1.
Maryland
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The states largest city is Baltimore, and its capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, the state is named after Henrietta Maria of France, the wife of Charles I of England. George Calvert was the first Lord of Baltimore and the first English proprietor of the colonial grant. Maryland was the state to ratify the United States Constitution. Maryland is one of the smallest U. S. states in terms of area, as well as one of the most densely populated, Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles and is comparable in overall area with Belgium. It is the 42nd largest and 9th smallest state and is closest in size to the state of Hawaii, the next largest state, its neighbor West Virginia, is almost twice the size of Maryland. Maryland possesses a variety of topography within its borders, contributing to its nickname America in Miniature. The mid-portion of this border is interrupted by Washington, D. C. which sits on land that was part of Montgomery and Prince Georges counties and including the town of Georgetown. This land was ceded to the United States Federal Government in 1790 to form the District of Columbia, the Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state and the counties east of the bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore. Close to the town of Hancock, in western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way across the state. This geographical curiosity makes Maryland the narrowest state, bordered by the Mason–Dixon line to the north, portions of Maryland are included in various official and unofficial geographic regions. Much of the Baltimore–Washington corridor lies just south of the Piedmont in the Coastal Plain, earthquakes in Maryland are infrequent and small due to the states distance from seismic/earthquake zones. The M5.8 Virginia earthquake in 2011 was felt moderately throughout Maryland, buildings in the state are not well-designed for earthquakes and can suffer damage easily. The lack of any glacial history accounts for the scarcity of Marylands natural lakes, laurel Oxbow Lake is an over one-hundred-year-old 55-acre natural lake two miles north of Maryland City and adjacent to Russett. Chews Lake is a natural lake two miles south-southeast of Upper Marlboro. There are numerous lakes, the largest of them being the Deep Creek Lake. Maryland has shale formations containing natural gas, where fracking is theoretically possible, as is typical of states on the East Coast, Marylands plant life is abundant and healthy. Middle Atlantic coastal forests, typical of the southeastern Atlantic coastal plain, grow around Chesapeake Bay, moving west, a mixture of Northeastern coastal forests and Southeastern mixed forests cover the central part of the state
2.
Maryland's 6th congressional district
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Marylands 6th congressional district elects a representative to the United States House of Representatives from the northwest part of the state. Today the district all of Garrett, Allegany, and Washington counties as well as portions of Montgomery. The seat is represented by John Delaney. The Maryland 6th District was one of the districts that had a congressman starting in 1789. However after the 1790 census Marylands representation increased to 8 congresspersons, the new sixth district was in the north-east corner of the state east of Baltimore, covering essentially the modern counties of Harford, Cecil and Kent. In 2012 the district was found to be the ninth least compact congressional district in the United States, after redistricting, Delaney decided to run for the newly redrawn 6th District against 10-term Republican incumbent Roscoe Bartlett. The district had long been a Republican stronghold, but it had been significantly reconfigured, the Maryland General Assembly shifted heavily Republican Carroll County and a mostly Republican section of Frederick County to the heavily Democratic 8th district. It shifted Republican-tilting sections of Harford and Baltimore counties into the already heavily Republican 1st district, taking their place was a heavily Democratic section of Montgomery County. During the primary, Delaney was endorsed by former President Bill Clinton, U. S. Congresswoman Donna Edwards, Comptroller Peter Franchot, the Washington Post, on April 3,2012, Delaney won the five-candidate Democratic primary field with 54% of the vote. The next closest opponent, State Senator Robert J. Garagiola, in the November 6,2012 general election, Delaney defeated Bartlett by 59%-38%, a 21-point margin. He won mostly on the strength of a nearly 56, 000-vote margin in Montgomery County, Marylands congressional districts List of United States congressional districts Martis, Kenneth C. The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, the Historical Atlas of United States Congressional Districts. Congressional Biographical Directory of the United States 1774–present
3.
