Editing Ethan Allen (section)

==New Hampshire Grants==
{{See also|New Hampshire Grants}}
[[File:Governor Benning Wentworth.jpg|thumb|upright|New Hampshire Governor [[Benning Wentworth]]]]
[[Province of New Hampshire|New Hampshire]] Governor [[Benning Wentworth]] was selling land grants west of the [[Connecticut River]] as early as 1749, an area to which New Hampshire had always laid claim. Many of these grants were sold at relatively low prices to land speculators, with Wentworth also reserving for himself a share of each grant. In 1764, [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]] issued an order resolving the competing claims of New York and New Hampshire in favor of New York.<ref name="B28_32">Bellesiles, pp. 28–32</ref> New York had issued land grants that overlapped some of those sold by Wentworth, and authorities there insisted that holders of the Wentworth grants pay a fee to New York to have their grants validated. This fee approached the original purchase price, and many of the holders were land-rich and cash-poor, so there was a great deal of resistance to the demand. By 1769, the situation had deteriorated to the point that surveyors and other figures of New York authority were being physically threatened and driven from the area.<ref name="Jellison20_6">Jellison, pp. 20–26</ref>

[[File:Catamount2.jpg|thumb|The [[Catamount Tavern]] in the 19th century]]
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A few of the holders of Wentworth grants were from northwestern Connecticut, and some of them were related to Allen, including [[Remember Baker]] and [[Seth Warner]]. In 1770, a group of them asked him to defend their case before New York's Supreme Court.<ref name="Jellison31"/> Allen hired [[Jared Ingersoll]] to represent the grant-holder interest in the trial, which began in July 1770 and pitted Allen against politically powerful New York grant-holders, including New York's Lieutenant Governor [[Cadwallader Colden|Colden]], [[James Duane]] who was prosecuting the case, and [[Robert Livingston (1708–1790)|Robert Livingston]], the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court who was presiding over the case. The trial was brief and the outcome unsurprising, as the court refused to allow the introduction of Wentworth's grants as evidence, citing their fraudulently issued nature.<ref name="Hall26_7">Hall (1895), pp. 26–27</ref> Duane visited Allen and offered him payments "for going among the people to quiet them".<ref name="Jellison37">Jellison, p. 37</ref> Allen denied taking any money<ref name="Jellison37"/> and claimed that Duane was outraged and left with veiled threats, indicating that attempts to enforce the judgment would be met with resistance.<ref name="Jellison38">Jellison, p. 38</ref>

Many historians believe that Allen took these actions{{clarify|WHAT actions??|date=September 2019}} because he already held Wentworth grants of his own, although there is no evidence that he was issued any such grants until after he had been asked to take up the defense at the trial. He acquired grants from Wentworth to about {{convert|1000|acre|ha}} in [[Poultney, Vermont|Poultney]] and [[Castleton, Vermont|Castleton]] prior to the trial.<ref name="B33_4">Bellesiles, pp. 33–34</ref>
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===Green Mountain Boys===
[[File:GreenMtBoys.jpg|thumb|The flag of the [[Green Mountain Boys]]]]
On Allen's return to Bennington, the settlers met at the [[Catamount Tavern]] to discuss their options. These discussions resulted in the formation of the [[Green Mountain Boys]] in 1770, with local militia companies in each of the surrounding towns. Allen was named their Colonel Commandant, and cousins Seth Warner and Remember Baker were captains of two of the companies.<ref>Hall (1895), p. 27</ref> Further meetings resulted in creating committees of safety; they also laid down rules to resist New York's attempts to establish its authority. These included not allowing New York's surveyors to survey ''any'' land in the Grants, not just land owned through the Wentworth grants.<ref name="Jellison50">Jellison, p. 50</ref> Allen participated in some of the actions to drive away surveyors, and he also spent much time exploring the territory. He sold some of his Connecticut properties and began buying land farther north in the territory, which he sold at a profit as the southern settlements grew and people began to move farther north.<ref name="Jellison56_7">Jellison, pp. 56–57</ref>

