The recordedhistory of Maryland dates back to the beginning of European exploration, starting with theVenetianJohn Cabot, who explored the coast of North America for theKingdom of England in 1498. After European settlements had been made to the south and north, the colonialProvince of Maryland was granted byKing Charles I to SirGeorge Calvert (1579–1632), his former Secretary of State in 1632, for settlement beginning in March 1634. It was notable for having been established with religious freedom forRoman Catholics, since Calvert had publicly converted to that faith.[1][2][3] Like other colonies and settlements of theChesapeake Bay region, its economy was soon based on tobacco as a commodity crop, highly prized among the English, cultivated primarily by Africanslave labor, although many young people came fromBritain sent asindentured servants or criminal prisoners in the early years.
In 1781, during theAmerican Revolutionary War (1775–1783), Maryland became the seventh state of the United States to ratify theArticles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. They were drawn up by a committee of theSecond Continental Congress (1775–1781), which began shortly after the adoption of aDeclaration of Independence in July 1776, to 1778. Later that year, these articles were recommended to the newly independent sovereign states via their legislatures for the required unanimous ratification. This long process was held up for three years by objections from smaller states led by Maryland until certain issues and principles over the western lands beyond theAppalachian Mountains to theMississippi River. These objections were resolved with the larger states agreeing to cede their various western claims to the authority of the newCongress of the Confederation, representing all the states, to be held in common for the laying out and erection of new states out of the jointly held federal territories. Maryland then finally agreed to join the new American confederation by being one of the last of the former colonies ratifying the long proposed Articles in 1781, when they took effect. Later that same decade, Maryland became the seventh state to ratify the stronger government structure proposed in the newU.S. Constitution in 1788.
After the Revolutionary War, numerous Maryland planters freed their slaves as the economy changed.Baltimore grew to become one of the largest cities on the eastern seaboard, and a major economic force in the country. Although Maryland was still aslave state in 1860, by that time nearly half ofthe African American population was free, due mostly tomanumissions after theAmerican Revolution.[4] Baltimore had the highest number of free people of color of any city in the United States. Maryland was among the four dividedborder states during theAmerican Civil War (1861–1865), with most Marylanders fighting for theUnion Army, along with a large number for theConfederacy. As a border state, it officially remained in theUnion throughout the war.
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It appears that the first humans in the area that would become Maryland arrived around thetenth millennium BC, about the time that thelast ice age ended. They werehunter-gatherers organized into semi-nomadic bands. They adapted as the region's environment changed, developing the spear for hunting as smaller animals, likedeer, became more prevalent. By about 1500 BC, oysters had become an important food resource in the region. With the increased variety of food sources, Native American villages and settlements started appearing and their social structures increased in complexity. By about 1000 BC, pottery was being produced. With the eventual rise of agriculture, more permanent Native-American villages were built. But even with the advent of farming, hunting and fishing were still important means of obtaining food. Thebow and arrow were first used for hunting in the area around the year 800. They ate what they could kill, grow or catch in the rivers and other waterways.
By 1000 AD, there were about 8,000 Native Americans, allAlgonquian-speaking, living in what is now the state, in 40 different villages. By the 17th century, the state was populated by a mix of Iroquoian and Algonquian peoples. These were theSusquehannocks (west of the Delaware River), theTuscarora andTockwogh (on the Delmarva Peninsula between the Delaware and Indian Rivers), thePiscataway (surrounding the Potomac River from Washington D.C. south) and theNanticoke (Delmarva Peninsula, south of the Indian River). John Smith labelled the Tuscarora as the Kuskarawock on an early map from 1606, but they shortly thereafter moved west to join the Meherrin and Nottoway in Virginia.[5] Meanwhile, the Tockwogh may have moved to New York and/or been given refuge by the Susquehannock. They are noted as the Akhrakovaetonon and Trakwaerronnons, which seems similar to Tockwogh. They were extinct as a people by the end of the 17th century, however.[6]
The followingPiscataway tribes lived on the eastern bank of thePotomac, from south to north:Yaocomicoes, Chopticans,Nanjemoys,Potopacs,Mattawomans,Piscataways,Patuxents, andNacotchtanks. The area in which the Nacotchtank lived is now theDistrict of Columbia. On the west bank of the Potomac river in what is nowVirginia were the related tribes of thePatawomeck and theDoeg. Further west in theAppalachian Mountains, theShawnee lived nearOldtown at a site abandoned around 1731. On the Eastern Shore of theChesapeake, from south to north, there were theNanticoke tribes:Annemessex,Assateagues,Wicomicoes,Nanticokes,Chicacone, and, on the north bank of theChoptank River, theChoptanks. TheTockwogh tribe lived near the headwaters of the Chesapeake near what is nowDelaware.[7] They were driven further north by enemies and eventually broke apart, with some staying in the region, others merging with the Nanticoke and others, known as the Conoy, migrated west into West Virginia.[8] Some appeared around the end of the 18th century at Fort Detroit in Michigan.
