Editing Vermont (section)

==History==

{{Main|History of Vermont}}

===Pre-colonial===
[[File:Abenakis.jpg|thumb|left|[[Watercolor painting|Watercolor]] of [[Abenaki]] couple, 1700s]]
The first humans to inhabit what is now Vermont arrived about 11,000 years ago, as the [[glacier]]s of the [[Last Glacial Period|last ice age]] receded.<ref name="geographic">{{cite web |title=Landscape Lenses |url=https://www.uvm.edu/place/burlingtongeographic/lenses/prehistory.php |publisher=Burlington Geographic |access-date=March 15, 2023}}</ref> Small groups of [[hunter-gatherer]]s followed herds of [[caribou]], [[elk]], and [[mastodon]] through the grasslands of the [[Champlain Valley]]. At that time much of region was mixed [[tundra]]. The oldest human artifacts are 11,000 year old [[projectile point]]s found along the eastern shore of the saltwater [[Champlain Sea]].<ref name="arch_review">{{cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=Peter |url=https://outside.vermont.gov/agency/ACCD/ACCD_Web_Docs/HP/Resources_Rules/Digging_Into_Archaeology/Archaeological_Review_of_Vermont's_Past.pdf |title=An Archaeological View of Vermont's Past |last2=Kelley |first2=Lauren |publisher=State of Vermont |location=Montpelier |access-date=March 15, 2023}}</ref> This time is known as the [[Paleo-Indians|Paleo-Indian]] period.

By about 8,000 years ago, the Champlain Sea had become the freshwater [[Lake Champlain]] and the climate was more [[Temperate climate|temperate]], bringing increased diversity of flora and fauna.<ref name="arch_review" /> This was the beginning of the [[Archaic period (North America)|Archaic period]]. By about 4,300 years ago, the forests were as they are today.<ref name="geographic" /> Large mammals underwent extinction or migrated north, and the human population became reliant on smaller game and plants.<ref name="geographic" /> People developed fishing equipment and stone cookware, and practiced woodworking and food storage.<ref name="arch_review" /> They had time for travel, leisure, and performed elaborate ceremonies.<ref name="arch_review" /> Most of the state's territory was occupied by the [[Abenaki]], south-western parts were inhabited by the [[Mohicans]] and south-eastern borderlands by the [[Pocomtuc|Pocumtuc]] and the [[Pennacook]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vermont Indian Tribes and Languages |url=https://www.native-languages.org/vermont.htm |access-date=2024-09-04 |website=www.native-languages.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Swanton |first=John Reed |title=The Indian Tribes of North America |pages=18–19}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|date=September 2024}}

About 3,000 years ago, the [[Woodland period]] began.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vermont |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Vermont |access-date=March 15, 2023 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> Food was increasingly sourced from domesticated plants, including [[maize]], [[bean]]s, and [[Cucurbita|squash]]. Agriculture meant a change from dispersed hunter-gatherering towards the establishment of larger settlements.<ref name="geographic" /> Pottery was made from local [[clay]], and tools were made from [[chert]] found along the [[Winooski River]]. Canoes were used for fishing and travel.<ref name="arch_review" />

The arrival of European explorers in the 1600s marked the end of the Woodland period and the beginning of the [[Abenaki]]. At that time, there were about 10,000 Indigenous people in what is now Vermont, of whom an estimated 75–90% were killed by European diseases like [[smallpox]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Abenaki & The Europeans |url=https://vermonthistoryexplorer.org/the-abenaki-and-the-europeans |access-date=May 21, 2023 |website=Vermont History Explorer |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bushnell |first=Mark |date=October 27, 2018 |title=Devastating epidemics European diseases reached Vermont before settlers did |url=https://www.timesargus.com/devastating-epidemics-european-diseases-reached-vermont-before-settlers-did/article_1747be12-38c6-567b-b980-1340f0a33c8d.html |work=Barre Montpelier Times Argus|access-date=May 21, 2023}}</ref> Survivors moved north to [[New France]] or assimilated with European settlers.<ref name="arch_review" /> Today, there are no [[Indian reservation]]s in Vermont. In {{As of|2021|bare=yes}}, 0.2% of live births in Vermont were to American Indian people.<ref>{{cite web |title=National Vital Statistics Reports: Births: Final Data for 2021 |url=https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr72/nvsr72-01.pdf |publisher=NVSS |access-date=March 15, 2023}}</ref>

