| FLess than a year after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, another new Republic
was taking shape. Delegates from the newly independent Republic of Vermont gathered at a tavern in Windsor to adopt
a constitution. The Vermont constitution was far reaching - the first to prohibit slavery, establish universal
voting rights for all males and authorize a public school system. The constitution guided the Republic for 14 years
until 1791, when Vermont was admitted to the Union as the fourteenth state. |