When Europeans began to settle in Maryland in the early 17th century, the main tribes included the Nanticoke on theEastern Shore, and the Iroquoian speakingSusquehannock. Early exposure to new European diseases brought widespread fatalities to the Native Americans, as they had no immunity to them. Communities were disrupted by such losses. Furthermore, The Susquehannock, already incorrectly considered savages and cannibals by the first Spanish explorers, made massive moves to control local trade with the first Swedish, Dutch and English settlers of the Chesapeake Bay region. As the century wore on, the Susquehannock would be caught up in theBeaver Wars, a war with the neighboringLenape, a war with the Dutch, a war with the English, and a series of wars with the colonial government of Maryland. Due to colonial land claims, the exact territory of the Susquehannock was originally limited to the territory immediately surrounding the Susquehanna River, however archaeology has discovered settlements of theirs dating to the 14th and 15th centuries around the Maryland-West Virginia border, and beyond. It could generally be assumed that most of Maryland's southern border is based on the borders of their own land. All of these wars, coupled with disease, destroyed the tribe and the last of their people were offered refuge from the Iroquois Confederacy to the north shortly thereafter.[9]
The closest living language to them are the languages of the Mohawk and Tuscarora Iroquois, who once lived immediately north and south of them. The English and Dutch came to call them the Minqua, from Lenape, which breaks into min-kwe and translates to "as a woman." As to when they arrived, some early records detailing their oral history seem to point to the fact that they descended from an Iroquoian group who conquered Ohio centuries before, but were pushed back east again by Siouan and Algonquin enemies. They also conquered and absorbed other unknown groups in the process, which probably explains how languages like Tuscarora came to be so completely divergent from other Iroquoian languages. It also appears possible that the word "Iroquois" actually derived from their language.[10][11]
The Nanticoke seem to have been largely confined to Indian Towns,[12] but were later relocated to New York in 1778. Afterwards, they dissolved, with groups joining the Iroquois and Lenape.[13][14]
Also, as Susquehannocks began to abandon much of their westernmost territory due to their own hardships, a group of Powhatan split off, becoming known as theShawnee and migrated into the western regions of Maryland and Pennsylvania briefly before moving on.[15] At the time, they were relatively small, but they eventually made the Ohio River, migrating all the way into Ohio and merged with other nations there to become the powerful, military force that they were known to be during the 18th and 19th centuries.
In 1498 the first European explorers sailed along the Eastern Shore, off present-dayWorcester County.[16] In 1524Giovanni da Verrazzano, sailing under the French flag, passed the mouth ofChesapeake Bay. In 1608John Smith entered the bay[16] and explored it extensively. His maps have been preserved to today. Although technically crude, they are surprisingly accurate given the technology of those times (the maps are ornate but crude by modern technical standards).
The region was depicted in an earlier map byEstêvão Gomes andDiego Gutiérrez, made in 1562, in the context of the SpanishAjacán Mission of the sixteenth century.[17]
George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, applied toCharles I for aroyal charter for what was to become theProvince of Maryland. After Calvert died in April 1632, the charter for "Maryland Colony" (inLatinTerra Mariae) was granted to his son,Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, on June 20, 1632.[18] Some historians viewed this as compensation for his father having been stripped of his title of Secretary of State in 1625 after announcing hisRoman Catholicism.
Officially the colony is said to be named in honor ofQueen Henrietta Maria, the wife of KingCharles I.[19] Some Catholic scholars believe that George Calvert named the province afterMary, the mother of Jesus.[20] The name in the charter was phrasedTerra Mariae,anglice, Maryland. The English name was preferred due to the undesired associations ofMariae with the SpanishJesuitJuan de Mariana, linked to theInquisition.[21]
As did other colonies, Maryland used theheadright system to encourage people to bring in new settlers. Led byLeonard Calvert, Cecil Calvert's younger brother, the first settlers departed fromCowes, on theIsle of Wight, on November 22, 1633, aboard two small ships, theArk and theDove. Their landing on March 25, 1634, atSt. Clement's Island in southern Maryland is commemorated by the state each year on that date asMaryland Day. This was the site of the firstCatholic mass in the Colonies, with FatherAndrew White leading the service. The first group of colonists consisted of 17gentlemen and their wives, and about two hundred others, mostlyindentured servants.[24]
After purchasing land from theYaocomico Indians and establishing the town ofSt. Mary's, Leonard, per his brother's instructions, attempted to govern the country underfeudalistic precepts. Meeting resistance, in February 1635, he summoned a colonialassembly. In 1638, the Assembly forced him to govern according to the laws of England. The right to initiate legislation passed to the assembly.
In 1638 Calvert seized a trading post inKent Island established by the VirginianWilliam Claiborne. In 1644 Claiborne led an uprising of MarylandProtestants. Calvert was forced to flee to Virginia, but he returned at the head of an armed force in 1646 and reassertedproprietarial rule.
Maryland soon became one of the few predominantly Catholic regions among the English colonies in North America. Maryland was also one of the key destinations where the government sent tens of thousands of English convicts punished by sentences of transportation. Such punishment persisted until theRevolutionary War.
TheMaryland Toleration Act, issued in 1649, was one of the first laws that explicitly defined tolerance of varieties of Christianity.
