Maryland
Maryland is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, the District of Columbia to its south and west. The state's largest city is Baltimore, its capital is Annapolis. Among its occasional nicknames are Old Line State, the Free State, the Chesapeake Bay State, it is named after the English queen Henrietta Maria, known in England as Queen Mary. Sixteen of Maryland's twenty-three counties border the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay estuary and its many tributaries, which combined total more than 4,000 miles of shoreline. Although one of the smallest states in the U. S. it features a variety of climates and topographical features that have earned it the moniker of America in Miniature. In a similar vein, Maryland's geography and history combines elements of the Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic regions of the country. One of the original Thirteen Colonies of Great Britain, Maryland was founded by George Calvert, a Catholic convert who sought to provide a religious haven for Catholics persecuted in England.
In 1632, Charles I of England granted Calvert a colonial charter, naming the colony after his wife, Queen Mary. Unlike the Pilgrims and Puritans, who enforced religious conformity in their settlements, Calvert envisioned a colony where people of different religious sects would coexist under the principle of toleration. Accordingly, in 1649 the Maryland General Assembly passed an Act Concerning Religion, which enshrined this principle by penalizing anyone who "reproached" a fellow Marylander based on religious affiliation. Religious strife was common in the early years, Catholics remained a minority, albeit in greater numbers than in any other English colony. Maryland's early settlements and population centers clustered around rivers and other waterways that empty into the Chesapeake Bay, its economy was plantation-based, centered on the cultivation of tobacco. The need for cheap labor led to a rapid expansion of indentured servants, penal labor, African slaves. In 1760, Maryland's current boundaries took form following the settlement of a long-running border dispute with Pennsylvania.
Maryland was an active participant in the events leading up to the American Revolution, by 1776 its delegates signed the Declaration of Independence. Many of its citizens subsequently played key military roles in the war. In 1790, the state ceded land for the establishment of the U. S. capital of Washington, D. C. Although a slave state, Maryland remained in the Union during the U. S. Civil War, its strategic location giving it a significant role in the conflict. After the war, Maryland took part in the Industrial Revolution, driven by its seaports, railroad networks, mass immigration from Europe. Since the Second World War, the state's population has grown to six million residents, it is among the most densely populated states in the nation; as of 2015, Maryland had the highest median household income of any state, owing in large part to its close proximity to Washington, D. C. and a diversified economy spanning manufacturing, higher education, biotechnology. Maryland has been ranked as one of the best governed states in the country.
The state's central role in American history is reflected by its hosting of some of the highest numbers of historic landmarks per capita. Maryland 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 smaller state. The next larger state, its neighbor West Virginia, is twice the size of Maryland. Maryland possesses a variety of topography within its borders, contributing to its nickname America in Miniature, it ranges from sandy dunes dotted with seagrass in the east, to low marshlands teeming with wildlife and large bald cypress near the Chesapeake Bay, to rolling hills of oak forests in the Piedmont Region, pine groves in the Maryland mountains to the west. Maryland is bounded on its north by Pennsylvania, on its west by West Virginia, on its east by Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean, on its south, across the Potomac River, by West Virginia and Virginia; the mid-portion of this border is interrupted by District of Columbia, which sits on land, part of Montgomery and Prince George's counties and including the town of Georgetown, Maryland.
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. Most of the state's waterways are part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, with the exceptions of a tiny portion of extreme western Garrett County, the eastern half of Worcester County, a small portion of the state's northeast corner. So prominent is the Chesapeake in Maryland's geography and economic life that there has been periodic agitation to change the state's official nickname to the "Bay State", a nickname, used by Massachusetts for decades; the highest point in Maryland, with an elevation of 3,360 feet, is Hoye Crest on Backbone Mountain, in the southwest corner of Garrett County, near the bo
Maryland House of Delegates
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 houses the Maryland State Senate Chamber and the offices of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the State of Maryland; each delegate has offices in Annapolis, in the nearby Casper R. Taylor Jr. House Office Building; the Maryland House of Delegates originated as the Lower House of the General Assembly of the Province of Maryland in 1650, during the time when it was an English colony, when the Assembly became a bicameral body. The Lower House fought with the Upper House for political influence in the colony; the Upper House consisted of the Governor and his Council, all appointed by Lord Baltimore and Proprietor of the Province, thus tended to protect his interests in Maryland. Conversely, the Lower House tended to push for political change in the colony, claiming to be the true elected representatives of the people.