Nearly all information about the [[Pre-Columbian era]] of Vermont is from found artifacts. About 750 [[Prehistory|prehistoric]] sites are known in Vermont,<ref>{{cite web |title=Vermont Archaeology Heritage Center |url=https://accd.vermont.gov/historic-preservation/archaeology-center |publisher=State of Vermont |access-date=March 15, 2023}}</ref> but few have been [[Archaeological excavation|excavated by archaeologists]], and those on private property benefit from no legal protection.<ref name="faq">{{cite web |title=Vermont Archaeology Frequently Asked Questions |url=https://outside.vermont.gov/agency/ACCD/ACCD_Web_Docs/HP/Resources_Rules/Digging_Into_Archaeology/Vermont_Archaeology_FAQ.pdf |access-date=March 15, 2023 |publisher=State of Vermont}}</ref>

About 20 native [[Toponymy|toponyms]] survive in the state, including [[Lake Bomoseen]], [[Lake Memphremagog]], [[Missisquoi River]], [[Monadnock Mountain (Vermont)|Monadnock Mountain]], and [[Winooski, Vermont|Winooski]].

===Colonial===
[[File:ConstitutionHouse WindsorVermont.JPG|thumb|The [[Old Constitution House]] at [[Windsor, Vermont|Windsor]], where the [[Constitution of the Vermont Republic|Constitution of Vermont]] was adopted on July 8, 1777]]
[[File:The Green Mountain Boys Flag.jpg|right|thumb|A c.1775 flag used by the [[Green Mountain Boys]]]]
In 1609, [[Samuel de Champlain]] led the first European expedition to [[Lake Champlain]]. He named the lake after himself and made the first known map of the area. The land that is now Vermont remained part of New France until 1763.

The French had a military presence around Lake Champlain, since it was an important waterway,<ref name="nps">{{cite web |title=Fort St. Frederic |url=https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/explorers/sitec45.htm |access-date=March 16, 2023 |publisher=National Park Service}}</ref> but they did very little colonization. In 1666, they built [[Fort Sainte Anne (Vermont)|Fort Sainte Anne]] on [[Isle La Motte]] to defend Canada from the [[Iroquois]]. It was abandoned by 1670.<ref name="desany">{{cite journal |last1=Desany |first1=Jessica |date=2006 |title=Enshrining the Past: The Early Archaeology of Fort St. Anne, Isle La Motte, Vermont |url=https://www.vtarchaeology.org/wp-content/uploads/v7_ch3_reduced.pdf |journal=The Journal of Vermont Archaeology |volume=7 |access-date=March 16, 2023}}</ref> A short-lived settlement existed at Pointe à l'Algonquin, now Windmill Point, [[Alburgh (town), Vermont|Alburgh]]. A village with a church, saw mill and fifty huts existed at the present site of [[Swanton (town), Vermont|Swanton]]. Much of the eastern shore of Lake Champlain was mapped out with [[Seignory|seigniories]], but settlers were unwilling to populate the area, possibly because of continual warfare and raiding there.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Crockett |first=Walter |title=A History of Lake Champlain |publisher=Hobart J Shanley & Co. |year=1909 |location=Burlington, Vermont |pages=58–63}}</ref>

The English also made unsuccessful attempts to colonize the area in the 1600s. In 1724, they built [[Fort Dummer]] near what is now [[Brattleboro, Vermont|Brattleboro]], but it remained a small and isolated outpost, often under attack by the Abenaki.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fort Dummer |url=https://vtstateparks.com/fortdummer.html |publisher=Vermont State Parks |access-date=March 16, 2023}}</ref>

