1.
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
2.
Frederick County, Maryland
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Frederick County is a county located in the northern part of the U. S. state of Maryland. As of the 2010 U. S. Census, the population was 240,336, Frederick County is included in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. Like other outlying sections of the Washington metropolitan area, Frederick County has experienced a population increase in recent years. The county is associated with Western Maryland, depending on the definition used. It borders the southern border of Pennsylvania and the border of Virginia. The county is home to Catoctin Mountain Park and to the U. S. Armys Fort Detrick and it has also been the home to several celebrated historical figures like Francis Scott Key, Chris Rose, Zach Taylor, Matt Bennett, Thomas Johnson, Roger B. The namesake of Frederick County and its county seat is unknown, Frederick County was created in 1748 from parts of Prince Georges County and Baltimore County. In 1776, Frederick County was divided into three parts, the westernmost portion became Washington County, named after George Washington, the southernmost portion became Montgomery County, named after another Revolutionary War general, Richard Montgomery. The northern portion remained Frederick County, in 1837 a part of Frederick County was combined with a part of Baltimore County to form Carroll County which is east of current day Frederick County. The county has a number of properties on the National Register of Historic Places, according to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 667 square miles, of which 660 square miles is land and 7.2 square miles is water. It is the largest county in Maryland in terms of land area, Frederick County straddles the boundary between the Piedmont Plateau Region and the Appalachian Mountains. The countys two prominent ridges, Catoctin Mountain and South Mountain, form an extension of the Blue Ridge, the Middletown Valley lies between them. The summary statistics for Frederick County from the U. S. Census 2000 are provided to compare, as of the 2010 United States Census, there were 233,385 people,84,800 households, and 61,198 families residing in the county. The population density was 353.5 inhabitants per square mile, there were 90,136 housing units at an average density of 136.5 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 81. 5% white,8. 6% black or African American,3. 8% Asian,0. 3% American Indian,2. 9% from other races, and 2. 8% from two or more races. The total of those self-identifying as Hispanic or Latino origin made up 7. 3%, and those persons who were white alone made up 77. 8% of the population. In terms of ancestry,26. 3% were German,17. 4% were Irish,12. 1% were English,7. 2% were Italian, the average household size was 2.70 and the average family size was 3.17. The median age was 38.6 years, the median income for a household in the county was $81,686 and the median income for a family was $95,036
3.
Brooklyn
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Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York City, with a Census-estimated 2,636,735 residents in 2015. It borders the borough of Queens at the end of Long Island. Today, if New York City dissolved, Brooklyn would rank as the third-most populous city in the U. S. behind Los Angeles, the borough continues, however, to maintain a distinct culture. Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are ethnic enclaves, Brooklyns official motto, displayed on the Borough seal and flag, is Eendraght Maeckt Maght which translates from early modern Dutch as Unity makes strength. Since 2010, Brooklyn has evolved into a hub of entrepreneurship and high technology startup firms. The history of European settlement in Brooklyn spans more than 350 years, the neighborhood of Marine Park was home to North Americas first tidal mill. It was built by the Dutch, and the foundation can be seen today, however, the area was not formally settled as a town. Many incidents and documents relating to this period are in Gabriel Furmans early compilation, what is today Brooklyn left Dutch hands after the final English conquest of New Netherland in 1664, a prelude to the Second Anglo–Dutch War. The English reorganized the six old Dutch towns on southwestern Long Island as Kings County on November 1,1683 and this tract of land was recognized as a political entity for the first time, and the municipal groundwork was laid for a later expansive idea of Brooklyn identity. On August 27,1776 was fought the Battle of Long Island, the first major engagement fought in the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared, and the largest of the entire conflict. British troops forced Continental Army troops under George Washington off the heights near the sites of Green-Wood Cemetery, Prospect Park. The fortified American positions at Brooklyn Heights consequently became untenable and were evacuated a few days later, One result of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 was the evacuation of the British from New York City, celebrated by residents into the 20th century. The New York Navy Yard operated in Wallabout Bay for the entire 19th century, the first center of urbanization sprang up in the Town of Brooklyn, directly across from Lower Manhattan, which saw the incorporation of the Village of Brooklyn in 1817. Reliable steam ferry service across the East River to Fulton Landing converted Brooklyn Heights into a town for Wall Street. Ferry Road to Jamaica Pass became Fulton Street to East New York, Town and Village were combined to form the first, kernel incarnation of the City of Brooklyn in 1834. Industrial deconcentration in mid-century was bringing shipbuilding and other manufacturing to the part of the county. Each of the two cities and six towns in Kings County remained independent municipalities, and purposely created non-aligning street grids with different naming systems and it later became the most popular and highest circulation afternoon paper in America. The publisher changed to L. Van Anden on April 19,1842, on May 14,1849 the name was shortened to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, on September 5,1938 it was further shortened to Brooklyn Eagle
4.
