Excerpt from Encyclopedia, Vermont Biography: A Series of Authentic Biographical Sketches of the Representative Men of Vermont and Sons of Vermont in Other States It is probably true that Vermont, as nearly as any spot upon the earth's crust, has been the scene of the most conspicuous action by men in all efforts to create, maintain, and advance a true independence of person and state and upon principles fundamentally included in the term self-government. In fact, its history, upon utmost analysis, discloses that no people organized as a state have more nearly attained to perfect sovereignty or maintained it under their constitution and political methods than the People of Vermont. The original stock, according to a census more than a century old, was composed almost wholly of English and Scotch, and was, therefore, Anglo-Saxon in its quality. That carried with it, considering only insignificant changes in its character, the virtues of their institutions, language, and literature, and, what is equally important, however derived, the fine character of Anglo-Saxon intellectual and moral life. Vermont in the American Revolution had reason for, and might have profited by, serving England; but its people, under a lofty leadership, saw fit to espouse the cause which, under Providence, has led to stupendous advances in the history of civilization and created a nation which outruns all others in its achieved results for man. Its people came of stock which held education, religion, freedom of person, and honest dealings in chief regard, and they were ready, in sustaining these assets of sovereignty, to sacrifice all. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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For over a century, from 1854, the year the party was organized, until 1958, Vermonters never failed to elect Republicans to its state and national offices, and every four years they returned a slate of electors pledged to the Republican presidential nominee. The Vermont GOP was trumpeted as the star that never set in the Republican Party's political firmament, until the decline of family farms and the influx of Democrat-leaning urbanites in the 1960s and 1970s eroded the bedrock of Vermont's GOP base. Encompassing the years 1854 to 1974, Samuel Hand's superb historical study documents the rise and fall of Vermont republicanism, exploring the personalities and the religious, political, and social institutions that constituted the Vermont Republican Party. More than simply the authoritative telling of a remarkable century of hegemony for the Vermont GOP, The Star That Set is a compelling story of the waning importance of party in modern American political life.