MARYLAND 



3676 



MARYLAND 



Ship Canal, connecting Chesapeake Bay and 

 the Delaware River, which in 1917 was being 

 reconstructed by the Federal government, will 

 further increase the advantages of water trans- 

 portation. 



With the building of the Baltimore & Ohio 

 Railroad, the construction of the first tele- 

 graph in the United States, and the Chesapeake 

 and Ohio Canal, Maryland led in the move- 

 ment for internal improvements in the early 

 part of the nineteenth century. Since 1900 the 

 state has been more active than ever before in 

 the improvement of its highways. 



Government. Maryland has had four consti- 

 tutions, adopted in 1776, 1851, 1864 and 1867. 

 The present constitution, to which there have 

 been sixteen amendments, provides that amend- 

 ments may be enacted by vote of three-fifths 

 of the members of the state legislature and the 

 majority of qualified voters. The constitution 

 may be changed by a constitutional convention 

 called every twenty years. 



The legislative department consists of a sen- 

 ate of twenty-seven members, serving four 

 years, and a house of delegates, consisting of 

 102 members elected every two years. An un- 

 usual provision made during the early religious 

 difficulties between the Roman Catholics and 

 Protestants of Maryland prevents clergymen of 

 any denomination from serving as senators or 

 delegates. The general assembly meets the 

 first Wednesday of January on the even-num- 

 bered years. Sessions are limited to ninety 

 days. Maryland sends six representatives to 

 Congress. 



The executive department consists of the 

 governor and attorney-general, elected by the 

 people for four years, and a treasurer chosen by 

 the legislature for two years. 



Towns or cities may adopt the commission 

 form of government, but at the close of 1916 

 Cumberland was the only city that had adopted 

 this form. Workmen's compensation laws and 

 provisions regulating the employment of chil- 

 dren have been passed. 



The judiciary consists of a court of appeals, 

 circuit courts, orphans' courts and justices of 

 the peace. The judges are elected by the peo- 

 ple for fifteen years, or until they attain the age 

 of seventy, when they must retire. Chief 

 judges from seven circuits and a judge elected 

 from the city of Baltimore, the eighth circuit, 

 constitute the court of appeals. 



Local administration is by counties. State 

 institutions are in charge of a state board. 

 These include schools for the blind and deaf tit 



Baltimore and for the deaf at Frederick; hos- 

 pitals for the insane at Sykesville and Spring 

 Grove; a school for feeble-minded children at 

 Owings Mills; an industrial and reform school 

 for girls and one for boys at Baltimore; an 

 industrial home for colored girls at Melvale. 

 The state prison is at Baltimore; about half of 

 the prisoners are negroes. 



History. Colonization. The first settlement 

 of white men in Maryland was a trading post 

 established in 1631 on Kent's Island, by Wil- 

 liam Claiborne of Virginia. George Calvert, 

 first Lord Baltimore, had obtained a grant from 

 Charles I of the territory comprising the pres- 

 ent states of Maryland and Delaware. This 

 territory, intended as a refuge for Catholics, 

 was in 1632 conferred by charter upon Cecilius 

 Calvert, second Lord Baltimore. As proprietor, 

 he was invested with sovereign powers, but he 

 made no attempt to establish an absolute rule 

 in the colony. 



Early History. The peace of the colony was 

 disturbed repeatedly by Claiborne, who refused 

 to recognize Lord Baltimore, and by Virginian 

 and English Protestants. The government was 

 twice seized, but was restored definitely in 1715 

 to the fifth Lord Baltimore, a Protestant. 

 Prosperity and peace were again disturbed by 

 a boundary dispute with Pennsylvania, which 

 was finally settled in 1767 by the establishment 

 of the famous Mason and Dixon's line, which 

 gave to the state its popular name. 



Maryland took an important part in the 

 French and Indian War. It was among the first 

 colonies opposing the aggressions of England 

 and took an important part in the Revolution. 

 A constitution was adopted in November, 1776. 

 Owing to her claims that the Northwest Ter- 

 ritory belonged to the United States, Maryland 

 refused to accept the national Constitution 

 until after the passing of the Ordinance of 1787. 

 On April 28, 1788, the state voted to adopt the 

 Constitution of the United States, being the 

 last of the thirteen colonies to do so. 



Statehood. In the War of 1812 Maryland 

 suffered from attacks made by the English fleet, 

 at Havre de Grace, Frederick, Baltimore and 

 Fort McHenry. The last mentioned was the 

 occasion of the writing of the Star Spangled 

 Banner, by Francis Scott Key. 



At the outbreak of the War of Secession 

 Maryland, a border state, was torn by two great 

 sympathies. Although a slaveholding state, the 

 "Old Line State'.' did not secede, and its adher- 

 ence to the Union doubtless saved Washington 

 from falling to the Confederates. 



