If the state of Vermont was a person, I feel
like they'd be, you know, that quiet friend who
knits you sweaters. Right, the one who drinks
herbal tea and is in bed by nine. Exactly. But.
What if you found out that same quiet friend
used to be like a heavily armed rogue spy? A
spy who overthrew governments. Right. And played
superpowers against each other and sparked these
bizarre real estate wars. It's just the ultimate
historical paradox. I mean, we look at the Green
Mountain State today and we see this serene,
unchanging New England tranquility. Yeah, lots
of maple syrup and fall foliage. Exactly. But
the reality is that landscape was forged in absolute
It was a rebellion and constant dramatic reinvention.
Well, welcome to today's deep dive. Our mission
today is to take you on a journey through a really
fascinating source text, which is the Wikipedia
article on the history of Vermont. And you really
need to prepare yourself. Oh, yeah. We are going
to uncover some major aha moments that will just
absolutely shatter your assumptions about American
history. So we're going to dive right in, because
before we even get to the human rebels, we have
to look at the ground they were standing on.
Yeah, the geography itself. holds these secrets
that basically dictated the state's entire historical
trajectory. And it starts with a massive geographical
anomaly. I'm going to throw two words at you
listening to this that you would just never associate
with the middle of a landlocked mountain range.
Go for it. Beluga whales. I know. It sounds like
a misprint in the text. It really does. But the
source notes that the fossilized bones of beluga
whales, along with the shells of saltwater mollusks,
have been excavated right in the Lake Champlain
region. Right in Vermont. I'm just trying to
picture the physics of this. How does a marine
mammal end up swimming over what is now dry mountainous
land? Well, it comes down to the sheer, almost
incomprehensible weight of the glaciers during
the last ice age. Like, how heavy are we talking?
We are talking about ice sheets that were up
to two miles thick. Wow. Two miles of solid ice.
Yeah. And that immense weight actually depressed
the Earth's crust. It physically pushed the bedrock
down so far that when the glaciers finally began
to melt, the land was essentially dented. Dented.
Exactly. It hadn't bounced back yet. So ocean
water simply rushed into that massive depression,
creating this huge inland inlet called the Champlain
Sea. The Earth was physically dented. That is
wild to me. It is. And the melting glaciers didn't
just invite the ocean in, they also formed these
temporary water connections to the west toward
the modern Great Lakes region. Oh, which allowed
Western freshwater fish to migrate into the region
as the saltwater eventually receded. Right, as
the land slowly rebounded. And that specific
geological mechanism is the reason why Vermont
today boasts 78 native fish species. That's a
lot of fish. It's more than any other New England
state. Yeah. And half of those are actually Western
in origin. So the landscape was this chaotic,
diverse melting pot thousands of years before
humans even entered the picture. But, you know,
when humans did arrive, the region became a vital
contested space. The sources detail the Archaic
and Woodland periods, which weren't just empty
eras. Not at all. We're talking about thousands
of years of evolving indigenous settlements.
Right. Complex trade networks. You had the Abenaki
and Mohican tribes and later the formidable Iroquois
Mohawks who pushed the smaller tribes out. And
then... we get to 1609. Right. A French explorer
named Samuel de Champlain rose into this highly
dynamic ecosystem. He looks at the mountains,
names the region Verdemont Green Mountain, and
then proceeds to make a decision that alters
the fate of the entire continent. Right. So to
aid and impress his new Abenaki allies, Champlain
uses an archibus, which is like an early matchlock
firearm. Yeah, very early gun. And he uses it
to shoot and kill an Iroquois chief during a
sturmish. OK, let's unpack this, because that
is like stepping into a local bar fight to help
a buddy, only to realize you just punched the
boss of the biggest organized crime syndicate
on the continent. That's a great way to put it.
