Ethan Allen was born on January 10, 1738 in Litchfield, Connecticut. He was a furniture maker and soldier in the American Revolutionary War. Ethan Allen led the group of soldiers known as The Green Mountain Boys. On May 10, 1775, Ethan Allen along with Benedict Arnold, led a group of American troops and captured Fort Ticonderoga. It was the first American victory of the war.  He also participated in the Battle of Longue-Pointe in Montreal, Canada on September 25, 1775.
Allen wrote a book called Reason, the only Oracle of Man: Or, a Compendious System of Natural Religion in which he promotes Deism and criticizes theistic religion like Christianity.