We still have to make some of the changes from Wednesday’s class (4/12), including separating the right sidebar so it looks cleaner and creating a better Intro page.  It was Easter weekend, so we did not get much done since Friday, I have been home to see my family. Thursday and Friday we did work on some content work, which included going over the Vermont Constitution. For plan between now and Wednesday is to make the 4 or 5 changes presented to us on 4/12 and rework all of the citation done in our pages. Our goal is to make it look more professional and uniform.

Nate and I have been reading through the books that we have collected such as History of Vermont by Ira Allen and others that cover more specific topics. The Ira Allen book is a primary source and a wealth of information for us. We are also getting along okay with the Vermont History Journals (from the Vermont Historical website). We have found some good secondary articles to help us bring new perspectives to the historical events surrounding the major events of the Vermont Secession movement. Building the rough draft went pretty well. One WordPress issues is: we have our “parent tabs,” but the pages underneath them will not rank in order even if we enter it in the order. We plan on asking IT if we cannot figure it out during class tomorrow. The actual esthetics of our sight is rough still (e.g. plain). The good news is, we have a solid outline for what we want to do for our pages and we should have enough sources to get the job done. We plan on using the next two weeks to finish up our pages completely. Then the third week will be for ascetics of our websites (color, pictures, etc).  Then April 20-23 will be for finishing touches.

Sources found:
1) Benning Wentworth’s Claims in the New Hampshire-New York Border Controversy: A case of Twenty-Twenty Hindsight? (1975)
By: Allan R. Raymond

This source secondary source explores the New Hampshire-New York border controversy through a contemporary point of view. The author claims that many look at the controversy through a modern perspective, letting Wentworth’s flagrant disregard for instructions blind them from what really occurred. Wentworth had a legitimate right to dispense the land grants. Raymond’s evidence is based off the New Hampshire occupation of the Dummerstown blockhouse and trading post. Built with private funds in 1724 (in exchange for land), the blockhouse (originally built for frontier security) had a small trading post attached to it (built in 1728). The trading post was intended to maintain Indian goodwill (e.g. maintain trade relations on the border) and did not make much of a profit. Since the trading post did not yield much profits, the oblation to supply troops and maintenance for Dummerstown was debated by Massachusetts, New York, and New Hampshire. New York insisted that New Hampshire should maintain Dummerstown. According to Raymond, “the crucial point, however, is not who maintained the fort, but the view of all three participants, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and the crown, that the outpost was on New Hampshire Soil, that was the colony’s first solid claim west of the Connecticut (23).” By looking at it from this contemporary perspective, we can see the logic behind Wentworth’s actions.

Primary sources mined out of this secondary work:

1) Benning Wentworth to George Clinton, 25 April, 1750, Doc. HIST. N.Y., IV, 533-4.
https://books.google.com/books?id=2o07AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=Benning+Wentworth+to+George+Clinton&source=bl&ots=y38S9cV3U-&sig=WwyWjmhEd57evux5g6-lu666Qn8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiSsJH7v-TSAhXG7yYKHfEcBoEQ6AEIMjAE#v=onepage&q=Benning%20Wentworth%20to%20George%20Clinton&f=false

2) George Clinton to Benning Wentworth, 6 June, 1750, Ibid, IV, 543-5
3) United States Reports. Vermont V. New Hampshire, Vol. 289, (Washington 1933), 593-620.
4) Massachusetts State Archives, General Court Records, Vol. XII, 107.
5) Benning Wentworth to the Board of Trade, IV, 548-9
6) William Slade, Jr. Vermont State Papers, (Middlebury, 1823), 13-16 lists all Wentworth’s grants.

2) Indian Occupation of Vermont (July 1965)
By: Gordon M. Day

This source explores the question of Native American presence in Vermont. It had been widely accepted that there was not a large Native American presence in Vermont in 1749 when Wentworth began giving land grants. Day provides evidence that the Missisquoi tribe were possible occupants of the area, along with the Mohican tribe (though that is still an open question). He also makes a compelling case of the Schaghticokes occupying Vermont as refugees in the wake of defeat during King Phillip’s war. We do not want to completely ignore the Native American perspective of the New Hampshire land grants and the early settlement of Vermont. This article has given us a launching point to include some Native American perspectives throughout out the pages. Undergraduate students interested in Native American history can use this not well talked about question of the Indian presence in Vermont as a paper topic. Hopefully our site can be a launching point for further, in-depth research on the topic.

