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Provisional govt of Maryland
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THIRTEENTH SERIES
X
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
OF MARYLAND (1774-1777)
BY JOHN ARCHER SILVER, A. B.
BALTIMORE
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X
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
OF MARYLAND (1774-1777)
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES
IN
HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor
33070
History is Past Politics and Politics are Present History-Freeman
THIRTEENTH SERIES
X
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
OF MARYLAND (1774-1777)
BY JOHN ARCHER SILVER, A. B.
BALTIMORE
THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS
PUBLISHED MONTHLY
OCTOBER, 1895

199 pain
R
COPYRIGHT, 1895, BY THE JOHNS HOPKINS PRESS.
JOHN MURPHY & CO., PRINTERS,
BALTIMORE.
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF
MARYLAND.
•
The form of government which the Lord Proprietor had
established in the Province of Maryland, and to which it had
been almost¹ continuously subject since its foundation in 1634,
came to an end in the early struggles of the Revolution. After
a comparatively short interval, a new constitution was drawn
up and adopted, and the new government of the State was put
in the place of the old Proprietary government. But the one
did not abruptly end, nor the other abruptly begin. The
powers of the Proprietary government were only gradually
forced into disuse, to be as gradually assumed by another, ris-
ing Authority, which eventually established and, in its turn,
gave way before the new State government. It is the history
of the government of the Province during this transitional
period, or of what is known as the Provisional Government
of Maryland, that this paper is designed to study. It pro-
poses to trace the powers of that Government in their rise,
growth, and exercise, from the first expression of the popular
will, in the Conventions of 1774, in organized resistance to the
importation of the taxable articles of commerce, through suc-
cessive Conventions, to the assumption of complete sovereignty
in establishing and inaugurating a more permanent and fully
¹ During the years 1652 to 1657 and 1691 to 1715, the political overlord-
ship of the Proprietor was exchanged for that of the Protector and the
· Crown, respectively.
5
6
[482
CO
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
organized form of authority in the new State government of
1777. The thread of interest running through the whole is
the gradual assumption of sovereign powers by the people in
Convention until they found themselves the sole Power in the
Province. This may be marked off in three stages: first, the
tentative assertion of certain rights and the imperfect and
undeveloped executive organization of the first year, begin-
ning with the first Convention of 1774; secondly, the fuller
and bolder assertion of power and the more organized and
effective means of execution of the second year; and, finally,
the Provincial declaration of independence, the framing of a
new constitution, and the setting-up of a new government.
In the first period, the new, rising Power struggled to a posi-
tion of equality with the Proprietary Power, as a second Au-
thority in the Province; in the second, it became the chief
Power and overshadowed the old Authority; and, in the
third, it cleared the field of its rival and sat supreme, yielding
up its existence, finally, to the child of its own begetting.
I.
The Provisional Government, as before suggested, did not
spring forth full-fledged, Minerva-like, from the brains of
the cleverest statesmen, but was of gradual growth. In its
origin, it was nothing more than an association of the freemen
of the Province for the purpose of rendering an effective resist-
ance to the encroachments of the English Government and
of defending themselves, meanwhile, in the exercise of their
rights. Its roots strike down to the non-importation agree-
ment previously entered into for the purpose of commercial
opposition, and the organs used in its exercise were the same
as those originated by its forerunner. The prototype of the
future Convention first appears in the meeting of some of the
inhabitants at Annapolis, June 20, 1769, in response to the
call of a few merchants for the purpose of pledging themselves
to a non-importation agreement, and the organs of the earlier
483] The Provisional Government of Maryland.
7
Provisional Government may first be seen in the central and
county committees originated by that meeting to enforce its
resolutions. As yet, however, the functions of correspondence
and observation were combined in the same committee. In
October, 1773, the Provincial Assembly appointed a special
committee of correspondence for the whole Province, whose
duty was to obtain full and early information as to the doings
of the British Parliament, and to communicate with the sister
colonies on the subject of defense.
Various causes had, however, contributed to prevent the
development of this earlier action until the startling news of
the passage of the Boston Port Bill and of the oppression of the
people of Boston arrived in May.¹ At once, "a meeting of
the principal inhabitants [of Baltimore] was called, and a
committee of twelve persons was appointed to correspond with
Boston, the neighbouring colonies, and particularly with the
towns of the Province, to collect the public sense of this
important concern." The committee sent the news on to
Annapolis and to the different parts of the Province. Public
feeling ran high in sympathy with the oppressed Bostonians,³
and the counties were not slow to respond. All minds were
turned to the revival of the non-importation agreement, and,
to this end, a general meeting at Annapolis naturally suggested
itself. During the latter part of May and the early part of
June, the inhabitants of the counties met at their respective
courthouses, or other convenient meeting-places, and passed a
series of resolutions recognizing the cause of Boston as the
4
¹Samuel Adams transmitted the news, together with a resolution of the
Boston town-meeting of May 13th, "that if the other colonies would come
into a joint resolution to stop all importations from Great Britain, and
every part of the West Indies, till the Act blockading up the harbor be
repealed, the same will prove the salvation of North America and her
liberties." See Scharf's Hist. of Md., II, 143.
2 Letter of the Baltimore committee to the Boston committee of June 4th,
quoted in Scharf's Hist. of Md., II, 146.
3 Eddis' Letters, May 28, 1774.
4 For the resolutions of the different county meetings, see the Maryland
Gazette, June 2, 9, 16, and 30, 1774.
8
[484
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
1
common cause of all the colonists, and the duty of each and
all to unite in effectual means to obtain a repeal of the obnox-
ious Act. To this end, they expressed themselves strongly in
favor of a union of all the colonists pledged neither to import
to, nor export from, Great Britain any articles of commerce,
and they agreed to enter such a Provincial and Continental
Association under oath, and to break off all trade and dealings
with that colony, county, or town that should refuse to enter
such an Association. In order to carry out these resolutions,
each county elected a committee to correspond with the other
counties and keep themselves informed of the rapid progress
of events, and also a committee to represent them in the
general meeting of all the county committees soon to be held
at Annapolis.
Upon the assembling of these deputies in the first Pro-
vincial Convention 2 on June 22, and, after deciding to deter-
mine all questions by a majority vote by counties, the letters
from Boston, Philadelphia, and Virginia, recently received,
and the recent parliamentary bills against the colonies, were
laid before them, and, "after mature deliberation," they re-
solved that the bills in question were "cruel and oppressive
invasions" of the natural and constitutional rights of the
people of Massachusetts. They reiterated the recent resolu-
tions of the county meetings, endorsed the plan of a non-im-
portation and non-exportation union, and they agreed to enter
such a union and to break off all trade and dealings with those
who should refuse to join it. They further suggested to the
merchants that they ought not to take advantage of the scarcity
of goods under the non-importation agreement, soon to be en-
forced, to raise their prices. They thanked the friends of lib-
"Nothing can be plainer than that the suffering of Boston is in the
general cause of America, and that union and mutual confidence is the basis
on which our common liberties can only be supported." Letter of the
Annapolis committee of correspondence to the Baltimore committee, May
26, 1774.
* See Proceedings of the Conventions of the Province of Maryland, pp. 3-5.
485] The Provisional Government of Maryland.
9
erty in Great Britain for their patriotic efforts to prevent the
present calamity; they resolved to open a subscription in the
several counties for the poor of Boston, and they appointed
delegates "to attend a general congress of deputies from the
colonies, at such time and place as may be agreed on, to effect
one general plan of conduct, operating on the commercial con-
nexion of the colonies with the mother country, for the relief
of Boston and preservation of American liberty."
Although not the first of its kind, for the meeting of the
merchants and freemen in 1769 was for the same purpose, this
Convention stands out distinct in its representative character
and in the permanent nature of its results. It was attended
by ninety-two deputies, many of whom were among the best
men of the Province, who had been elected in the usual way
by the freemen of the counties and who were, therefore, really
representative of the mass of the people. Moreover, it was
the only representative assembly in the Province at the time,
for the legislative Assembly had been prorogued in the pre-
vious March and was not destined to meet again until under
a new régime. Though the Proprietary Government was still
active in the exercise of its functions, and the people had no
desire as yet to overthrow it, it is nevertheless true that the
voice of the people, through their representatives in Conven-
tion, spoke from the source of sovereign power and, though
their resolutions applied only to the regulation of their com-
merce, they soon made it apparent that they meant to exercise
sovereign authority therein. Standing as it did at the begin-
ning of a long line of similar Conventions, each of which was
to exhibit the people in the exercise of a larger degree of
sovereign power, it may be looked upon as embodying the
nucleus of the Provisional Government.
Events soon occurred to try the value of these resolutions.
In August, the brigantine Mary and Jane arrived in the har-
bor of St. Mary's river with some chests of tea, consigned to
merchants in Bladensburg and Georgetown. The Frederick
county committee called a meeting of the freemen, and re-
Uor M
10
[486
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
quested the consignees of the tea to be present. Upon which
occasion, it was resolved that such an importation of "the
detestable plant" was dangerous to the liberties of the colon-
ists, in that it assented to the claim of the British Parliament
to tax them, and, in order to prevent the pernicious practise
of further importations of the kind, the vessel, with its tea,
was ordered and compelled to sail back to England.¹ A more
notable instance of the same kind occurred in October, on the
arrival of the brig Peggy Stewart at Annapolis, with tea on
board, when the owner of the vessel, although not the con-
signee of the tea, and a member of the Non-Importation
Association, paid the duty on it. A general meeting of the
citizens censured the proceeding, and a larger meeting of
county delegates was called to consider the matter. Mr.
Stewart, the owner of the vessel, published an apology, and
offered to burn the tea publicly to appease the people's wrath.
Nothing was done, however, until the larger meeting assembled,
when considerable animosity was manifested toward him and
the owner of the tea, and they were made to present themselves
and sign a humiliating paper. But, upon the question being
put, "Whether the vessel should be destroyed?", it was decided
in the negative by a considerable majority. Yet Mr. Stewart,
"from an anxious desire to preserve the public tranquillity, as
well as to ensure his own personal safety," went on board, run
the vessel aground, and, in view of all the people, set fire to
it with his own hands and let it burn to the water's edge.2
Meanwhile, all eyes were turned on the Continental Con-
gress, in session from September 5 to October 26 at Phila-
delphia. The deputies from twelve colonies there signed cer-
tain Articles of Association, pledging their colonies not to
import any articles of commerce whatsoever from Great Britain
and Ireland after the first day of the next December, to dis-
continue any exportation thither after September 10, 1775,
1 Maryland Gazette, August 11 and 18, 1774.
2 Md. Gazette, Oct. 20 and 27, 1774. Eddis' Letters, Oct. 26, 1774.
487]
11
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
and to break off dealings with that colony which should not
join the Association or should violate its Articles.¹
1
Shortly after the close of Congress, in the early part of
November and in response to its direct suggestion, the free-
men of the counties qualified to vote for representatives to the
Assembly, met at their respective courthouses and appointed
a committee "to observe the conduct of all persons touching
this Association" and to carry its Articles into effect; also
a committee of correspondence, frequently to "inspect the
entries of their custom-houses, and inform each other, from time
to time, of the true state thereof, and of every other material
circumstance that may occur relative to this Association.'
Deputies to the next Provincial Convention were also appointed.
112
In response to the call³ of the Congressional delegates of
the Province, fifty-seven deputies from the counties attended
the new Convention, which met on November 21st. The pro-
ceedings of Congress were laid before them and unanimously
approved of, and it was resolved that "every person in the
Province ought, strictly and inviolably to observe, and carry
into execution, the association agreed on by the said Conti-
nental Congress." But, from the want of sufficient notice,
several counties were not fully represented, and an adjourn-
ment was ordered to December 8th, when "matters of very
great importance" were to be taken into consideration."
Eighty-five deputies, a goodly representation of the people,
were present at this adjourned meeting. The chief business
5
¹ Journals of the American Congress, Oct. 20, 1774.