With the 1763 [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Treaty of Paris]], France ceded its claims east of the [[Mississippi River]] to the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]], making the area more attractive to settlement.<ref name="Colin Gordon Calloway-2006">{{cite book |author=Colin Gordon Calloway |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XtxG369-VHQC&pg=PA99 |title=The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2006 |isbn=9780198041191 |page=99}}</ref> At the same time, New England was overcrowded; new land was needed for settlement.<ref name="vhe">{{cite web |title=The New Hampshire Grants |url=https://vermonthistoryexplorer.org/the-new-hampshire-grants |website=Vermont History Explorer |access-date=March 16, 2023 |language=en}}</ref> The territory west of the [[Connecticut River]] was the last unsettled part of New England, and both the [[Province of New Hampshire]] and the [[Province of New York]] laid claim to it.<ref name="Rife-1929" />

In 1749, New Hampshire governor [[Benning Wentworth]] began to auction land in an uncolonized area between Lake Champlain and the [[Connecticut River]].<ref name="landrigan">{{Cite web |last=Landrigan |first=Leslie |date=January 3, 2014 |title=Benning Wentworth Grabs the King's Masts, Along With Vermont |url=https://newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/gov-benning-wentworth-grabs-kings-masts-vermont/ |access-date=March 21, 2023 |website=New England Historical Society |language=en-US}}</ref> This area became known as the [[New Hampshire Grants]]. This westward expansion was started to increase New Hampshire's tax base and claim the timber there, [[Pinus strobus|White Pine]] in particular.<ref name="landrigan" />

There were eventually 135 [[New Hampshire Grants]]. The first of Benning Wentworth's grants included a town named after himself: [[Bennington, Vermont|Bennington]]. A typical town, it was {{Convert|6|sqmi|km2|abbr=}}, contained 48 lots, with land set aside for a school, a church, and a town center.<ref name="start-town" /> Five hundred acres of the best land was kept by Wentworth for later resale.<ref name="freeman">{{cite web |last1=Freeman |first1=Castle |title=Benning Wentworth |date=November 2004 |url=https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2004/11/benning-wentworth.html |publisher=Harvard Magazine |access-date=March 21, 2023}}</ref>

Settlers came from across New England, and were obliged to "Plant and Cultivate Five Acres of Land" within five years.<ref name="start-town">{{cite web |url=https://vermonthistoryexplorer.org/starting-a-town |publisher=Vermont History Explorer |title=Starting a Town|access-date=March 21, 2023}}</ref> Some settlers kept to the agreement and started farms. Others, like [[Ethan Allen]], did not. They wanted to sell the land for profit.<ref name="Colin Gordon Calloway-2006" /> Those who purchased New Hampshire Grants ran into disagreements with New York, which began selling off the same land as [[land patent]]s.<ref>{{cite web |title=The New York Patents |url=https://vermonthistoryexplorer.org/the-new-york-patents |access-date=March 21, 2023 |publisher=Vermont History Explorer |language=en}}</ref>

In 1764, [[King George III]] proclaimed the territory to be under the jurisdiction of New York, which meant that the New Hampshire Grant landowners did not have legal title.<ref>{{cite journal |journal=The Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society |title=The Green Mountain Insurgency|date=Fall 1996 |volume=64 |issue=4 |page=217 |url=https://vermonthistory.org/journal/misc/GreenMountainInsurgency2.pdf |access-date=March 16, 2023}}</ref> Meanwhile, New York continued selling large tracts of land, many of which overlapped with those already inhabited.<ref>{{cite web |title=New Hampshire Grants |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/New-Hampshire-Grants |publisher=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=March 21, 2023 |language=en}}</ref> The dispute led to [[Ethan Allen]] forming the [[Green Mountain Boys]], an illicit militia that attacked New York settlers and speculators through arson and mob violence.<ref name="Rife-1929">{{Cite journal |last=Rife |first=Clarence W. |date=1929 |title=Ethan Allen, an Interpretation |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/359168 |journal=The New England Quarterly |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=561–584 |doi=10.2307/359168 |jstor=359168 |issn=0028-4866}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Freedom & Unity: The Green Mountain Boys |url=https://vermonthistory.org/freedom-unity-green-mountain-boys/ |publisher=Vermont Historical Society |access-date=March 16, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Green Mountain Boys {{!}} United States history {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Green-Mountain-Boys |access-date=March 21, 2023 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> They eventually repelled the New Yorkers, and went on, with [[Benedict Arnold]], to fight in the [[American Revolutionary War]], where they captured [[Fort Ticonderoga]] from the British.

