If you are interested in early Vermont history then you should become acquainted with Stephen R. Bradley. He moved to Westminster, Vermont in 1779 and quickly became an important figure in the economic and political establishment of the state. He was born in Connecticut, but we know little of his early life.
Bradley graduated from Yale in 1775 and joined the Connecticut Militia at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. He became an officer in the militia and also trained to be a lawyer. In early 1779 he resigned from the Connecticut Militia and moved to the newly established region of Vermont. Towns from the area had met in 1777 and declared their independence from New York and Great Britain. Vermont operated as its own state but New York still claimed the land as theirs.
Bradley’s first Vermont court case placed him in the middle of another kind of battle. In May of 1779, while the Revolution was still raging between American colonists and Great Britain, there was also a dispute unfolding in southeastern Vermont between those settlers loyal to New York and those loyal to Vermont. Many residents of Putney, Dummerston, Brattleboro and Guilford did not want to recognize the new government of Vermont. They had purchased their land from New York and wished to remain loyal to the New York government.
When Stephen R. Bradley arrived in Westminster he was drafted by the presiding judge, Moses Robinson, to defend a group of local New York supporters who had rioted in Putney. Two farmers had refused to pay Vermont taxes and, as a result, the sheriff was given the job of confiscating their cows.
A mob of their supporters arrived in Putney on the day the sheriff was going to confiscate the cows. They planned to stop the sheriff and defend the farmers. However, Ethan Allen and the Vermont Militia also turned up in Putney and they arrested twenty-eight of the pro-New York protesters. Their trial was scheduled for the next day and Ethan Allen held the prisoners overnight. Stephen R. Bradley’s first Vermont lawyering job was to act as a kind of public defender for these twenty- eight men loyal to the New York government.
As the trial began, Bradley was able to argue effectively and earn the release of five of the prisoners. Two of them were Brattleboro residents, Stephen Greenleaf Jr. and Micah Townshend. Ethan Allen heard about some of the prisoners gaining their freedom so he went into the courtroom to express his displeasure with the judge. He is quoted as saying, “Fifty miles I have come through the woods with my brave men, to support the civil with the military arm; to quell any disturbances should they arise; and to aid the sheriff and the court in prosecuting these Yorkers—the enemies of our noble state. I see, however, that some of them, by the quirks of this artful lawyer, Bradley, are escaping the punishment they so richly deserve.”
Allen went on to say, “Let me warn your Honor to be on your guard, lest these delinquents should slip through your fingers, and thus escape the rewards so justly due their crimes.” After Ethan Allen’s speech the rest of the defendants were found guilty, fined and released. Ethan Allen may have been opposed to Stephen R. Bradley’s defense of these protesters but he was also impressed with Bradley’s skills as a lawyer. In fact, Allen would hire Bradley to represent him in court on many future occasions.
Bradley also impressed Judge Moses Robinson. Robinson hired him as a full-time court clerk and then state’s attorney for southeastern Vermont. In October, 1779 Governor Chittenden appointed Bradley to serve on a committee tasked with crafting written arguments in support of Vermont’s official recognition by the United States. Bradley was only twenty-six years old, but the committee chose him to write the document that became, “Vermont’s Appeal to the Candid and Impartial World.” In some ways, young Stephen R. Bradley served Vermont in its efforts to declare its independence in the same manner that young Thomas Jefferson served the United States when he was chosen by a government committee to write the Declaration of Independence. Both were young men who could write well and craft good arguments.
Bradley, Moses Robinson and Jonas Fay traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in February, 1780 and presented Vermont’s arguments for recognition and independence to Congress. New York was heartily opposed to Vermont’s recognition by the United States and the rest of the U.S. government was more pre-occupied with the ongoing war with Great Britain than this territorial dispute between New Hampshire Grant settlers and New York. The U.S. Congress took no action to recognize or deny Vermont’s existence.
In September, 1780 Stephen R. Bradley and Ira Allen were back in Philadelphia presenting their arguments for official recognition of Vermont. This time they had two goals; stop New York’s attempt to claim Vermont, and remind Congress of Vermont’s commitment to support the war effort against Great Britain. Vermont was hoping Congress would take no action concerning New York’s claim on Vermont, and would be open to recognition and negotiations once the war was over. Again, Congress heard their arguments but took no action.
Bradley became frustrated with the political process. He joined the Vermont Militia and was appointed a Colonel in the First Regiment. The regiment was mostly populated with Green Mountain Boys and served along the Hudson River, skirmishing with the British who were traveling between New York City and Canada.