2 Journals of Congress, Oct. 20, 1774.
We see here, for the first time, the differentiation of the powers of the
original committee in the formation of two, one of correspondence and one
of observation, and we note the fact that this was done at the suggestion of
the Continental Congress. It is important to emphasize the formation of
these committees, for they were to be the organs through which the Pro-
visional Government was to exercise its authority in the several counties.
³ Md. Gazette, Nov. 3, 1774.
Proceedings of the Conventions of the Province of Maryland, p. 6.
5 Ibid., pp. 7-10.
12
The Provisional Government of Maryland. [488
before them was the confirmation of the resolutions of the
Continental Congress, relative to the non-importation and non-
exportation of articles of commerce, and the passage of certain
resolutions providing for their enforcement. They, therefore,
first of all, reiterated the previously expressed approval of the
resolutions of Congress, they thanked their delegates for the
faithful discharge of their important trust, and resolved strictly
to obey and carry out the Association. Following the lead of
Congress, they endeavored to encourage the home manufacture
of woolens, linens and cottons, by resolving that no lambs
dropped before the first day of each May, or other sheep under
four years of age, ought to be killed; "that every planter and
farmer ought to raise as much flax, hemp and cotton as he
conveniently can," and that no flax-seed of the present year's
growth ought to be exported. The resolution of the previous
Convention, recommending merchants not to take advantage
of the scarcity of goods to sell their wares at a much advanced
price, having been disregarded, they felt called upon to fix the
percentage by which such advance price should be regulated,
and they delivered themselves, at the same time, against the
practice of engrossing merchandise. They resolved that, in
all cases where the county committee declared a breach of these
resolutions, no gentlemen of the law ought to prosecute a suit
in favor of the offender; they recommended to the people to
acquiesce in, and observe the determinations of, the several
county committees; they besought them to put away “all
former differences about religion or politics, and all private
animosities and quarrels of every kind," and cordially unite
in defense of the common rights and liberties. A general
committee of correspondence for the whole Province was
appointed, and the other colonies were recommended to enter
into similar resolutions for mutual defense and protection.
But, perhaps, the most noteworthy feature of their proceed-
ings was the resolution to support to their utmost any colony in
which "the assumed power of parliament to tax the colonies
shall be attempted to be carried into execution by force," and
489]
13
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
""
their determination to raise a Provincial militia. Feeling, as
they said, that a well-regulated militia is the natural strength
and only stable security of a free government, and that it
would relieve the mother country from any expense in their
protection, and obviate the pretence of taxing them on that
account; they recommended to all the inhabitants of the
Province, who were between sixteen and fifty years of age, to
form themselves into companies, choose officers, provide them-
selves with arms and ammunition, "use their utmost endeavors
to make themselves masters of the military exercise," "and
be in readiness to act in any emergency." Moreover, knowing
the need of money for the purchase of arms and ammunition,
they authorized the county committees to raise the sum of ten
thousand pounds, in sums apportioned to each county accord-
ing to its population, in the way they should each best see
fit. Finally, the Convention appointed delegates to the next
general Congress, giving them "full and ample power to con-
sent and agree to all measures which such Congress shall deem
necessary and effectual to obtain a redress of American griev-
ances;" it called a new Convention to meet April 24th, of the
next year, and directed the several counties to choose deputies
for the same.
If, in the Convention of the previous June, we saw the
germ of the Provisional Government in the meeting of the
freemen of the Province in Convention, exercising in their
sovereign capacity the right to regulate their commerce by
passing a series of resolutions recommending the formation
of a commercial non-intercourse Association of the colonies
against Great Britain, we here note its great development in
the solemn entrance into that Association by the Convention,
and the formation of the committees of observation and cor-
respondence, as the organs through which the will of the
people was to operate in the several counties. But, besides
this advance from the former resolution of readiness to enter
such an Association to the present formal participation in it,
and the formation of organs through which to work, the people
14
[490
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
in this Convention took a long step forward in the assertion of
sovereign power by their militia regulations, which, as Mr.
Bancroft says, "took the sword out of the hands of the Gover-
nor, to whom all military appointments had belonged," and
gave it into the hands of the people.¹ They had up to this
point, therefore, made a partial use of the sovereign powers of
the regulation of their commerce and of the raising of a mili-
tary force for the warlike defense of their liberties, and they
had, moreover, partially created an organization through which
their will should be enforced. The Provisional Government
appears at this stage as no longer in the germ, but as partly
developed. As yet, however, the resolves of the Convention
were in the form of recommendations, the execution of which
depended upon an approving public sentiment. To it con-
stant appeals were made, and nothing was done without its
direction and authority.
Soon after the close of the Convention, and in response to
its recommendations, the freemen of the several counties met
to carry out the organization of defense. They unanimously
approved of the proceedings of the Continental Congress and
of the late Provincial Convention, and resolved that the terms
of the Continental Association, lately entered into, should be
strictly and inviolably observed and executed. They appointed
persons to offer the subscription-paper for the money to be
raised for the purchase of arms and ammuuition to every free-
man, and to make returns of the subscriptions, together with the
names of those who had refused to subscribe, to the end “that
their names and refusal may be recorded in perpetual memory
of their principles." Deputies were appointed to the next
Convention, and the organization of the committees of obser-
vation and correspondence were completed. The people be-
992
1 Bancroft, American Revolution, 1, 207.
3
2 For example, see proceedings of the Charles County meeting, Md. Gazette,
Jan. 19, 1775.
3 For proceedings of the County meetings, see Md. Gazette, Dec. 29, 1774,
Jan. 5, 19, 26, Feb. 2, and 9, 1775.
(
491]
15
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
2
stirred themselves also in carrying out the militia recommend-
ations of the Convention. Almost at once, two companies
were formed in Annapolis,¹ to be followed soon after by the
formation of other companies in different parts of the Prov-
ince. There was visible everywhere the spirit of determined
opposition and the preparation for a military defense.³ More-
over, the committees of observation and correspondence, hav-
ing been fully organized, now set to work to enforce the
Articles of the Non-Importation Association, which went into
effect on the first of December. Numerous instances occur in
the columns of the Maryland Gazette of their effective action.
In those cases in which goods had been imported from Great
Britain after December 1, they sold them at public auction,
according to Article X of the Continental Association, and,
after imbursing the owner for their cost, forwarded the profit
as a contribution to the poor and needy sufferers of Boston;"
in case such goods had arrived after February 1, 1775, they
were not allowed to land, but were sent back to England.5
Where anyone tried to import tea, not only was it not allowed
to land, but the importer was called before the committee and
obliged to apologize publicly for his daring. Merchants who
tried to sell their goods at a great advance over the cost price,
thus taking advantage of the scarcity of goods and making
the means of subsistence hard to obtain, fell under their cen-
sure. Moreover, those who publicly disparaged the means
taken to defend the people's rights, and branded them as trea-
sonable, were brought before them, severely censured, and
forced to disavow or apologize for their rash words. The
committees were thus a real power in the counties.
¹ Md. Gazette, Dec. 22, 1774.
2 Md. Gazette, Jan. 5, 12, and 19, 1775.
5 Eddis' Letters, March 13, 1775.
Md. Gazette, Dec. 15, 1774, Jan. 5, Feb. 23, March 2, 1775.
5 Md. Gazette, April 6, 1775.
"Md. Gazette, April 13, 1775.
8
6 Md. Gazette, Jan. 12, Feb. 2, 1775.
8 Md. Gazette, Jan. 26, 1775.
4
16
The Provisional Government of Maryland. [492
1
On the 24th of April, 1775, a new Convention of one
hundred members assembled at Annapolis. First of all, they
proclaimed their allegiance to the King "as the sovereign,
constitutional guardian, and protector of the rights and liber-
ties of all his subjects." Then, on hearing of the coming of
the British troops to New York, they expressed their great
alarm and deep concern for that Colony, and endeavored to
inform themselves as to what was expected of them under
the circumstances. They resolved to stop all exportations to
British North America until further orders from the Conti-
nental Congress; they earnestly recommended to the people of
Maryland to continue the forming and exercising of the militia
throughout the Province, as directed by the last Convention,
and to complete and apply the subscriptions for the purpose
of providing arms and ammunition. They re-appointed their
former delegates to Congress, and directed them "not to pro-
ceed to the last extremity, unless in their judgments they shall
be convinced that such measure is indispensably necessary
for the safety and preservation of our lives and privileges,
remembering that they have "nothing so much at heart as a
happy reconciliation of the differences between the mother
country and the British Colonies in North America, upon a
firm basis of constitutional freedom," and they pledged the
Province, so far as was in their power, to carry into execution
such measures as shall be agreed on and recommended by
the general Congress. They "recommended to all ranks and
denominations of people, to use their utmost endeavors to
preserve peace and good order throughout this province"; and,
in consequence of the distressed state of the colonies, they set
apart May 11th as a day of public fasting and humiliation.
They sent a committee to the Governor to ask for the delivery
of the Provincial arms and ammunition into their hands, fear-
ing, as they said, an uprising of the slaves in the disturbed
¹See Proceedings of the Conventions, p. 11–16.
""
493]
17
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
state of affairs,¹ ((
or 'that some ship of war may arrive in the
harbor of Annapolis, whose commander might probably have
instructions to seize "" them. The Governor, upon the advice
of his Council, agreed to commit the care of the arms to such
gentlemen of the militia as he himself had appointed, and, on
the regular application the next day of the militia colonels of
four counties, under the militia act of the Province, he handed
over to them about one hundred stand of arms, thus yielding
to the popularly-constituted authority under the guise of con-
stitutional form.
This was the first point of friction of the newly-constituted
authority with the old régime. The commercial and warlike
opposition inaugurated by the previous Conventions, and by
the operations of the county committees, and by the formation
of the militia had not been considered repugnant to the oaths
of allegiance, and there was no thought nor desire as yet, nor
for a long time to come, to break the bonds of union with the
mother country.3 The people were still loyal in a true sense
to the King and the Lord Proprietor, and meant to do nothing
more than defend themselves in the exercise of their cherished
rights. The importance of this friction with the Governor,
therefore, was in its forecast, that, while not wishing to inter-
fere in the administration of their Chief Magistrate, they were
yet determined in any case of need to assert their real superior
sovereignty.
During the next three months of May, June and July, events
went on accumulating, winning over most men's minds to
realize the need of a thoroughly organized and decisive defense.
The alarming news of the first shedding of blood at Lex-
ington and Concord, and of the battle of Bunker-Hill, two
months later, made ardent patriots of many former luke-warm
¹Letter of Gov. Eden to his brother, April 28, 1775, in Scharf's Hist. of
Md., II, 179.
2 Eddis' Letters, April 27 and 28, 1775.
3
³ Proceedings of the meeting of the inhabitants of Baltimore county,
Jan. 16, 1775, in Md. Gazette, Jan. 26, 1775.
مجھے
2
18 The Provisional Government of Maryland.
[494
sympathizers, and clearly and firmly drew the line of dis-
tinction between Loyalists and Patriots. On May 26th, Con-
gress recommended to the colonies to put themselves in the
best state of defense immediately, and, on June 14th, made
a call upon Maryland for two companies of riflemen to join
the forces at Boston. The Frederick county committee
hastened to raise the companies and started them off by the
middle of July. A continental army had now been con-
stituted, with proper rules and regulations, and a commander-
in-chief appointed; two million dollars had been issued in
continental currency, and the colonies had been recommended
to choose treasurers and make provision for sinking their pro-
portion of the new bills.
To take these matters into consideration and to make neces-
sary provision therefor, the Maryland delegates to Congress,
under the authority granted to them by the last Conven-
tion, called the deputies from the several counties in the
Province, to meet in a new Convention at Annapolis on July
26th following.
II.
With the assembling of this Convention, which was more
fully representative of the people than any hitherto held, being
attended by one hundred and forty-one deputies, and which
came after actual hostilities had broken out, showing the
extent to which things must go before the adjustment of diffi-
culties with the mother country, a new epoch begins in
the relations of the people to the Proprietary Government.