===Sovereignty===

{{Main|Vermont Republic|Constitution of Vermont (1777)}}
[[File:Vermont State House Montpelier October 2021 HDR.jpg|thumb|right|The [[gold leaf]] [[dome]] of the [[neoclassical architecture|neoclassical]] [[Vermont State House]] (Capitol) in [[Montpelier, Vermont|Montpelier]]]]

On January 15, 1777, representatives of the New Hampshire Grants declared the independence of [[Vermont Republic|Vermont]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Second Vermont Republic |website=Vermont's Declaration of Independence (1777) |url=http://www.vermontrepublic.org/vermonts_declaration_of_independence_1777 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927024239/http://www.vermontrepublic.org/vermonts_declaration_of_independence_1777 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |access-date=January 17, 2007 }}</ref> For the first six months of its existence, it was called the Republic of New Connecticut.<ref name="Esther Munroe Swift">Esther Munroe Swift, ''Vermont Place-Names: Footprints in History'' Picton Press, 1977</ref>

On June 2, 1777, a second convention of 72 delegates met and adopted the name "Vermont". This was on the advice of [[Thomas Young (American revolutionary)|Thomas Young]], a mentor of Ethan Allen. He advised them on how to achieve admission into the newly independent United States of America as the 14th state.<ref name="Esther Munroe Swift" /> On July 4, they completed the drafting of the first [[Constitution of the Vermont Republic|Constitution of Vermont]] (in effect from 1777 to 1786) at the [[Old Constitution House|Windsor Tavern]], and adopted it on July 8. This was the first written constitution in North America to ban adult [[slavery]],<ref>{{cite web
 | url = http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/new-connecticut-vermont-declares-independence
 | title = New Connecticut (Vermont) declares independence
 | date = March 5, 2019
| website = History Channel
 | publisher = A+E Networks
 | quote = Vermont's constitution was not only the first written national constitution drafted in North America, but also the first to prohibit slavery and to give all adult males, not just property owners, the right to vote.}}</ref> stating that [[History of slavery in Vermont|male slaves become free at the age of 21 and females at 18]]. It provided for universal adult male suffrage and established a public school system.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Old Constitution House {{!}} State Historic Sites |url=https://historicsites.vermont.gov/constitution-house |access-date=April 29, 2023 |website=historicsites.vermont.gov}}</ref>

===Revolutionary War===

{{Main|American Revolutionary War|Northern theater of the American Revolutionary War|Treaty of Paris (1783)}}

The [[Battle of Bennington]] was fought on August 16, 1777. A combined American force under General [[John Stark]], attacked the [[Hessian (soldier)|Hessian]] column at [[Hoosick, New York]], just across the border from Bennington. It killed or captured virtually the entire Hessian detachment. General [[John Burgoyne]] never recovered from this loss and eventually surrendered the remainder of the 6,000-man force at [[Saratoga, New York]], on October 17 of that year.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Gabriel, Michael P. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/765882204 |title=The Battle of Bennington : soldiers & civilians |date=2012 |publisher=History Press |isbn=978-1-60949-515-2 |pages=54 |oclc=765882204}}</ref>

The battles of Bennington and [[Battles of Saratoga|Saratoga]] together are recognized as the turning point in the Revolutionary War because they were the first major defeat of a British army. The anniversary of the battle is celebrated in Vermont as a legal holiday.

The [[Battle of Hubbardton]] (July 7, 1777) was the only Revolutionary [[Military history of Vermont|battle within the present boundaries of Vermont]]. Although the Continental forces suffered defeat, the British forces were damaged to the point that they did not pursue the Americans (retreating from Fort Ticonderoga) any further.

===Admission to the Union===

{{Main|Admission to the Union|List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union}}
[[File:VTadmissionAct.JPG|thumb|right|1791 [[Act of Congress]] admitting Vermont into the Union]]

Vermont continued to govern itself as a sovereign entity based in the eastern town of [[Windsor, Vermont|Windsor]] for 14 years. The independent state of Vermont issued its own coinage from 1785 to 1788 and operated a national postal service.<ref>{{Citation |last=Bucholt |first=Margaret |title=An Insider's Guide to Southern Vermont |url=http://www.manchestervermont.net/about.php |year=1991 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131206163302/http://www.manchestervermont.net/about.php |url-status=dead |contribution=Manchester and the Mountains Chamber of Commerce |publisher=Penguin |archive-date=December 6, 2013}}</ref> [[Thomas Chittenden]] was the Governor in 1778–1789 and in 1790–1791.

