New Hampshire Grants

2025-01-03T17:22:02Z

50.208.181.145: /* Background */ confusing shorthand, need to clarify the river, not the state

{{short description|Land grants in colonial New Hampshire (1749-64); later became the Republic of Vermont}}
{{more footnotes|date=January 2012}}
[[File:New Hampshire grants (1776).jpg|thumb|The New Hampshire Grants (yellow) on a contemporary map by [[Thomas Jefferys]]]]
The '''New Hampshire Grants''' or '''Benning Wentworth Grants''' were [[land grant]]s made between 1749 and 1764 by the [[List of colonial governors of New Hampshire|colonial governor]] of the [[Province of New Hampshire]], [[Benning Wentworth]]. The land grants, totaling about 135 (including 131 [[New England town|towns]]), were made on land claimed by New Hampshire west of the [[Connecticut River]], territory that was also claimed by the [[Province of New York]]. The resulting dispute led to the eventual establishment of the [[Vermont Republic]], which later became the [[U.S. state]] of [[Vermont]].

==Background==
The territory of what is now [[Vermont]] was first permanently settled by European settlers when [[William Dummer]], acting governor of the [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]], ordered the construction of [[Fort Dummer|a fort]] roughly where [[Brattleboro, Vermont|Brattleboro]] is located. Massachusetts laid claim to the territory west of the [[Merrimack River]] at the time, and it had settlers on the [[Connecticut River]] who were prepared to move further north. The [[Northern boundary of Massachusetts|border between Massachusetts]] and the neighboring [[Province of New Hampshire]] was fixed by royal decree in 1741 at a line {{convert|3|mi|km}} north of [[Pawtucket Falls (Massachusetts)|Pawtucket Falls]], where the Merrimack River turns north. This decision eliminated claims by Massachusetts to the north of that line. The territory between the Connecticut River and [[Lake Champlain]], however, was also claimed by the [[Province of New York]], the claims of which extended eastward to the Connecticut River.

Also in 1741, New Hampshire native [[Benning Wentworth]] was appointed the first governor of New Hampshire of the 18th century who was not also a governor of Massachusetts. Wentworth chose to read New Hampshire's territorial claims broadly. He construed the decree setting the New Hampshire-Massachusetts border to mean that New Hampshire's jurisdiction extended as far west as the jurisdiction of Massachusetts extended. Since the Massachusetts boundary extended to a point {{convert|20|mi|km}} east of the [[Hudson River]], Wentworth assumed the area west of the Connecticut belonged to New Hampshire. New York based its claim on the [[letters patent]], which granted Prince James, Duke of York, brother of King Charles II, all of the lands west of the [[Connecticut River]] to [[Delaware Bay]].

==Grants==

===New Hampshire===
Wentworth made the first grant, [[Bennington, Vermont|Bennington]], a township west of the Connecticut River, on January 3, 1749. Cautioned by New York to [[cease and desist]], Wentworth promised to await the judgment of the king, and refrain from making more grants in the claimed territory until it was rendered, but in November 1753, New York reported that he continued to grant land in the disputed area. Grants briefly ceased in 1754, because of the [[French and Indian War]], but in 1755 and 1757, Wentworth had a survey made {{convert|60|mi|km}} up the Connecticut River, and 108 grants were made, extending to the line {{convert|20|mi|km}} east of the Hudson, and north to the eastern shore of [[Lake Champlain]].

The grants were usually six miles square (the standard size of a U.S. [[survey township]], i.e. 23,040 acres or 93 km<sup>2</sup>) and cost the grantee(s) 20 [[New Hampshire pound|pounds]]. The grants were then subdivided amongst the proprietors, and six of the lots were set aside—one for the [[Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts]] (a missionary organization of the [[Church of England]]), one for the Church of England, one for the first [[clergy]]man to settle in the township, one for a school, and two for Wentworth himself. The permanent annual tax on each grant, called a [[quitrent]], was one [[shilling]], paid directly to the King or his representative.