Already, the Governor had seen the rise of a new Power in
the Province, and had noted with increasing alarm its rising
importance. But the Proprietary Government was still the
permanent form of authority and its civil power was still
unchallenged. The people had but risen in defense of their
liberties against the aggressions of the English Government,
and, although they had asserted the right to regulate their
commerce and to form a militia in their defense, the Governor
495] The Provisional Government of Maryland.
19
sat secure in the exercise of all the other of his powers. This
Convention, however, was to encroach on his civil power and
to inaugurate measures which were gradually to overthrow it
altogether and drive him out of the Province. It is neces-
sary, therefore, to study its doings in some detail.
2
The more important matters for consideration were put
immediately into the hands of committees.' While awaiting
their reports, the Convention took into consideration certain
petitions from those who had fallen under the censure of
the county committees for breaches of the Continental and
Provincial Resolves. They thus became a supreme court of
appeal, from the judgment of the county committees of observa-
tion in such matters, and, within these bounds, exercised
unlimited authority. As seemed best to them, they heeded
the petitioner's desire and ameliorated the sentence given by
the county committee on the ground of its being too severe,²
or they completely set it aside as not having been founded on
fact, or they upheld it and rejected the petition of the com-
plainant. In one case, they were appealed to by a citizen
who, having gone security for the appearance of another and
having allowed him to escape, feared that injury would be
done his person and property; whereupon they expressed their
desire that all persons should refrain from all manner of
violence to that person or his property, and they empowered
the committee of his county to inquire into the matter, and
report whether there had been any collusion between the one
4
5
¹ Committees were appointed to consider the ways and means to put the
Province in the best state of defense, to inquire into the practicability and
expense of establishing manufactories of arms, and to consider of the way
to lay such restrictions upon the courts of law as may be necessary and
expedient. See Proceedings of the Convention for July 27, 29, and Aug.
2, 1775.
2 Maryland Archives, Journal of the Convention, July 28, and Aug. 12,
1775.
Maryland Archives, Journal of the Convention, Aug. 3, 1775.
Ibid., Aug. 14, 1775.
* Ibid., Aug. 12, 1775.
20
[496
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
who had given the security and the one who had absconded.
Being "strongly impressed with an idea of the confusion and
disorder which must inevitably ensue, and the disunion which
must necessarily follow, from the people at large being collected
and inflicting punishments before a cool and temperate investi-
gation of the case, and consequently the injury which may be
thereby done to the common cause of Liberty," they took
occasion to express the hope that "the virtue of the people,
and their attachment to the liberties of America, will guard
them against the commission of the excess apprehended." In
another case,¹ where certain charges had been preferred by the
Baltimore county committee against Robert Christie, Sheriff
of Baltimore county, based on an intercepted letter, in which
the said Christie represented the inhabitants of Baltimore as
engaged in treasonable and rebellious measures, and suggested
that a few British soldiers would keep them very quiet, the
Convention resolved that the said Christie had shown a spirit
inimical to the rights and liberties of America and ought to
be considered an enemy to the country, and that no one ought
to have any dealings with him except to furnish him with
necessaries and provisions. They also banished him from the
Province, ordering him, meanwhile, to place in the Treasurer's
hands the sum of £500 sterling, as his proportion of the
charges and expenses incurred in the defense of America.
These acts mark a new departure in the Convention's exercise
of power. Hitherto, the committees of observation had used
a police power in the enforcement of the non-importation
agreements, but now, for the first time, we see that power used
by the Convention to quiet the people and preserve public
peace and order, and to banish a political offender and confis-
cate a portion of his goods. The Governor still had his sheriffs
and magistrates, but they were now afraid to exercise their
functions against the people, and the Convention found itself
¹ Md. Archives, Journal of the Convention, Aug. 7, 1775.
497] The Provisional Government of Maryland.
21
occupying their place as supreme arbiter and preserver of the
public peace.
The committee appointed to consider the means of putting
the Province in the best state of defense, reported in favor
of the formal association of the freemen, as a first measure.
Every freeman was to be urged to sign a document, prepared
by the committee for the purpose. The document rehearsed the
people's grievances against the English Government, the chief of
which were the determined purpose of the latter to tax the colo-
nists without their consent, to alter their Charters and Constitu-
tions at will, and to subdue them by military force. It recited
the course of the Continental Congress with reference to these
facts, and the suggestion of the Congress to the colonies to put
themselves in the best state of defense. In signing this docu-
ment, the freemen solemnly pledged themselves, to one another
and to America, to unite in approving the armed opposition
of the colonists to the British troops, being firmly persuaded
of the necessity of repelling force by force. They were also
to unite in promoting and supporting, to the utmost of their
power, the armed and commercial opposition already begun.
Finally, realizing that the energy of the civil government was
greatly impaired, they were to unite and associate in the main-
tenance of good order and the public peace, to support the civil
power in the execution of the Laws, so far as was consistent
with the plan of opposition, to defend every person from every
species of outrage to person or property, and to prevent any
punishment from being inflicted on any offenders, other than
such as should be adjudged by the Civil Magistrate, Congress,
the Convention, the Council of Safety, or county committees
of observation. The members of the Convention were the first
to sign the Association, and, then, it was ordered to be pre-
sented by the county committees of observation to all the free-
men within the Province, and a return was to be made to the
next Convention of the names of all those who should sign it,
and of all those who should refuse to sign it, "to the end that
the Convention may take order therein."
22
[498
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
This "Association of the Freemen of Maryland" has been
spoken of as if it overthrew the Proprietary and inaugurated
the Provisional Government,¹ and as if it were the basis and
cornerstone of the latter.2 The impression is given that it was
the charter of liberties, so to speak, of the Provisional Govern-
ment, which, accordingly with it, suddenly sprung into being
and overthrew the previous forms of authority. But, as I
have tried to show in the foregoing, this new Power grew up
only gradually, and had, previous to this time, actually exer-
cised some very important functions of governmental authority.
There was also no intention of the people as yet to withdraw
their allegiance from the King and the Proprietor, and no
desire to throw off the existing forms of control even now.
Moreover, this document, although very important, contained
little that was new. The freemen simply agreed formally to
unite, firstly, in approving the use of force in repelling force ;
secondly, in promoting the present commercial and armed
resistance; and, thirdly, in upholding the power of the Civil
Magistrate in preserving order. The Governor's powers were
not thus done away; the sheriffs, magistrates, justices, and
Provincial officers generally, still held their commissions from
him, and there was no attempt to remove them. The only
new things in the document were, first, the formal and bind-
ing character of its resolves, and, second, the placing of the
organs of the new order of things, namely, the Continental
Congress, the Convention, the Council of Safety, and the com-
mittees of observation, on the same plane of authority with the
civil power of the Governor. These Articles of Association
did not, therefore, originate the Provisional Government,
nor did they exhibit it as having suddenly arisen and over-
thrown the former Authority. They were not primarily con-
cerned with government at all, but with the union of all the
freemen in a commercial and armed defense of their liberties.
¹See Scharf, Hist. of Md., II, 183 f.
2 See McMahon, Hist. of Md., 416.
499] The Provisional Government of Maryland.
23
But, incidentally, they show us the Provisional Government
as having emerged from its former state of tentative beginning
and as acting, side by side, with the old forms of power, and
with at least as much authority.
To carry on the armed resistance, the Convention provided
for the purchase and importation of arms and ammunition,¹
for the erection of a powder mill,2 for the establishment of
saltpetre manufactories in different parts of the Province,3
and for the complete formation and organization of a military
force. Forty companies of minute-men were directed to be
enrolled, each county being required to furnish its proper
quota. All the other able-bodied effective freemen, except
clergy men, physicians, those of the Governor's household, and
such as objected on religious scruples, were directed to enrol
themselves as soon as possible in some company of militia, and
swear an oath of allegiance to the Convention or Council of
Safety to march whenever and wherever they should direct.
The committees of observation were to appoint enlisting
officers, and, as soon as enlisted, the minute-men and militia
were to assemble and elect their officers, the names of whom
were to be sent to the Convention or the Council of Safety,
whereupon commissions were to issue to them. Regulations
were made regarding the formation of the companies into
battalions, with one company of light infantry to each battal-
ion; rules were made regarding the exercise and conduct of
the troops, and the rank of the officers. Finally, the county
committees were ordered to make diligent enquiry after, and
report the names of all those who should refuse to enrol them-
selves, according to the resolves of the Convention, and against
all such no further proceedings were to be taken but by its
future order.
For the purpose of raising and arming the military force,
and for encouraging the manufacture of salt-petre and powder,
1
¹ Md. Archives, Proceedings of the Convention, Aug. 14, 1775, p. 30.
Ibid., p. 29 f.
³ Ibid., p. 30.
* Ibid., pp. 16–22.
24 The Provisional Government of Maryland.
[500
*
1
money was needed, and the Convention, following the lead of
Congress, now, for the first time, made use of the power to
issue bills of credit. Supervisors were appointed to procure
proper plates and paper, and to have bills issued to the amount
of 266,666 dollars, each of which bills was to entitle the
bearer to receive gold and silver at the rate of four shillings
and six pence per dollar. They were to be issued on the
credit of the Province, and to be redeemed and sunk on or
before January 1, 1786, by taxes or other legislative provi- ·
sion, for which purpose the Convention bound its constituents,
and pledged the faith of the Province. Two treasurers were
appointed, one for each Shore, to receive and pay out the
money, subject to the orders of the Convention and the Coun-
cil of Safety. Thus a new power of government was made.
use of by the people in Convention in drawing upon the credit
of the Province to issue bills to enable them to carry out their
revolutionary measures.
But they were to go still farther and interfere with the ope-
ration of the courts of law and virtually direct their proceed-
ings.2 They resolved that all suits pending, in which there
was no real dispute, be settled speedily in some amicable way,
and that all suits in which there were real disputes, and which
could not be settled amicably, or tried with justice to the
parties concerned, be discontinued, during the times of public
calamity, until otherwise ordered by a future Act of Assembly
or resolve of Convention, and that the future Assembly ought
to take measures to bar the Act for the limitation of suits and
provide for their reinstatement. They made a further regu-
lation to the effect that where witnesses could not be present
at the trial, depositions might be taken before justices of the
court and in the presence of the adverse party. But their
most important action with reference to this subject was to
provide for the election by each committee of observation of a
¹ Md. Archives, Proceedings of the Convention, Aug. 14, 1775, pp. 24-27.
2 Ibid., Aug. 14, 1775, pp. 31-33.
501] The Provisional Government of Maryland.
25
3
committee of seven, from its own number, who were to meet
on the first and third Mondays of each month to grant per-
mission for the trial of suits. Certain actions¹ might be com-
menced or continued without applying for its permission, while
in all other cases it must be sought. In certain 2 of these lat-
ter cases, the Committee, when applied to, were obliged to give
licences to carry on the suit, whereas in other cases ³ they were
allowed to use discretionary power. Moreover, judgments
which had been obtained since the court terms of the last
spring on suits begun in any other way than those above men-
tioned, were ordered to be stayed of execution. While the
Proprietary Courts still exercised their functions, the Conven-
tion by this action asserted the power to control them. The
licensing committee was its agent, and though certain suits
could be begun without licenses, it had decided what such
should be, and in all cases had exercised direct restrictive
authority. Another stage in its assertion of power is thus
marked.
That the orders and regulations of the Convention might
be carried into execution, it was felt necessary to provide for
the appointment of some executive organ, which should act
during its recess. Accordingly such a body was appointed,
¹E. g., those "founded in the wrong done to the person or property, such as
Ejectment, Trespass, Trover, Replevin, Detinue; also all real Actions; also
actions for wards, and for Money or Tobacco actually had and received by
one person for the use of another; Attachments under the late Acts of
Assembly, and against persons non-resident; actions, or process on Loan
Bonds." Md. Archives, Proceedings of the Convention, Aug. 14, 1775, p. 32.