3) Two Hundred Years in the Hartland Church (January 1962)
By: Virginia Sutherland Bail

Bail explores the religious culture of Vermont prior to and after the American Revolution. Bail focuses more post revolution groups as they make their way onto the Vermont Grants. The religious freedoms built into the Vermont Constitution were extensive, making religious pluralism common. That did not come without its issues, as many small groups of Congregationalists such as the Protestants, Baptists, and Quakers competed for political power. Even with smaller religious groups quarreling over old issues, Bail claims, “the principles of toleration and freedom of worship, incorporated in the constitutions of the United States and Vermont, are debts we owe this new liberalism (18).” Therefore, the post revolution and U.S. and Vermont legislatures had turned their attention away from British occupation and towards the churches and the practices of religion (18). This article will be very useful for Section III of our project when we explore the actual secession of Vermont Republic and its constitution.

Primary Sources that will be used to further the analysis of this sources include:

1) Reason, the Only Oracle of Man. By: Ethan Allen
2) The Vermont Republic Constitution, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/vt01.asp.
There are also other useful resources that are within the footnotes of the article, such as the history of the Baptists in Vermont recorded by Rev. Henry Crocker.

4) Vermont Attitudes toward Slavery: The Need for a Closer Look (1977).
By: Kevin J. Graffagnino

This work explores the strong anti-slavery movement within Vermont and how the constitution of the Vermont reflects anti-slavery sentiments.

Primary Sources that will be used to further the analysis of this sources include:

1) The Vermont Republic Constitution, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/vt01.asp.

5) Bennington and the Green Mountain Boys (1996)
By: Robert E. Shalhope

6) The New Hampshire State Papers
http://sos.nh.gov/Papers.aspx

Anthony Mastrantonio
Nate Schnittman
COPLAC, UIS
Contract
3/19/2017

Mission Statement
When looking at our audience, we wish to cater to undergraduate students, our website will be a jumping off point for further research into Vermont secession.
Accessibility is key to our initial planning, we want our visitors to get a comprehensive view of the Vermont Republic with as little hassle as possible. To accomplish this goal, our timelines, story maps, and pages will be simplistic but engaging. We plan on having 3 main sections with multiple sub-pages attached. The three main sections will include the New Hampshire Land Grants of 1749-1764, followed by the formation of the Green Mountain Boys led by Ethan Allen and lastly the Vermont Republic.

Timeline

I. New Hampshire Land Grants of 1749-1764
● Beginning land grants.
● New Hampshire Governor squabbled with the New York Governor.
● New Hampshire appealed to the Crown (the British Government) for land grants in an effort to prove that the New York Governor had no jurisdiction within current day Vermont.
● The appeal went to the Privy Council. The Privy Council Struck down New Hampshire’s claims and ruled that New York had the rights to current day Vermont. That ruling thrusted the New Hampshire land holders into action, which included Ethan Allen, who held 50,000 acres of New Hampshire land grants prior to the privy council ruling in favor of New York.

II. Formation of the Green Mountain Boys led by Ethan Allen
● Ethan Allen, having a large stake in the New Hampshire land grants (50,000 acres that were useless after the ruling), went to modern day Vermont in 1764 and founded the Green Mountain Boys, a local militia that was dedicated to retaining the land they that viewed as theirs.
● The Green Mountain Boys were largely made of settlers that had a stake in the New Hampshire land grants (almost exclusively).
● The militia was successful in stopping New York law enforcement that tried to evict and arrest the Green Mountain Boys for what was “technically” squatting. Even though men like Ethan Allen legally purchased the New Hampshire land, the ruling voided previous land agreements, making the settlers of New Hampshire illegal “squatters.”
● The Green Mountain Boys ruled modern day Vermont from 1770 to 1777 with little interference from New York.

III. Vermont Republic
● Vermont declared itself an independent republic in 1777.
● They largely remain neutral during the American Revolution, but played a crucial role in the American victory at the battle of Bennington (1777), which was named after Benning Wentworth, the author of the New Hampshire land grants. At the Battle of Bennington, the British suffered high casualties, with over 200 dead and 700 captured. After battle of Bennington, France decided to join the Revolution, which marked a turning point for American forces.
● 1781, the Haldimand Affair rocked the Vermont-colonial relations with news of Ethan Allen and the governor of Quebec in negotiations for Vermont to rejoin the British Empire. Allen was considering making a deal with the governor of Quebec until the battle of Yorktown later in 1781, where colonial America achieved a decisive victory against the British. America had the upper hand against its former imperial masters, Vermont, therefore, decided to join the Union of the United of States instead of the British Empire. Once within the Union of the United States, Vermont traded complete independence (as achieved in 1777), for a degree of political autonomy within a larger, successful union.

