Ira Allen

Land speculator, revolutionary, pamphleteer, politician, and empire builder, Ira Allen (1751–1814) was a key figure on the Green Mountain frontier. In a remarkable Vermont pioneer generation that included such noteworthy leaders as Ethan Allen, Thomas Chittenden, Moses Robinson, Isaac Tichenor, and Stephen Row Bradley, Ira Allen stood out for his extraordinary energy, vision, and accomplishments. He helped create and sustain the independent State of Vermont; held such important state offices as treasurer, surveyor general, and member of the Governor’s Council; published hundreds of pages defending Vermont against a host of internal and external enemies; and represented Vermont in negotiations with the British Empire, other American states, and Congress. As an entrepreneur Allen amassed a Champlain Valley land portfolio of 120,000 acres and dreamed of developing the commercial and industrial potential of northwestern Vermont to establish profitable trade networks with Canada, England, and France. When his financial reach exceeded his grasp in the 1790s, he devised an audacious plan for a French Canadian rebellion against British authority that he hoped would restore his fortunes and turn his dreams into reality. At the end of his life, alone and destitute in Philadelphia, Allen remained true to his revolutionary roots, throwing his support behind an ill-fated filibustering expedition against Mexican control of what two decades later became Texas.
J. Kevin Graffagnino’s biography ably details Ira Allen’s extraordinary life. As the first published examination of Allen’s career in nearly a century, this book shines new light on Allen and his prominent role in Vermont’s formative decades.