[1] Both Pennsylvania and Connecticut claimed ownership of the lands between 41° N and 42° N, and this gave rise to a series of land-conflicts collectively referred to as the Yankee-Pennamite Wars (intermittently from 1769 to 1799).

By the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War, the states had made conflicting land grants in the region and independently organized it politically.

Pennsylvania ruled that the Connecticut settlers ("Yankees") were not citizens of the Commonwealth, could not vote, and were to give up their property claims.

With that victory, Captain John Franklin proposed that a new state separate from both Connecticut and Pennsylvania be created, to be called Westmoreland.

While this compromise brought an end to the proposed state, political discord among residents associated with the land conflict continued into the 19th century.