You didn't just win a fistfight. You put a permanent
lethal target on your back for generations. You
really could make a very strong argument that
this single gunshot is the ultimate butterfly
effect in North American history. Because it
wasn't just a minor skirmish. No. That fatal
shot by Champlain created a permanent bitter
enmity between the Iroquois Confederacy and the
French. And the Iroquois were not a group you
wanted as an enemy. Exactly. If we look at the
causality here, the Iroquois were an incredibly
sophisticated military and political force. Having
them as a permanent enemy meant the French had
to constantly fortify their settlements. They
were just bleeding resources. They couldn't expand
easily, and they fought this grueling guerrilla
war for decades. Ultimately, this enmity heavily
contributed to the French losing the bulk of
their new world possessions. Including Vermont?
Including Vermont, right at the end of the French
and Indian War in 1763. So one shot echoes through
a century and a half, ending with the British
taking control. But reading through our sources,
the defeat of the French didn't exactly bring
peace to Vermont. No, it just created a massive
power vacuum. Which brings us to a period that
sounds less like a textbook and more like a mob
turf war. Yeah, the French threat was gone, so
the land was suddenly opened up for colonial
settlement. But there was this massive bureaucratic
collision. Over who actually owned it? Right.
The governor of New Hampshire, a guy named Benning
Wentworth, started issuing land grants. 135 of
them, in fact. Wow. He was selling off parcels
of land to settlers who wanted to build farms.
But the province of New York looked at their
maps and claimed the exact same territory. OK,
let me make sure I have this straight. Two different
British colonies are selling the exact same plots
of land to different people. Exactly. It was
a total mess. So King George III eventually steps
in. And in 1764, he signs an order giving the
land entirely to New York. Just unilaterally
giving it to New York. Yeah. And his reasoning
was largely strategic. He wanted the wealthy
established colony of New York to act as a conservative
buffer. A buffer against who? Against both the
rapidly expanding New Hampshire settlers and
the remaining French -speaking Catholics up in
Quebec. But the execution of that order was just
disastrous. Disastrous because New York decided
this ruling applied retroactively. Right, which
is insane. Imagine you're a settler, you bought
a deed from New Hampshire, you spent years doing
the back -breaking work of clearing rocky mountainous
land to build a farm, and suddenly a New York
judge tells you your deed is completely invalid.
You're technically a squatter on your own land.
Yeah, and you have to buy your own farm back
from some wealthy New York speculator. The resentment
was visceral. And New York didn't just send polite
letters. They started sending armed sheriffs
and judges to forcibly dispossess the settlers
who refused to pay twice. And this is where Ethan
Allen and the Green Mountain Boys enter the picture.
Oh, yeah. They formed an armed militia to physically
block New York authorities. There's this incredible
moment detailed in the text at the Breakenridge
Farm in Bennington. Such a cinematic standoff.
It really is. A New York sheriff shows up with
a massive posse of 750 men to evict a farmer.
And the local residents organize an armed body
of 300 men, stare down this massive sheriff's
posse, and tell the sheriff, if you attempt it,
you are a dead man. Just completely unflinching.
Right. And the sheriff, looking at 300 rifles
pointed at him, just turns around and marches
back to Albany. It was organized violent resistance
to legal authority. And by 1777, these settlers
realized that neither New York nor the British
Crown was going to protect their property or
their lives, really. So they took a wildly radical
step. They severed ties with everyone and declared
themselves an independent republic. They originally
called themselves New Connecticut, right? Before
they switched to Vermont. Yes. And the scene
where they actually draft their constitution
is straight out of a thriller. They are huddled
in the Windsor Tavern owned by a man named Elijah
West. And there's a huge storm outside. A violent
raging thunderstorm. They are debating the foundation
of a new nation for four days while the storm
just pounds the roof. What's fascinating here
is the sheer audacity of what they produced in
that tavern. The Constitution of Vermont was
astonishingly ahead of its time. It really was.
It was the first written constitution in North
America to comprehensively abolish adult slavery.
