Editing Franklin County, Vermont (section)

==History==
Franklin County is one of several Vermont counties created from land claimed by Vermont on January 15, 1777, when Vermont declared itself to be a state distinct from New York.<ref>Slade, William, Jr., comp. ''Vermont State Papers: Being a collection of Records and Documents Connected with the Assumption and Establishment of Government by the People of Vermont, Together with the Journal of the Council of Safety, the First Constitution, the Early Journals of the General Assembly, and the Laws from the Year 1779 to 1786, Inclusive.'' Middlebury, 1823. pp. 70–73.</ref><ref>Van Zandt, Franklin K. ''Boundaries of the United States and the Several States.'' Geological Survey Professional Paper 909. Washington, DC; Government Printing Office, 1976. The Standard Compilation for its subject. P. 64.</ref><ref>Williamson, Chilton. ''Vermont in Quandary: 1763–1825.'' Growth of Vermont series, Number 4. Montpelier: Vermont Historical Series, 1949. PP. 82–84; map facing 95, 100–102, 112–113.</ref> The land originally was contested by [[Massachusetts]], [[New Hampshire]], and [[New York (state)|New York]], but it remained undelineated until July 20, 1764, when [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]] established the boundary between New Hampshire and New York along the west bank of the [[Connecticut River]], north of Massachusetts and south of the parallel of [[45th parallel north|45 degrees north latitude]]. New York assigned the land gained to [[Albany County, New York|Albany County]].<ref>Slade, William, Jr., comp. ''Vermont State Papers: Being a collection of Records and Documents Connected with the Assumption and Establishment of Government by the People of Vermont, Together with the Journal of the Council of Safety, the First Constitution, the Early Journals of the General Assembly, and the Laws from the Year 1779 to 1786, Inclusive.'' Middlebury, 1823. pp. 13–19.</ref><ref>Van Zandt, Franklin K. ''Boundaries of the United States and the Several States.'' Geological Survey Professional Paper 909. Washington, DC; Government Printing Office, 1976. The Standard Compilation for its subject. P. 63.</ref> On March 12, 1772, Albany County was partitioned to create [[Charlotte County, Province of New York|Charlotte County]],<ref>New York Colonial Laws, Chapter 1534; Section 5; Paragraph 321)</ref> and this situation remained until Vermont's independence from New York and Britain. However, this did not end the contest. In 1772, land surveyors John Collins of Quebec and Thomas Valentine of New York erected survey monuments along what they took to be the 45th parallel of north latitude, intended to be the boundary between New York and Quebec. The [[Webster–Ashburton Treaty]] of 1842 said that their measurement errors stand, so the boundary between Vermont and Quebec, and between New York and Quebec, is where Collins and Valentine put the survey monuments, some of which still stand today (see [[Collins–Valentine line]]).

On September 3, 1783, as a result of the signing of the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] the Revolutionary War ended with Great Britain recognizing the independence of the United States. Article II of the treaty agreed on boundaries between the United States and [[British possessions]] to the north, and included Vermont within the U.S. Vermont's border with [[Quebec]] was established at [[45th parallel north|45 degrees north latitude]].<ref>Van Zandt, Franklin K. ''Boundaries of the United States and the Several States''. Geological Survey Professional Paper 909. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1976. The Standard Compilation for its subject. p. 12.</ref><ref>Parry, Clive, ed. ''[[Consolidated Treaty Series]]''. 231 volumes. [[Dobbs Ferry, New York|Dobbs Ferry]], [[New York City|New York]]; Oceana Publications, 1969–1981. Volume 48; pp. 481, 487, 491–492.</ref> In 1792, Franklin County was formed from part of Chittenden County.<ref name="Aldrich" /> However, Vermont's government continued to take the position that it was independent of both the United States and Britain, and [[Vermont Republic|so it remained]] until 1791.

The county's namesake is [[Benjamin Franklin]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gannett, Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ |title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States |publisher=Govt. Print. Off. |year=1905 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n120 131]}}</ref> [[Chester A. Arthur]], the [[List of presidents of the United States|21st]] [[President of the United States|U.S. President]], was born in the town of [[Fairfield, Vermont|Fairfield]]. He was one of two Presidents to be born in the state, the other being [[Calvin Coolidge]].

In 2008, the federal government declared the county a disaster area after severe storms and flooding on June 14–17.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sutkoski, Matt |title=Summer has been wet one for the ages |date=August 1, 2008 |publisher=Burlington Free Press}}</ref>