Because the state of New York continued to assert that Vermont was a part of New York, Vermont could not be [[admission to the Union|admitted to the Union]] under Article IV, Section{{nbsp}}3 of the Constitution until the legislature of New York consented. On March 6, 1790, the legislature made its consent contingent upon a negotiated agreement on the precise boundary between the two states. When commissioners from New York and Vermont met to decide on the boundary, Vermont's negotiators insisted on also settling the property ownership disputes with New Yorkers, rather than leaving that decision to a federal court.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mello |first=Robert A. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/875404347 |title=Moses Robinson and the founding of Vermont |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-934720-65-6 |pages=260 |publisher=Vermont Historical Society |oclc=875404347}}</ref> The negotiations were successfully concluded in October 1790 with an agreement that Vermont would pay $30,000 to New York to be distributed among New Yorkers who claimed land in Vermont under New York land patents.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mello |first=Robert A. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/875404347 |title=Moses Robinson and the founding of Vermont |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-934720-65-6 |pages=264 |publisher=Vermont Historical Society |oclc=875404347}}</ref> In January 1791, a convention in Vermont voted 105–4<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mello |first=Robert A. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/875404347 |title=Moses Robinson and the founding of Vermont |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-934720-65-6 |pages=270–271 |publisher=Vermont Historical Society |oclc=875404347}}</ref> to petition Congress to become a state in the federal union. Congress acted on February 18, 1791, to admit Vermont to the Union as the 14th state as of March 4, 1791; two weeks earlier on February 4, 1791, Congress had decided to admit Kentucky as the 15th state as of June 1, 1792.<ref>{{cite web|last=First Congress|first=Third Session|title=An Act for the admission of the State of Vermont into this Union|website=The Avalon Project|publisher=Yale Law School|date=February 18, 1791|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/vt03.asp| access-date = November 24, 2014}}</ref> Vermont became the first state to enter the Union after the original 13 states. The revised constitution of 1786, which established a greater separation of powers, continued in effect until 1793, two years after Vermont's admission to the Union.

Under the Act "To Secure Freedom to All Persons Within This State,"<ref>{{cite web|title=An Act To Secure Freedom to All Persons Within This State|url=https://archive.org/details/dutyofdisobedien00chil|website=Internet Archive|date=1860 |access-date=July 31, 2024}}</ref> slavery was officially outlawed by state law on November 25, 1858, less than three years before the [[American Civil War]].<ref>[http://www.bartonchronicle.com/index.php/reviews/books/110-asurpriseoneverypage Barton Chronicle book review]. Retrieved August 21, 2009. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090510020229/http://www.bartonchronicle.com/index.php/reviews/books/110-asurpriseoneverypage |date=May 10, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Child|first=Lydia Maria|title=The Duty of Civil Disobedience to the Fugitive Slave Act: An Appeal to the Legislators of Massachusetts|year=1860|publisher=American Anti-Slavery Society|location=Boston|pages=Anti–Slavery Tracts No. 9, 36}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Bunch|first=Lonnie|title=Vermont 1777: Early Steps Against Slavery|url=http://go.si.edu/site/MessageViewer?em_id=15241.0&dlv_id=17582|publisher=Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture|access-date=February 12, 2014}}</ref> Vermonters provided refuge at several sites for escaped slaves fleeing to Canada, as part of the [[Underground Railroad]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/25/travel/travel-advisory-underground-railroad-vermont-sites-to-open.html|title=Underground Railroad: Vermont Sites to Open|date=June 25, 1995|website=The New York Times}}</ref>

===Civil War===

{{Main|Vermont in the American Civil War}}
[[File:1827 Finley Map of Vermont - Geographicus - Vermont-finely-1827.jpg|thumb|right|Vermont in 1827. The county boundaries have since changed.]]

