List of U.S. State Partition Proposals - Connecticut

Connecticut

Up until 1786, Connecticut enforced a claim to land in Pennsylvania, extending into the Wyoming Valley, that had been granted to the state in its colonial charter. Connecticut formed one county in this territory called Westmoreland County (distinct from present-day Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania) and encouraged settlement by Connecticuters. Between 1752 and 1782, there were a series of armed conflicts between Pennsylvanians and the Connecticut settlers, until Congress declared the area to be part of Pennsylvania. In response to the ruling in their favor, Pennsylvania annulled the voting and land rights of the Connecticuters and drove them out. In late 1784, the ousted settlers returned in force, overtook Fort Dickinson, and seceded the county from both states as the State of Westmoreland. To avoid civil war, Pennsylvania reversed itself in 1786 and granted Pennsylvania citizenship and property titles to the Connecticuters, and Westmoreland agreed to be subsumed into Pennsylvania as Luzerne County.