2
* E. g., actions "where debtors refuse to renew their obligations, or other
securities, or to give reasonable security, or to liquidate and settle their
accounts, and give Promissory notes for the balances, or to refer their dis-
putes, if any, to one or more indifferent persons, or are justly suspected of
intention to leave the Province, or defraud their creditors." Md. Archives,
Proceedings of the Convention, Aug. 14, 1775, p. 32.
3 E. g., actions brought "by and against Executors and Administrators,
as such, and their securities, and . . . . against Guardians for the recovery
of filial portions, or the Rents and profits of orphans' Estates.” Md.
Archives, Proceedings of the Convention, Aug. 14, 1775, p. 32.
26
[502
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
under the name of the Council of Safety, consisting at first¹
of sixteen members, eight from each Shore, whose term of
official life was to continue to the close of the next succeeding
Convention, then to give place to a newly elected Council.
Its chief function was to act as the executive agent of the Con-
vention, but it possessed as well discretionary powers of a very
high order. It had control of the military force of the Prov-
ince, with power to issue commissions, appoint court martials,
and displace officers; it could call out the troops whenever
and order them wherever it thought best, with the single re-
striction that it could not order the militia out of the Province
nor the minute-men further than the adjoining counties of the
neighboring colonies. Moreover, it could do whatever it
should see best for the defense and security of the Province;
it could issue orders on the Treasurers for the payment of
expenses, and could require reports from them as to their
doings. It was a sort of high court of appeal, exercising
judicial functions upon those cases sent to it by the county
committees, involving breaches of the Continental Resolves.
These powers, too, could be used in cases of emergency by a
majority of the members for either Shore; five men could,
thus, at times, exercise supreme control over their respective
Shores, but it was recommended that such powers should be
exercised by such a few only in cases of great emergency, and
that, as soon as possible thereafter, a general meeting of the
whole Council be called and the matters laid before it. The
Council thus exercised executive and judicial and, on occasion
and to a limited degree, legislative functions as well. It drew
its powers from the Convention, as the latter, in turn, drew
1 The number was afterwards changed to nine, five from the Western and
four from the Eastern Shore. Though it was originally the idea of the
Convention to cause half of the number to retire at each new election, to
prevent "any abuse of power from the continuance of authority in the same
hands," yet, after the reduction of the number from 16 to 9, the same mem-
bers were reëlected at each new election, with an insignificant exception or
two.
503] The Provisional Government of Maryland.
27
its powers from the people, and each was responsible for the
use made of them to its originator. Though, therefore, such
extensive powers were placed in such a few hands, they do not
seem to have been abused, which fact was due to the excellent
character and good sense of those to whom they were com-
mitted.
In order to carry out their regulations in the counties, the
Convention ordered a reëlection of the committees of obser-
vation. They had heretofore, as has been seen, been of great
use in putting into effect the non-importation resolutions and
in forming the militia. But they had been of a more or less
incomplete and temporary nature. Now, it was ordered that
they should be elected in each county, varying in number
from 53 in Frederick to 14 in Caroline county, by all the
freeholders and other freemen "having a visible estate of £40
sterling,"¹ on a set day, the second Tuesday of the next Sep-
tember, and they were to hold office for the year following.
Their duties were to be the same as before: to carry into effect
the Continental and Provincial resolutions; to keep a sharp
lookout for breaches of the same; to call the offenders before
them and censure them as they saw fit; and, when they might
have probable proof that anyone was guilty of any great
offense, such as would tend to disunite the people, they were
to cause the arrest of the offender and send him to the Council
of Safety for trial. They were, further, to have charge of the
correspondence of the county, and to elect from their own
number five persons to attend to it; they were also to choose
seven of their number to be a committee to license suits. They
thus became the real and effective authorities in the counties,
and the people were ordered to respect and acquiesce in their
determinations.
Before concluding, the Convention appointed delegates to
Congress to serve until the next Convention, with "full and
¹ The qualification of those entitled to vote for burgesses under the Pro-
prietary regulations.
28
[504
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
ample power to consent and agree to all measures which such
Congress shall deem necessary and effectual to obtain a re-
dress of American grievances";¹ it called a new Convention
to meet in the next March, and directed each county to elect,
in the regular way at its September election, five delegates,
with full power to represent and bind the county to the con-
clusions of the Convention. Finally, it recommended to all
the people to "pay the public taxes, and interest money due
the Loan office, it being the design of this Convention to pre-
vent oppression and imprisonment of poor Debtors, but not to
give any pretence of non-payment to those who are of suffi-
cient ability to pay their just debts," 2 and, hearing that cer-
tain military captains had lent their aid in suppressing a riot
in Baltimore county in which a mob had snatched from the
sheriff a man imprisoned for debt, and that they had returned
the man to the custody of the sheriff, they communicated their
approval to the captains, and put on record their intention
to support the civil power in the ordinary administration of
justice.
In looking at the work of the Convention as a whole, it is
impossible not to notice a great advance in its exercise of the
powers of government. In fact, the tendency seems to be to
magnify its importance unduly, and to see in it the sudden
formation of a new Authority, while, as a matter of fact, that
Authority had been made use of before. But, while previous
Conventions had concerned themselves only with a commercial
and armed opposition to the measures of the British Govern-
ment, this one felt it its duty not only to carry on this oppo-
sition to its utmost ability, but, in the overawed state of the
Proprietary Government,3 to provide also for the maintenance.
of the public peace. To sum up its actions, it had ordered the
1
¹ Proceedings of the Convention, Aug. 14, 1775, p. 34.
2 Ibid., p. 33.
³ See Eddis' Letters, July 25, 1775; also Thomas Johnson's letter of Aug.
18, 1775, to General Gates, quoted in Scharf's Hist. of Md., II, 186.
505] The Provisional Government of Maryland.
29
enlistment of all the people into military companies; it had
provided for their organization and control; it had issued bills
of credit on the credit of the Province; it had framed Articles
of Association, calling upon all to unite in promoting the com-
mon cause. To obviate any hindrance to the people in their
patriotic efforts, it had assumed a censorship over the courts;
it had acted as a supreme court of appeal in all cases involv-
ing breaches of the Continental Resolves; and, for the pur-
pose of carrying out its orders, it had established an executive
body for the whole Province,' and had reformed the executive
organs of the counties. It had thus made use of all the func-
tions of government 2-executive, legislative, and judicial.
Yet, in all this, it was but true to its raison d'être, that is, to
carry on an effective resistance, and, in making use of so many
new sovereign powers, it had no intention of overthrowing
the Authority that had hitherto exercised them. The people
were still loyal to the Powers across the sea, and almost an-
other year was to go by before that loyalty was to be with-
drawn. The authority of the Governor and his civil agents,
though mainly formal,* was still respected and obeyed, but,
by these successive assertions of power by the Convention, the
Proprietary Government had received a shock from which it
was never to recover, and henceforth, in comparison with its
past, was more of a shadow than a reality. From this time
3
¹For the Governor's opinion of the Council of Safety, see his letter of
August 27, 1775, quoted in Scharf's Hist. of Md., II, 188, as having been
written to an English nobleman. I am indebted to Dr. B. C. Steiner for
the information, obtained after a careful investigation of the matter, that
this letter was really addressed to Lord Dartmouth, Secretary of State for
the Colonies, and was the one the answer to which was intercepted, and
caused so much trouble in Maryland, and finally the departure of the Gov-
ernor.
2 See Eddis' Letters, Aug. 24, 1775.
³ See Address of the Council of Safety to Gov. Eden. Proceedings of the
Convention, Md. Archives, p. 72.
4 See Letter of Thomas Johnson to General Gates, Aug. 18, 1775, quoted
in Scharf's Hist. of Md., II, 186.
30
[506
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
on, the new government was plainly the chief Power in the
Province, but it confined itself to the promotion of defensive
measures, leaving still to the old Power many of its func-
tions, and, where necessary, even aiding it and counselling the
people to obey it.
Soon after its close, and in accordance with its direction,
the people assembled in the various counties and ratified its
acts by choosing committees to carry them out,¹ and, though
we hear in one instance² of strife at the polls, owing to party
prejudice, yet, on the whole, the elections passed off quietly,
and the people with great unanimity supported the doings of
the last Convention. The committees were busy in enforcing
the Continental Resolutions; in seeing to the enlistment of
the militia; in presenting the Association document to every
freeman to sign; in taking a general account of the arms in
the counties; and in noting the names of those who refused to
enlist and to sign the Association; while the Council of Safety
was chiefly engaged in contracting for the manufacture and
furnishing of arms and ammunition, and in granting commis-
sions to the military officers. On one occasion, on the rumored
approach of the enemy's war vessels, the Council of Safety
recommended the public officers of the Proprietary Govern-
ment at Annapolis to make ready to remove their public docu-
ments at a moment's notice, thus subjecting the Proprietary's
record officers to their direct control. On the whole, the
machinery of the new control worked well and smoothly. We
read in Eddis' Letters of one instance where some over ardent
patriots tried to get a public meeting of the citizens of Annap-
olis to brand all those who had refused to sign the Association
as enemies of America, and tried to have them banished, and
such events may have been repeated elsewhere, but they were
soon frustrated by the good sober sense of the people, and
3
¹See Md. Gazette, Sept. 14, 21, 28, and Oct. 19, 1775.
2 See Eddis' Letters, Sept. 27, 1775.
³ Eddis' Letters, Sept. 27, 1775.
507]
31
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
the authority of the Council of Safety was upheld in such
matters.
Towards the close of the year, it was felt to be necessary
that the people should again assemble in Convention to take
measures to put the Province in a better state of defense, and
provide for a more complete and compact organization of the
military force. Accordingly, at the call of the Council of
Safety, the newly elected deputies gathered at Annapolis on
December 7. They agreed to change the nature of the mili-
tary forces somewhat in providing that no further minute-men
should be enlisted, and that those already enlisted under the
regulation of the last Convention should be paid off, and be
disbanded by the first of the next March. On the other hand,
every able-bodied freeman between the ages of sixteen and
fifty was directed to enrol himself in the militia before that
time under penalty of a fine and the delivery of his arms to
the committee of observation for his county. All those newly
enlisting, as well as those who had previously done so, were
to take the oath of allegiance to the Convention and to the
Council of Safety. To put the Province in the best state of
defense at once, they ordered one battalion of regulars, seven
independent companies, and two artillery companies to be im-
mediately raised and put in the public pay, and they proceeded
to elect their officers by ballot and issue commissions to them.
They divided the Province into five military districts, with a
brigadier-general over each; they stationed troops wherever
they thought best, and they handed over the direction of them
to the Council of Safety. To encourage the making of arms
and ammunition, they resolved upon the erection of a gun-
lock manufactory at Frederick, of a saltpetre manufactory in
each county, to be run under the direction of a specially
appointed supervisor, and they decided to carry out the resolve
of the last Convention, to erect a powder mill where the salt-
petre might be made into powder.
Besides these measures of defense, they resolved to encourage
home industry, and advances of certain sums of money were
32
[508
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
1
ordered to certain individuals for the manufacture of linen,
for the working of lead veins, and for the building of a roll-
ing, slitting, and sheeting mill. They resolved that the Par-
liamentary post should be prohibited from travelling in and
through the Province, and they enjoined the committees of
observation to enforce this regulation. They resolved that no
boat belonging to the Province should leave its shores without
a license from them or the Council of Safety, or a committee
of observation, stating its destination; and if any skipper
should go to any other place, unless absolutely necessary, or
carry any person or letter, of which due notice should not have
been previously given, he and all those accessory to such mis-
behavior were to be liable to imprisonment. They also issued
bills of credit to the amount of 535,111 dollars, to be redeemed
and sunk before January 1, 1786, the former issue to be re-
deemed by these new bills and then to be destroyed. They laid
out a new district in Frederick county, and directed its inhabi-
tants to elect a deputy to the Convention and a committee of
observation. They exercised, moreover, the same police power
that former conventions had made use of. A deputy who had
broken the Continental Resolves was deprived of his seat and
a new election was ordered to fill his place; one person, who
would not enrol in the militia, and who prevented others from
so doing, fell under their censure, and, in general, they exer-
cised the right of sitting in judgment on all actions injurious
to the cause of liberty. They manifested their intention of
upholding the civil administration of the Proprietary's func-
tionaries in recommending that the taxes assessed by the last
Assembly be collected; of disproving of the non-payment of
the levies; in offering to aid the officers in collecting them; and
in handing over a person charged with misconduct to a civil
magistrate, that order might be taken therein according to the
due course of the law. The committees of observation were
directed to present the "Association" to every freeman who
¹Proceedings of the Convention, Dec. 12, 1775.