Maryland House of Delegates
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The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts, the House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, the state capital. The State House also houses the Maryland State Senate Chamber and the offices of the Governor, each delegate has offices in Annapolis, in the nearby Casper R. Taylor Jr. The Lower House often fought with the Upper House for political influence in the colony, the Upper House consisted of the Governor and his Council, all personally appointed by Lord Baltimore and Proprietor of the Province, and thus tended to protect his interests in Maryland. Conversely, the Lower House tended to push for change in the colony. In this context, the Lower House continually fought for power by asserting exclusive rights in certain legislative areas, such as levying taxes. The Governor also had some measure of control over the Lower House in the seventeenth century. Despite the fact that each county was entitled to elect four delegates and this enabled the Governor to control the Lower Houses membership. In 1689, the transfer of Maryland from a colony to a royal colony temporarily quieted the disputes between the Lower House and the Governor and Council. Appointed by the crown, the governors allowed the Lower House substantial latitude with its legislative agenda. The first General Assembly under Royal Authority, in 1692, passed 85 acts in a single session, the Lower House immediately acted to remove the Governors influence over the election of delegates. Now, elected delegates could attend the session without the need for a writ from the Governor. At the same time, standing or continuing committees were established and these eliminated the Lower Houses reliance on ad hoc committees and created the first modern legislature in Maryland. During this period, the Lower House became known as the House of Delegates, the Maryland Constitution of 1776 formally established the modern House of Delegates. Initially, representation was based on geography as the voters of each county elected four delegates, beginning with the 1838 elections, each county elected at least three and up to six delegates depending on its population. Baltimore City elected the number of delegates as did the most populous county, but after 1840. Reapportionment was required after every federal census in an attempt to equal representation. The current pattern for distribution of seats in the House of Delegates began with the legislative apportionment plan of 1972 and has been revised every ten years thereafter, the plan created 47 legislative districts, many of which cross county boundaries to delineate districts relatively equal in population
4.
Riversdale (Riverdale Park, Maryland)
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Riversdale, is a five-part, large-scale late Georgian mansion with superior Federal interior, built between 1801 and 1807. Also known as Baltimore House, Calvert Mansion or Riversdale Mansion, it is located at 4811 Riverdale Road in Riverdale Park, Maryland, Stier planned the house in 1801 to resemble his Belgian residence, the Chateau du Mick. Rosalie and George Calverts son, Charles Benedict Calvert, established the Maryland Agricultural College, now the University of Maryland, College Park, while its design has been attributed to William Thornton, this is not supported by available evidence on Thorntons career. The house is significant as a well-preserved five-part Federal mansion, and historically important for its association with the Calverts. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1997, the house was begun in 1801 by Henri Josef Stier and his wife Marie Louise Peeters on almost 800 acres of land north of Bladensburg. Stier first commissioned Benjamin Henry Latrobe to do work. The local builder-architect William Lovering carried out the work to Stiers direction, while Latrobes rejected design was eventually used at Clifton, in Richmond. The east wing was completed first, and the Stiers occupied it in August 1802, however, the elder Stiers returned to Belgium in June 1803, and Rosalie and George Calvert took up residence at Riversdale. Plans for the grounds were developed by landscape architect William Russell Birch in 1805, the west wing was completed in 1806, completing the full five-part ensemble, one of the last of its kind. For thirteen years Riversdale housed the Peeters/Stier collection of European paintings and it included more than 63 paintings by such artists as Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, Jan Breughel and Titian. However, most of the pieces were kept in storage. However, before they were packed, Rembrandt Peale persuaded Rosalie Calvert to display them for two weeks at Riversdale in April 1816, Rosalie became the owner of Riversdale in the same year, but died in 1821. George Calvert continued to live there until his death in 1838, the estate was divided between his sons George Henry and Charles Benedict Calvert. Charles Benedict lived his life at Riversdale, pursuing agricultural studies. His unique octagonal cow-house was particularly notable, but it burned in 1910, the property was then divided between his widow Charlotte and five children, with Charlotte in the mansion. The 300-acre core of the property was sold to John Fox. Fox and Lutz acquired an adjacent 174-acre property that belonged to George Henry Calvert, the new town offered convenient transportation into Washington on the B&O railroad line that ran through the property. The mansion was preserved in a park, but was used as a boarding house
5.