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St. Mary's City was the largest settlement in Maryland and the seat of colonial government until 1695. BecauseAnglicanism had become the official religion in Virginia, a band ofPuritans in 1649 left for Maryland; they founded Providence (now calledAnnapolis).[25]In 1650 the Puritans revolted against the proprietary government. They set up a new government prohibiting both Catholicism and Anglicanism. In March 1655, the2nd Baron Baltimore sent an army under GovernorWilliam Stone to put down this revolt. Near Annapolis, his Roman Catholic army was decisively defeated by a Puritan army in theBattle of the Severn. The Puritan Revolt lasted until 1658, when the Calvert family regained control and re-enacted the Toleration Act.[26]
In 1689, following theaccession of a Protestant monarchy in England, rebels against the Catholic regime in Marylandoverthrew the government and took power. Lord Baltimore was stripped of his right to govern the province, though not of his territorial rights. Maryland was designated as a royal province, administered by the crown via appointed governors until 1715. At that time,Benedict Calvert, 4th Baron Baltimore, having converted toAnglicanism, was restored to proprietorship.[27]
The Protestant revolutionary government persecuted Maryland Catholics during its reign. Mobs burned down all the original Catholic churches of southern Maryland. The Anglican Church was made the established church of the colony. In 1695 the royal Governor, Francis Nicholson, moved the seat of government to Ann Arundell Town in Anne Arundel County and renamed it Annapolis in honor of the Princess Anne, who later became Queen Anne of Great Britain.[28] Annapolis remains the capital of Maryland. St. Mary's City is now an archaeological site, with a small tourist center.
Just as the city plan for St. Mary's City reflected the ideals of the founders, the city plan of Annapolis reflected those in power at the turn of the 18th century. The plan of Annapolis extends from two circles at the center of the city – one including theState House and the other the established AnglicanSt. Anne's Church (nowEpiscopal). The plan reflected a stronger relationship between church and state, and a colonial government more closely aligned with Protestant churches. General British policy regarding immigration to allBritish America would be reflected broadly in thePlantation Act 1740.
Based on an incorrect map, the original royal charter granted to Maryland thePotomac River and territory northward to thefortieth parallel. This was found to be a problem, as the northern boundary would have putPhiladelphia, the major city inPennsylvania, within Maryland. TheCalvert family, which controlled Maryland, and thePenn family, which controlled Pennsylvania, decided in 1750 to engage two surveyors,Charles Mason andJeremiah Dixon, to establish a boundary between the colonies.
They surveyed what became known as theMason–Dixon Line, which became the boundary between the two colonies. The crests of the Penn family and of the Calvert family were put at the Mason–Dixon line to mark it.[29]
In Chesapeake society (that is, colonial Virginia and Maryland), sports occupied a great deal of attention at every social level.Horse racing was sponsored by the wealthy gentry plantation owners, and attracted ordinary farmers as spectators and gamblers. Selected slaves often became skilled horse trainers. Horse racing was especially important for knitting the gentry together. The race was a major public event designed to demonstrate to the world the superior social status of the gentry through expensive breeding and training of horses, boasting and gambling, and especially winning the races themselves.[30] Historian Timothy Breen explains that horseracing and high-stakes gambling were essential to maintaining the status of the gentry. When they publicly bet a large fraction of their wealth on their favorite horse, they expressed competitiveness, individualism, and materialism as the core elements of gentry values.[31]
Maryland did not at first favor independence from Great Britain and gave instructions to that effect to its delegates to theSecond Continental Congress. During this initial phase of theRevolutionary period, Maryland was governed by a series of conventions of theAssembly of Freemen. The first convention of the Assembly lasted four days, from June 22 to 25, 1774. All sixteencounties then existing were represented by a total of 92 members;Matthew Tilghman was elected chairman.[citation needed]
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The eighth session decided that the continuation of an ad hoc government by the convention was not a good mechanism for all the concerns of the province. A more permanent and structured government was needed. So, on July 3, 1776, they resolved that a new convention be elected that would be responsible for drawing up their firststate constitution, one that did not refer to parliament or the king, but would be a government "...of the people only." After they set dates and prepared notices to the counties they adjourned. On August 1, all freemen with property elected delegates for the last convention. The ninth and last convention was also known as theConstitutional Convention of 1776. They drafted a constitution, and when they adjourned on November 11, they would not meet again. The conventions were replaced by the new state government which theMaryland Constitution of 1776 had established.Thomas Johnson became the state's first elected governor.[citation needed]
On March 1, 1781, theArticles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was ratified and took effect with the confirmation signing of the Articles by two Maryland delegates in Philadelphia. The articles had initially been submitted to the states on November 17, 1777, but the ratification process dragged on for several years, stalled by an interstate quarrel over claims to uncolonized land in the west of theAppalachian Mountains to theMississippi River. Maryland was the last hold-out; it refused to ratify until larger states likeVirginia and New York agreed to rescind their claims to lands in what became the oldNorthwest Territory and the Southwest Territory.Chevalier de La Luzerne, FrenchMinister to the United States, felt that the Articles would help strengthen the American government. In 1780 when Maryland requested France provide naval forces in theChesapeake Bay for protection from the British (who were conducting raids in the lower part of the bay), he indicated that French AdmiralDestouches would do what he could but La Luzerne also "sharply pressed" Maryland to ratify the Articles, thus suggesting the two issues were related.[32] On February 2, 1781, the much-awaited decision was taken by theMaryland General Assembly in Annapolis.[33] As the last piece of business during the afternoon Session, "among engrossed Bills" was "signed and sealed by GovernorThomas Sim Lee in the Senate Chamber, in the presence of the members of both Houses... an Act to empower the delegates of this state in Congress to subscribe and ratify the articles of confederation" and perpetual union among the states. The Senate then adjourned "to the first Monday in August next." The decision of Maryland to ratify the Articles was reported to the Continental Congress on February 12, 1781.