Which is a huge milestone. Huge. It also granted
voting rights to men, regardless of whether they
owned land. which was a massive departure from
the aristocratic norms of the era. And it mandated
the creation of public schools. Now, our source
importantly notes that violations of the slavery
abolition did persist for some time. It wasn't
an instant utopia. Right. We have to acknowledge
that. But the legal framework they laid down
in that storm was undeniably radical. Here's
where it gets really interesting, though. We
have this romantic, heroic narrative of Ethan
Allen and his boys fighting for liberty and equality
in a thunderstorm. But I have to ask. Were the
Green Mountain Boys truly patriotic visionaries
or were they essentially a heavily armed real
estate lobby whose primary goal was just protecting
their property deeds? Well, history rarely deals
in pure altruism and this is a perfect example
of that. Their primary catalyst was absolutely
the protection of their land investments from
New York speculators. They wanted to keep their
farms. Exactly. But in the process of defending
those private financial interests, they were
forced to articulate a philosophy of self -governance
and individual rights. They needed a justification.
Yes, a legal and moral justification for their
rebellion. So the real estate dispute was the
spark. The radical republic was the resulting
fire. So put yourself in their shoes for a second.
You've declared independence. You have this incredibly
progressive constitution. But you are entirely
alone. So long. They're an unrecognized rogue
republic surrounded by enemies. You've got a
hostile New York to the west, the massive British
Empire to the north and a Continental Congress
that absolutely refuses to acknowledge your existence
because New York is blocking your entry. Survival
in that geopolitical pressure cooker required
incredible diplomatic gymnastics because on one
hand, Vermont forces were crucial to the American
Revolution. Take the Battle of Bennington, for
example. General John Stark commands the rebel
forces to fight to the death. Oh, he gets that
famous speech. Right, a terrifying speech. He
points at the British and the Tories, who were
American colonists loyal to the crown, and tells
his men, they are ours. Or this night... Molly
Stark sleeps a widow. Jills. And they absolutely
crush the British column. A massive victory that
proves their military worth. So you'd think they
are the ultimate American patriots. But then
the text details something called the Hull Demand
Affair? This is where it gets really murky. Yeah,
because the leaders of Vermont... including the
Allen brothers themselves, were secretly negotiating
with Frederick Haldeman, the British governor
of Quebec. They were actively discussing a separate
peace treaty and the distinct possibility of
Vermont returning to the British Empire as a
province. So what does this all mean? Was the
Haldeman default a legitimate act of treason
against the American Revolution, or was it just
an incredibly brilliant geopolitical poker bluff
by a vulnerable republic trying to survive? If
we connect this to the bigger picture. You really
see the genius of their adaptability. Look at
the mechanics of the bluff. For the British perspective,
if Vermont becomes a friendly province, an American
invasion of Canada is much less likely. Makes
sense. But from Vermont's perspective, negotiating
with the British achieves two vital things. First,
it keeps the British Army from invading their
completely unprotected northern border. Because
they're talking peace. Right. And second, it
absolutely terrifies the Continental Congress.
Oh, because of the location? Yes. If Britain
establishes a staging ground in Vermont, they
have a direct dagger into the Hudson Valley to
split the colonies in half. Wow. So Vermont was
using the threat of treason as leverage, basically
signaling to the United States, if you don't
let us in, we might just hand the enemy the keys
to the continent. Exactly. And it worked. It
did. They survived the war. And in 1791, Vermont
is finally admitted to the Union as the 14th
state. But even that admission is a calculated
political chess move by the rest of the country.
Right. Because Alexander Hamilton pushed for
Vermont's admission specifically as a free state
counterbalance to the anticipated admission of
Kentucky, which was going to be a slave state.
which really highlights how Vermont's fierce
independence was immediately integrated into
the broader volatile national politics of the
United States. And once they were securely a
state, that same survival instinct, that constant
need to adapt to unforgiving circumstances shifted
from geopolitics to the economy. Because farming
traditional crops in Vermont's rocky, thin soil
is incredibly tough. So what do they do? They
pivot to sheep. Lots of sheep. Specifically,
merino sheep, which were introduced around 1812.