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
5.
Stonyhurst College
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Stonyhurst College is a coeducational Roman Catholic independent school, adhering to the Jesuit tradition, on the Stonyhurst Estate, Lancashire, England. It occupies a Grade I listed building, the school has been fully co-educational since 1999. The college was founded in 1593 by Father Robert Persons SJ at St Omer, after moving to Bruges in 1762 and Liège in 1773, the college moved to Stonyhurst in 1794. It provides boarding and day education to approximately 450 boys and girls aged 13–18, on an adjacent site, its preparatory school, St Marys Hall, provides education for boys and girls aged 3–13. The school combines an academic curriculum with extra-curricular pursuits, Roman Catholicism plays a central role in college life, with emphasis on both prayer and service, according to the Jesuit philosophy. The earliest deed concerning the Stanihurst is held in the colleges Arundell Library, in 1372, a licence was granted to John de Bayley for an oratory on the site. His descendants, the Shireburn family, completed the oldest portion of the extant buildings, richard Shireburn began building the hall, which was enlarged by his grandson Nicholas who also constructed the ponds, avenue and gardens. Following his death, the passed to his wife and then to their sole heir, Mary. In 1754, it was inherited by her cousin Thomas Weld of Lulworth, a former pupil of the school from its years in Liège, he donated the buildings, with 30 acres of land, in 1794 to the Society of Jesus. As such it was one of several expatriate English schools operating on the European mainland, in 1762, the Jesuits were forced to flee and re-established their school at Bruges. The school was moved in 1773 to Liège, where it operated for two decades before moving to Stonyhurst on 29 August 1794, schooling resumed on 22 October that year. By the turn of the century, it had become Englands largest Catholic college. A seminary was constructed on the estate, and an observatory, the 20th century saw the gradual hiring of a mostly lay staff, as the number of Jesuits declined. The seminary at St Marys Hall was closed, and the school discontinued its education of university-aged philosophers, since the Second World War, the buildings have been refurbished or developed. Additions include new buildings in the 1950s and 1960s, a new boarding wing in the 1960s. The school became fully co-educational in 1999, the original preparatory school to Stonyhurst, Hodder Place, came into the hands of the Jesuits as part of the estate donated by alumnus Thomas Weld. Originally used as a novitiate, it became a school to the college in 1807. St Marys Hall, on a site to Stonyhurst, was built as a Jesuit seminary in 1828 and functioned until 1926
6.
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
7.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
8.
Clongowes Wood College
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Clongowes Wood College is a voluntary secondary boarding school for boys, located near Clane in County Kildare, Ireland. One of five Jesuit schools in Ireland, it had 450 students in 2011/2012 when the fees were €16,800 per annum, the schools current headmaster is Mr Chris Lumb Mr Lumb is the first lay headmaster of Clongowes in its 200-year history. Fr Leonard Maloney previous headmaster Fr Michael Sheil, S. J. retired as Rector in 2006, in September 2011 Fr Michael Sheil, S. J. returned as Rector. The school is a boarding school for boys from Ireland. The school is divided into three groups, known as lines, the Third Line is for First and Second years, the Lower Line for Third and Fourth years, and the Higher Line for Fifth and Sixth years. Each year is known by a name, drawn from the Jesuit Ratio Studiorum, Elements, Rudiments, Grammar, Syntax, Poetry, the medieval castle was originally built in the 13th century by Stuart Cullen, an early Anglo-Norman warrior and landowner in North Kildare. He had been given lands in the area of Kill, Celbridge, and Mainham by his brother, Rurai Blaney, who had come to Ireland with Strongbow. It is the residence of the community and was improved by a chocolate box type restoration in the 18th century. It was rebuilt in 1718 by Stephen Fitzwilliam Browne and extended in 1788 by Thomas Wogan Browne and it is situated beside a ditch and wall - known as ramparts - constructed for the defence of the Pale in the 14th century. The building was refurbished in 2004 and the reception area was moved back there from the 1999 building. The castle is connected to the buildings by an elevated corridor hung with portraits. This gallery was demolished and rebuilt in 2004 as part of a redevelopment programme for the school buildings. In 1929 another wing was built at a cost of £135,000 and it houses the main classrooms and the Rudiments, Grammar, Syntax, and Humanities dormitories. The Boys Chapel has a reredos, a large pipe-organ in the gallery. School tradition has it that the portrait of Pontius Pilate in the station was based on the school rector. The moat that outlines the nearby forest of the college is the old border of The Pale, the school traces its history back to a 799-acre estate owned by the Wogan family in 1418 under the reign of Henry IV. The name Clongowes comes from the Irish for meadow and for blacksmith, the estate was originally known as Clongowes de Silva. The estate later passed to the Eustace family and became part of the border of the Pale in 1494
9.
