The independent Republic of Vermont was appointing a committee on this day in 1785. This committee needed to study a petition from Reuben Harmon, Jr., a man from Rupert who had petitioned for the right to mint copper coins.

It would be the first local government in America to authorize and establish a mint. The legislature awarded Harmon an exclusive two-year contract to mint coins, requiring government approval of designs and standard weights.

Vermont stopped minting four years later, in 1789. Examples of these early Republic of Vermont coins exist in some museums today, and are known as Harmon cents.

The Vermont Book Of Days photo.