These sheep could graze on steep, rocky hillsides
that a plow couldn't even touch. This sparks
a massive boom and bust cycle. By 1837, there
are one million sheep in the state of Vermont.
The hills were literally stripped of trees and
just covered in grazing flocks. Wool prices soared
to 57 cents a pound, creating immense local wealth.
That's a huge boom. But as is the nature of boom
economies, the mechanics of progress caught up
with them. The completion of the Erie Canal and
the expansion of the railroads suddenly connected
the eastern markets to the vast, flat, incredibly
efficient lands of the American West. Oh, right.
The Vermont sheep industry simply couldn't compete
with western scale. The market crash, dropping
wool prices to 25 cents a pound and just devastating
the local economy. So thousands of young men
had to leave the state to find work. But the
ones who stayed behind turned inward, fiercely
protecting their remaining local values. And
that set them on a direct cultural collision
course with the rest of the country. Remember
that 1777 constitution that banned adult slavery?
By the 1850s, that sentiment hadn't just survived.
It had hardened into intense abolitionism. In
1854, the Vermont Senate releases a blistering
report on slavery, questioning how any legitimate
government could favor the rights of one people
over another. And the reaction from the pro -slavery
South was visceral. The Georgia legislature was
so infuriated by Vermont's moral stance that
they actually passed a sarcastic resolution proposing
that the president tow Vermont out to sea. I
literally cannot get over that image. It's absurd.
Georgia legally proposing to put a giant rope
around the state and just yank it into the Atlantic
Ocean. But Vermont stayed put. They did. They
backed up their rhetoric during the Civil War,
sending over 28 ,000 volunteers. But as the 19th
century rolls into the 20th, the changing economy
forces a demographic shift. And this triggers
one of the most drastic cultural and political
180 -degree turns of any state in the country.
Let's talk about that. The demographic foundation
of the state began to fundamentally alter. As
the agricultural dominance faded, industrialization
took hold. Starting in the mid -1800s and accelerating
later, Vermont saw a major influx of immigrants.
We're talking Irish, Scottish, Italian, and French
-Canadian immigrants. Right. They arrived in
massive numbers to work in the booming granite
industry in places like Barr or to build the
rail lines and work in textile factories. And
whenever you have massive demographic shifts,
you get friction. The sources detail the intense
social tensions that arose as the Old Guard clashed
with the new arrivals. And the source is very
clear about the dark side of this friction. Yeah,
we have to neutrally report what the text says
here. In the 1920s, Ku Klux Klan membership skyrocketed
in Vermont, specifically targeting French -Canadian
Catholic immigrants. And in the 1930s, the state
engaged in a eugenics project, which was a state
-sponsored survey and sterilization effort. Exactly.
And it explicitly targeted vulnerable populations,
including Native Americans, French Canadians
and Afro -Americans. It is a stark, dark reminder
that Vermont was not immune to the Native and
prejudice that swept much of the country during
that era. No, they weren't. The Protestant rural
Anglo -American establishment felt deeply threatened
by the growing Catholic and immigrant populations.
And they were able to act on those fears because
this old establishment held absolute political
control. Total control. From the founding of
the Republican Party in 1854 all the way to 1958,
Vermont was arguably the most reliably Republican
state in the nation. They did not vote for a
single Democratic presidential candidate during
that entire century. A hundred years. And they
kept a tight lid on state politics using an unwritten
gentleman's agreement called the Mountain Rule.