===New York===
While Wentworth's land sales were underway, New York also issued land patents in the same area. However, in contrast to the New Hampshire grants, the New York patents were generally irregularly shaped and issued to wealthy landowners. The New Hampshire grants were "town-sized," and generally settled by [[middle class|middle-class]] farmers. Most of the New York boundaries were ignored in favor of the New Hampshire boundaries and designations once Vermont achieved statehood, and some of these New York patents are now referred to as ''paper towns'' because they existed only on paper.

==Royal adjudication==
In September 1762, New York found New Hampshire surveyors working on the east side of Champlain, provoking the former colony's government to reiterate its claim to the area, citing both its own patent and the New Hampshire letters patent of 1741. In March 1764, Wentworth released a statement to the effect that the resolution of jurisdictional dispute required a royal verdict, which he was certain would be made in his favor. Meanwhile, he encouraged his grantees to settle in the land and to cultivate and develop it.

New York appealed to the [[Board of Trade]], requesting a confirmation of their original grant, which finally resolved the border dispute between New York and New Hampshire in favor of New York. The royal order of July 26, 1764, affirmed that "the Western bank of the Connecticut, from where it enters the province of Massachusetts Bay as far north as the 45th degree of northern latitude, to be the boundary line between the said two provinces of New Hampshire and New York." Wentworth issued his final two grants on October 17 of that year: [[Walker, Vermont|Walker]] and [[Waltham, Vermont|Waltham]].

==Invalidation==
[[File:The Green Mountain Boys Flag.jpg|thumb|Flag of the [[Green Mountain Boys]]]]
New York interpreted the decision as invalidating Wentworth's grants entirely—to the great dismay of area residents—and subsequently divided the territory into four counties, [[Albany County, New York|Albany]], [[Charlotte County, New York|Charlotte]], [[Cumberland County, New York|Cumberland]] and [[Gloucester County, New York|Gloucester]]. New York required that grantees surrender their charters, and in many cases buy their lands back from New York at greatly increased prices. Those who would not pay lost legal [[Title (property)|title]] to their lands, which New York then reassigned to others. The people, who would later become Vermonters, petitioned the governor of New York to confirm the New Hampshire Grants; he complied, in part, by declaring that no other grants should be made until the King's wishes were known. Land not previously granted by New Hampshire was considered open for distribution by New York's government.

In 1770, the [[New York Supreme Court]] declared all of Wentworth's grants invalid, thereby asserting the province's ''[[de jure]]'' control over the region. This infuriated residents, including [[Ethan Allen]] and his [[Green Mountain Boys]], who rose up to resist those efforts. While the resistance faded, so did New York's desire to assert its claim on the land around the Upper Connecticut, as a more pressing issue—[[American Revolution|revolution]]—moved to center stage.

==Independence and statehood==
[[Image:American Determinist Settlements North 1770.jpg|right|300px|thumb|The New Hampshire Grants region petitioned the Continental Congress for entry into the American union as a state independent of New York in 1776.]]
In January 1775 [[Committee of Safety (American Revolution)|Committees of Safety]] from over twenty towns in the New Hampshire Grants area met in Manchester to discuss the need for local [[self-governance]] independent from New York. The [[Manchester (town), Vermont|Manchester]] meeting created a "civil and political Body" to regulate their community. Two months later, another convention meeting at Westminster renounced the authority of New York's government. On March 13, 1775, [[Westminster massacre|two men were killed]] in Westminster by officers from New York. News of the first clash between American militia and British troops at [[Battles of Lexington and Concord|Lexington and Concord]] interrupted the [[Westminster (town), Vermont|Westminster]] convention, but settlers gathered at yet another convention at [[Dorset, Vermont|Dorset]] in 1776 and petitioned the [[Second Continental Congress|Continental Congress]] to recognize Vermont as a [[State (polity)|state]] and seat its delegates. The New York delegation convinced the Congress to deny the petition.<ref>{{cite book |first= Christian G. |last= Fritz |title= American Sovereigns: The People and America's Constitutional Tradition Before the Civil War |url= https://archive.org/details/americansovereig00frit |url-access= limited |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year= 2008 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/americansovereig00frit/page/n73 60]–67}}</ref>

Some former Green Mountain Boys companies served in the [[American Revolutionary War]], including in the effort to capture [[Capture of Fort Ticonderoga|Fort Ticonderoga]] on May 10, 1775, and the [[Invasion of Canada (1775)|invasion of Canada]] later that year. Ethan Allen and his then subordinate, [[Seth Warner]], induced the [[Continental Congress]] at Philadelphia to create a ''Green Mountain'' [[Continental Army|ranger regiment]]. Having no treasury, the Congress directed that New York's [[New York Provincial Congress|Provincial Congress]] pay for the newly authorized regiment; which it did.

