The letter (August/September “Correspondence”) from Paul V. Lutz, Houston, Texas, is typical Texan braggadocio and hyperbole. The war between the legal and illegal immigrants to the Mexican Territory of Texas was a defensive action to avoid being driven from said territory by the armies of Santa Anna. The establishment of an independent country was ex post facto to the defeat of the Mexican forces.

On the other hand the area now known as the state of Vermont was claimed under “Royal Grant” to be the property of each of the colonies of New Hampshire and New York. The earlier settlers thereof drove out the newcomers from each colony and established an independent republic that fought beside the Thirteen Colonies during the war for independence from England, later becoming the first independent republic to join the Union (as its fourteenth state).