_L he golden age 



The golden age of Maryland agriculture was begin- 

 ning—for a favored minority. For some, life became 

 cheerful, hospitable and pleasant. Great families ac- 

 cumulated fantastic wealth and power. A colonial 

 aristocracy emerged and the gulf between the classes in 

 the Tidewater society widened. For the gentleman of 

 the time, the only esteemed occupation other than the 

 practice of law or the holding of public or mihtary office 

 was the acquisition of land and life as a planter. 



Many of the settlers began moving west. By 1730, 

 the present site of Cumberland was settled. Free schools 

 were estabUshed in each county. Baltimore, founded by 

 an Act of the Provincial Assembly of Maryland, was 

 settled, and people from other colonies began streaming 

 into the area. 



Because tobacco was the staple of Maryland, and be- 

 cause there was not enough official currency in the area, 

 actual leaf became the medium of exchange. Debts 

 were contracted in terms of tobacco, taxes were payable 

 in cured leaf, merchant, mechanic and midwife took 

 their fees in the form of tobacco. But due to its over- 

 abundance, tobacco began to lose its value as currency. 

 In 1724, one Marylander wrote, "Tobacco, our money, 

 is worth nothing, and not a Shirt to be had for Tobacco 

 this year in all our country." 



Life in the colonies for many was hard. Many an 

 Enghsh settler became disenchanted with the depres- 

 sive economic spirit that permeated much of the Mary- 

 land colony. One temporary settler, disgusted after an 



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