Riverdale Park, Maryland
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Riverdale Park, formerly known and often referred to as Riverdale, Maryland is a semi-urban town in Prince Georges County, Maryland, United States, a suburb in the Washington D. C. metropolitan area. The population was 6,956 as of 2010, Riverdale Park and the neighboring community of West Riverdale developed in the late 19th century as streetcar suburbs in central Prince George’s County. The town is located seven miles northeast of downtown Washington. The area is bisected by the heavily traveled U. S. Route 1. The city of College Park is located to the north, and Hyattsville is located to the south, Stier and his family moved to the United States several years earlier to escape the French Revolution. Upon purchase, he named his holdings Riversdale, and began constructing his residence that same year. Just two years after purchasing the property, in 1803, the tension that had caused Stier to flee his native country subsided. Riversdale was given to their daughter, Rosalie, who had married George Calvert, after Rosalie Stier Calvert died in 1821 and George Calvert in 1838, their son, Charles Benedict Calvert, took over the plantation. Charles Calvert was a renowned agriculturist and helped establish the Maryland Agricultural College, in May 1853, Calvert announced he would donate land for an agricultural college. In 1861, Calvert was elected to the United States Congress, during his life, Charles Calvert conducted a variety of agricultural experiments at Riversdale, and expanded his familys original holdings to 2,200 acres. Calvert died in 1864, however, the property remained in the ownership of the Calvert family for twenty years. The 1861 Martenet map depicts the setting of Riversdale and identifies Charles B. The old Baltimore Turnpike, now known as US Route 1, is located to the west of the mansion house, to the east of the house is the Washington Branch of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, which opened in 1833. The railway is located inside the boundaries of Riverdale Park, just west of the Paint Branch tributary, the 1878 Hopkins map depicts little development having had happened since 1861. In 1887, the heirs of Charles Benedict Calvert sold 474 acres of land to New York City businessmen John Fox, the first deed involved the sale of 300 acres, which included the Riversdale mansion. The remaining 174 acres were transferred to Fox and Lutz shortly thereafter, the cost of the sales to Fox and Lutz totaled $47,000. On March 23,1889, Fox and Lutz formed the Riverdale Park Company, the company planned on creating an upper-middle-class residential suburb for people working in Washington, D. C. and Baltimore. The land was platted in 1889 by surveyor D. J, howell and the new development was named Riverdale Park
6.
