Vermont is a small state, north of New York, and not pushed into the public spotlight a great deal. For such a small place, including the smallest state capital in all of the United States, Vermont is still big on history and importance. If you find that hard to believe, consider the facts below.
Fact 1: Vermont is a derivative off the French for green mountain, vert mont. The area was called New Connecticut for a short time, from January to July of 1777.
Fact 2: New York and New Hampshire both claimed Vermont as part of their territory, giving settlers land grants from the existing states. The Green Mountain Boys was a group formed to protect the New Hampshire land grantees from the New Yorker that might have been granted the same land.
Fact 3: The Green Mountain Boys would distinguish themselves during the American Revolution, and return to declare Vermont an independent republic. After 14 years of independence, Vermont became the 14 state.
Fact 4: Vermont is the second largest state in New England, has almost half of all the dairy farms in New England, produces half the milk used in New England. Vermont does all this on land that is 80 miles wide and 160 miles long, and has the second smallest population in the U.S.
Fact 5: Presidential election votes from citizens of Vermont are worth more than votes from residents of states with a larger population. The Electoral College of the U.S. gives each state a minimum of 3 electors, and the maximum is 1 for every elected State Representative. A large state like Ohio gets 5 electors for a population of 600,000. Vermont gets the minimum of 3, for a population of 200,000. This makes Vermont’s votes worth 2.5 Ohio votes.
Fact 6: A U.S. citizen must be 25 to be elected to the House of Representatives, but only 18 to be governor or state senator of Vermont.
Fact 7: Vermont is the nation’s leading producer of maple syrup, from sugar maple trees. These trees are also famous for the beautiful fall coloring of their leaves, and many tourist go to Vermont to see the changing of the leaves.
Fact 8: Some winters, Vermont is ‘˜too cold to snow’ as the air is too cold to hold enough moisture. The seventh coldest state in the country, the annual snowfall is between 60 and 100 inches, while higher elevations get more snow.
Fact 9: During the American Civil War, Vermont was the site of the northernmost land battle, St. Albans Raid. Almost 15% of Vermonters dies during the Civil War, from fighting, mortal wounds, or disease.
Fact 10: Women were allowed to vote in the election on December 18, 1880, when the U.S. constitution would not be amended to allow women’s suffrage until 1920. Vermont introduced the idea of civil unions to the United States in July of 2000. In 2009, Vermont voted to approve same-sex marriage, the first state to do so.