In 1777 the citizens of Vermont declared their full [[Sovereignty|independence]] from [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] and established a [[Constitution of Vermont (1777)|constitution]]. The first elections under this constitution were held on March 3, 1778, and on March 12, the new [[Vermont Republic|government]] was organized at [[Windsor, Vermont|Windsor]].<ref name=vermont>{{cite journal|last=Forbes|first=C.S.|title=Vermont's Admission to the Union|journal=The Vermonter: A State Magazine|date=March 1902|volume=VII|issue=8|page=102|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nFMSAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA101|publisher=Charles S. Forbes|location=St. Albans, Vermont}}</ref>

During the later stages of the Revolutionary War (early 1780s) several Vermont officials engaged in [[Haldimand Affair|negotiations]] with British officials, including [[Frederick Haldimand]], the governor of [[Province of Quebec (1763–91)|Quebec]], about Vermont officially returning to the British side. Just as Haldimand offered generous terms for reunion in 1781, the main British army [[Siege of Yorktown|surrendered at Yorktown]], and it was clear that the [[United States]] would achieve independence.

Following the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]], Vermont was excluded (primarily due to objections from New York) from the loose [[Articles of Confederation|confederation]] established among the [[Thirteen Colonies|13 former colonies]]. The state remained outside until 1791. In 1790 New York finally consented to Vermont's [[admission to the Union]]. New York [[Cession|ceded]] its New Hampshire Grants claim to Vermont for 30,000<ref>{{cite web|title=The 14th State|url=https://vermonthistory.org/explorer/vermont-stories/becoming-a-state/the-14th-state|website=Vermont History Explorer|publisher=Vermont Historical Society}}</ref> [[Spanish dollar|dollars]]. A [[Convention (meeting)|convention]] was held from January 6 through 10, 1791 at [[Bennington, Vermont|Bennington]] to consider joining the federal [[U.S. state|Union]]. The convention voted 105–2 in favor of seeking admission. [[2nd United States Congress|Congress]] gave unanimous approval to Vermont statehood the following month, and on March 4, 1791, the New Hampshire Grants, as Vermont, became the 14th state, the first admitted to the Union after adoption of the federal [[United States Constitution|Constitution]].<ref name=vermont/>

==See also==
* [[List of towns in Vermont]]
* [[Equivalent Lands]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book | author=Robinson, Rowland | title=Vermont: A Study of Independence | url=https://archive.org/details/vermontstudyofin00robi | location= Cambridge, Massachusetts | publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company (American Commonwealths Series) | year=1892 }}
* {{cite book | author=Thompson, Charles Miner | title=Independent Vermont | location=Boston | publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company | year=1942 }}
* {{cite book | author=Van de Water, Frederic | title=The Reluctant Republic: Vermont 1724–1791 | url=https://archive.org/details/reluctantrepubli00vand | location=New York | publisher=The John Day Company | year=1941 }}

==External links==
* [http://www.nhssar.org/essays/Grants.html The Problem of the New Hampshire Grants]
* [http://www.virtualvermont.com/history/bwentworth.html Virtual Vermont: Benning Wentworth]
* [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~vermontgenealogyresources/ Vermont Genealogy Resources]
** [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~vermontgenealogyresources/NHgrants.htm New Hampshire Grants Index (with map)]
** [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~vermontgenealogyresources/NYpatents.htm New York Patents Index (with map)]
** [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~vermontgenealogyresources/Maps/grantdates.jpg Map of Vermont Towns with Grant States and Dates]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=289&invol=593 ''Vermont vs. New Hampshire''] 289 U.S. 593 (1933) at FindLaw

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[[Category:Former regions and territories of the United States]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Vermont]]
[[Category:Vermont Republic]]
[[Category:History of the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:1749 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies]]

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New Hampshire Grants