No significantbattles of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) occurred in Maryland. However, this did not prevent the state's soldiers from distinguishing themselves through their service. GeneralGeorge Washington was impressed with the Maryland regulars (the "Maryland Line") who fought in theContinental Army and, according to one tradition, this led him to bestow the name "Old Line State" on Maryland.[19] Today,the Old Line State is one of Maryland's two official nicknames.[34]
TheSecond Continental Congress met briefly inBaltimore from December 20, 1776, through March 4, 1777 at the old hotel, later renamed Congress Hall, at the southwest corner of West Market Street (now Baltimore Street) and Sharp Street/Liberty Street. MarylanderJohn Hanson, served asPresident of the Continental Congress from 1781 to 1782. Hanson was the first person to serve a full term with the title of "President of the United States in Congress Assembled" under theArticles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.[citation needed]
Annapolis served as the temporary United States capital from November 26, 1783, to June 3, 1784, and the Confederation Congress met in the recently completedMaryland State House. Annapolis was a candidate to become the new nation's permanent capital before the site along thePotomac River was selected for theDistrict of the Columbia. It was in the oldSenate chamber[19] that GeneralGeorge Washington famously resigned his commission ascommander in chief of theContinental Army on December 23, 1783. It was also there that theTreaty of Paris of 1783, which ended theRevolutionary War, was ratified by Congress on January 14, 1784.[citation needed]
Major General William Smallwood, having served under General George Washington during the Revolutionary War, then Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, became the fourth American Governor of Maryland. In 1787, Governor William Smallwood called together and convened thestate convention to decide whether to ratify the proposed U.S. Constitution in 1788. The majority of the votes at the convention were in favor of ratification, and Maryland became the seventh state to ratify the Constitution.[citation needed]
The American Revolution stimulated the domestic market for wheat and iron ore, and flour milling increased in Baltimore. Iron ore transport greatly boosted the local economy. By 1800 Baltimore had become one of the major cities of the new republic. The British naval blockade during the War of 1812 hurt Baltimore's shipping, but also freed merchants and traders from British debts, which along with the capture of British merchant vessels furthered the city's economic growth.
The city had a deepwater port. In the early 19th century, many business leaders in Maryland were looking inland, toward the western frontier, for economic growth potential. The challenge was to devise a reliable means to transport goods and people. TheNational Road and privateturnpikes were being completed throughout the state, but additional routes and capacity were needed. Following the success of theErie Canal (constructed 1817–25) and similar canals in the northeastern states, leaders in Maryland were also developing plans for canals. After several failed canal projects in the Washington, D.C. area, theChesapeake and Ohio Canal (C&O) began construction there in 1828. The Baltimore business community viewed this project as a competitive threat. The geography of the Baltimore area made building a similar canal to the west impractical, but the idea of constructing railroads was beginning to gather support in the 1820s.
In 1827 city leaders obtained a charter from theMaryland General Assembly to build a railroad to theOhio River.[35]: 17 TheBaltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) became the first chartered railroad in the United States, and opened its first section of track for regular operation in 1830, between Baltimore andEllicott City.[36]: 80 It became the first company to operate alocomotive built in America, with theTom Thumb.[37] The B&O built a branch line to Washington, D.C. in 1835.[36]: 184 The main line west reachedCumberland in 1842, beating the C&O Canal there by eight years, and the railroad continued building westward.[35]: 54 In 1852 it became the first rail line to reach the Ohio River from the eastern seaboard.[35]: 18 Other railroads were built in and through Baltimore by mid-century, most significantly theNorthern Central; thePhiladelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore; and theBaltimore and Potomac. (All of these came under the control of thePennsylvania Railroad.)
Baltimore's seaport and good railroad connections fostered substantial growth during theIndustrial Revolution of the 19th century. Many manufacturing businesses were established in Baltimore and the surrounding area after the Civil War.
Cumberland was Maryland's second largest city in the 19th century, with ample nearby supplies of coal, iron ore and timber. These resources, along with railroads, the National Road and the C&O Canal, fostered its growth. The city was a major manufacturing center, with industries in glass, breweries, fabrics and tinplate.
ThePennsylvania Steel Company founded a steel mill atSparrow's Point in Baltimore in 1887. The mill was purchased byBethlehem Steel in 1916, and it became the world's largest steel mill by the mid-20th century, employing tens of thousands of workers.[38]
In 1807, the College of Medicine of Maryland (later theUniversity of Maryland Medical School) became the seventh medical school in the United States.[39]
In 1840, by order of the Maryland state legislature, the non-religious St. Mary's Female Seminary was founded in St. Mary's City. This would later becomeSt. Mary's College of Maryland, the state's public honors college. TheUnited States Naval Academy was founded inAnnapolis in 1845, and the Maryland Agricultural College was chartered in 1856, growing eventually into theUniversity of Maryland.
Since the abolition of anti-Catholic laws[citation needed] in the early 1830s, the Catholic population rebounded considerably.The Maryland Catholic population began its resurgence with large waves of Irish Catholic immigration spurred by theGreat Famine (1845–49) and then continued through the first half of the 20th century.[40] Italian immigration[41] andPolish immigrations also supplemented the Catholic population in Maryland.[41] Baltimore was the third largest point of entry for European immigrants on the Eastern seaboard for much of this period.[40] Although greatly increased, the Catholic population has never become a majority in the state.