Right, because the Green Mountains physically
split the state down the middle. To maintain
party unity and avoid factionalism, the political
elite would strictly rotate the governorship
and lieutenant governor positions between candidates
from the eastern side of the mountains and the
western side. It was a closed, heavily guarded
political loop. But you can only keep a lid on
a boiling pot for so long. Exactly. By the 1960s,
the demographics had shifted even further. 25
% of the population was now made up of out -of
-staters. A real mix of people. Yeah. counterculture
back to the landers, professionals moving in
for tech jobs like at IBM, and growing university
populations. They brought vastly different, often
more progressive voting habits. Yet the rural
establishment still held total power because
of how the voting districts were drawn. Every
single town got one representative, regardless
of how many people lived there. This raises an
important question. How does a state actually
change its political identity when the rules
are explicitly rigged against the majority of
the population? The answer had to come from the
outside. In 1964, the US Supreme Court handed
down a decision that forced one man, one vote
redistricting on the entire country, forcing
Vermont to comply. I want to make sure the absurdity
of the old system is clear. Before 1964, a tiny
mountain town with 50 residents had the exact
same voting power in the statehouse as the entire
bustling city of Burlington with tens of thousands
of people. That's wild to think about. That isn't
just an imbalance, that is a total chokehold
on democracy. Precisely. The Supreme Court ruled
that representation must be based on population,
not geography. Suddenly, urban areas, which were
more diverse, holding the descendants of those
earlier immigrants and the new influx of out
-of -staters, gained their equitable share of
legislative power. It's like having this grand,
historic house. The exterior frame stays exactly
the same. But over decades, entirely new generations
of residents move in. For a long time, the old
landlord won't let them change the furniture.
But the moment they get the legal right to remodel,
they gut the entire interior. What stands out
to you listening to this about how entirely new
groups of people can redefine a place's identity
from the inside out? Because the metamorphosis
was profound and rapid. The state flipped from
a century of absolute conservative dominance
to becoming a progressive stronghold. Once the
legislative power accurately reflected the population,
the laws quickly followed the new values. And
the source highlights a stunning list of 21st
century firsts to prove that flip. Vermont became
the first state to introduce civil unions for
same -sex couples in 2000. Wow. It was the first
to voluntarily legalize same -sex marriage through
legislation, meaning the politicians actually
voted for it rather than a court ordering it
in 2009. Right. And in 2018, it became the first
state to legalize recreational cannabis legislatively.
Which perfectly encapsulates the paradox we started
with at the beginning of this deep dive. The
independent, somewhat rebellious streak of the
Green Mountain Boys didn't disappear. It just
manifested in a completely new way. Yeah, they're
still comfortable being outliers. Still comfortable
pushing against the national grain, exactly as
they did in that thunderstorm in the Windsor
Tavern in 1777. It has been such a wild journey
to unpack. When you look at the whole picture,
we started with ancient beluga whales swimming
over what would become ski resorts. Right. We
watched a French explorer's single gunshot doom
an empire. We saw rogue farmers build a radical
republic to protect their real estate, pivot
to a booming sheep empire, and then watched an
entire state totally remodel its political and
cultural identity from the inside out. It really
proves that history is never just a static list
of dates. No, it's alive. Exactly. The places
we often assume are the quietest, the most unchanging,
are usually the result of centuries of fierce
friction, survival, and constant reinvention.
The tranquility you see today is just the current
later of paint. And there is one final detail
from our sources that I think perfectly captures
this idea of constant quiet reinvention, and
it's about the resilience of the landscape itself.
The environment bouncing back. Right. In the
mid 20th century, the widespread use of the pesticide
DDT devastated local wildlife. But Vermont banned
it in 1972, and the environment bounced back
incredibly. The bear population, for instance,
doubled by 2013. That's amazing. Even more amazingly,
beavers had been completely wiped out of the
state by trapping. They were reintroduced in
1924, and they have thrived. completely rewriting
the waterways and ecosystems of the state once
again. The landscape, just like the people who
inhabit it, refuses to stay static. It adapts,
it recovers, and it physically changes the map.
So as you go about your day, think about that
quiet friend of yours, or maybe the quiet town
you live in. What's seemingly small change happening
right now, whether it's a new zoning law, a shift
in who is moving to your neighborhood, or even
the return of a single animal species to a local
park, is going to completely rewrite the map
of your own home a hundred years from today.