In this context, the Lower House continually fought for more power by asserting exclusive rights in certain legislative areas, such as levying taxes and originating money bills. This reflected similar attitudes in the other colonies on the East Coast of North America with the beginnings and growth of representative government during the 17th century, as each province's representatives agitated for more rights and respect from the Proprietors and the King and Parliament in London; the Governor had some measure of control over the Lower House in the late seventeenth century. Despite the fact that each county was entitled to elect four delegates, the governor selected only two of these to sit in the Lower House; this enabled the Governor to control the Lower House's membership. In 1689, the transfer of Maryland from a proprietary colony to a royal colony temporarily quieted the disputes between the Lower House and the Governor and Council. Appointed by the crown, the royal 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 acted to remove the Governor's influence over the election of delegates. Now, elected delegates could attend the session without the need for a special writ from the Governor. At the same time, standing or continuing committees were established; these eliminated the Lower House's 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. Representation was based on geography as the voters of each county elected four delegates, two each were elected from the towns of Annapolis and Baltimore; these delegates served one-year terms. Beginning with the 1838 elections, each county elected at least three and up to six delegates depending on its population. Baltimore City elected the same number of delegates as did the most populous county, but after 1840, the Town of Annapolis was considered part of Anne Arundel County.
Reapportionment was required after every federal census in an attempt to achieve 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 equal in population. Each legislative district sends three delegates for a total of 141 members of the House; some of the larger districts are divided into delegate sub-districts to provide local representation to areas not large enough to constitute an entire legislative district. The powers and functions of the Maryland House of Delegates are outlined in the Maryland Constitution. Along with the State Senate, the House has the power to approve laws, establish executive departments, levy taxes, propose state constitutional amendments. Both houses have the power to elect the state treasurer and to appoint a new Governor if the offices of Governor and Lieutenant Governor are vacant.
In addition, the House of Delegates has the sole power to impeach members of the executive branch, including the Governor. Once the House of Delegates has passed articles of impeachment, the person impeached stands trial before the State Senate; the House of Delegates utilizes a number of different organizational structures. Much of the work of drafting and reviewing bills is done by six standing committees: Appropriations, Economic Matters and Transportation, Health and Government Operations and Ways and Means; each of these committees is divided further into sub-committees by issue area. An additional continuing committee, Executive Nominations, has the responsibility for confirming appointments of the Governor. Delegates divide themselves into a variety of recognized work groups and Special Committees and geographic delegations; the two largest caucuses are those of the Republican Parties. Smaller caucuses might group Delegates by identity, such as the Women's Caucus, notably the first women's legislative caucus founded in the United States.
The Asian-American and Pacific Islander caucus. Delegates may organize by issue or area of experience, such as the Veterans' Caucus. In addition, delegates from a certain county, smaller towns, or Ba
Washington College
Washington College is a private, independent liberal arts college in Chestertown, Maryland. Maryland granted Washington College its charter in 1782. George Washington supported the founding of the college by consenting to have the "College at Chester" named in his honor, through generous financial support, through service on the college's Board of Visitors and Governors. Washington College is the 10th-oldest college in the United States and was the first college chartered after American independence; the school became coeducational in 1891. Washington College evolved from the Kent County Free School, an institution of more than 60 years' standing in "Chester Town," which by the college's founding date of 1782 had reached considerable strength and importance as a port city. George Washington consented to the fledgling college's use of his name, pledged the sum of 50 guineas to its establishment, extended his warm wishes for the "lasting and extensive usefulness" of the institution, he served on Washington College's Board of Visitors and Governors — his only such involvement with an institution of higher learning.
The college's first president, the Reverend William Smith, was a prominent figure in colonial affairs of letters and church, he had a wide acquaintance among the great men of colonial days, including Benjamin Franklin. Joining General Washington on the Board of Visitors and Governors of the new college were such distinguished figures as U. S. Senator John Henry, Congressman Joshua Seney and his Excellency William Paca, Governor of Maryland; the Maryland legislature granted its first college charter upon Washington College in May 1782. The following spring, on May 1783, the college held its first commencement. President Smith had envisaged Washington College as the Eastern Shore Campus of a public University of Maryland with St. John's College as its Western Shore counterpart, a proposal incorporated into the institution's 1784 state charter, but the Maryland General Assembly's reluctance to provide funding meant this was never more than a paper institution and the relationship ended with Smith's return to Philadelphia in 1789.