Tools we will be using are:
● Word Press
● JS Timeline
● JS Story Map
● Primary source documents
(In-text citation and links)

Connection of the Timeline/ Story Map to the website
The timeline is a broad overview of the all the important parts of the Vermont Republic secession movements will be covering. What the reader sees on the timeline will be a broad overview of our website. Our plan for the website is to cover three main sections of the Vermont Republic, 1) New Hampshire Land Grants of 1749-1764, 2) the formation of the Green Mountain Boys, 3) The actual secession movement, The Vermont Republic 1777-1791. Then each these main sections will have several pages dedicated to them. The timeline is divided this way, we will make the reader aware of this, with a description underneath the Timeline. The story map helps visualize where these important events happened during the emergence of the Vermont Republic. The story map, contains important events such as the Battle of Bennington, which we will talk on one of our pages. Other important events include, the Westminster Massacre, and declaration of independence. In both the timeline and story map, links to the pages where the information is discussed be include. Therefore, the user can use the visual tools of the timeline and story map as table contents for our website. If they look at the Battle of Bennington on the story map, they can click a quick link to the page and research the battle in greater detail.

Audience
Our main audience is undergraduate and graduate students looking for information on the Vermont Republic/secession, while still making it user friendly for the general public and those interested in American history. The story map and timeline are interactive programs that will be useful to draw in the general public. In our research so far, we have found lots information on the Vermont Republic, but it is defuse. We hope to condense all of the important information one would need to complete an undergraduate paper on the Vermont Republic. Essentially want our website would be the starting off point for undergraduate work and resource mining. Our audience is primarily college students, therefore, it will be written in academic fashion. It would be something a high school student could use for a report, but will be geared towards college students. It will include primary source analysis and some elements of historiography.

Schedule
March 20-26
1) Continue source gathering and analyze.
2) Complete rough draft of pages for the website.

March 27th
1) Submit rough draft to COPLAC website.

March 28-April 17
2) Complete Sections, I, II, III on UIS Website.

April 17-21
1) Maintenance and touch ups on website. That includes any graphics that have not yet been added, additional research if needed, and extensive proof reading for grammar mistakes or structural issues.

April 24-26
1) Class presentations of project, we will plan as if we are presenting on Monday the 24th.

Mission Statement
When looking at our audience, we wish to cater to the local residents of Vermont, specifically, the Second Vermont Republic. They are a modern day Vermont secessionist movement that wishes to restore the original Vermont Republic run by Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys. We are aware they are most likely familiar with a lot of the Vermont Republics history, but we hope to bring new Midwestern perspectives to the group. On a broader scale, our website is expected to be useful to fellow undergraduate and graduate students that seek information on Vermont and their rich history of independence.
Accessibility is key to our initial planning, we want our visitors to get a comprehensive view of the Vermont Republic with as little hassle as possible. To accomplish this goal, our timelines, story maps, and pages will be simplistic, but engaging. We plan on have 3 main sections with multiple sub-pages attached. The three main sections will include the New Hampshire Land Grants of 1749-1764, followed by the formation of the Green Mountain Boys led by Ethan Allen, lastly, the Vermont Republic.

Connection of the Timeline/ Story Map to the website
The timeline is a broad over view of the all the important parts of the Vermont Republic secession movements will be covering. What the reader sees on the timeline will be a broad overview of our website. Our plan for the website is to cover three main sections of the Vermont Republic, 1) New Hampshire Land Grants of 1749-1764, 2) the formation of the Green Mountain Boys, 3) The actual secession movement. Then each these main sections will have several pages dedicated to them. The timeline is divided this way, we will make the reader aware of this, with a description underneath the Timeline. The story map helps visualize where these important events happened during the emergence of the Vermont Republic. The story map, contains important events such as the Battle of Bennington, which we will talk on one of our pages. Other important events include, the Westminster Massacre, and declaration of independent. In both the timeline and story map, links to the pages where the information is discussed be include. Therefore, the user can use the visual tools of the timeline and story map as table contents for our website. If they look at the Battle of Bennington on the story map, they can click a quick link to the page and research the battle in greater detail.