After the Revolution, theUnited States Congress approved construction ofsix heavy frigates to form a nucleus of theUnited States Navy. One of the first three, theUSSConstellation, was constructed in Baltimore.Constellation became the first official U.S. Navy ship put to sea, deploying to theCaribbean Sea to participate in theQuasi-War against France.
During theWar of 1812 the British raided cities alongChesapeake Bay up toHavre de Grace. Two notable battles occurred in the state. The first was theBattle of Bladensburg on August 24, 1814, just outside the national capital, Washington, D.C. The British army routed the American militiamen, who fled in confusion, and went on to capture Washington, D.C. Theyburned and looted major public buildings, forcing PresidentJames Madison to flee toBrookeville, Maryland.[citation needed]
The British next marched toBaltimore, where they hoped to strike a knockout blow against the demoralized Americans. Baltimore was not only a busy port but also suspected of harboring many of theprivateers despoiling British ships. The city's defenses were under the command of Major GeneralSamuel Smith, an officer and commander of the Maryland state militia and aUnited States senator. Baltimore had been well fortified with excellent supplies and some 15,000 troops. Maryland militia fought a determined delaying action at theBattle of North Point, during which a Maryland militia marksman shot and killed the British commander, Major GeneralRobert Ross. The battle bought enough time for Baltimore's defenses to be strengthened.
After advancing to the edge of American defenses, the British halted their advance and withdrew. With the failure of the land advance, the sea battle became irrelevant and the British retreated.AtFort McHenry, some 1000 soldiers under the command of MajorGeorge Armistead awaited the British naval bombardment. Their defense was augmented by the sinking of a line of American merchant ships at the adjacent entrance to Baltimore Harbor to thwart passage of British ships. The attack began on the morning of September 13, as the British fleet of some nineteen ships began pounding the fort with rockets and mortar shells. After an initial exchange of fire, the British fleet withdrew just beyond the 1.5 miles (2.4 km) range of Fort McHenry's cannons. For the next 25 hours, they bombarded the outmanned Americans. On the morning of September 14, an oversizedAmerican flag, which had been raised before daybreak, flew over Fort McHenry. The British knew that victory had eluded them. The bombardment of the fort inspiredFrancis Scott Key ofFrederick, Maryland to write "The Star-Spangled Banner" as witness to the assault. It later became the country'snational anthem.
Maryland was aborder state, straddling theNorth andSouth. As inVirginia andDelaware, some planters in Maryland had freed their slaves in the years after the Revolutionary War. By 1860 Maryland'sfree black population comprised 49.1% of the total of African Americans in the state.[4]
AfterJohn Brown's raid in 1859 onHarper's Ferry, Virginia, some citizens in slaveholding areas began forming localmilitias for defense. Of the 1860 population of 687,000, about 60,000 Marylanders joined theUnion and about 25,000 fought for theConfederacy. The political alignments of each group generally reflected their economic interests, with slaveholders and people involved in trade with the South most likely to favor the Confederate cause, and small farmers and merchants outside the major cities and in western Maryland allied with the Union. In the 1860 election, Lincoln received only one vote inPrince George's County, a center of largeplantations.[42]
The first bloodshed of the waroccurred in Baltimore when the6th Massachusetts Militia battled an attacking mob while marching between railroad stations on April 19, 1861. After that, Baltimore MayorGeorge William Brown, MarshalGeorge P. Kane, and former GovernorEnoch Louis Lowe requested that Maryland GovernorThomas H. Hicks, a slave owner from theEastern Shore, burn the railroad bridges and cut thetelegraph lines leading to Baltimore to prevent further troops from entering the state. Hicks reportedly approved this proposal. These actions were addressed in the famous federal court case ofEx parte Merryman.[citation needed]
Maryland remained part of the Union during the Civil War. PresidentAbraham Lincoln's strong hand suppressing violence and dissent in Maryland and the belated assistance of Governor Hicks played important roles. Hicks worked with federal officials to stop further violence.
Lincoln promised to avoid having Northern defenders march through Baltimore while en route to protect the acutely endangered federal capital. The majority of forces took a slow route by boat. Massachusetts militia generalBenjamin F. Butler used the water route after learning about the troubles in Baltimore. He commandeered the P. W. & B. Railroad ferryboatHarriet Lane at theSusquehanna River crossing betweenPerryville inCecil County toHavre de Grace inHarford County. Avoiding the riotous city, he steamed down theChesapeake Bay to anchor at night off theNaval Academy at Severn Point in Annapolis.[citation needed]
He landed his troops of Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island militia over the protests of GovernorThomas Holliday Hicks (1798–1865). He put some on the old Navy training ship frigate,USS Constitution ("Old Ironsides") and moved it off shore beyond reach of easy attack. Recruiting some railroad workers and boilermakers among his soldiers, Butler had them rescue a small yard locomotive in the trainyards and use it to take cars full of soldiers up the Annapolis Line of the B&O Railroad to Relay Junction near Ellicott City, where it joined theMain Line going west toHarpers Ferry, West Virginia or south to Washington.[citation needed] The Northern regiments used this route to reach the train station, nowWashington Union Station near theU.S. Capitol). They camped that evening in the Rotunda, which was not yet completed. An additional unit was sent upPennsylvania Avenue to reinforce theWhite House, where thepresident greeted them with relief.[citation needed]
Marylanders sympathetic to the South easily crossed thePotomac River to join and fight for the Confederacy. Exiles organized a "Maryland Line" in theArmy of Northern Virginia which consisted of oneinfantry regiment, one infantry battalion, twocavalry battalions and four battalions ofartillery. According to the best extant records, up to 25,000 Marylanders went south to fight for the Confederacy.[citation needed] About 60,000 Marylanders served in all branches of the Union military. Many of the Union troops were said to enlist on the promise of home garrison duty.[citation needed]
Maryland's naval contribution, the relatively new sloop-of-warUSSConstellation was flagship of the USAfrica Squadron from 1859 to 1861 and continued in this role during the war. In this period, she disrupted theAfrican slave trade by interdicting three slave ships and releasing the imprisoned slaves. The last of the ships was captured at the outbreak of the Civil War:Constellation overpowered the slaver brigTriton in African coastal waters.Constellation spent much of the war as a deterrent to Confederate cruisers and commerce raiders in theMediterranean Sea.[citation needed]
A Union artillery garrison was placed onFederal Hill with express orders to destroy the city should Southern sympathizers overwhelm law and order there.[43] Following the riot of 1861, Union troops under the command of GeneralBenjamin F. Butler occupied the hill in the middle of the night. Butler and his troops erected a small fort, with cannon pointing towards the central business district. Their goal was to guarantee the allegiance of the city and the state of Maryland to the federal government under threat of force. This fort and the Union occupation persisted for the duration of the Civil War. A large flag, a few cannon, and a smallGrand Army of the Republic monument remain to testify to this period of the hill's history.
