2021 UNITED STATES (Vermont) - Vermont map

Bordered by Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and the Canadian province of Quebec, Vermont is the only New England state not bordering the Atlantic Ocean, and because forests cover approximately 75% of its total land area, is the 2nd least populous of the United States. The state capital is Montpelier with a population of 7,855, making it the least populous state capital in the country.

 Vermont's most populous city is Burlington, with a population of 42,284, which makes it the least populous city in the US to be the largest city within a state. It is also one of the most racially homogeneous states (94.3% of its population is white), and the only state that does not have any buildings taller than 38m. It is the leading producer of maple syrup in the US, but generally speaking, it seams that the state has "a really stagnant economy."

The west bank of the Connecticut River marks the eastern (New Hampshire) border of the state. Lake Champlain, the major lake in Vermont, is the sixth-largest body of fresh water in the US and separates Vermont from New York in the northwest portion of the state. The Green Mountains range forms a north–south spine running most of the length of the state, slightly west of its center. In the northwest, near Lake Champlain, is the fertile Champlain Valley. In the south of the valley is Lake Bomoseen.

Originally inhabited by the Algonquian-speaking Abenaki and the Iroquois, much of the territory that is now Vermont was claimed by France during its early colonial period. France ceded the territory to the Kingdom of Great Britain after being defeated in 1763 in the Seven Years' War. Founded in 1777, the Vermont Republic lasted until 1791, when it joined the US, so was one of the four states that was previously a sovereign state (along with Texas, Hawaii, and California).

Vermont was the first state to partially abolish slavery, and in 1860 it voted for Abraham Lincoln for US President, giving him the largest margin of victory of any state. During the Civil War, it sent more than 34,000 men into US service. Almost 5,200 Vermonters were killed or mortally wounded in action or died of disease, a higher percentage (15%) than any other state. Vermont approved women's suffrage decades before it became part of the national constitution. In 2009 it became the first state to legislate same-sex marriage. It ranked also the least religious state in the U.S.

About the stamps
Two of the stamps, depicting Assassin Bug and Elderberry Longhorn, are part of the series Insects and Spiders, about which I wrote here.

The second stamps, dedicated to Marylin Monroe (1926-1962), is part of the series Legends of Hollywood, about which I wrote here. Born Norma Jeane Mortenson, Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, model, and singer, who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s and early 1960s. Her dramatic performance in Bus Stop (1956) was hailed by critics and garnered a Golden Globe nomination. She received a Golden Globe Award for her performance in Some Like It Hot (1959). In 1999, Monroe was ranked as the sixth-greatest female star of all time by the American Film Institute. In the decades following her death, she has often been cited as both a pop and a cultural icon as well as the quintessential American sex symbol.

About the third stamp, depicting the president Abraham Lincoln, I wrote here.

References
Vermont - Wikipedia

Sender: Denise 
Sent from Greenvale (New York / United States), on 09.02.2015