Thomas Francis Meagher
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Thomas Francis Meagher was an Irish nationalist and leader of the Young Irelanders in the Rebellion of 1848. After being convicted of sedition, he was first sentenced to death, in 1852 he escaped and made his way to the United States, where he settled in New York City. There Meagher studied law, worked as a journalist, and traveled to present lectures on the Irish cause and he married for a second time in New York. At the beginning of the American Civil War, Meagher joined the U. S. Army and he was most notable for recruiting and leading the Irish Brigade, and encouraging support among Irish immigrants for the Union. He had one surviving son, born in Ireland from his first wife after Meagher was in the United States, following the Civil War, Meagher was appointed acting governor of the Montana Territory. In 1867, Meagher drowned in the swift-running Missouri River after falling from a steamboat at Fort Benton, timothy Egan, author of a 2016 biography on Meagher, has suggested that the governor was murdered by Montana opponents. Thomas Francis Meagher was born in what is now The Granville Hotel on the Quay in Waterford City, from the age of two he lived with his family at nearby Number 19, The Mall. His father, Thomas Meagher, was a merchant who had retired to enter politics. He was twice elected Mayor of the City, which he represented in Parliament from August 1847 to March 1857. He had lived in the city since he was a young man, the senior Meagher was born in St Johns, Newfoundland. His father, also named Thomas, had emigrated as a man from County Tipperary just before the turn of the 18th century. Starting as a farmer, the grandfather Meagher became a trader, and advanced to merchant, Newfoundland was the only British colony where the Irish constituted a majority of the population. The senior Thomas Meagher married the widow Mary Crotty and he established a prosperous trade between St. Johns and Waterford, Ireland. Later, the grandfather placed his eldest son Thomas in Waterford to represent their business interests, with the son Thomas move to Waterford, the Meagher family had come full circle, returning to Ireland to prosper. The son Thomas became a merchant in Waterford, whose economic success was followed by political office. Thomas Francis Meaghers mother, Alicia Quan, was the second eldest daughter of Thomas Quan and her father was a partner in the trading and shipping firm known as Wye, Cashen and Quan of Waterford. She died when Meagher was three and a years old, after the birth of twin girls. Meagher had four siblings, a brother Henry and three sisters, only his older sister Christine Mary lived past childhood
10.
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
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The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad is one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. At first this railroad was located entirely in the state of Maryland with a line from the port of Baltimore west to Sandy Hook. At this point to continue westward, it had to cross into Virginia over the Potomac River, adjacent to the confluence of the Potomac, from there it was extended to the Ohio River at Wheeling and a few years later also to Parkersburg, West Virginia. It is now part of the CSX Transportation network, and includes the oldest operational railroad bridge in the USA, the B&O also included the Leiper Railroad, the first permanent horse-drawn railroad in the U. S. In later years, B&O advertising carried the motto, Linking 13 Great States with the Nation, the B&O Warehouse at the Camden Yards rail junction in Baltimore now dominates the view over the right-field wall at the Baltimore Orioles current home, Oriole Park at Camden Yards. At the end of 1970 B&O operated 5552 miles of road and 10449 miles of track, not including the Staten Island Rapid Transit or the Reading and its subsidiaries. The fast-growing port city of Baltimore, Maryland faced economic stagnation unless it opened routes to the western states, as New York had done with the Erie Canal in 1820. In 1827, twenty-five merchants and bankers studied the best means of restoring that portion of the Western trade which has recently been diverted from it by the introduction of steam navigation and their answer was to build a railroad—one of the first commercial lines in the world. Two men — Philip E. Thomas and George Brown — were the pioneers of the railroad and they spent the year 1826 investigating railway enterprises in England, which were at that time being tested in a comprehensive fashion as commercial ventures. Their investigation completed, they held a meeting on February 12,1827, including about twenty-five citizens. Thomas was elected as the first president and Brown the treasurer, the capital of the proposed company was fixed at five million dollars, but the B&O was initially capitalized in 1827 with a three million dollar issue of stock. Virtually every citizen of Baltimore owned a share, as the offering was oversubscribed, construction began on July 4,1828, when Charles Carroll of Carrollton did the groundbreaking. The initial tracks were built with granite stringers topped by iron rails. The first section, from Baltimore west to Ellicotts Mills, opened on May 24,1830. Developers decided to follow the Patapsco River to a point near Parrs Ridge, a later compromise allowed the two companies to share the right of way. The State of Maryland granted the B&O a charter to build a line from Baltimore to Washington, D. C. in 1831, and the Washington Branch was opened in 1835. This line joined to the mainline at Relay, Maryland, crossing the Patapsco on the Thomas Viaduct. This line was funded by the state, and was operated separately until the 1870s