Because Maryland remained in the Union, it fell outside the scope of theEmancipation Proclamation. A constitutional convention in 1864 culminated in the passage ofa new state constitution on November 1 of that year. Article 24 of that document outlawed the practice of slavery. A campaign by state politicianJohn Pendleton Kennedy and others ensured that abolishment of slavery would be in the new document, and the issue was hotly contested for nearly a year throughout the state. In the end the elimination of slavery was approved by a 1,000-vote margin. The right to vote was extended to non-white males in theMaryland Constitution of 1867, which is still in effect today.
The largest and most significant battle fought in the state was theBattle of Antietam, fought on September 17, 1862, nearSharpsburg. The battle was the culmination ofRobert E. Lee'sMaryland Campaign, which aimed to secure new supplies, recruit fresh soldiers from among the considerable pockets of Confederate sympathies in Maryland, and to impact public opinion in the North. With those goals, Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, consisting of about 40,000 men, had entered Maryland following their recent victory atSecond Bull Run.
While Major GeneralGeorge B. McClellan's 87,000-manArmy of the Potomac was moving to intercept Lee, aUnion soldier discovered a mislaid copy of the detailed battle plans of Lee's army. The order indicated that Lee had divided his army and dispersed portions geographically (toHarpers Ferry, West Virginia, andHagerstown, Maryland), thus making each subject to isolation and defeat in detail if McClellan could move quickly enough. McClellan waited about 18 hours before deciding to take advantage of this intelligence and position his forces based on it, thus endangering a golden opportunity to defeat Lee decisively.
The armies met near the town of Sharpsburg byAntietam Creek. Although McClellan arrived in the area on September 16, his trademark caution delayed his attack on Lee, which gave the Confederates more time to prepare defensive positions and allowedLongstreet's corps to arrive from Hagerstown andJackson's corps, minusA. P. Hill's division, to arrive from Harpers Ferry. McClellan's two-to-one advantage in the battle was almost completely nullified by a lack of coordination and concentration of Union forces, which allowed Lee to shift his defensive forces to parry each thrust.
Although a tactical draw, the Battle of Antietam was considered a strategic Union victory and aturning point of the war. It forced the end of Lee's invasion of the North. It also was enough of a victory to enable President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect on January 1, 1863. He had been advised by his Cabinet to make the announcement after a Union victory, to avoid any perception that it was issued out of desperation. The Union's winning the Battle of Antietam also may have dissuaded the governments ofFrance andGreat Britain from recognizing the Confederacy. Some observers believed they might have done so in the aftermath of another Union defeat.
Since Maryland had remained in the Union during the Civil War, the state was not covered by theReconstruction Act, as were states of the former Confederacy. After the war, many white Maryland residents struggled to re-establishwhite supremacy overfreedmen and formerly free blacks, and racial tensions rose. There were deep divisions in the state between those who fought for the North and those who fought for the South.
In the late 1860s, the white males of theDemocratic Party rapidly regained power in the state and replacedRepublicans who had been elected or appointed during the war. Support for the Constitution of 1864 ended, and Democrats replaced it with theMaryland Constitution of 1867. That document, which is still in effect today, resembled the 1851 constitution more than its immediate predecessor and was approved by 54.1% of the state's male population. It provided for thereapportionment of the legislature based on population, not counties, which gave greater political power to more dense urban areas (and, by extension, tofreedmen), but the new constitution deprived African Americans of some of the protections of the 1864 document.
