With continued land grants from Benning Wentworth, the Governor of New York, George Clinton, attempted to promote a division between the people of the east and west side of the Green Mountains by creating a new county [1]. He began by rezoning districts in the north and the east to be under the control of New York and not New Hampshire [1]. This was an attempt to gain control the New Hampshire grants not through legitimate political process, but through dirty politics. New York would continually turn to political trickery in response to a expanding Vermont. In response to Clinton trying to rezone, Ira Allen (a leading Vermont man) stated, “forgetting that men, who had braved every danger and hardship attending the settlement of an uncultivated country, would not tamely submit to a mercenary Governor and a set of land-jobbers, have no legal or equitable right to the land and labors of others” [1]. This statement reflects the contemporary attitudes of Grant setters who were frustrated by the encroachment of New York. They certainly did not want to pay New York for land patents that they already obtained from New Hampshire. [2]. Ira Allen was correct, the proprietors would not bend to the political tricks of Clinton. Shortly after this ploy, in 1770, Ethan Allen was appointed by the people to represent the settlers in Vermont [1]. With documentation that he thought proved legitimacy, Allen went to Albany to argue before the New York Supreme Court [1].
Citations:
- Allen, Ira. The Natural and Political History of the State of Vermont. London: J.W. Myers, NO. 2 Paternoster-Row, 1798. Reprint 1969. Japan: Tuttle Co., Inc., 23.
- Vermont History Explorer. New York Patents. Vermont Historical Society. Accessed March 28, 2017. https://vermonthistory.org/explorer/vermont-stories/becoming-a-state/the-new-york-patents