Democratic Party (United States)
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The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The Democrats dominant worldview was once socially conservative and fiscally classical liberalism, while, especially in the rural South, since Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal coalition in the 1930s, the Democratic Party has also promoted a social-liberal platform, supporting social justice. Today, the House Democratic caucus is composed mostly of progressives and centrists, the partys philosophy of modern liberalism advocates social and economic equality, along with the welfare state. It seeks to provide government intervention and regulation in the economy, the party has united with smaller left-wing regional parties throughout the country, such as the Farmer–Labor Party in Minnesota and the Nonpartisan League in North Dakota. Well into the 20th century, the party had conservative pro-business, the New Deal Coalition of 1932–1964 attracted strong support from voters of recent European extraction—many of whom were Catholics based in the cities. After Franklin D. Roosevelts New Deal of the 1930s, the pro-business wing withered outside the South, after the racial turmoil of the 1960s, most southern whites and many northern Catholics moved into the Republican Party at the presidential level. The once-powerful labor union element became smaller and less supportive after the 1970s, white Evangelicals and Southerners became heavily Republican at the state and local level in the 1990s. However, African Americans became a major Democratic element after 1964, after 2000, Hispanic and Latino Americans, Asian Americans, the LGBT community, single women and professional women moved towards the party as well. The Northeast and the West Coast became Democratic strongholds by 1990 after the Republicans stopped appealing to socially liberal voters there, overall, the Democratic Party has retained a membership lead over its major rival the Republican Party. The most recent was the 44th president Barack Obama, who held the office from 2009 to 2017, in the 115th Congress, following the 2016 elections, Democrats are the opposition party, holding a minority of seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The party also holds a minority of governorships, and state legislatures, though they do control the mayoralty of cities such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Washington, D. C. The Democratic Party traces its origins to the inspiration of the Democratic-Republican Party, founded by Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and that party also inspired the Whigs and modern Republicans. Organizationally, the modern Democratic Party truly arose in the 1830s, since the nomination of William Jennings Bryan in 1896, the party has generally positioned itself to the left of the Republican Party on economic issues. They have been liberal on civil rights issues since 1948. On foreign policy both parties changed position several times and that party, the Democratic-Republican Party, came to power in the election of 1800. After the War of 1812 the Federalists virtually disappeared and the national political party left was the Democratic-Republicans. The Democratic-Republican party still had its own factions, however. As Norton explains the transformation in 1828, Jacksonians believed the peoples will had finally prevailed, through a lavishly financed coalition of state parties, political leaders, and newspaper editors, a popular movement had elected the president
7.
University of Virginia
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The University of Virginia, frequently referred to simply as Virginia, is a public research university and the flagship for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Declaration of Independence author Thomas Jefferson, UVA is known for its foundations, student-run honor code. UNESCO designated UVA as Americas first and only collegiate World Heritage Site in 1987, the university was established in 1819, and its original governing Board of Visitors included Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe. Monroe was the sitting President of the United States at the time of its foundation, former Presidents Jefferson and Madison were UVAs first two rectors and the Academical Village and Jefferson conceived and designed the original courses of study. The universitys research endeavors are highly recognized, in 2015, Science honored UVA faculty for discovering two of its top 10 annual scientific breakthroughs, from the fields of Medicine and Psychology. UVA is one of 62 institutions in the Association of American Universities and it is the only AAU member university in Virginia. UVA is classified as a Research University with Very High Research by the Carnegie Foundation, the university was the first non-founding member, and the first university of the American South, to attain AAU membership in 1904. UVAs academic strength is broad, with 121 majors across the eight undergraduate, students compete in 26 collegiate sports and UVA leads the Atlantic Coast Conference in mens NCAA team national championships with 17. UVA is second in womens NCAA titles with 7, UVA was awarded the Capital One Cup in 2015 after fielding the top overall mens athletics programs in the nation. Students come to attend the university in Charlottesville from all 50 states and 147 countries, the historic 1, 682-acre campus is internationally protected by UNESCO and considered one of the most beautiful collegiate grounds in the country. UVA additionally maintains 2,913 acres southeast of the city, the university also manages the College at Wise in Southwest Virginia, and until 1972 operated George Mason University and the University of Mary Washington in Northern Virginia. In 1817, three Presidents and Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court John Marshall joined 24 other dignitaries at a meeting held in the Mountain Top Tavern at Rockfish Gap, after some deliberation, they selected nearby Charlottesville as the site of the new University of Virginia. Farmland just outside Charlottesville was purchased from James Monroe by the Board of Visitors as Central College, the school laid its first buildings cornerstone late in that same year, and the Commonwealth of Virginia chartered the new university on January 25,1819. John Hartwell Cocke collaborated with James Madison, Monroe, and Joseph Carrington Cabell to fulfill Jeffersons dream to establish the university, Cocke and Jefferson were appointed to the building committee to supervise the construction. The universitys first classes met on March 7,1825, another innovation of the new university was that higher education would be separated from religious doctrine. Jefferson opined to philosopher Thomas Cooper that a professorship of theology should have no place in our institution, Jefferson was intimately involved in the university to the end, hosting Sunday dinners at his Monticello home for faculty and students until his death. Thus, he eschewed mention of his accomplishments, such as the Louisiana Purchase. This was a source of frustration for Jefferson, who assembled the students during the schools first year, on October 3,1825, to such behavior
8.
