Opposed. threatened with invasion by the Continental troops. unrecognized by the Federal Government. they yet said. in effect. "We love liberty so much that we will contribute a regiment. we will contribute all the men of the Green Mountain State who are fit to fight. in a common cause of liberty." Then the Continental Congress undertook to articulate that regiment with the continental troops. under continental officers. and the Green Mountain boys said. "No. we will finance our own troops. we will arm our own troops. but we will maintain our independence by fighting under no officers except those chosen by ourselves." After they had performed that great service In the northern campaign which resulted in the victory at Bennington and Saratoga. in company with the continental troops. and their neighbors from Connecticut and Massachusetts and New Hampshire. they tried to have their independence recognized. and petitioned to be admitted into the Union. They were kept cooling their heels on the doorsteps of Congress for 14 years. They maintained an independent republic. coining their own money. conducting their own foreign relations. establishing tariffs. naturalizing citizens. administering justice. performing all the benign acts of a republican type of government. Finally. in 1791. their independence was recognized. an independence gained through sacrifice. through bloodshed. and through a relentless determination to preserve the rights of the State. and to maintain that high degree of relative liberty which they thought they had secured by a written Constitution. On this day we glorify that great event when Vermont was admitted into the Union. a new star was added to Old Glory. and ultimately a new stripe was added to the flag.
Keywords matched
naturalizing