509]
33
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
had not yet signed it, and it was ordered that all those who
should refuse to do so before April 11 next, should give up
their arms or be forcibly disarmed by the committee, who
might also, in their discretion, require bond of non-subscribers
for good behavior. If they should wish to leave the country,
they were to be free to do so and to take their goods with them;
but if they should leave their estates behind, these were to be
burdened with a share of the common expense. In refractory
cases, the committee was given the power to imprison.
This Convention, like its predecessors, made use of all the
different powers of government, and yet, at the same time, it
permitted and aided the old régime in the exercise of much of
its civil power. There was little new in its resolves, but it is
especially interesting from the declaration of its attitude to the
Crown and Parliament of Great Britain and to the questions
of Independence and State Federation, which were then deeply
agitating the minds of the colonists.¹ In electing their dele-
gates to the Continental Congress, heretofore, they had usu-
ally given them "full and ample power to consent and agree
to all measures which such Congress shall deem necessary and
effectual to obtain a redress of American grievances. At
this time, however, it was felt to be a matter of so much deli-
cacy that a committee was entrusted with the drawing up of
a formal detailed document of instructions. The mildness
and equity of the English Constitution, to which they owed
their blessings of prosperity and happiness, were recalled to
mind, and they gave it as their judgment that it was the best
known system "calculated to secure the liberty of the subject,
"2
¹ It is important to value rightly the conservative peace-making influence
of Governor Eden in mediating between the English Government and the
Patriots in the Province. His judicious but difficult conduct aided greatly
in keeping Maryland free from British troops, and in restraining the over-
zealous and ultra-radical patriots from forcing Independence before its time.
It was during his absence from the Province in the summer of 1774 that the
spirit of opposition burst forth in organized resistance.
Proceedings of the Convention, pp. 36, 10, 41.
3
34
[510
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
to guard against despotism on the one hand, and licentiousness
on the other." They recommended to their delegates "to keep
constantly in view the avowed end and purpose for which these
colonies originally associated, the redress of American griev-
ances, and securing the rights of the colonists." They directed
them, in case any proposition should be made by the Crown
or Parliament leading to a happy reconciliation on the grounds
of constitutional freedom, to do all in their power to further
it, and not to assent to any proposition of independence or
foreign alliance or colonial federation leading to a separation
with the mother country, unless they should deem it absolutely
necessary for the preservation of colonial liberties. If such a
proposition should be assented to by a majority of the colonies
in Congress, their delegates were to call a meeting of the Con-
vention at once, and to know that the Province would not be
bound by such an assent except by the vote of its representa-
tive body. They were, however, directed to join with the
other colonies in all necessary means of defense until the
Peace.¹ Moreover, in referring to the King's speech of the last
October, and to the responding addresses of Parliament, they
left no doubt as to their position. They expressed their strong
attachment to the English Constitution and their affection for
the House of Hanover, and affirmed, that to be free subjects
of the King of Great Britain was, in all its consequences, to
be the freest members of any civil society in the known world,
and they disclaimed any desire for independence, maintaining
that their only motive in taking up arms was to defend their
lives and liberties.2
The new Council of Safety sat nearly every day, and occa-
sionally, under press of business, on Sunday, busy in carrying
out the resolves of the Convention and of Congress. It was
chiefly engaged in issuing commissions to militia officers; in
arranging for the victualling and clothing of the troops; in
¹ Proceedings of the Convention, Jan. 11, 1776.
2 Ibid., Jan. 18, 1776.
511] The Provisional Government of Maryland.
35
contracting for the making of arms and ammunition; in issu-
ing orders on the Treasurers to pay subsist and advance money
for the support of the troops; in seeing to the fortifications of
Baltimore and Annapolis; in issuing instructions and sailing
orders to the captains of vessels exporting provisions from the
Province; and, in general, in executing measures of defense.
It did not hesitate to issue orders to the Proprietor's Commis-
sary and Land officers and to the clerk of the Provincial court
at Annapolis, but its directions were by no means arbitrary,
and it frequently backed up its acts by reference to the resolves
of the Convention.
The business of the courts was going on as previously
arranged; the Proprietor's officers were duly executing their
functions, and the Governor himself was sitting quietly at
Annapolis, greatly respected, and ostensibly possessed of his
authority, though he was wise enough to pursue a policy of
inactivity and, where possible, to exert his powers for the
making of peace. But events were soon to occur which were
to make his departure necessary, and thus to loosen greatly
the bond which bound the Province to its Proprietor.
In the latter part of March, a certain Alexander Ross, on
returning from a visit to Lord Dunmore's fleet, whither he
had gone on private matters, was stopped by a Virginia cap-
tain of militia, and on his person were found some letters
addressed to Governor Eden, more particularly, a circular let-
ter and a private letter from Lord George Germaine.¹ In
the most important one, Governor Eden's zeal for the public
service, and the unalterable attachment shown by him to the
King's person and government, was approved of. A letter
from him containing "a great deal of very useful information,”
and a "confidential communication of the character of Indi-
viduals," were spoken of, and he was directed to assist the
operations of the British troops in the southern colonies, if
they should come near Maryland. The letters were sent im-
1 ¹ Journal and Correspondence of the Council of Safety, April 16, 1776, ff.
36
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
[512
mediately to General Lee, commanding the troops in Virginia,
and to the Virginia Council of Safety, whereupon the latter
body forwarded them to the Baltimore committee of observa-
tion, directing it to forward them to Congress. General Lee
sent a private letter to Samuel Purviance, the chairman of the
Baltimore committee, with whom he was on good terms, direct-
ing him to send at once to Annapolis and seize the person and
papers of the Governor. The letters reached Baltimore April
14, and the committee not being then in session, Mr. Purvi-
ance, on his own responsibility, sent an officer with a few men
to Annapolis to seize the Governor secretly, and, at the same
time, he forwarded the letters to Congress and wrote an un-
signed private letter to President Hancock, in which he spoke
of the Council of Safety and Convention as timorous and
inactive, and as being afraid to execute the duties of their
station. The letters were forwarded also to the Council of
Safety, and upon their receipt the Council sent a delegation
to the Governor, to show him a copy of the intercepted letters
and to request a sight of his letter to Lord Dartmouth of
August 27 last, and to ask his parole not to leave the Prov-
ince until the meeting of the Convention. He replied that he
had sent away the copy of the letter, with all his valuable
papers, the autumn before, and could not remember the par-
ticulars, but observed that they might be convinced there was
nothing of a nature unfriendly to the peace of the Province in
it, because the troops going to the southward had not been
ordered to Maryland. 'He asserted also upon his honour
that he had not endeavoured to enflame the ministry by tra-
ducing the characters of individuals." On being asked to
give his parole that he would not leave the Province till the
meeting of the Convention, the Governor complained of being
unjustly suspected; gave them his letters from William Eden,
Esquire, his brother and one of the under secretaries of State,
also one from Lord Dartmouth, and desired time until the
next day to give his answer. At the set time, he refused to
give his parole, holding it impossible so long as he should act
513] The Provisional Government of Maryland.
37
as Governor to become a prisoner at large in his Province.
But, he told them that he had no intention of leaving, so long
as his stay would tend to preserve the public tranquillity.
This was taken as his parole in effect, and the committee
thanked him for his resolution to remain, and expressed their
hope that he would not regard their action as an insult or
indignity. On the next day, the Council received an earnest
request from Congress to seize both him and Ross and their
papers,
and to send such as related to the American Dispute
to it without delay. This they considered as uncalled-for
interference with their internal affairs and naturally resented.
They replied that they had already taken such measures as
were competent in their judgment to the occasion; that they
were not convinced that the Governor had carried on any dan-
gerous correspondence, and that they considered the seizure and
imprisonment of the head of the civil government a measure
of too much delicacy and magnitude to be adopted without
calling and consulting the Convention. They were, more-
over, greatly incensed at the anonymous letter of Purviance to
President Hancock traducing them, and at the fact that the
Congress would not let them have it to use against the writer.
They "considered the authority of the whole Province trampled
upon and insulted," and they called a Convention for May 7
to take the matter into consideration. Meanwhile, being sus-
picious of the plan concerted by General Lee and Samuel Pur-
viance, they decided to investigate matters thoroughly, and
accordingly summoned Purviance and other members of the
Baltimore committee to appear before them, with all the papers
and proceedings of the committee relative to the intercepted
letters. On which occasion, they questioned them at length
and in detail,³ and were disgusted with Purviance's answers.
2
1
¹ Journal and Correspondence of the Council of Safety, April 18 and 19,
1776.
2 Ibid., April 19, 1776.
4 Ibid., April 25, 1776.
Ibid., April 24, 1776.
4
38
[514
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
He was obliged to enter into a recognizance for the sum of
£500 for his appearance before the next Convention.
On the meeting of that Convention,' on May 8, the Council
of Safety laid all their proceedings relative to Purviance and
the Eden affair before it, and sought its approval of their
actions. A committee inquired into the Purviance affair and
found him guilty of the three charges: of usurping a power
to direct the operations of the military force, at a time when
the Council of Safety, to whom such power solely and properly
belonged, was sitting, and might, without inconvenience, have
been applied to; of having given instructions to seize the Gov-
ernor under color of his office as Chairman of the Baltimore
committee, and as if at its request, whereas it was not con-
sulted nor acquainted therewith; and, finally, of having writ-
ten and spoken derogatively of the Convention and Council
of Safety. The Convention saw in his actions the influence
of General Lee meddling in the affairs of the Province,³ and,
while greatly resenting this outside interference, they resolved
to let Purviance off with a severe reprimand, in which their
indignation at the real author of his actions was made plain.
2
4
The Eden affair was considered in committee of the whole
for several days. Finally, the course pursued by the Council
of Safety was approved of, and no evidence was found of the
Governor having held an unfriendly or injurious correspond-
ence with the Ministry as regarded America. But, since it
appeared from the intercepted letters that an expedition was
to be sent to the southern colonies, which might have import-
ant consequences to Maryland, and since the Governor had
been directed to assist it, and must, if he should remain in the
exercise of his power, execute the instructions of the Ministry,
and, moreover, since the powers of government, in the absence.
of the Governor, would devolve on the President of his Coun-
¹ Proceedings of the Convention, pp. 125-162, May 8-May 25, 1776.
2 Ibid., May 10, 1776.
³ Ibid., May 22, 1776.
4 Proceedings of the Convention, May 22, 1776.
515]
39
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
1
cil, and thus the established form of government would not
be dissolved or suspended by his departure, it was decided to
signify to him that the public quiet and safety required his
departure and that he should have full liberty to depart peace-
ably with his effects. A complimentary address was drawn
up and sent to him at the hands of a committee, expressing
their appreciation of his conduct, their wishes for his return
to the government of the Province at the conclusion of peace,
aud their hope that he would, upon his arrival in England,
represent their temper and principles with the same candor
that he had ever shown in his attempts at reconciliation.
Besides exercising the same executive, police, and judicial
powers as those exercised by previous Conventions, this one
took a step or two forward. It gave to the Council of Safety
authority to subpoena witnesses when necessary, and to com-
pel their attendance under penalty of fine and imprisonment.
