This video recounts the history of Maryland. It begins with the first people that made the state their home. It continues with the first European explorers and the creation of Maryland as a province that would serve as a haven for Catholics. It shows how the Lords Baltimore handled the multiple challenges they faced and how this created an independent streak that would eventually lead to rebellion and the American Revolution. It follows with the early days of the republic, the Civil War and Antietam and how post-war led to some well-known Maryland institutions. It then explains how proximity to DC has contributed to it becoming the richest station in the country.
Maryland began Life as a province as a Haven for Catholics and the personal property of a baron it is now the country’s richest state with the highest median household income in the US as of 2023 to see how that happened join me for this brief look at the history and politics of
Maryland Anthropologist estimate that Maryland’s first inhabitants came to the area around the end of the last ice age some 11,000 years ago they were hunter gatherers known as Paleo Indians whose lifestyle slowly changed with the adoption of new food sources like oysters by 1500 BCE and Technology like
Pottery around 1,000 BCE as well as bow andero around 800 ad there was also agriculture of course which was based around the three sisters corn beans and squash this would all culminate into the creation of permanent Villages formed by LGH houses around 1,000 ad by the time
Europeans began settling the area in the 17th century there was a mix of alanan and aoan people divided into a number of groups with various territories like the susah hanx lfi masaw Chop Tank piscato nanoke among others It is believed that the first Europeans to encounter the
Future state of Maryland were the men on John cavat expedition in 1498 when they sailed along the eastern shore of present day Worcester County gavat was sailing under the British flag and soon would be joined by other European powers including the French with Giovani Verano in 1524 and the Spanish in the 1560s
Iberian knowledge of the area was first published in a Diego Gutierrez map in 1562 the first outline of the Chesapeake Bay what he called de Baya de Santa Maria Pedro Menendez de aules the governor of Spanish Florida would follow up 10 years later but neither France nor Spain established settlements instead
The British would come back in the summer of 1608 under the leadership of Captain John Smith who explored the Chesapeake Bay at length in search of resources for for the newly established colony of Virginia what he found attracted the interest of Virginians and in 1631 they established a fur trading
Post at Kent Island on the Chesapeake Bay under the leadership of William Clairborne a wealthy Merchant and planter but they were not the only ones interested in the surrounding lands George calber the first Baron of Baltimore wanted to create a colony that would be safe for Catholics in the new
World he had attempted to do so in the early 1620s in New Finland but it failed given the harsh weather conditions so he petitioned a charter from King Charles for land further south the crown was receptive to this idea given that the Dutch had established a colony along the
Delaware and were afraid they might encroach at some point on their colony in Virginia thus when calber died in April 1632 a charter was granted to his son cecilius that established a new Colony north of the pomac with the name of Terra Maria or Maryland in LA in
Honor of the king’s wife Quinn Henrietta Maria slightly over a year later the first British settlers set sail for the New Colony landing at St Clement’s island in the lower pomac on March 25th 1634 famously this was the site of the first Catholic mass in the 13 British
Colonies an event now commemorated with a giant cross in a preserved State Park led by Leonard Calbert Cecilia’s younger brother the new settlers bought Land from the yomiko Indians and established St Mary’s the colony’s first settlement the charter had granted the Lord Baltimore a proprietorship that was almost absolute and Calbert tried to
Rule that way but soon met stiff resistance this led first to the creation of a colonial assembly in 1635 and then to a reshuffling of prerogatives where the assembly gained the power to initiate legislation in 1638 the colony had fertile lands that could be used to grow tobacco this led
To a steady growth in population although the harsh conditions and local diseases limited its explosiveness and also made the importation of enslaved Africans an attractive commercial decision the first such documented arrival occurred in St Mary’s in 1642 they also were not the so newcomers although the Calbert family had
Originally envisioned The Colony as a Haven for Catholics others soon became interested in the area so that within a few years they were ABN numbered by anglicans and Puritans a group of the latter opted to leave Virginia in 1649 when the colony made anglicanism the official religion and settled on the
North Shore of the Severn River they called their new community Providence a name that would be changed in 1698 to Annapolis partly as a result of the new arrivals the Maryland legislature passed the Toleration Act of 1649 one of the earliest American laws guaranteeing the freedom of religion although in this