Friction increased with the provincial government in October 1771, when Allen and a company of Green Mountain Boys drove off a group of Scottish settlers near [[Rupert, Vermont|Rupert]]. Allen detained two of the settlers and forced them to watch them burn their newly constructed cabins. Allen then ordered them to "go your way now, and complain to that damned scoundrel your Governor, God damn your Governor, Laws, King, Council, and Assembly".<ref name="Holbrook50">Holbrook, p. 50</ref> The settlers protested his language but Allen continued the tirade, threatening to send any troops from New York to Hell. In response, New York Governor [[William Tryon]] issued warrants for the arrests of those responsible, and eventually put a price of £20 (around £3.3k today, or $4.4k) on the heads of six participants, including Allen.<ref name="Holbrook50"/> Allen and his comrades countered by issuing offers of their own.
{{Quote box|align=right|width=30%|£25 REWARD—Whereas James Duane and John Kempe, of New York, have by their menaces and threats greatly disturbed the public peace and repose of the honest peasants of Bennington and the settlements to the northward, which are now and ever have been in the peace of God and the King, and are patriotic and liege subjects of Geo. the 3rd. Any person that will apprehend these common disturbers, viz: James Duane and John Kempe, and bring them to Landlord Fay's at Bennington shall have £15 reward James Duane and £10 reward for John Kempe, paid by|Ethan Allen, Remember Baker, Robert Cochran<ref name="Jellison62">Jellison, p. 62</ref>}}

The situation deteriorated further over the next few years. Governor Tryon and the Green Mountain Boys exchanged threats, truce offers, and other writings, frequently written by Allen in florid and didactic language while the Green Mountain Boys continued to drive away surveyors and incoming tenants. Most of these incidents did not involve bloodshed, although individuals were at times manhandled, and the Green Mountain Boys sometimes did extensive property damage when driving tenants out. By March 1774, the harsh treatment of settlers and their property prompted Tryon to increase some of the rewards to £100.<ref name="Jellison62_91">Jellison, pp. 62–91</ref>

===Onion River Company===
Allen joined his cousin Remember Baker and his brothers Ira, Heman, and Zimri to form the Onion River Company in 1772, a land-speculation organization devoted to purchasing land around the [[Winooski River]], which was known then as the Onion River. The success of this business depended on the defense of the Wentworth grants. Early purchases included about {{convert|40000|acre|ha}} from Edward Burling and his partners; they sold land at a profit to [[Thomas Chittenden]], among others, and their land became the city of Burlington.<ref name="Jellison77_86">Jellison, pp. 77–86</ref>

The outrage of the Wentworth proprietors was renewed in 1774 when Governor Tryon passed a law containing harsh provisions clearly targeted at the actions of the "Bennington Mob".<ref name="Jellison92">Jellison, p. 92</ref><ref name="Nelson108">Nelson (1990), p. 108</ref> Vermont historian Samuel Williams called it "an act which for its savage barbarity is probably without parallel in the legislation of any civilized country".<ref name="Jellison92"/> Its provisions included the death penalty for interfering with a magistrate, and outlawing meetings of more than three people "for unlawful purposes" in the Grants.<ref name="Jellison92"/> The Green Mountain Boys countered with rules of their own, forbidding anyone in the Grants from holding "any office of honor or profit under the colony of N. York".<ref name="Jellison94">Jellison, p. 94</ref>

Allen spent much of the summer of 1774 writing ''A Brief Narrative of the Proceedings of the Government of New York Relative to Their Obtaining the Jurisdiction of that Large District of Land to the Westward of the Connecticut River'', a 200-page polemic arguing the position of the Wentworth proprietors.<ref name="Jellison94_5">Jellison, pp 94–95</ref> He had it printed in Connecticut and began selling and giving away copies in early 1775. Historian Charles Jellison describes it as "rebellion in print".<ref name="Jellison96">Jellison, p. 96</ref>

===Westminster massacre===
{{main|Westminster massacre}}
Allen traveled into the northern parts of the Grants early in 1775 for solitude and to hunt for game and land opportunities.<ref name="Jellison97">Jellison, p. 97</ref> A few days after his return, news came that blood had finally been shed over the land disputes. Most of the resistance activity had taken place on the west side of the [[Green Mountains]] until then, but [[Westminster massacre|a small riot]] broke out in [[Westminster (town), Vermont|Westminster]] on March 13 and led to the deaths of two men.<ref name="Holbrook85">Holbrook, p. 85</ref> Allen and a troop of Green Mountain Boys traveled to Westminster where the town's convention adopted a resolution to draft a plea to the King to remove them "out of so oppressive a jurisdiction".<ref name="Jellison99_0">Jellison, pp. 99–100</ref> It was assigned to a committee which included Allen.<ref name="Holbrook86">Holbrook, p. 86</ref> The American Revolutionary War began less than a week after the Westminster convention ended, while Allen and the committee worked on their petition.<ref name="B113">Bellesiles, p. 113</ref>