With his election as first President of the United States, General Washington retired from the Board of Visitors and Governors and accepted the honorary degree of doctor of laws, which a delegation from Chestertown presented to him on June 24, 1789, in New York the seat of Congress. Since Washington's last visit to campus, Washington College has hosted five U. S. presidents: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and George H. W. Bush; the original college building cornerstone was laid in May 1783, it opened in 1788 after selling off acreage and starting a lottery to fund the project. The hall was still incomplete by 1794 and was destroyed by a basement fire January 11, 1827; the oldest existing building, Middle Hall, was erected in 1844 on the site of the original college building. By 1860, Middle Hall was joined by West Halls. All three structures, known as the Hill Dorms, are on the Maryland Register of Historic Places. For the 2011-2012 academic year, 56.6% of applicants were accepted to the college.
1,400 undergraduates and 100 graduate students attend Washington College, 47 percent from Maryland and the balance from 35 other states and forty foreign nations. 8 percent of the American undergraduates are minority students and 8 percent are international citizens. 5 percent of the college's student body is "non-traditional". 80 percent of all students live in college residence halls. Tuition for the 2012-2013 year is $39,208 and total expenses per annum are $48,768. 85 percent of the student body receives some form of need-based financial aid or merit-based scholarship award. The cost of attendance has been rising in recent years, with the overall costs increasing by $2,000 per year. In 2015, Washington College was ranked by The Princeton Review as 16th in the United States among "Colleges With The Happiest Students In 2015-16". In the 2011 edition of U. S. News & World Report Best Colleges, Washington College rose 19 positions to 93rd in the nation in the National Liberal Arts Colleges category.
Each year, Washington College awards the nation's largest undergraduate literary prize. Since 1968, the Sophie Kerr Prize has been presented to one graduating senior who demonstrates the greatest literary promise; the endowment created by Sophie Kerr, a writer who published 23 novels and dozens of short stories, has provided more than $1.4 million in prize money to young writers. At a ceremony held at the Poets House in New York City on May 17, 2011, Lisa Jones was selected as the winner of the $61,000 Sophie Kerr Prize. In 2005, Washington College inaugurated another literary prize, the George Washington Book Prize, administered by the college's C. V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and awarded in partnership with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and George Washington's Mount Vernon; the prize is awarded annually to the most significant new book about the founding era. At $50,000, the prize is one of the most generous book awards in the United States. Richard Beeman won the 2010 George Washington Book Prize for his work, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution.
In 2015 the Rose O’Neill Literary House, Washington College's center for literature and the literary arts, established the Douglass Wallop Fellowship as a nationwide competition, with the first fellowship going to playwright Sheri Wilner. The award will be granted biennially to a playwright; the school has over 90 student clubs. Fresh
Maryland's 1st congressional district
Maryland's 1st congressional district is a congressional district in the U. S. state of Maryland. The district encompasses the entire Eastern Shore of Maryland, including Salisbury, as well as parts of Baltimore and Carroll counties; the district is represented by Republican Andy Harris, who defeated Democratic incumbent Frank M. Kratovil, Jr. in 2010. The district was the subject of a 2014 boycott following legislation Harris introduced nullifying a District of Columbia law de-criminalizing possession of marijuana. There are four living former members who represented the district; the most recent to die was Thomas Francis Johnson on February 1, 1988 Maryland's congressional districts List of United States congressional districts "List of Federal Representatives of the State of Maryland" – via Maryland Archives
Peace Conference of 1861
The Peace Conference of 1861 was a meeting of 131 leading American politicians in February 1861, at the Willard's Hotel in Washington, DC, on the eve of the American Civil War. The success of President Abraham Lincoln and the Republican Party in the 1860 presidential elections led to a flurry of political activity. In much of the South, elections were held to select delegates to special conventions to consider secession from the Union. In Congress, efforts were made in both the House of Representatives and the Senate to reach compromise over the issues relating to slavery that were dividing the nation; the conference was the final effort by the individual states to resolve the crisis. With the seven states of the Cotton South committed to secession, the emphasis to preserve the Union peacefully focused on the eight slaveholding states representing the Upper and Border South, with the states of Virginia and Kentucky playing key roles. In December 1860, the final session of the Thirty-sixth Congress met.
In the House, the Committee of Thirty-Three, with one member from each state, led by Ohio Republican Thomas Corwin, was formed to reach a compromise to preserve the Union. In the Senate, former Kentucky Whig John J. Crittenden, elected as a Unionist candidate, submitted the Crittenden Compromise, six proposed constitutional amendments that he hoped would address all the outstanding issues. Hopes were high in the Border States, that the lame duck Congress could reach a successful resolution before the new Republican administration took office. Crittenden's proposals were debated by a specially-selected Committee of Thirteen; the proposals provided for, among other things, an extension of the Missouri Compromise line dividing the territories to the Pacific Ocean, bringing his efforts directly in conflict with the 1860 Republican Platform and the personal views of President-elect Abraham Lincoln, who had made known his objections. The compromise was rejected by the committee on December 22 by a vote of 7–6.