From the mid-1850s on, some Vermonters became [[Abolitionism|abolitionists]], which they had previously worked to contain in the South. Abolitionist [[Thaddeus Stevens]] was born in Vermont and later represented a district in Pennsylvania in Congress. He developed as a national leader and later promoted [[Radical Republicans|Radical Republican]] goals after the [[American Civil War]]. As the [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig Party]] declined and the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] grew, Vermont supported Republican candidates. In 1860, it voted for [[Abraham Lincoln]], giving him the largest margin of victory of any state.<ref>{{cite book| last = Trefousse| first = Hans| author-link = Hans Trefousse| year = 1997| title = Thaddeus Stevens: Nineteenth-Century Egalitarian| publisher = University of North Carolina Press| location = Chapel Hill, NC| isbn = 978-0-8078-5666-6 }}</ref>

During the [[American Civil War]], Vermont sent 33,288 troops into United States service, of which 5,224 (more than 15 percent) died.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.civil-war.net/pages/troops_furnished_losses.html
 |title=Union—Troops Furnished and Deaths
 |website=The Civil War Home Page
 |access-date=April 28, 2016
|url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040611092722/http://www.civil-war.net/pages/troops_furnished_losses.html
 |archive-date=June 11, 2004
}}</ref>

The northernmost land action of the war was the [[St. Albans Raid]]—the robbery of three St. Albans banks, perpetrated in October 1864 by Confederate agents. A posse pursued the Confederate raiders into Canada and captured several, before having to turn them over to Canadian officials. Canada reimbursed the banks, released, and later re-arrested some of the perpetrators.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url= http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/516711/Saint-Albans-Raid|title= Saint Albans Raid| encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date= May 2, 2014}}</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 | last = Wilson
 | first = Dennis K.
 | title = Justice under Pressure: The Saint Albans Raid and Its Aftermath
 | publisher = University Press of America
 | date = 1992
 | page = 203
 | isbn = 978-0819185099 }}</ref>

===Post Civil War to the present===
====Demographic changes====
Beginning in the mid-19th century, Vermont industries attracted numerous [[Irish Americans|Irish]], [[Scottish Americans|Scottish]], and [[Italian Americans|Italian]] [[Immigration|immigrants]], adding to its residents of mostly [[English Americans|English]] and some [[Quebec diaspora#United States|French Canadian]] ancestry. Many of the immigrants migrated to [[Barre, Vermont (city)|Barre]], where many worked as stonecutters of [[granite]], for which there was a national market. Vermont granite was used in major public buildings throughout the United States.

In this period, many Italian and Scottish women operated boarding houses to support their families. Such facilities helped absorb new residents and taught them the new culture; European immigrants peaked in number between 1890 and 1900. Typically immigrants boarded with people of their own language and ethnicity, but sometimes they boarded with others.<ref name="barre">{{cite web|url=http://vermonthistory.org/journal/74/05_Richards.pdf |author=Susan Richards| title=Making Home Pay: Italian and Scottish Boardinghouse Keepers in Barre, 1880–1910| work=Vermont History Journal |date=2005 |access-date=October 23, 2013}}</ref>

Gradually, the new immigrants assimilated into the state. Times of tension aroused divisions. In the early 20th century, some Vermonters were alarmed about the decline of rural areas; people left farming to move to cities and others seemed unable to fit within society. In addition, there was a wave of immigration by French Canadians, and Protestant Anglo-Americans feared being overtaken by the new immigrants, who added to the Catholic population of Irish and Italians. Based on the colonial past, some Yankee residents considered the French Canadians to have intermarried too frequently with Native Americans.<ref name="VT.ster">{{cite web |author=Lutz Kaelber |date=2009 |title=Eugenics: Compulsory Sterilization in 50 American States: Vermont |url=http://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/eugenics/VT/VT.html |access-date=May 14, 2019 |publisher=University of Vermont}}</ref>