In 1896, a biracial Republican coalition gained election ofLloyd Lowndes, Jr. as governor, and also achieved election of some Republican congressmen, includingSydney Emanuel Mudd, after Democratic dominance.[44] Over the next several decades, the African-American population struggled in a discriminatory environment. The Democrat-dominated male legislature tried to pass disfranchising bills in 1905, 1907, and 1911, but was rebuffed on each occasion, in large part because of black opposition and strength. Black men comprised 20% of the electorate and had established themselves in several cities, where they had comparative security. In addition, immigrant men comprised 15% of the voting population and opposed these measures. The legislature had difficulty devising requirements against blacks that did not also disadvantage immigrants.[44]
In 1910, the legislature proposed theDigges Amendment to the state constitution. It would have used property requirements to effectivelydisfranchise many African American men as well as many poor white men (including new immigrants), a technique used by other southern states from 1890 to 1910, beginning with Mississippi's new constitution. TheMaryland General Assembly passed the bill, whichGovernorAustin Lane Crothers supported. Before the measure went to popular vote, a bill was proposed that would have effectively passed the requirements of the Digges Amendment into law. Due to widespread public opposition, that measure failed, and the amendment was also rejected by the voters of Maryland.
Nationally Maryland citizens achieved the most notable rejection of a black-disfranchising amendment.[44] Similar measures had earlier been proposed in Maryland, but also failed to pass (the Poe Amendment in 1905 and the Straus Amendment in 1909). The power of black men at the ballot box and economically helped them resist these bills and disfranchising effort.[44]
BusinessmenJohns Hopkins,Enoch Pratt,George Peabody, andHenry Walters were philanthropists of 19th century Baltimore; they founded notable educational, health care, and cultural institutions in that city. Bearing their names, these include auniversity,free city library,music and art school, andart museum.
In the early 20th century, a political reform movement arose, centered in the rising new middle class. One of their main goals included having government jobs granted on the basis of merit rather than patronage. Other changes aimed to reduce the power ofpolitical bosses andmachines, which they succeeded in doing.
In a series of laws passed between 1892 and 1908, reformers worked for standard state-issued ballots (rather than those distributed and pre-marked by the parties); obtained closed voting booths to prevent party workers from "assisting" voters; initiatedprimary elections to keep party bosses from selecting candidates; and had candidates listed without party symbols, which discouraged theilliterate from participating. Although promoted as democratic reforms, the changes had other results sought by the middle class. They discouraged participation by the lower classes and illiterate voters. Voting participation dropped from about 82% of eligible voters in the 1890s to about 49% in the 1920s.
Other laws regulated working conditions. For instance, in a series of laws passed in 1902, the state regulated conditions in mines; outlawedchild laborers under the age of 12; mandated compulsory school attendance; and enacted the nation's firstworkers' compensation law.[citation needed] The workers' compensation law was overturned in the courts, but was redrafted and finally enacted in 1910. The law become a model for national legislation a few decades later.[citation needed]
The debate overprohibition of alcohol, another progressive reform, led to Maryland's gaining its second nickname. A mocking newspaper editorial dubbed Maryland "the Free State" for its allowing alcohol.[19][34]
TheGreat Baltimore Fire of 1904 was a momentous event for Maryland's largest city and the state as a whole. The fire raged inBaltimore from 10:48 am. Sunday, February 7, to 5:00 pm. Monday, February 8, 1904. More than 1,231firefighters worked to bring the blaze under control.
One reason for the fire's duration was the lack of nationalstandards in fire-fighting equipment. Although fire engines from nearby cities (such asPhiladelphia andWashington, as well as units from New York City,Wilmington, andAtlantic City) responded, many were useless because their hose couples failed to fit Baltimorehydrants. As a result, the fire burned over 30 hours, destroying 1,526 buildings and spanning 70 city blocks.
In the aftermath, 35,000 people were left unemployed. After the fire, the city was rebuilt using more fireproof materials, such asgranite pavers.
Entry into World War I brought changes to Maryland.
Maryland was the site of new military bases, such as Camp Meade (nowFort Meade), theAberdeen Proving Ground, which were established in 1917, and theEdgewood Arsenal, which was founded the following year. Other existing facilities, includingFort McHenry, were greatly expanded.
To coordinate wartime activities, like the expansion of federal facilities, the General Assembly set up a Council of Defense. The 126 seats on the council were filled by appointment.[clarification needed] The council, which had a virtually unlimited budget, was charged with defending the state, supervising the draft, maintaining wage and price controls, providing housing for war-related industries, and promoting support for the war. Citizens were encouraged to grow their ownvictory gardens and to obey ration laws. They were also forced to work, once the legislature adopted a compulsory labor law with the support of the Council of Defense.