Owing to the marine warfare, which had begun under the
direction of Congress and had grown to large proportions, they
established a new court of admiralty. Because sundry officers
appointed to maintain peace and order objected to take the
oaths to the Proprietary Government, they resolved to dispense
with them, and directed the officers to take simply the oaths
of their office without fear of any penalties. Because the
people who had taken up arms in defense of their rights and
liberties could not, with sincerity and devotion, pray for the
success of His Majesty's arms, they directed that every prayer
for the King found in the Book of Common Prayer, except
the second collect in the communion service,² be omitted in all
churches and chapels until the end of the unhappy differences.³
Finally, in reply to the resolution of Congress recommending
them to form a permanent government representative of the
¹ Ibid., May 24, 1776. On this motion the vote stood 36 to 19.
2 This is especially important as marking the Convention's exercise of
authority over the Established Church.
3 Proceedings of the Convention, May 25, 1776.
40 The Provisional Government of Maryland.
[516
people, they said that they had the sole and exclusive right of
regulating their internal affairs, that they would continue as
heretofore to act with cheerfulness and alacrity in the common
cause, and, if necessary, that they would enter into a further
compact with the other colonies to do so, but that they did
not think it necessary that every kind of authority under the
Crown should be totally suppressed and all powers of govern-
ment exerted under the authority of the people. In accord-
ance with this sentiment, they renewed, to their newly reëlected
delegates to Congress, their instructions of the previous Jan-
uary.
On reviewing the events and results of the year about end-
ing with this Convention, one is struck by the great advance
made by the people in the acquisition of the powers of govern-
ment and, at the same time, by the conservative use made of
them. At the beginning of the period, the power of the
people in Convention was just beginning to assert itself in a
proposed commercial and armed opposition, and the Gover-
nor's power was then little diminished. But that year saw the
people's authority rise first to a position of equality and then
to one of actual superiority, and finally drive the acknowledged
head of the old régime out of the Province. A thoroughly
competent Provisional Government of defense had grown up,
a large military force had been raised and organized, the civil
government had been encroached upon, and many of the bonds
which bound the Province to the mother country had been
loosened, but, withal, the progress had been cautious and only
such as was necessary for the defense of the people's liberties.
There was a great hesitation about taking the final step. As
yet the people were not ready for it, and even the departure
of the Governor¹ was looked upon as only temporary. But
events were not long in bringing about the final severance of
all political ties with England. To declare their colonial in-
1The President of the Council remained as his representative, and the
Magistrates, Justices, and Sheriffs still held their commissions from him.
517] The Provisional Government of Maryland.
41
dependence and to set up a new State government was the last
act in the drama of the Provisional Government.
III.
The people of Maryland were very slow, as has been seen,
in making up their minds to declare their independence of
Great Britain. The great amount of freedom previously exer-
cised in the regulation of their internal affairs, and the happi-
ness and prosperity enjoyed under the old régime, had endeared
the English Constitution to them. The many and strong ties
of blood, language, religion, and common interest, bound them
closely to the mother country. The troubles and oppression
which gave rise to the war bore down upon them less as concrete
realities than as violations of their abstract rights. Finally,
the fear of interference in the regulation of their internal affairs
by the representative body of the United Colonies, made them
loathe to break away from the protecting arm of the English
Constitution and plunge into the uncertainties of Colonial Fed-
eration while yet there remained the faintest hope of “a recon-
ciliation on the firm ground of constitutional freedom." Con-
sequently, Maryland held out to the end, and was one of the
last of the colonies to declare its Independence.
66
For a long time, however, some of the clearest minded of
its citizens had seen the inevitableness of the step. We are
told that, "sometime after the commencement of hostilities,
and a long time before the Declaration of Independence,” at
a dinner at the house of Charles Carroll, Barrister, and in
the presence of the Governor, Thomas Johnson declared
that "the first Hessian soldier that puts his foot on the
American soil will absolve me from all allegiance to Great
Britain!" and that Samuel Chase, at the same time and place,
exclaimed, "By God! I am for declaring ourselves indepen-
dent!"¹ Though these expressions may have been used on
¹ Quoted in Scharf's Hist. of Md., II, 218, footnote.
42
[518
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
the spur of the moment, there was back of them the more
or less conscious conviction that Independence would be the
inevitable outcome of the struggle.
For some time to come the mass of the people did not share
these views. The instructions to their Congressional delegates
in January, 1776, were explicit in directing them not to join
in any such movement, and they were repeated by the Con-
vention in May. But, by that time, the logic of events was
plainly pointing in the direction of Independence. On May
15th, Virginia directed her delegates to declare in its favor in
Congress. Massachusetts, Rhode Island and North Carolina
had taken more or less similar steps and, now, on June 7th,
the matter was debated in Congress and, after a few days, was
postponed for three weeks to give the deputies who had been
directed to oppose it time to consult their colonies. The Mary-
land delegates informed the Council of Safety of the fact, and
asked them to call the Convention at the earliest possible
moment, in order to get "the explicit sense of the Province
on this point." They suggested also that the deputies collect
the opinion of the people at large, in some way, before the
meeting of the Convention. They themselves were plainly in
favor of taking the decisive step. The Council had already
called the Convention to meet on June 21st in order to con-
sider the request of Congress to have the Maryland troops
sent out of the Province,¹ not feeling possessed of the proper
authority to give the order themselves. In communicating
this fact to the delegates in Congress, they said it was now too
late to make the necessary inquiry before the meeting of the
Convention; and that, as they presumed, the first business of
the Convention would be the regulation of the movement of
the militia in accordance with the desire of Congress, the
committees of observation could, if necessary, be directed to
collect the sense of the people on Independence and report to
the Convention. The Council was apparently not yet in favor
1 ¹ Proceedings of the Council of Safety, June 10, 1776.
519]
43
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
of it and was unwilling to take this responsibility upon them-
selves, as they suggested that, "any mode their representatives
may think proper to point out would be better relished by the
people, than for us to put them into a violent ferment in a way
that might not be approved of." This was apparently not
very satisfactory to their delegates in Congress, who were
anxious to have the Convention remove their previous instruc-
tions and declare in favor of Independence. As soon as
they could leave Congress, Matthew Tilghman, Thomas John-
son and Samuel Chase came down from Philadelphia and
endeavored to rouse the people to give the necessary instruc-
tions to their deputies in the Convention. Under the pressure
of events and the increasing sentiment in favor of the move-
ment,¹ this was not very difficult. Several county meetings
directed their deputies to rescind the former instructions and
authorize the Congressional delegates to join with those of the
other colonies in declaring Independence.
When the Convention met, therefore, on June 21, many of
the deputies were prepared for the action about to be taken.
Still, the energetic action of the leaders was necessary to bring
over many of the halting moderates. Their first work was
to write to Congress, requesting the leave of as many of their
delegates as could be spared, and to desire that the questions of
Independence, Federation and Foreign Alliance be postponed
until their return, which was promised to be as soon as possi-
ble. Then, while awaiting their attendance, they gave their
attention to minor matters.
In response to the Charles county meeting, they resolved to
determine all questions in future by a majority of members,
and not, as heretofore, by a majority of counties; they decided
that the yeas and nays might be taken and entered whenever
desired by any member, and they resolved to open their debates
¹For the last six months, the leaders of the movement had been dissemi-
nating their views in papers and letters. See Stone's Letter to Jenifer,
Correspondence of the Council of Safety, Md. Archives, April 24, 1776.
44
[520
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
and proceedings to the public except in cases where it should
be otherwise ordered. All these measures marked a great
advance in parliamentary procedure, making the Convention
more sensitive to, and a better register of, popular opinion.
They took another step in severing their relations to the
Proprietary Government. The Governor had departed on
June 24, and, on the next day, they ordered one of his last
orders to be disobeyed. The Assembly had been prorogued,
from time to time, since the Spring of 1774, and its legal
existence had ended in the Autumn of 1775. To provide for
a new Assembly, the Governor, shortly before his departure,
had ordered writs to be issued in the Proprietor's name, pro-
viding for the election of delegates. The Convention now
ordered the writs to be disregarded and no elections to be held.
This was really the death-knell to the Proprietary Govern-
ment. The departure of the Governor had been regarded as
only temporary, but now the orders for constituting the proper
legislative Assembly, under the old régime were disregarded,
and it was henceforth plain that the break with it must be
complete and a new government constituted by the authority
of the people. Henceforth, all that remained of the Pro-
prietary rule was the subordinate officers of the civil and
judicial administration, and these continued to exercise their
functions several months longer.
The Convention proceeded to consider the request of Con-
gress to have them furnish troops to act with Pennsylvania
and Delaware, and they agreed to furnish four battalions of
militia, consisting in all of 3,405 men, under the command of
a brigadier-general.
Finally, on June 28, the much desired withdrawal of the
previous instructions and restrictions upon their delegates in
Congress was resolved upon, and they were now directed to
join with the delegates from the other colonies in declaring
"the United Colonies free and independent States; in forming
such further compact and confederation between them; in
making foreign alliances, and in adopting such other measures
521] The Provisional Government of Maryland.
45
as shall be adjudged necessary for securing the liberties of
America." They pledged the colony to hold itself bound by
the resolutions of a majority of the United Colonies, "pro-
vided, the sole and exclusive right of regulating the internal
government and police of this colony be reserved to the people
thereof." This was an actual declaration of Independence,
but it was followed on July 3 by the formal document,2
which stated the rights of the colonists, the infringements of
the same, and their withdrawal of allegiance from the King of
Great Britain, and declared their intention of entering into
such further colonial union and foreign alliance as should be
necessary, and their determination to form a new government
to regulate the internal affairs and police of the colony.3
Independence having been declared, the next thing was to
arrange for the formation of the new government. For this
purpose, it was thought best to go to the people. Elections
for deputies to a new convention, whose duty it should be to
form the new government, were ordered to be held at certain
specified places in each county, usually at the court-houses, on
August 1. The qualifications for voters were fixed much
as in former elections. "All freemen, above twenty-one years
of age, being freeholders of not less than fifty acres of land,
or having visible property in this colony to the value of £40
sterling, at the least," were to vote for deputies in the several
counties and in the town of Baltimore. For Annapolis, any
freeman could vote who was twenty-one years old, and who
owned a whole lot of land there or had a visible estate of £20
sterling within the Province, or who had served five years in
the city and was a housekeeper. In every case, the further
requirements of one year's residence in the place where one
should offer himself to vote, and freedom from the censure of
1
Proceedings of the Convention, June 28, 1776.
2 Ibid., July 6, 1776.
3 It is noteworthy that, from now on, the word "colony" is generally
used where "province" had been formerly employed, indicating the end
of its peculiar provincial existence and its sense of union with the other
colonies.
46
[522
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
the authorities for breaches of the Continental Resolves was
necessary. Each county was to elect four delegates, Frederick
being very large was allowed four from each of its districts.
An innovation was now made in the representation of the
people in that, for the first time, the town and city of Balti-
more and Annapolis were classed by themselves, and each was
allowed to return two delegates. The elections were to be free,
and to be held in the usual viva voce manner. To this end,
no one was to be allowed to go to the polls armed, no muster
of the militia was to be made on the election day, nor were
the soldiers to collect at the time and place of holding them,
nor were any ten militia men to be allowed to vote successively
if any one should object. Furthermore, no one holding a
commission or office in the regular forces by land or by sea was
to be eligible to become a representative, or to hold any place
in the civil department, or to have a right to vote while hold-
ing such commission or office. Every regulation was made on
the old basis of representation, together with the innovations
in the cases of Baltimore and Annapolis, to ensure the people
a free voice in the election of delegates to frame a new govern-
ment. The authority of the people was recognized as the basis
of this new Power, and everything was done to have a full
and free representation of the people in the new Convention.
The old principle of free property qualification for suffrage was,
however, still adhered to as a characteristic of the age.
The civil officers whose commissions had issued from the
Proprietary Governor were now exercising their functions only
by sufferance, but, there being no convenient way as yet to
replace them, the Convention authorized them, with the ex-
ception of the customs officers, to continue in office until the
next Convention should replace them by functionaries with
commissions from the new State Government. The Proprie-
tary officers were thus allowed to continue¹ in the Colony even
after the Declaration of Independence.
¹ Eddis and his colleague of the Loan Office continued to perform their
duties until June 1, 1777. See Eddis' Letters, June 1, 1777.