Timeline

I. New Hampshire Land Grants of 1749-1764
• Beginning land grants.
• New Hampshire Governor squabbled with the New York Governor.
• New Hampshire appealed to the Crown (the British Government) for land grants in an effort to prove that the New York Governor had no jurisdiction within current day Vermont.
• The appeal went to the Privy Council. The Privy Council Struck down New Hampshire and ruled that New York had the rights to current day Vermont. That ruling thrusted the New Hampshire land holders into action, which included Ethan Allen, who held 50,000 acres of New Hampshire land grants prior to the privy council ruling in favor of New York.

II. Formation of the Green Mountain Boys led by Ethan Allen
• Ethan Allen, having a large stake in the New Hampshire land grants (50,000 acres that were useless after the ruling), went to modern day Vermont in 1764 and founded the Green Mountain Boys. A local militia that was dedicated to retaining the land they that viewed as theirs.
• The Green Mountain Boys were largely made of settlers that had a stake in the New Hampshire land grants (almost exclusively).
• The militia was successful in stopping New York law enforcement that tried to evict and arrest the Green Mountain Boys for what was “technically” squatting. Even though men like Ethan Allen legally purchased the New Hampshire land, the ruling voided previous land agreements, making the settlers of New Hampshire illegal “squatters.”
• The Green Mountain Boys ruled modern day Vermont from 1770 to 1777 with little interference from New York.

III. Vermont Republic
• Vermont declared itself an independent republic in 1777. Not as part of the British Empire or the thirteen colonies, but its own independent nation.
• They largely remain neutral during the American Revolution, but played a crucial role in the American victory at the battle of Bennington (1777), which was named after Benning Wentworth, the author of the New Hampshire land grants. At the Battle of Bennington, the British suffered high casualties, with over 200 dead and 700 captured. After battle of Bennington, France decided to join the Revolution, which marked a turning point for American forces.
• 1781, the Haldimand Affair rocked the Vermont-colonial relations with news of Ethan Allen and the governor of Quebec in negotiations for Vermont to rejoin the British Empire. Allen was ready to make a deal with the governor of Quebec until the battle of Yorktown later in 1781, where colonial America achieved a decisive victory against the British. America had the upper hand against its former imperial masters, Vermont, therefore, decided to join the Union of the United of States instead of the British Empire. Once within the Union of the United States, Vermont traded complete independence (as achieved in 1777), for a degree of political autonomy within a larger, successful union.

Tools We Plan to Use
• Word Press
• JS Timeline
• JS Story Map
• Primary source documents
(In-text citation and links)
• Digital Images

Audience
Our main audience is undergraduate and graduate students looking for information on the Vermont Republic/secession, while still making it user friendly for the general public. The story map and timeline are interactive programs that will be useful to draw in the general public. In our research so far, we have found lots information on the Vermont Republic, but it is defuse. We hope to condense all of the important information one would need to complete an undergraduate paper on the Vermont Republic. Essentially want our website would be the starting off point for undergraduate work and resource mining. Our audience is primarily college students, therefore, it written in academic fashion. It would be something a kid in high school could work with for a report, but will be geared towards college students. That will be demonstrated by primary source analysis and some elements of historiography.

Schedule
Feb 18th through March 10th
1) Search Vermont Historical Society website and schedule online or phone (call or skype) consultation for spring break (March 13-17).
2) Begin Section 1, New Hampshire Land Grants 1749-1764.
3) Complete timeline for New Hampshire Land Grants 1749-1764 on February 25-27th for the required timeline due February 27th.
4) Continue work on Section 1.
March 13th through 17th (Spring Break)
1) Internet or phone meetings with Vermont Historical Society.
2) Go through sources from Vermont Historical Society that are relevant to section II and III.
3) Get sources for section II and III organized.
4) Begin section II.
March 20-31
1) Finish section II
2) Begin section III, if section II is finished early.
April 1-17
1) Complete Section III
April 17-21
1) Maintenance and touch ups on website. That includes any graphics that have not yet been added, additional research if needed, and extensive proof reading for grammar mistakes or structural issues.
April 24-26
1) Class presentations of project, we will plan as if we are presenting on the 24th.

1. Allen, Ira. The Natural and Political History of the State of Vermont. Reprint. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1969.

2. Bellesiles J. Michael. “The Establishment of Legal Structures on the Frontier: The Case of Revolutionary Vermont,” The Journal of American History Vol 73, No. 4 (March 1987): pp. 895-915, accessed March 5, 2017, http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1904054.pdf.