H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) was the state's iconoclastic writer and intellectual trendsetter. In 1922 the "Sage of Baltimore" praised the state for its "singular and various beauty from the stately estuaries of the Chesapeake to the peaks of the Blue Ridge." He happily reported that Providence had spared Maryland the harsh weather, the decay, the intractable social problems of other states. Statistically, Maryland held tightly to the middle ground– in population, value of manufacturers, percentage of native whites, the proportion of Catholics, the first and last annual frost. Everywhere he looked he found Maryland in the middle. In national politics it worked sometimes with the northern Republicans, other times with southern Democrats. This average quality perhaps represented a national ideal toward which other states were striving. Nevertheless, Mencken sensed something was wrong. "Men are ironed out. Ideas are suspect. No one appears to be happy. Life is dull."[45]
In 1918, Maryland electedAlbert C. Ritchie, aDemocrat, governor. He was reelected four times, serving from 1919 to 1934. Ritchie was handsome, aristocratic, and very pro-business. He hired a management firm to streamline government operations and established a budget process controlled largely by economists. He also won approval for a civil service system, long been sought by reformers who wanted positions given on the basis of merit and not patronage; reduced the number of state elections by extending legislative terms from two to four years; and appointed citizens' commissions to advise on nearly every aspect of government. State property taxes dropped sharply under Ritchie, but so did state services. A powerful movie censorship board kept subversive ideas away from the masses. Three times, including 1924 and 1932, Ritchie was a candidate for President of the United States, arguing that PresidentsCoolidge andHoover were hopeless spendthrifts.[46] Ritchie lost his bid for the Democratic Party's nomination for president in 1932. Despite a large demonstration of support at the convention,Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated and went on to win the election. Ritchie continued to serve as governor until 1935.[47]
Maryland's urban and rural communities had different experiences during theDepression. In 1932 the "Bonus Army" marched through the state on its way to Washington, D.C. In addition to the nationwideNew Deal reforms of President Roosevelt, which put people to work building roads and park facilities, Maryland also took steps to weather the hard times. For instance, in 1937 the state instituted its first everincome tax to generate revenue for schools and welfare.[citation needed]
The state had some advances incivil rights. The 1935 caseMurray v. Pearson et al. resulted in a Baltimore City Court's ordering integration ofUniversity of Maryland Law School. The plaintiff in that case was represented byThurgood Marshall, a young lawyer with theNAACP and a native of Baltimore. When the stateattorney general appealed to theCourt of Appeals, it affirmed the decision. Because the state did not appeal the ruling in the federal courts, this state ruling under the U.S. Constitution was the first to overturnPlessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 Supreme Court decision that allowed separate but equal facilities.[citation needed] While the ruling was a moral precedent, it had no authority outside the state of Maryland.
A hurricane in 1933 created an inlet inSinepuxent Bay atOcean City, making the then-small town attractive forrecreational fishing. DuringWorld War II additional large defense facilities were established in the state such asAndrews Air Force Base,Patuxent River Naval Air Station, and the largeGlenn L. Martin aircraft factory east of Baltimore.
In 1952, the eastern and western halves of Maryland were linked for the first time by the longChesapeake Bay Bridge, which replaced a nearby ferry service.[48] This bridge (and its later, parallel span) increased tourist traffic to Ocean City, which experienced a building boom. Soon after, theBaltimore Harbor Tunnel allowed long-distance interstate motorists to bypass downtown Baltimore, while the earlierHarry W. Nice Memorial Bridge allowed them to bypass Washington, D.C. Twobeltways,I-695 andI-495, were built around Baltimore and Washington, whileI-70,I-270, and laterI-68 linked central Maryland withwestern Maryland, andI-97 linked Baltimore with Annapolis. Passenger and freightsteamboat transportation, previously very important throughout the Chesapeake Bay and its many tributaries, came to an end in mid-century.
In 1980, the opening ofHarborplace and theBaltimore Aquarium made that city a significant tourist destination, whileCharles Center, theWorld Trade Center, and the popularCamden Yards baseball stadium were constructed in the downtown area.Fells Point also became popular. The historic Annapolis waterfront area, previously a working-class fishing port,[citation needed] also became gentrified[citation needed] and a tourist destination. Baltimore's largest employer, theBethlehem Steel factory atSparrows Point, shrunk, and theGeneral Motors plant closed, whileJohns Hopkins University and Health Care System took Bethlehem's place as Baltimore's largest employer. There are over 350biotechnology companies in the state.[49] TheSocial Security –Health Care Financing Administration,Bureau of Standards,U.S. Census Bureau,National Institutes of Health,National Security Agency, andPublic Health Service have their headquarters in the state.Metrorail lines were constructed inMontgomery andPrince George's counties, while Baltimore opened its own 20 miles (32 km)Metro Subway as well as the north–southBaltimore Light Rail system.
In addition to general suburban growth, specially planned new communities sprung up, most notablyColumbia, but alsoMontgomery Village, Belair atBowie,St. Charles,Cross Keys, andJoppatowne, and numerous shopping malls, the state's three largest malls beingAnnapolis Mall,Arundel Mills and theTowson Town Center.Community colleges were established in nearly every county in Maryland. Large-scale, mechanized poultry farms became prevalent on the lowerEastern Shore, along with irrigated vegetable farming. InSouthern Maryland tobacco farming had nearly vanished by the century's end, due to suburban housing development and a state tobacco incentive buy-out program. Industrial, railroad, and coal-mining jobs in the four westernmost counties declined, but that area's economy was helped by expansion of outdoor recreational tourism and new technology jobs and industries.[citation needed] From the beginning of the 21st century, Maryland joined neighboring states in a new initiative to save the health ofChesapeake Bay, whose aquatic life and seafood industry are threatened by waterfront residential development, as well as by fertilizer and livestock waste entering the bay, especially from Pennsylvania'sSusquehanna River.[50][51] In addition, about 580 acres (230 ha) of Maryland shore are eroded per year due to the land sinking and rising sea levels.[52] In 2013, Maryland abolished capital punishment.
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On March 26, 2024, theFrancis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimorecollapsed after the container shipDali collided with it.[53] The collapse caused the death of 6 construction workers.[53]
Dali struck one of thepiers of the Key Bridge at 1:28 a.m.EDT (05:28UTC) after suffering a "complete blackout".[54] The bridge collapse resulted in the blockage of shipping to and from thePort of Baltimore. The closure of the port is estimated to cost $1.7 billion insupply chain disruptions.[55] On April 25, 2024, a newly opened channel allowed trapped ships to leave the Port of Baltimore.[56]
