Vermont is the 14th State Admitted to the Union

An Act to authorize the People of this State to meet in Convention, to deliberate upon and agree to the Constitution of the United States.

Whereas, in the opinion of this legislature, the future interest and welfare of this state render it necessary that the Constitution of the United States of America, as agreed to by the Convention at Philadelphia, on the seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, with the several amendments and alterations, as the same has been established by the United States, should be laid before the people of this state for their approbation,

It is hereby enacted, by the General Assembly of the state of Vermont, That the first constable in each town shall warn the inhabitants, who, by law, are entitled to vote for representatives in General Assembly, in the same manner as they warn free men's meetings, to meet in their respective towns on the first Tuesday of December next, at ten o'clock, forenoon, at the several places fixed by law for holding the annual election; and when so met they shall proceed, in the same manner as in the election of representatives, to choose some suitable person, from each town, to serve as a delegate in a state convention, for the purpose of deliberating upon and agreeing to the Constitution of the United States as now established; and the said constable shall certify to the said convention the person so chosen in the manner aforesaid. And,

It is hereby further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the persons so elected to serve in state convention, as aforesaid, do assemble and meet together on the first Thursday of January next at Bennington, then and there to deliberate upon the aforesaid Constitution of the United States, and if approved of by them, finally to assent to and ratify the same, in behalf and on the part of the people of this state, and make report thereof to the governor of this state for the time being, to be by him comm...

Gentlemen of the Senate: The act for the admission of the State of Vermont into this Union having fixed on this as the day of its admission, it was thought that this would also be the first day on which any officer of the Union might legally perform any act of authority relating to that State. I therefore required your attendance to receive nominations of the several officers necessary to put the Federal Government into motion in that State.

For this purpose I nominate Nathaniel Chipman to be judge of the district of Vermont; Stephen Jacobs to be attorney for the United States in the district of Vermont; Lewis R. Morris to be marshal of the district of Vermont, and Stephen Keyes to be collector of the port of Allburgh, in the State of Vermont

George Washington

Vermont governed itself as a sovereign entity based in the eastern town of Windsor for fourteen years. The independent state of Vermont issued its own coinage from 1785-1788 and operated a statewide postal service. Thomas Chittenden was the Governor in 1778-1789 and in 1790-1791. The state exchanged ambassadors with France, the Netherlands, and the American government then at Philadelphia.

In 1791, Vermont joined the Federal union as the fourteenth state, and the first to enter the Union after the original thirteen colonies.