They knew that their only chance of maintaining their lands—lands which they had reclaimed and made valuable—was by assisting Allen in his crusade against the pretensions of New York.
Success perched upon his banner, and not only was he able to hold the lands for the people, but he drove the New York settlers out of the district.
He had drafted a petition to the English king, asking that Vermont should be a separate colony, having its own governor and its legislature.
But before that petition reached England the revolution had broken out.
The Boston Port bill had been passed, which enacted that no kind of merchandise should any longer be shipped or landed at the wharves of Boston.
The custom house was removed to Salem, but the people of that town refused the honor conferred on them by the tyrant who ruled the destinies of England and the colonies.
The inhabitants of Marblehead offered the free use of their warehouses to the merchants of Boston. The Colonial Assembly stood by the people.
Then England passed an act of parliament annuling the charter of Massachusetts. The people were declared rebels, and the governor was ordered to send to England for trial all persons who should resist the royal officers.
A colonial congress was called to assemble at Philadelphia. Eleven colonies were represented, and it was unanimously agreed to sustain Massachusetts in her conflict with parliament.
An address was sent to King George, another to the English nation, and a third to the people of Canada.