Career
Chittenden moved to the New Hampshire Grants, now Vermont in 1774, where he was the first settler in the town of Williston. During the American Revolution, Chittenden was a member of a committee empowered to negotiate with the Continental Congress to allow Vermont to join the Union. The Congress deferred the matter in order to not antagonize the states of New York and New Hampshire, which had competing claims against Vermont. In 1777, a convention was held in Windsor, which drafted Vermont's first constitution, establishing Vermont as an independent republic—the first republic in North America. During the Vermont Republic Chittenden served as governor from 1778–1789 and 1790–1791, and was one of the participants in a series of delicate negotiations with British authorities in Quebec over the possibility of establishing Vermont as a British Province.
After Vermont entered the federal Union in 1791 as the fourteenth state, Chittenden continued to serve as governor until 1797. His tenure was marked by his efforts to protect Vermont's independence from New York and New Hampshire, and to establish a state government where none existed. He retired due to ill health.
Read more about this topic: Thomas Chittenden
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