In 1970, the population of Vermont stood at 444,732. By 1980, it had increased by over 65,000 to 511,456. That change, an increase of 15 percent, was the largest increase in Vermont's population since the days of the Revolutionary War.<ref>{{Cite web |title=1970s VT: Fears of a hippie invasion |url=https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/2015/04/03/vt-fears-hippie-invasion/70846514/ |access-date=August 17, 2023 |website=Burlington Free Press |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2002, the State of Vermont incorrectly reported that the Abenaki people had migrated north to [[Quebec]] by the end of the 17th century;<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dillon |first1=John |date=March 20, 2002 |title=State Says Abenaki Do Not Have "Continuous Presence" |url=https://archive.vpr.org/vpr-news/state-says-abenaki-do-not-have-continuous-presence/ |access-date=January 31, 2022 |website=Vermont Public Radio |archive-date=January 31, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131015556/https://archive.vpr.org/vpr-news/state-says-abenaki-do-not-have-continuous-presence/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> however, in 2011, the State of Vermont designated the [[Elnu Abenaki Tribe]] and the [[Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation]] as [[state-recognized tribes]]; in 2012 it recognized the [[Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi]] and the [[Koasek Traditional Band of the Koos Abenaki Nation]]. In 2016, the state governor proclaimed Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day.<ref name="recognition">{{cite web |author=Angela Evancie |date=November 4, 2016 |title=What Is The Status Of The Abenaki Native Americans In Vermont Today? |url=https://www.vpr.org/post/what-status-abenaki-native-americans-vermont-today#stream/0 |access-date=May 14, 2019 |publisher=VPR (Vermont Public Radio)}}</ref> Vermont has no [[federally recognized tribes]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Federal and State Recognized Tribes |url=https://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/quad-caucus/list-of-federal-and-state-recognized-tribes.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221025051136/https://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/quad-caucus/list-of-federal-and-state-recognized-tribes.aspx |archive-date=October 25, 2022 |access-date=January 31, 2022 |website=National Conference of State Legislatures}}</ref>

====Political changes====

Vermont approved women's suffrage decades before it became part of the national constitution. Women were first allowed to vote in the elections of December 18, 1880, when they were granted limited [[suffrage]]. They were first allowed to vote in town elections, and later in state legislative races.

In 1931, Vermont was the 29th state to pass a [[eugenics]] law. Vermont, like other states, sterilized some patients in institutions and persons it had identified through surveys as degenerate or unfit. It nominally had permission from the patients or their guardians, but abuses were documented. Two-thirds of the sterilizations were done on women, and poor, unwed mothers were targeted, among others. There is disagreement about how many sterilizations were performed; most were completed between 1931 and 1941, but such procedures were recorded as late as 1970.<ref name="VT.ster" />

In 1964, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] decision in ''[[Reynolds v. Sims]]'' required "[[one man, one vote]]" redistricting in all states. It had found that many state legislatures had not redistricted and were dominated by rural interests, years after the development of densely populated and industrial urban areas. In addition, it found that many states had an upper house based on geographical jurisdictions, such as counties. This gave disproportionate power to rural and lightly populated counties.<ref name="Udall">{{cite web |url=http://www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/udall/congrept/88th/641014.html |website=Congressman's Report |first=Morris K. |last=Udall |title=Reapportionment—I "One Man, One Vote" ... That's All She Wrote! |publisher=[[University of Arizona]] |date=October 14, 1964 |access-date=January 3, 2018 |archive-date=October 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010203724/http://www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/udall/congrept/88th/641014.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> The court ruled there was no basis for such a structure. Major changes in political apportionment took place in Vermont and other affected states.<ref name="Udall" />

In the 21st century, Vermont increasingly became defined by its progressivism. It was the first state to introduce [[civil union]]s in 2000 and the first state to legalize [[same-sex marriage]] in 2009, unforced by court challenge or ruling.<ref>{{cite news |last=Goodnough |first=Abby |date=April 7, 2009 |title=Vermont Legislature Makes Same-Sex Marriage Legal |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/us/08vermont.html |access-date=May 23, 2010}}</ref> On January 22, 2018, Vermont became the first state to legalize [[cannabis]] for recreational use by legislative action, and the ninth state in the United States to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. This law was signed by Republican Governor [[Phil Scott]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ring |first=Wilson |title=Vermont governor signs marijuana bill with 'mixed emotions' |url=https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/politics/2018/01/22/vermont-governor-scott-signs-pot-bill-mixed-emotions/1055063001/ |access-date=April 29, 2023 |website=Burlington Free Press |language=en-US}}</ref>