The New York Patents

The colony of New York thought it owned the land that is now Vermont. In 1764, King George III agreed and said that the Connecticut River was the border between New York and New Hampshire.

“His Majesty doth order and declare the western banks of the River Connecticut, from where it enters the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, as far north as the forty-fifth degree of northern latitude, to be the boundary line between the said two Provinces of New Hampshire and New York.”

Lieutenant Governor Cadwallader Colden began selling land to groups of settlers to start towns. The people who had patents(papers that said what land was bought) from New York were called Yorkers.

Colden knew that some of this land was part of the New Hampshire Grants. He knew that some settlers had already started farms. But he also knew that the land belonged to New York.

Settlers who had a New Hampshire Grant could pay money to New York to keep their grant. Some settlers did not want to pay more money. New York began selling this land to new owners. This led to disagreements between the New Hampshire Grants and the Yorkers.