Case it was limited to Christians not that this prevented religious conflict there had already been a rebellion in 1644 that is stand mostly from competing claims over Kent Island the post on the Chesapeake that the Virginia William Clairborne had established in 1631 in which lonard Calbert had ceased by force
In 1638 but in 1650 a much bigger one arose this this time from the newly AR right Puritans in large part because it Dove tailed with religious conflicts back home related to the English Civil War of 1642 1651 between those who supported King Charles and those who sided with the Puritan Le English
Parliament Leonard Calbert had died in 1647 so his replacement William Stone was named new governor and in 1649 set out to put down the Rebellion at first the Puritans were successful in beating back Stone’s forces at the Battle of the Severn in 1655 but the Calver family would eventually regain control and the
Revolt would end in 1659 this did not end the challenges to Authority in Maryland however when the Glorious Revolution occurred in 1688 which restored a Protestant Monarch to the British throne there was a massive Puritan Revolt that marched on St Mary’s the capital the rebel stripped Lord
Baltimore of his right to govern and political power was transferred to the crown which would rule the colony directly as Royal Province until 1715 during this period Catholics were persecuted and all original Catholic churches in southern Maryland burned down the capital was also moved to Annapolis in 1698 a town that was
Renamed in honor of Princess Anne who would later become Queen by the end of the 17th century Maryland was a well-established Enterprise with a total population of about 30,000 with counties that encompassed the entirety of the Chesapeake Bay an increase in tobacco prices sustained the col’s prosperity
And in 1715 political changes in England and the conversion to anglicanism over the four Lord of Baltimore Benedict Calbert paved the way for the full return of his family’s rights over Maryland this obviously did not end Independence streak that had developed in the colony something which before the
End of the century would become a serious problem but that was still in the future in the meantime Maryland continued to develop in 1729 the colony’s assembly Charter Baltimore Town out of a number of previous settlements soon after it also created a company to mine iron or deposits in its vicinity
Which helped Baltimore grow by 1788 it had around 14,000 people likewise after buying land from the native tribes it opened up the western part of the state to development initial outlines of what would later become Hagerstown Frederick and gathersburg were settled in 1739 1745 and 1765 respectively Hagar town in
Gathersburg were named after people that actually Liv there who Frederick is named after on the other hand is unclear but it’s probably Frederick Calbert the sixth Baron of Baltimore this however was not without conflict there were competing claims in the panhandled part of the future state with the French but
Also with Virginia Pennsylvania and in the northern part with Pennsylvania because the original Royal Charters that established the line between the two colonies had been based on faulty Maps the disputed border even led to violence with the outbreak of the so-called crups war in 1732 where the militias of both
Colonies intervened King George then had to intercede to end the hostilities and later in 1760 forced the pens and calv to agree to make a boundary this led to the hiring of Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon who set out to survey the border between 1763 in 1767 and finally
Established the Mason Dixon line in 1768 the claims on the western part would not be resolved until 1781 when Congress allowed Maryland to keep its Panhandle so that it could have access to Farmland in the Mississippi River system and exchange for it ratifying the Articles of Confederation soon other problems
Surfaced Britain had been in conf with France over control of North America for over a century at that point and been engaged with them in several Wars including what is known in the US as the French and Indian War in 1763 this had been a costly Endeavor and the British
Parliament attempted to get the 13 colonies to pay for what they saw as the cost of their security the Colonials saw it differently refused to pay their taxes and the escalating conflict eventually led to the American Revolution Maryland shared in some of those grievances in May and October 1774
Maryland had it own tea parties at Chester Town in Annapolis in the latter the owner of the ship was forced to burn his own vessel and the pound of tea he was carrying when war finally broke out in 1776 Maryland was somewhat divided over the issue although the state had
Some radical voices like Charles caral a wealthy planter the longest Survivor and the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence as well as Samuel Chase another signer in Revolutionary Firebrand his Continental representation was more moderate and there were areas that had disproportionate loyalist support like the Eastern Shore although