523]
The Provisional Government of Maryland. 47
Certain other matters of considerable importance were
attended to by the Convention. The Statute of Treasons en-
acted under Edward III, fixing the trial of traitors before a
petit jury with the penalty of death and the confiscation of
property, was adopted as law. It was decided that counter-
feiters and conscious passers of such money should suffer death
without benefit of clergy. It was resolved that private debts
contracted between September 10, 1775, and July 10, 1777,
might be paid in country produce and manufactures. Other
matters, such as ordering the advance of money to aid home
manufacturers in the production of goods, orders to the Coun-
cil of Safety to contract for arms and ammunition, and judg-
ment on cases of appeal on the breaches of the Continental
Resolves, were also attended to.
The action of the Convention on the resolutions of the Vir-
ginia Convention relative to the Eden affair is, however, par-
ticularly interesting as showing the determined opposition to
all outside interference with their internal affairs. The Vir-
ginia Convention had, on May 31, directed a letter to be sent
to the President of the Maryland Convention expressing their
deep concern because Governor Eden had not been seized and
their reasons for refusing to give him a passage through their
Colony or the Bay adjoining.¹ The Maryland Convention
now replied that the Virginia resolutions were hasty and be-
trayed a disposition to meddle in their affairs, that they had
never interfered in the affairs of Virginia and that they could
not believe that the Virginia Convention (as it said) thought
they had promoted the Governor's passage "to assist in their
[Virginia's] destruction under a pretence of his retiring to
England." They said, further, that they were the only proper
judges of the propriety of the act, and that, if the Virginia
¹Virginia had insinuated that Eden's passage had been promoted "to
assist in their destruction under a pretence of his retiring to England." It
had appealed to the people of Maryland against the Convention, and it
thus became necessary for the Convention to vindicate its proceedings.
48
[524
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
Convention had had the evidence before them, they would not
have been at a loss to know why the Maryland Convention
acted as it did. The same spirit was manifest here as had
been evidenced before in the action upon the directions of
Congress to form a new government. Maryland was deter-
mined, at all costs, to resist all outside interference and to main-
tain the sole and absolute right to regulate its internal affairs.
Before adjourning on July 6, the Convention reappointed
its delegates to Congress, replacing John Hall by Charles
Carroll of Carrollton, and giving them as full and ample
power to represent the Colony as any before had been given.
They also reappointed the Council of Safety, with one excep-
tion, with power to serve until the end of the next Convention.
Then, fixing the date for the meeting of the new Convention
for August 12, and directing the Council of Safety to call a
meeting of the present one if necessary before August 1, they
adjourned, providing for their dissolution on August 1.
After declaring American Independence, Congress directed
President Hancock to send a copy of the document to each of
the Colonial Conventions, to the end that it might be by them
proclaimed in the presence of the people. On July 11, the
Council of Safety received the Declaration, together with a
letter from the President, and it thereupon sent copies of them
to the committee of each county requesting them to have the
Declaration proclaimed in the manner they should judge most
proper for the information of the people,¹ which was accord-
ingly done with proper solemnity and festivity. On the meet-
ing of the new Convention, the Council laid the document
before that body, and, on this occasion, the sanction of the
representative and authoritative body of the Colony was added
to the previous approval of the people.2
When the Convention assembled on August 14, it was
found that in several instances the regulations of the last Con-
1 Correspondence of the Council of Safety, July 16, 1776.
2 Proceedings of the Convention, August 14, 1776.
525]
49
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
vention fixing the qualifications of voters and the places for
voting had been disregarded, and some irregularly elected
deputies had been returned. The regulation excluding all
those actually in the military service of the Colony from voting
or becoming candidates for election, seems to have been the
chief cause of trouble. In Queen Anne, Prince George,
Worcester, and the lower districts of Frederick county, depu-
ties had been appointed by the aid of the vote of the soldiery,
and in Kent county, owing to the trouble growing out of the
enforcement of this regulation, no election had been held.'
In all these cases, the Convention upheld the regulations of
its predecessor, declared all such elections null and void, and
ordered new ones on the old basis.2
3
Before entering upon the all-important work before them,
certain rules regulating procedure and debate were agreed
upon, which, from their simple, natural character, make one
wonder why they had not been previously adopted. Con-
sistently following the endeavor of previous Conventions, they
were determined to keep the military from influencing the
civil department of government, which they desired to be
founded on the calm, sober judgment of the people, and they
resolved that any member who should accept a commission in
the flying camp, should vacate his seat in the house."
They soon set themselves to their chief task, the formation
of a new government. On August 17, they appointed a com-
mittee of eminent men
5
66 to prepare a declaration and charter
¹In Charles county, though held partly at one place and partly at an-
other, yet, because of the unanimous consent of the voters, they were
allowed to stand.
* The personnel of the Convention was much changed. Out of a total of
76 members, the late elections had returned fully two-thirds of that num-
ber as new men. Council of Safety Correspondence, Letter to Md. Deputies,
July 9, 1776. Proceedings of the Convention, Aug. 15, 1776.
3 Proceedings of the Convention, Aug. 15, 1776. ♦ Ibid., Aug. 16, 1776.
"It consisted of Matthew Tilghman, Charles Carroll, Barrister, William
Paca, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, George Plater, Samuel Chase, Robert
Goldsborough. Thomas Johnson and R. T. Hooe were added on August 30.
4
50
[526
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
of rights, and a plan of government agreeable to such rights
as will best maintain peace and good order, and most effect-
ually secure happiness and liberty to the people of this State."
Ten days later, the committee reported a Declaration and
Charter of Rights, and on September 10 presented a Constitu-
tion and Form of Government. These were read and laid on
the table without discussion or consideration, owing to the
necessary attendance of their delegates in Congress. On Sep-
tember 17, they ordered these documents to be printed for the
consideration of the people at large, and twelve copies were
directed to be sent to each county. The Convention then
adjourned for two weeks, to give the people time to acquaint
themselves with the proposed instruments of the new State
Government, and to give their delegates in Congress an oppor-
tunity to attend the Convention. After reassembling they
took up the discussion of these documents, discussing them
first in committee of the whole, then reporting them to the
house, rediscussing them, paragraph by paragraph, and finally
they were adopted, the Declaration of Rights on November
3, and the Constitution on November 8.
1
The time spent in deliberating on them was very short, in
comparison with their importance. The committee which
drew them up produced the Declaration in ten days, and the
Constitution in about ten days more. Then they were laid on
the table for a whole month, and after being taken up again,
a month was given to discussing and agreeing to them, but of
this time much was given to other business. Yet they both
were able and epoch-making documents.2
The Declaration of Rights³ asserted, first of all, the true
origin and end of government as coming from the people and
¹ Proceedings of the Convention, Sept. 17, 1776.
2 It is interesting to note that no provision was made for a ratification of
them by the people. The people were apparently regarded as sufficiently
present in the Convention, and when adopted by it, these instruments were
binding upon all.
* See Proceedings of the Convention, Nov. 3, 1776.
527]
51
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
existing solely for their good. It next demanded for the
people of Maryland the sole and exclusive right of regulating
their internal government and police. For the freedom and
protection of the citizen, it claimed the benefits of the Common
Law of England, and repeated some of the provisions of the
Great Charter providing for free, speedy and just trials by
jury, and declaiming against ex post facto and attainder laws.
The now somewhat famous aphorism that "public office is a
public trust," was clearly enunciated in it, and the violation
of it was made a justification for the overthrow of the old
government. The principle of the three-fold division of the
powers of government, then so enthusiastically believed in,
was strongly emphasized, and made a corner-stone of the Con-
stitution. Freedom of worship, freedom of the press, the
evils of monopolies, of hereditary honors and titles of nobility,
the elevation of the judiciary above the clamor of frequent
and popular elections, the subjection of the military to the
civil power, were some of the remaining assertions of this
Declaration.
The Constitution' introduced several interesting innova-
tions. Under the Proprietary Government, the Governor
and his Council had acted as a second and Upper House of the
Legislature; but it had never been elected by the people nor
had it ever represented them. In its place, the new body of the
Senate was put, with the peculiar condition that the Senators
were to be elected not directly by the people, as in the other
Colonies, but by electors who were chosen by the people. They
could be taken all from one county, or from several, as the
electors should see fit, except that nine must be taken from the
Western and six from the Eastern Shore. This method of
election produced in the Senate a different kind of authority
from that of the Lower House, elected directly by the people.
It produced a body of the best mature and able men, less
1 ¹ See Proceedings of the Convention, Nov. 8, 1776.
52 The Provisional Government of Maryland.
[528
affected by the hasty movements of popular opinion than the
Delegates, and formed not another House of Delegates but a
real check to the latter. So effective was it, that this plan was
more or less followed in the formation of the United States
Senate, and in the election of the President. The House of
Delegates was but the continuation of the previous Lower
House of the Assembly, unchanged, with the same equal repre-
sentation of the counties as before. The property, age, and resi-
dence qualifications for suffrage were retained, with the reduc-
tion from £40 to £30 sterling, as the least amount of visible
property giving one the right to vote. The military were
carefully excluded from such privileges. Another important
change was the taking away of the veto power on legislation
hitherto held by the Governor. This was done probably, as
McMahon points out, because the Governor was not elected
directly by the people as now, but by the joint ballot of both
Houses of the Legislature, and to have given him the power
to check legislation would not have been to introduce a new
authority against theirs, but simply to provide for a further
revision of their acts by a power of their own creation. To
introduce the new Government, the Constitution provided for
elections soon to be held for senatorial electors, who were to
meet in the early part of December and elect fifteen senators.
About the middle of December other elections were to be held
for sheriffs and delegates, and the new General Assembly was
directed to meet February 10 next, and organize and choose a
Governor and his Council and the minor officers, and set the
wheels of the new machinery in motion.
1
The time of the Convention was by no means wholly occu-
pied in the drawing up of a Declaration of Rights and the
adoption of the Constitution. Many other matters of impor-
tance came up for consideration and were attended to. It was
necessary that the civil administration should continue in
1 McMahon's Hist. of Md., p. 439 ff.
529] The Provisional Government of Maryland.
53
1
power until the inauguration of the new government, and the
Convention therefore authorized the continuance in office of
all the civil officers then in commission until others should be
appointed and commissioned by the legislative and executive
power of the State. Certain other legislative and regulative
measures were determined upon. The county courts were
ordered to assess the county charges as usual. The justices of
Baltimore county were directed to forbear to levy any further
sum of money on the inhabitants for the purpose of repay-
ing the money loaned the county for repairing roads.2 The
inhabitants of Talbot county, finding it difficult to pay, in the
distress of the times, the annual installment of tobacco levied
under the act of 1773 for the building of a county poor-house,
the Convention absolved them from its payment and ordered
the money already paid in to the county trustees to be expended
on the poor.³ It passed a resolution making inspected tobacco
a legal tender, as before June 10, for all public dues. Another
resolution made all wills valid which had been made by young
men, over sixteen years old, in the military service in case they
should die in the service. It ordered the repeal of the act of
Assembly of December, 1773, for preserving the breed of wild
deer, and the cessation of all prosecution for breaches of the
act. Money being needed for the carrying on of defensive
operations, it ordered the emission of bills of credit to the
amount of 531,1113 dollars, to be redeemed on or before Jan-
uary 1, 1786.
There was also the usual amount of executive
and judicial business, and the election of a new Council of
Safety which should see to the carrying out of its instructions.
Delegates to Congress were also elected with powers
concur with the other United States, or a majority of them,
in forming a confederation, and in making foreign alliances,
providing that such confederation, when formed, be not bind-
¹ Proceedings of the Conventions, November 4, 1776.
* Proceedings of the Conventions, September 13, 1776.
Proceedings of the Conventions, September 14, 1776.
Ibid., October 4, 1776.
4
* Ibid., October 26, 1776.