3. Constitution of Vermont, July 8, 1777. Accessed March 5, 2017, http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/vt01.asp.

4. Onuf, S. Peter. “State-Making in Revolutionary America: Independent Vermont as a Case Study,” The Journal of American History Vol. 67, No. 4 (March 1981): pp. 797-815, accessed March 5, 2017, http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1888050.pdf.

5. Randall, S. Willard. Ethan Allen: His Life and Times. New York City: Norton, W.W. & Company, Inc., 2011.

6. Van de Water, F. Frederic. The Reluctant Republic: Vermont, 1724-1791. New York: John Day Company, 1941.

7. Williams, Samuel. The Natural and Civil History of Vermont. 2nd ed. Burlington: Samuel Mills, 1794.

The author focuses on the fall of the Soviet-union and the emergence of a new-born Russia. What I found most interesting about this article is was the idea of the importance of language in unified states. In particular, the role that educational systems in a new born state plays in the cultivation of new states. That role ranges from creating a unified language to creating a shared national identity that can transcend through many cultures and differing ethnicity. He stated, “the educational system and the nation-state are strictly interdependent: once cannot exist without another” (75). The extreme heterogeneity of post-soviet Russia only furthered the ethnic division, which Kolossov points out as being one of the highest reasons for conflict within an emerging nation-state. The Russian population’s lack of ability to identify with the country they live in was counteractive to the emergence of the new-born state, but states the importance of civic and ethnic identity to people. The author’s point is that how people view their civil and ethnic identities had profound effects on the post-Soviet state of Russia. These identities and how people view them set the political goals of Russia, whether that hinders or advances them, the studies show that ethnic identity is a primary concern that shapes the political views within Russia.

Spencer’s reading gives a brief overview of the Oneida Society. The society lasted from 1848 till 1879 in upper New York State and consisted of over 300 Christian Communities. Their leader and founder was John Humphrey Noyes, who was regarded as being the anointed leader chosen directly by God (largely self-exclaimed by Noyes). The community was a commune, their most radical concept being “complex marriage,” which was a marriage of every man and women in the community. Men and women were encouraged to be with many partners in the community and in some cases obligated. There was an obligation for young members of the community to have sexual relations with older members of the community for “spiritual development.” Where this many seem like sexual freedom, it actually was not. Marriage can be viewed as a limitation on sexual freedom by only having sex with one person, but the Oneida Society was the other extreme, people were discouraged from being with only one person. The community was directly involved in the sex life of community members, often directly by Noyes. If a couple wanted a monogamous relationship because they fell in love, then were criticized by the community and could have been disbanded. Many of the concerns in the later years, closer to disbandment had to do with issues of members no longer wanted their sex lives regulated by Noyes or anyone else. Such as the Protestant movement wanting sexual freedom from the Catholic Church. The lack of privacy in many other aspects of life in the Oneida communities such as intellectual freedoms and even small signs of individual ambition were discouraged. This whole community was an experiment set up by Noyes, who seemed to bend the community to his sexual and intellectual wills through sessions of “mutual criticism,” where community outliers would be several criticized in an effort to realign the individual with community values and ideals.
I can see the benefit to women, who would experience increased sexual and economic freedom in the Oneida Society compared to other communities in the nineteenth century. Also, the concepts of people regularly changing jobs to prevent boredom and increase happiness and old people choosing to work as much or as little as they wanted, largely being taken care of the community were positive.
Where I draw serious problems with the Oneida Society is in Theological justification and the stifling of individual ambition. I do not see where Noyes would draw justification from the Bible (specifically the New Testament) for the type of sexual behavior that was carried out in the Oneida Society. Moreover, to specifically argue against marriage within a Christian community, which has Biblical justification as an important union between a man and women under God seems paradoxical. The communal style of living solves some issues of selfishness and individual greed, but it also limits individual ambitions that result in great works of literature, art, or technology. If one is constantly criticized for stepping slightly outside group ambitions, firstly, they do not have the ability to exercise freedom, and secondly, the group will be less likely to advance. The idea of individual ambition is to advance oneself and be recognized, but it also to bring something new and ambitious to society. Without that, you have a complete group ideology that can keep a society stagnant for a longer period of time.

So, the Oneida Society was too extreme in its communal manner, driven ironically by the individual intentions of Noyes that was self-proclaimed leader appointed by God.