No major battles took place in Maryland the future state provided 11 distinct militias to the cause some of whom were critical to the effort none more so than the Maryland 400 from the first Maryland regiment who were key in the Battle of Long Island earning George Washington’s
Praise the future State also had one of the most symbolic events of the war the continental congress met in Annapolis where it accepted George Washington’s resignation as general of the army and ratified theat treaty that recognized the colonies as independent the Treaty of Paris American victory brought the
Definitive end to the Calvert’s family control of Maryland but the Articles of Confederation Arrangement brought other problems for one there was trade and navigation in March 1785 Maryland and Virginia meant to deal with this and established the first interstate compact this was followed up in September 1786 by five other states although not
Maryland who met in Annapolis to try to hammer out broader agreements on trade they were successful but realized that a much larger convention was needed a recognition that led directly to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia and there a year later Maryland sent five delegates two of whom Luther Martin and John Francis Mercer
Opted to leave because they disagreed with the proceedings Martin in particular demanded a Bill of Rights which would later be added to the Constitution Maryland would then become the seventh state to ratify the new compact on April 28th 1788 the Constitution also LED led to the creation of the District of Colombia
Whose land was seated by Maryland in Virginia in 1790 the early days of the Republic were generally prosperous for Maryland given its location and its status as a deep water Port Baltimore became the third largest city in the country it helped that the state saw major infrastructure developments during this period
Including the National Road connecting Cumberland to the Ohio river and further Points West built between 1811 1837 the Chesapeake in Ohio Canal constructed in 28 in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad the first Charter Railway in the US laid out in 1830 there would also be a number of important universities that were
Founded during this period including St Mary’s College in 1840 the United States Naval Academy in 1845 and the University of Maryland in 1856 even the War of 1812 a conflict that begun over trade tensions between Britain and the United States did not stop this outward Trend despite the fact that in 1814 the
British invaded Maryland bringing destruction with them their most famous attack the siege of Fort McHenry on the outskirts of Baltimore on September 12th inspired Francis Scott Key to write a poem which would later be the lyrics of the national anthem the country’s much bigger National problem slavery was also
A big issue in Maryland tobacco’s Prosperity had been underpinned from the beginning by kidnapped Africans so that by 1860 12.7% of the state’s population was enslaved however it also had a High rate of manumission making Maryland the state with the highest number of free blacks in the country by far with around
25,000 more in Virginia the next closest three of its most famous Francis Ellen Watkins Parker Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman became prominent in the Abolitionist cause Parker and Douglas as writers and orators in the latter in a more Hands-On way when she personally went back to help others escape slavery through the Underground
Railroad as tensions over the issue grew the southern part bordering Virginia and the Eastern Shore were generally more sympathetic to the southern cause while the Central and Western sections tended to agree with the north thus the state would end up having men fight on both sides of the conflict when the attack on
Fort Sumpter finally came and the War Began the first civilian Bloodshed took place on Maryland soil a few days later this was because as the Massachusetts militia made its way down to protect the they stopped in Baltimore to change trains and soon had a riot broke out when a mob sympathetic to the
Confederacy blocked the route and attacked the train in the confusion the soldiers retaliated and soon 12 civilians and five troops lay dead hundreds more were wounded this was only the beginning as a border state Maryland would see multiple important battles but none more so than antium on September 17th 1862 the
Deadliest one-day battle in American history with with nearly 23,000 dead this was key because it not only stopped the Confederate Invasion but also gave Lincoln the political room he needed to proclaim the Emancipation Proclamation and probably stop Britain and France from recognizing the Confederacy the war would eventually end
With some 2500 Maryland troops dead in a union victory the racial tensions underlying the war would not be so easily resolved in the state however Maryland had passed a new constitution in 1864 that abolished slavery and created some protections for African-Americans white Democrats were able to regain power
After the end of the conflict and established a new constitution in 1867 which is still in use today although it has been heavily amended over the years it had one key provision meant to help the white elite which would later become a big impediment for their plans however the provision was the