University of Maryland, College Park
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Founded in 1856, the university is the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland. It is a member of the Association of American Universities and competes in athletics as a member of the Big Ten Conference, the University of Marylands proximity to the nations capital has resulted in research partnerships with the Federal government. The operating budget of the University of Maryland during the 2009 fiscal year was projected to be approximately $1.531 billion, for the same fiscal year, the University of Maryland received a total of $518 million in research funding, surpassing its 2008 mark by $118 million. As of December 12,2012, the universitys Great Expectations campaign had exceeded $1 billion in private donations, on March 6,1856, the forerunner of todays University of Maryland was chartered as the Maryland Agricultural College. Two years later, Charles Benedict Calvert, a future U. S. Congressman, Calvert founded the school later that year. On October 5,1859, the first 34 students entered the Maryland Agricultural College, the school became a land grant college in February 1864. During the Civil War, Confederate soldiers under Brigadier General Bradley Tyler Johnson moved past the college on July 12,1864 as part of Jubal Earlys raid on Washington, D. C. By the end of the war, financial problems forced the administrators to sell off 200 acres of land, for the next two years the campus was used as a boys preparatory school. Following the Civil War, in February 1866 the Maryland legislature assumed half ownership of the school, the college thus became in part a state institution. By October 1867, the school reopened with 11 students, in the next six years, enrollment grew and the schools debt was paid off. In 1873, Samuel Jones, a former Confederate Major General, twenty years later, the federally funded Agricultural Experiment Station was established there. Morrill Hall was built the following year, on November 29,1912, a fire destroyed the barracks where the students were housed, all the schools records, and most of the academic buildings, leaving only Morrill Hall untouched. There were no injuries or fatalities, and all but two returned to the university and insisted on classes continuing. Students were housed by families in neighboring towns until housing could be rebuilt, a large brick and concrete compass inlaid in the ground designates the former center of campus as it existed in 1912. The state took control of the school in 1916, and the institution was renamed Maryland State College and that year, the first female students enrolled at the school. On April 9,1920, the became part of the existing University of Maryland, replacing St. Johns College. In the same year, the school on the College Park campus awarded its first PhD degrees. In 1925 the university was accredited by the Association of American Universities, by the time the first black students enrolled at the university in 1951, enrollment had grown to nearly 10,000 students—4,000 of whom were women
9.
Province of Maryland
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Its first settlement and capital was St. Marys City, in the southern end of St. Marys County, which is a peninsula in the Chesapeake Bay and is also bordered by four tidal rivers. The province began as a colony of the English Lord Baltimore. In 1689, the following the Glorious Revolution, John Coode led a rebellion that removed Lord Baltimore from power in Maryland. Power in the colony was restored to the Baltimore family in 1715 when Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore, insisted in public that he was a Protestant. Despite early competition with the colony of Virginia to its south, and the Dutch colony of New Netherland to its north, Maryland received a larger felon quota than any other province. By 1776 the old order had been overthrown, as Maryland citizens signed the Declaration of Independence, the Catholic George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, former Secretary of State to His Majesty, King Charles I, wished to create a haven for English Catholics in the New World. Upon Baltimores death in 1632 the grant was transferred to his eldest son Cecil, on June 20,1632 Charles I of England granted the original charter for Maryland, a proprietary colony of about twelve million acres, to Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. Some historians view this grant as a form of compensation for Calverts fathers having been stripped of his title of Secretary of State upon announcing his Roman Catholicism in 1625. The charter offered no guidelines on religion, although it