page_title: New Hampshire Grants
section_title: Invalidation
hierarchical_section_title: New Hampshire Grants / Invalidation
caption_attribution_description: Replica of the Stark flag
context_page_description: The New Hampshire Grants or Benning Wentworth Grants were land grants made between 1749 and 1764 by the colonial governor of the Province of New Hampshire, Benning Wentworth. The land grants, totaling about 135, were made on land claimed by New Hampshire west of the Connecticut River, territory that was also claimed by the Province of New York. The resulting dispute led to the eventual establishment of the Vermont Republic, which later became the U.S. state of Vermont.
context_section_description: New York interpreted the decision as invalidating Wentworth's grants entirely—to the great dismay of area residents—and subsequently divided the territory into four counties, Albany, Charlotte, Cumberland and Gloucester. New York required that grantees surrender their charters, and in many cases buy their lands back from New York at greatly increased prices. Those who would not pay lost legal title to their lands, which New York then reassigned to others. The people, who would later become Vermonters, petitioned the governor of New York to confirm the New Hampshire Grants; he complied, in part, by declaring that no other grants should be made until the King's wishes were known. Land not previously granted by New Hampshire was considered open for distribution by New York's government.
  In 1770, the New York Supreme Court declared all of Wentworth's grants invalid, thereby asserting the province's de jure control over the region. This infuriated residents, including Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, who rose up to resist those efforts. While the resistance faded, so did New York's desire to assert its claim on the land around the Upper Connecticut, as a more pressing issue—revolution—moved to center stage.
caption: Flag of the Green Mountain Boys
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