Reapportionment of the legislature based on population not counties for roughly the following 50 years the white elite would try to pass laws to disin franchise blacks but African-Americans in the state especially in Baltimore gave them enough power to block their efforts this did not translate to elected positions however there would be
No black US representatives of any type or even mayors of Annapolis or Baltimore until after the Civil Rights era in fact because the right of blacks to vote was the only real issue to distinguish the parties party machines became the norm creating clientelistic connections with people like Arthur Pew Gorman of rural
Howard County and I Freeman raisin the Bost of Baltimore city in charge this in turn led to Progressive blowback and mock wracking journalism that tried to undermine the machines the most famous journalist of the era however was HL Menin the editor of the Baltimore son
Who was more of a reluctant mrack but no less a fearsome social critic eventually the machines gave way to Albert Richie a Democrat who was the most popular and longest serving governor in state’s history and who also did much to professionalized and streamlined state government leaving an imprint that
Lasted far after his death meanwhile as the state’s postwar economy continued to grow philanthropy became a major source of improvement for the state during this period John Hopkins Enoch Pratt George puddy and Henry Walters set the financial basis for a university Free Library art school and Museum among other
Institutions the Great Depression hit the state hard and although Maryland did not receive as much government spending per capita as other states it would change the significance of the federal government in the state in fact what truly placed Maryland in its current trajectory was World War II as the
Importance of Washington DC also increased the states as a simple function of proximity the global conflict produced unprecedented National demands in military preparations and industrial production Maryland would become a center for both armed service bases were expanded or constructed a new including Andrews Air Force Base for
George me and pent Naval Air Station as well as hospitals such as the Bethesda Naval Medical Center or as it’s better known Walter Reed it also made previously built sites like Camp David much more important as the significance of the United States in the world also increased the end of the
War brought with it a baby and economic boom a suburbanization accelerating the state with vengeance the governor at the time William Preston Lane Jr took that prosperity and gave the government a more activist role than it had in the past with a massive increase in spending on public education and the building of
A bridge across the Chesapeake that opened to the public in 1952 meanwhile racial tensions returned in 1960s as the Civil Rights Movement developed Nationwide one of its most notable examples in Maryland was the Cambridge movement a series of protests center around Dorchester County in the Eastern Shore led by Gloria Richardson
It picketed against businesses that refused to hire black people organized CI and fought any way it could against discrimination protests would sometimes turn violent which eventually LED J Miller TOS the governor to declare martial law in 1963 and send the National Guard Robert Kennedy then intervened to get both sides to come to
An agreement in what became known as the Treaty of Cambridge of course that the Civil Rights Movement began at all happened in part as a result of the Supreme Court decisions of the 1950s like brown vort of toeka which themselves were argued by Maryland’s most famous lead legal mind thur good
Marshall the Baltimore born lawyer would continue to significantly shape the country’s legal structure when he was appointed Supreme Court Justice on August 30th 1967 despite overall prosperity and political gains for African-Americans Baltimore continued to be Maryland’s biggest exception as white flight and Urban Decay took its toll although there
Was a major effort to revitalize the Inner Harbor starting in the late 1970s with the opening of the Baltimore aquarium in Harbor Place in 1980 in the Camden Yards in 1992 a number of the city’s neighborhoods continued to be stricken by poverty and crime this combination plus the city’s politics made for a
Vicious cycle of underinvestment and overp policing most famously captured by the HBO series of wire this pattern led to much frustration with the police which would occasionally lead to Violent protests the most recent one was in 2015 when prosecutors concluded that police officers had been responsible for the
Death of Freddy Gray a black man who had been originally arrested for carrying a knife as Maryland continues to benefit from its proximity to Washington DC and join the highest median household income in the country since 2010 challenges remain this is not just in Baltimore but also in counties like aligan and
Orchester whose median income is lower than even West Virginia the poorest state in the Union whether the new economic Trends will be enough to revize those areas remains to be seen
2 Comments
First
Thank you so much for this video ❤