Crittenden brought the issue to the floor of the Senate as a proposal to have his compromise made subject to a national referendum, but the Senate rejected it on January 16, by a vote of 25–23. A modified version of the Crittenden Plan, believed to be more attractive to Republicans, was considered by an ad hoc committee of 14 congressmen from the lower North and the upper South, meeting several times between December 28 and January 4; the committee was chaired again by Crittenden and included other Southern Unionists such as Representatives John A. Gilmer of North Carolina, Robert H. Hatton of Tennessee, J. Morrison Harris of Maryland, John T. Harris of Virginia. A version of their work was rejected by the House on January 7. In the House, the Committee of Thirty-Three on January 14 reported that it had reached majority agreement on a constitutional amendment to protect slavery where it existed and the immediate admission of New Mexico Territory as a slave state; this latter proposal would result in a de facto extension of the Missouri Compromise line for all existing territories.
A fourth attempt came from the state of Virginia. Former President John Tyler, a private citizen of Virginia, still much interested in the fate of the nation, had been appointed as a special Virginia envoy to President James Buchanan to urge him to maintain the status quo in regard to the seceded states. Tyler was an elected delegate to the Virginia convention called to consider whether or not to follow the Deep South states out of the Union. Tyler thought that a final collective effort should be made to preserve the Union and in a document published on January 17, 1861, he called for a convention of the six free and six slave border states to resolve the sectional split. Governor John Letcher of Virginia had made a similar request to the state legislature, agreed to sponsor the convention while the list of attendees to all of the states was expanded. Corwin agreed to hold off any final vote on his House plan pending the final actions of the Peace Conference; the conference convened on February 1861, at the Willard Hotel.
At the same time that Tyler, selected to head the Peace Convention, was making his opening remarks in Washington, his granddaughter was ceremonially hoisting the flag for the convention in Montgomery. No delegates were sent by the Deep South states or by Arkansas, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Oregon. Fourteen free states and seven slave states were represented. Among the representatives to the conference were James A. Seddon and William Cabell Rives from Virginia, David Wilmot from Pennsylvania, Reverdy Johnson from Maryland, William P. Fessenden and Lot M. Morrill from Maine, James Guthrie from Kentucky, Stephen T. Logan from Illinois, Alvan Cullom from Tennessee, Thomas Ewing and Salmon P. Chase from Ohio. Many of the delegates came in the belief that they could be successful, but many others, from both sides of the spectrum, came as "watchdogs" for their sectional interests; because many of the 131 delegates, which included "six former cabinet members, nineteen ex-governors, fourteen former senators, fifty former representatives, twelve state supreme court justices, one former president," qualified as senior statesmen, the meeting was referred to derisively as the Old Gentleman's Convention.
On February 6, a separate committee, charged with drafting a proposal for the entire convention to consider, was formed. The committee was headed by James Guthrie; the entire convention met for three weeks, its final product was a proposed seven-point constitutional amendment that differed little from the Crittenden Com
John Bozman Kerr
John Bozman Kerr was a U. S. Congressman, representing the sixth district of the state of Maryland from 1849 until 1851. Kerr was born in Easton and attended the common schools and Easton Academy, he graduated from Harvard University in 1830, studied law further, was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Easton in 1833. He served as a member of the State house of delegates from 1836 until 1838, as deputy attorney general for Talbot County from 1845 until 1848. Kerr was elected as a Whig to the Thirty-first Congress, serving from March 4, 1849 until March 3, 1851, was not a candidate for renomination in 1850, he was appointed by President Millard Fillmore Chargé d'Affaires to Nicaragua on March 7, 1851, served until July 27, 1853. Kerr resumed the practice of law in Baltimore and St. Michaels, Maryland in 1854. Kerr was appointed one of the solicitors in the Court of Claims in Washington, D. C. and served from February 1864 to June 25, 1868 when the position was abolished. He served as solicitor in the office of the Sixth Auditor of the Treasury Department from November 6, 1869, until his death in Washington, D.
C.. From the journal of his daughter, Henrietta Maria Kerr: Papa was born March 1809, graduated at Harvard University in 1830. Among his classmates were Oliver Wendell Holmes, "the Poet of the North". On leaving college in 1834 he took a trip to the West Indies and Cuba, a few years settled in Easton to practice law. In 1850 he was elected to Congress; the following year he remained there nearly three years. On his return from South America Papa settled at St. Michaels, until 1869, when he was appointed a solicitor in the Court of Claims at Washington and removed us all to this city. Our noble, kind Father was taken from us suddenly. On Sunday January 27, 1878, after a few hours illness of Angina Pectoris, he fell asleep, entered into eternal rest. I never can forget that gray cold Sunday Morning, the terrible feeling at my heart when I heard the Church bells ring out through the Sabbath stillness, realized at last that he would never go to Church with us again-a thing he had never missed, he rests in the old family burial ground at Belleville, beside his loved parents and son.-In nature, I think Papa was more nearly perfect than anyone I knew.
