VERMONT IN THE MAKING
Matt Bushnell Jones' New Volume on Vermont Origins Gives True Story of the New Hampshire Grants
1750 1777, By Matt Bushnell Jones '94. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, pp. xiv, 471, map. $4.00.
Reviewed Librarian of the American AntiquarianSociety, Worcester, Mass.
MANY READERS WILL be surprised to learn that Vermont had any history worth recording before Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys took Ticonderoga from the British on the night of May 9, 1775. But Vermont historians have been long familiar with the controversy over the title to the New Hampshire Grants which is the main theme of this volume and they, at least, will not be surprised that a book of nearly 500 pages could be written on Vermont's history before she became a state. Many writers have interested themselves in this subject, as the splendid fifteen page bibliography amply shows, but Mr. Jones was the first to find all of the original sources, here and abroad, and interpret Vermont's intricate early political and economic history in the light of the facts, many of them here to fore unknown.
The author was particularly well equipped for his task. A native Vermonter, with the training secured through many years of distinguished service as a lawyer, and with a lifetime's devotion to the study of the history of his native state, Mr. Jones devoted nearly a quarter of a century to the study of his subject before the writing of the book. To his task, he also brought a delightful literary style, a mellow tolerance for the short-comings of some of his principal characters and a quiet sense of humor which adds much to the enjoyment of the volume. His findings are often at variance from those of his predecessors and his appraisal of the characters of such men as Benning Wentworth, Cadwallader Colden and the Aliens is fresh and authentic since it is based on facts rather than tradition. He can praise Colden's honesty, condemn Wentworth's chicanery 'and emphasize Ethan Allen's statesmanship, even though previous historians have painted quite different pictures. There can be little argument with Mr. Jones' interpretations, however, since he quotes chapter and verse to prove each statement. His shrewd analysis of the facts gives the reader the comfortable feeling that here, at last, is the true picture of what really happened.
Mr. Jones' chief departure from the judgment of previous historians of Vermont is with regard to the validity of New York's claim to the territory of the New Hampshire Grants. He finds that New York had the only real claim to the tract and that, consequently, Benning Wentworth and his land-grabbing associates had no valid title to the lands in which they speculated. The controversy between New York, New Hampshire and the followers of Wentworth was not settled during the British regime and was only laid to rest when Vermont paid New York the $30,000 which finally gave her title to the Grants. The intricate and swift-moving events which led up to the formation of the fourteenth state are clearly and interestingly set forth in this absorbing volume. Many of the fundamental documents on which the study is based will be found in the appendix.
Since this is the most important volume ever written on the early history of Vermont and since it is based on original sources judicially interpreted and set forth with charm and literary skill, it is obvious that it must find its way to the shelves of every important historical collection, public or private. Every public or academic library of Vermont must own a copy and every native of the state should read it.
