Park for Jedediah Hyde; Hopkinsville for Roswell Hopkins. Wheelock was granted to Dartmouth College and Moor's Indian Charity School, and was named in honor of Rev. John Wheelock, president of the college.

The period between the declaration of peace in 1783 and the admission of Vermont to the Union in 1791, was one of rapid growth in the Green Mountain Commonwealth. First settlements were made in sixty towns and in sixty-seven others there had been development sufficient to warrant the organization of town govern

ments.

The towns which were settled during these years were Bakersfield, Barre, Berlin, Braintree, Bristol, Brunswick, Calais, Cambridge, Canaan, Charlotte, Chelsea, Concord, Craftsbury, Danville, Duxbury, Elmore, Essex, Fairfax, Fairfield, Ferrisburg, Fletcher, Franklin, Georgia, Granby, Groton, Hancock, Hardwick, Highgate, Huntington, Hyde Park, Johnson, Leicester, Lemington, Ludlow, Lyndon, Middlesex, Montpelier, Moretown, Morristown, Northfield, North Hero, Pittsfield, Roxbury, St. Albans, St. George, St. Johnsbury, Sheldon, Sherburne, South Hero, Starksboro, Stockbridge, Sutton, Waitsfield, Walden, Waterbury, Waterford, Westford, Wheelock, Williamstown and Wolcott.

The towns in which local governments were set up during the same period were Barnet, Benson, Berlin, Braintree, Brandon, Bridgewater, Bridport, Brookfield, Cabot, Cambridge, Charlotte, Chelsea, Chittenden, Corinth, Cornwall, Danville, Essex, Fairfax, Fairfield,

Fair Haven, Ferrisburg, Fletcher, Georgia, Granville, Greensboro, Highgate, Hinesburg, Hubbardton, Huntington, Hyde Park, Isle La Motte, Jericho, Johnson, Leicester, Lyndon, Middlebury, Middlesex, Middletown Springs, Milton, Montpelier, Mount Tabor, New Haven, North Hero, Orwell, Panton, Peacham, Plymouth, Randolph, St. Albans, St. Johnsbury, Salisbury, Shelburne, Shoreham, Stratton, Swanton, Tunbridge, Vergennes, Vershire, Wardsboro, Washington, Waterbury, Weybridge, Whiting, Williamstown, Williston and Wolcott.

The principal settlements during this period were in what are now known as Caledonia, Chittenden, Essex, Franklin, Lamoille and Washington counties. The organization of town governments was chiefly in Addison, Chittenden, Franklin, Orange and Rutland counties. The settlement of the southern counties of the State was well advanced before the close of the Revolution, but had hardly begun in what is now known as Orleans county.

One of the difficult problems which the new State was called upon to solve was how to settle equitably the controversies over land titles. A considerable period had elapsed between the granting of lands by Governor Wentworth and the settlement of the townships on the Grants. Land surveys had been made by various persons, some of whom were rather careless in the running of the lines. The State had no plan of these surveys. There was no office in which deeds were recorded and no opportunity existed for an examination of land titles. Proprietors were anxious to dis

pose of their grants and were not always particular to ascertain that the property sold was free from all claims that might embarrass the purchaser. With overlapping claims and a lack of clear and definite surveys, great confusion resulted. Certain unscrupulous men made a practice of selling lands to credulous buyers to which they had not a shadow of a claim, never having made a purchase. According to Daniel Chipman "a great portion" of the Vermont settlers had purchased defective titles. Thus the granting of some measure of relief became a matter of necessity. Chipman has suggested that after the long controversy with New York, in defence of their homes, the people of the new State could not be expected to support a government that would deprive them of the farms they had cleared and made productive.

Governor Chittenden recognized the peril to the State and the justice of a demand for relief, and in 1780 he proposed to the Assembly "the making such resolves as will in equity quiet the ancient settlers." Already Ira Allen had been appointed Surveyor General, an act had been passed to prevent unlawful settlement on unappropriated lands. In 1781 the first betterment act was passed, which permitted a settler who had purchased lands in good faith, to recover for the improvements he had made such sum as the court might consider equitable. The matter was not satisfactorily settled and in 1784 another act was proposed permitting the increased value of the land to be recovered after the deduction of six per cent per annum on the original value of the land. This bill failed of passage, but the

Secretary of State was directed to send printed copies to each Town Clerk, who, "after taking the sense of their towns," should certify the returns to the General Assembly. At the June session in 1788, this referendum vote was reported, seventy-five persons favoring the measure and five hundred and eight opposing it. After debate the Assembly again defeated the bill by the close vote of twenty-nine to thirty-one. A committee was appointed to bring in another betterment bill, two of the members being Isaac Tichenor and Nathaniel Chipman. This bill, which Judge Chipman was instrumental in framing, provided that a jury might assess the value of lands in dispute, estimating the value before and after improvements were made, the possessor to have one-half of the increase in value of land, together with the just value of the improvements and betterments. Daniel Chipman, in his "Life of Nathaniel Chipman," asserts that this law, "perfectly novel in its character," was adopted later by several other States.

The first Council of Censors, elected in March, 1785, as provided by the Constitution, consisted of the following members: Gen. Ebenezer Walbridge of Bennington, Jonathan Brace of Manchester, Micah Townsend of Brattleboro, Ebenezer Marvin of Tinmouth, Increase Moseley of Clarendon, Col. Elijah Robinson of Weathersfield, Joseph Marsh of Hartford, Ebenezer Curtis of Windsor, John Sessions of Westminster, Jonathan Hunt of Vernon, Benjamin Carpenter of Guilford, Stephen Jacob of Windsor and Rev. Lewis Beebe of Pawlet. Increase Moseley was elected president.

Three sessions were held, one at Norwich in June, 1785, one at Windsor the following September and one at Bennington in February, 1786. The repeal of various legislative acts was recommended, some of which were considered unconstitutional. The penalties imposed by certain laws were considered too severe, and others, it was believed, failed to recognize the difference that should exist between the legislative, executive and judicial departments.

The address of the first Council of Censors to "the freemen of the State of Vermont," issued at Bennington February 14, 1786, was a very frank and critical review of the executive and legislative departments of the State during the first eight years of its existence. The alterations proposed to the Constitution were made, according to the report, in order that the government might be "less expensive and more wise and energetic."

The election of persons to judicial and executive offices during good behavior was not favored. It was urged that officers of the greatest influence and importance, at stated periods should be reduced to the common level that they might be reminded constantly “of their political mortality."

Before criticising various departments of government, the Council recognized the fact that with divine aid "a few husbandmen, unexperienced in the arts of governing, have been enabled to pilot the ship (of state) through storms and quicksands, into the haven of independence and safety." The executive and legislative branches of government were censored for encroaching each upon the other and the Legislature was charged