A good loving husband and the sweetest kindest Father, always ready and anxious to entertain and instruct his children, no matter how engaged he might be. He was a scholar and a Christian gentleman, in every sense of that grand old word, although the latter days of his life were full of cares and troubles, his sunny, kindly nature never changed. United States Congress. "John Bozman Kerr". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. John Bozman Kerr at The Political Graveyard Belleville Cemetery
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation, or Proclamation 95, was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. It changed the federal legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the designated areas of the South from slave to free. As soon as a slave escaped the control of the Confederate government, by running away or through advances of federal troops, the former slave became free; the rebel surrender liberated and resulted in the proclamation's application to all of the designated former slaves. It did not cover slaves in Union areas, it was issued as a war measure during the American Civil War, directed to all of the areas in rebellion and all segments of the executive branch of the United States. The Proclamation ordered the freedom of all slaves in ten states; because it was issued under the president's authority to suppress rebellion, it excluded areas not in rebellion, but still applied to more than 3.5 million of the 4 million slaves.
The Proclamation was based on the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief of the armed forces. The Proclamation was issued in January 1863 after U. S government issued a series of warnings in the summer of 1862 under the Second Confiscation Act, allowing Southern Confederate supporters 60 days to surrender, or face confiscation of land and slaves; the Proclamation ordered that suitable persons among those freed could be enrolled into the paid service of United States' forces, ordered the Union Army to "recognize and maintain the freedom of" the ex-slaves. The Proclamation did not compensate the owners, did not outlaw slavery, did not grant citizenship to the ex-slaves, it made the eradication of slavery an explicit war goal, in addition to the goal of reuniting the Union. Around 25,000 to 75,000 slaves in regions where the US Army was active were emancipated, it could not be enforced in areas still under rebellion, but, as the Union army took control of Confederate regions, the Proclamation provided the legal framework for freeing more than three and a half million slaves in those regions.
Prior to the Proclamation, in accordance with the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, escaped slaves were either returned to their masters or held in camps as contraband for return. The Proclamation applied only to slaves in Confederate-held lands. Excluded were some regions controlled by the Union army. Emancipation in those places would come after separate state actions or the December 1865 ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, which made slavery and indentured servitude, except for those duly convicted of a crime, illegal everywhere subject to United States jurisdiction. On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued a preliminary warning that he would order the emancipation of all slaves in any state that did not end its rebellion against the Union by January 1, 1863. None of the Confederate states restored themselves to the Union, Lincoln's order was signed and took effect on January 1, 1863; the Emancipation Proclamation outraged white Southerners. It angered some Northern Democrats, energized anti-slavery forces, undermined elements in Europe that wanted to intervene to help the Confederacy.
The Proclamation lifted the spirits of African Americans both slave. It led many slaves to escape from their masters and get to Union lines to obtain their freedom, to join the Union Army; the Emancipation Proclamation broadened the goals of the Civil War. While slavery had been a major issue that led to the war, Lincoln's only mission at the start of the war was to maintain the Union; the Proclamation made freeing the slaves an explicit goal of the Union war effort. Establishing the abolition of slavery as one of the two primary war goals served to deter intervention by Britain and France; the Emancipation Proclamation was never challenged in court. To ensure the abolition of slavery in all of the U. S. Lincoln pushed for passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, insisted that Reconstruction plans for Southern states require abolition in new state constitutions. Congress passed the 13th Amendment by the necessary two-thirds vote on January 31, 1865, it was ratified by the states on December 6, 1865, ending legal slavery.
The United States Constitution of 1787 did not use the word "slavery" but included several provisions about unfree persons. The Three-Fifths Compromise allocated Congressional representation based "on the whole Number of free Persons" and "three fifths of all other Persons". Under the Fugitive Slave Clause, "o person held to service or labour in one state" would be freed by escaping to another. Article I, Section 9 allowed Congress to pass legislation to outlaw the "Importation of Persons", but not until 1808. However, for purposes of the Fifth Amendment—which states that, "No person shall... be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law"—slaves were understood as property. Although abolitionists used the Fifth Amendment to argue against slavery, it became part of the legal basis for treating slaves as property with Dred Scott v. Sandford. So
