percent of the total value of commodities exported from 

 the Chesapeake area. But as colonial industry and 

 manufacturing grew along with population and tobacco 

 production, direct trade became more desirable, and 

 the consignment system became less and less feasible. 

 At the outbreak of the revolution, less than one-fourth 

 of colonial tobacco was on consignment. 



By 1774, Maryland had become a distinct part of the 

 pre-revolutionary disturbances in the colonies. An in- 

 formal protest organization known as the Maryland 

 Convention was organized. Composed of five delegates 

 from each county, the Convention began to assume 

 proportions of a regular, independent government. It 

 chose delegates to the Continental Congress, appointed 

 a committee of safety which had interim powers, and 

 later enlisted troops and exercised other governmental 

 functions. 



There was, however, considerable loyalist sentiment 

 in some of the more conservative sections of the colony. 

 The advocates of independence from the "mother coun- 

 try" centered in Baltimore and Frederick. In June, 

 1776, a convention in Baltimore authorized delegates to 

 vote for independence. Later, in August, another con- 

 vention was organized to create Maryland's first con- 

 stitution which was finally proclaimed November 8, 

 1776. 



During the Revolutionary War there was only a small 

 fraction of the previous amount of tobacco trade with 

 Europe. Most of the tobacco shipped was captured by 

 British warships, but some of it got out through the 

 Caribbean. Thomas Jefferson estimated that two times 

 out of three, American cargo was captured by the 

 British. 



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