was assumed that Catholics would not be molested in the new colony. The charter had originally granted to Calverts father, George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore. Whatever the reason for granting the colony specifically to Baltimore, however, the colony of New Netherland begun by Englands great imperial rival in this era, the United Provinces specifically claimed the Delaware River valley and was vague about its border with Virginia. Charles rejected all the Dutch claims on the Atlantic seaboard, but was anxious to bolster English claims by formally occupying the territory, the new colony was named after the devoutly Catholic Henrietta Maria of France, the Queen Consort. Colonial Maryland was considerably larger than the state of Maryland. The original charter granted the Calverts an imprecisely defined territory north of Virginia and south of the 40th parallel, like other aristocratic proprietors, he also hoped to turn a profit on the new colony. The Calvert family recruited Catholic aristocrats and Protestant settlers for Maryland, luring them with land grants. To try to gain settlers, Maryland used what is known as the headright system, settlers were given 50 acres of land for each person they brought into the colony, whether as settler, indentured servant or slave. Of the 200 or so initial settlers who traveled to Maryland on the ships Ark and Dove, Clements Island, off the northern shore of the Potomac River, upstream from its confluence with the Chesapeake Bay and Point Lookout. The new settlers were led by Lord Baltimores younger brother Leonard Calvert and he knew of white men from communication with native tribes to the South and West in Virginia and he was eager to gain technology, such as guns and gunpowder, from the Maryland settlers
10.
Antwerp
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Antwerp is a city in Belgium, the capital of Antwerp province in the region of Flanders. With a population of 510,610, it is the most populous city proper in Belgium and its metropolitan area houses around 1,200,000 people, which is second behind Brussels. Antwerp is on the River Scheldt, linked to the North Sea by the Westerschelde estuary, the Port of Antwerp is one of the biggest in the world, ranking second in Europe and within the top 20 globally. Antwerp has long been an important city in the Low Countries, the inhabitants of Antwerp are nicknamed Sinjoren, after the Spanish honorific señor or French seigneur, lord, referring to the Spanish noblemen who ruled the city in the 17th century. The city hosted the 1920 Summer Olympics, according to folklore, notably celebrated by a statue in front of the town hall, the city got its name from a legend about a giant called Antigoon who lived near the Scheldt river. He exacted a toll from passing boatmen, and for those who refused, he severed one of their hands, eventually the giant was killed by a young hero named Silvius Brabo, who cut off the giants own hand and flung it into the river. Hence the name Antwerpen, from Dutch hand werpen, akin to Old English hand and wearpan, a longstanding theory is that the name originated in the Gallo-Roman period and comes from the Latin antverpia. Antverpia would come from Ante Verpia, indicating land that forms by deposition in the curve of a river. Note that the river Scheldt, before a period between 600 and 750, followed a different track. This must have coincided roughly with the current ringway south of the city, however, many historians think it unlikely that there was a large settlement which would be named Antverpia, but more something like an outpost with a river crossing. However, John Lothrop Motley argues, and so do a lot of Dutch etymologists and historians, aan t werp is also possible. This warp is a hill or a river deposit, high enough to remain dry at high tide. Another word for werp is pol hence polders, historical Antwerp allegedly had its origins in a Gallo-Roman vicus. Excavations carried out in the oldest section near the Scheldt, 1952–1961, produced pottery shards, the earliest mention of Antwerp dates from the 4th century. In the 4th century, Antwerp was first named, having been settled by the Germanic Franks, the name was reputed to have been derived from anda and werpum. The Merovingian Antwerp was evangelized by Saint Amand in the 7th century, at the end of the 10th century, the Scheldt became the boundary of the Holy Roman Empire. Antwerp became a margraviate in 980, by the German emperor Otto I, in the 11th century Godfrey of Bouillon was for some years known as the marquis of Antwerp. In the 12th century, Norbert of Xanten established a community of his Premonstratensian canons at St. Michaels Abbey at Caloes