66
to
54
[530
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
•
ing upon this State without the assent of the General Assem-
bly reserving always to this State the sole and exclusive
right of regulating the internal police thereof." Moreover,
even at that late day, the peace party gained such promi-
nence as to cause the delegates to be further "authorized and
empowered, notwithstanding any measures heretofore taken,
to concur with the Congress, or a majority of them, in accom-
modating our unhappy differences with Great Britain, on such
terms as the Congress, or a majority of them, shall think
proper." These extensive powers caused considerable uneasi-
ness among the patriots in Congress as being likely to hinder
the common cause and a foreign alliance; so much so that
Samuel Chase, in a letter to the Council of Safety, expressed
his hope that they might be kept unpublished.²
The Convention took upon itself the authority to erect two
new counties. Frederick county being very large, both in
extent and population, it was decided to form of its Upper
and Lower Districts the two new counties of Washington
and Montgomery, respectively, naming them after the General
who had fallen before Quebec and the Commander-in-chief.
Arrangements were accordingly made for the determining of
a county-seat in each by a popular election, and for the sepa-
ration of the courts, and commissioners were appointed to
superintend the building of a court-house and jail in each.³
Another matter of very great importance demanded a great
deal of attention. The first purpose in calling the Convention
was to meet the demands of Congress to have troops sent
northwards, and one of its first acts was to accede to that
request and direct the troops accordingly. Maryland had
always responded cheerfully and speedily to the call for troops
and now sent forward about four thousand. On September
1 Proceedings of the Conventions, November 10, 1776.
2 Correspondence of the Council of Safety, November 23, 1776.
³ Proceedings of the Convention, September 6, 1776.
*Correspondence of the Council of Safety, August 16, 1776.
531] The Provisional Government of Maryland.
55
16, Congress made another call for eight battalions from
Maryland to be enlisted to serve during the war, and, as an
inducement to enlist for this term, it resolved to give each
non-commissioned officer and soldier a bounty of twenty
dollars and a hundred acres of land to be furnished at the
expense of the United States.¹ This requisition was by no
means agreeable to the people of Maryland. The Convention
considered the matter on October 19, after reassembling, and
came to the conclusion that the call of Congress for eight
battalions from Maryland exceeded its proper proportion. It
presumed that, in calling for so large a number, the requisi-
tion had been made on the basis of all the inhabitants of the
Colony, white and black, whereas it judged that it ought to be
made on the basis of the white population only. But yet,
being "desirous of exerting the most strenuous efforts to sup-
port the liberties and independence of the United States," it
concluded to "use its utmost endeavours to raise the eight
battalions required (including the troops already raised and in
the service of the United States) as soon as possible." To the
bounty of twenty dollars proposed to be given to each non-
commissioned officer and soldier, it had nothing to say, but it
was not willing to accede to the proposition of Congress to
give them an additional bounty of a hundred acres of land,
in the first place because the State had no lands belonging
solely and exclusively to it which it might use for this pur-
pose, and, further, because it feared that the purchase of such
lands, especially on the basis of its whole population, on which
the levies had been made, would involve it in ruin.2 In lieu,
therefore, of the hundred acres of land, it offered to give the
further bounty of ten dollars,³ a generous offer, since it was
1
¹ Journals of Congress, September 16, 1776.
Proceedings of the Convention, October 9, 1776.
3 The people felt that the back-lands which Congress proposed to use for
the purpose of furnishing the land bounty ought to be the joint property of
all the States, since they had been conquered by the joint expense and
treasure of all. Fearing the claims of some of the States to these lands,
56
[532
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
something more than the price of the land proposed to be given
by Congress. On this basis, then, it agreed to carry out the
request of Congress; it appointed four commisssioners to go
to the camps of the troops in New Jersey and re-enlist all they
could get to serve for the term of the war on this double
bounty, and it made provision for enlisting the remainder in
in the Colony on the same terms and for thus filling up the
desired quota.¹
1
It hoped and presumed that these arrangements would
prove satisfactory but they really stirred up a hornet's nest.
The Commissioners, on their arrival in Philadelphia, laid the
Resolves of the Convention before Congress, and soon after
were informed that the proposed substitution of ten dollars
instead of the 100 acres of land would prove extremely pre-
judicial and detrimental to the United States, as all the soldiers
and officers would demand the same bounty and compel the
Congress to the payment of an additional bounty greater than
could be borne. They were told that land could be bought
at three dollars per hundred acres, and that the soldiery had.
already extorted greater wages than could be endured, and
they were asked whether they would re-enlist the troops simply
on the twenty dollar bounty without promising the additional
ten dollars. Similar sentiments were embodied in the resolu-
tions of Congress of October 30 addressed to the Conven-
tion of Maryland. The Convention was asked to reconsider
its resolutions and direct the commissioners to proceed to
execute the views of Congress. The members of Congress
were extremely annoyed at the refusal of the Maryland Con-
vention to accede to their proposal granting a bounty in lands,
they thought the plan of Congress would cause them to obligate themselves
to purchase their share of them of a few venders who might ask what they
pleased and thus ruin the State. They, therefore, preferred to obviate all
this difficulty by the generous offer of a cash-down bounty of ten dollars.
Correspondence of the Council of Safety, Letter of B. Rumsey to J. Tilgh-
man, October 24, 1776, and to Jenifer, November 24, 1776.
¹ Proceedings of the Convention, October 9, 1776.
533]
57
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
and they intimated to the commissioners that a disposition to
separate from the United States was apparent in the Conven-
tion's resolves. In their resolution of October 30, Congress
said that, "being satisfied with the propriety of offering land
to the soldiery, as an inducement to enlist in the service, they
cannot rescind the said resolution; and are of opinion, that
the faith, which this House, by virtue of the power with which
they were vested, has plighted, must be obligatory on their
constituents; that no one State can, by its own act, be released
therefrom, and that the interest of the United States would be
deeply and injuriously affected, should the Congress, at this
time, consent to a compromise between any State and the forces
to be by them raised."1
To this, the Convention on November 9 made a firm but
respectful reply, that they were very sorry that the least differ-
ence of opinion should have arisen between them and Con-
gress, that they had, as requested, reconsidered their former
resolutions and now offered three conditions, as follows, that
Congress should specify any lands, belonging to the United
States, which would be used as a common stock to be divided
among the soldiery in their service, in which case the commis-
sioners were to endeavor to re-enlist the troops to serve on
that basis during the war, or, if it will not specify such lands,
and will permit the enlistment of the Maryland troops on the
basis of the former resolutions, that is, of ten dollars bounty
instead of 100 acres of land, that, then, the commissioners
proceed with their duty, or, if it will do neither of these two
things, that, in that case, the commissioners endeavor to enlist
the men on the bounty of twenty dollars allowed by Congress,
but not to engage the faith of the State to give or make good
any bounty of lands. They again stated clearly the reasons
for their action, namely, that, as they had no lands of their
own, they would be obliged to purchase their portion from the
other States at exorbitant prices. They clearly enunciated
1 ¹ Journals of Congress, October 30, 1776.
58
[534
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
1
their views as to the ownership of the back lands, a question
upon which they had already spoken in connection with the
consideration of the Virginia constitution, and which now
assumed especial importance in connection with this ques-
tion of land bounty, and which was to become of still greater
importance in future years and form the chief obstacle to
formally entering the Confederation. They maintained that
what had been "secured by the blood and treasure of all,
ought in reason, justice, and policy, to be considered as a
common stock, to be parcelled out by Congress into free, con-
venient, and independent governments, as the wisdom of that
body shall direct; but, if those (the only lands as this Con-
vention apprehend that can) should be provided by Congress
at the expense of the United States to make good the proffered
bounties, every idea of their being a common stock must be
given up." In reply to the charge of showing a disposition
to disunion, they expressed "a strong disinclination to go into
any discussion of the powers with which Congress is invested,
being fully sensible that the general interest will not be pro-
moted by either the Congress affirming, on this Convention
denying the existence of a fullness of power in that honourable
body; the best and only proper exercise of which can be in
adopting the wisest measures for equally securing the rights
and liberties of each of the United States, which was the
principle of their union."3 Congress replied, by a resolution
on November 12, that troops might be enlisted for three years
on the twenty dollars bounty, or for the term of the war on
the additional bounty of the 100 acres of land, and that, for
this purpose, two sets of enlisting rolls be kept. The Council
of Safety, after the adjournment of the Convention, directed
the commissioners to enlist the troops on the three-year basis,
with the understanding that, at the expiration of that term,
1
¹ Proceedings of the Convention, October 30, 1776.
* Proceedings of the Convention, November 9, 1776.
3 Ibid., November 9, 1776.
535] The Provisional Government of Maryland.
59
they would be in the service of the State; and they took
occasion to pronounce against the implication that Mary-
land would have "to contribute her proportion of the expense
attending the procuring of lands for the officers and soldiers
furnished by the other States for the war." Samuel Chase
and the other delegates to Congress did all they could to get
that body to give the State "some satisfaction as to the back
lands, and the mode by which the proportion of the expenses
of the war was to be paid by each State," with the result of
securing a resolution from Congress on November 23, declaring
that nothing hitherto done was to prejudice or strengthen the
right or claim of the United States, or of any of them, to
any lands in America, nor to determine in what proportion or
manner the expenses of the war shall be raised or adjusted,"
with certain exceptions.
Thus ended the controversy over the giving of lands as
bounty to soldiers serving for the war. It gave rise to the
greater controversy over the ownership of the back lands, and
the present ending of it simply relegated it unsettled to the
consideration of a future Congress. The position taken by
Maryland was admirable in the calm assertion of its individual
rights, and in its insistence on a larger-minded treatment of a
question that some of the States wished to dispose of in the
light of selfish interests. Maryland's battle over this cause
was only begun, but the justice and persistence of her conten-
tion bore in them the presage of victory.
Complete and final arrangements had now been made for
the formation of the new government, and the last of the Con-
ventions handed over the execution of its resolves to the newly
reëlected Council of Safety. The people were, however, in
some places "very backward in carrying the new government
into execution,” and it was some time before the new com-
mittees of observation and the senatorial electors were chosen.
1
Correspondence of the Council of Safety, November 21, 1776.
*Correspondence of the Council of Safety, Nov. 29, 1776.
60 The Provisional Government of Maryland. [536
2
In several counties of the Eastern Shore, mobs created consider-
able disturbance, owing to the great scarcity of salt.¹ In Bal-
timore, certain over-zealous patriots, known as the Whig Club,
caused much trouble by assuming the authority of government
and issuing threats to certain less zealous citizens, urging their
departure from the Colony. They even drove the Sheriff out
of the Town, and prevented him from collecting the county
levies. Their example was followed in Annapolis by sundry
persons ordering others to depart the city by the next morn-
ing.³ The Council of Safety did its best to quell all this and
to maintain order. Meanwhile the elections took place, and,
in response to the call of the Council of Safety, the Delegates
and Senators assembled at Annapolis as the new General
Assembly on February 5, five days before the time set by the
Convention, owing to the riotous and extra-judicial proceed-
ings of some and the disaffection of others. On February 13,
Thomas Johnson was chosen Governor, and on the next day
his Council was elected. On March 21, his inauguration took
place with proper solemnity and festivity. The new govern-
ment was now fairly started, and soon the civil officers of the
old régime were superseded by those commissioned by the new
Authority. The Council of Safety disbanded on the Gover-
nor's inauguration.
5
4
The history of the Provisional Government has now been
traced, in its general outlines, from its germ in the non-im-
portation agreements of 1773 and 1774 through its gradual
exercise and assertion of sovereign authority until it found
itself the only power in the Colony. It has been seen to pass
through three more or less distinct stages, beginning, in the
first, in the commercial resistance of the people to the aggres-
sions on their rights and liberties, and rising to the power of
¹ Journal and Correspondence of the Council of Safety, Nov. 18, 21, Dec.
30, 1776.
2Ibid., Dec. 10, 13, and 17, 1776.
3
3 Journal of Council of Safety, Dec. 23, 1776.
♦ Ibid., Jan. 18, 1777.
' Eddis' Letters, April 2, 1777.
537]
61
The Provisional Government of Maryland.
armed opposition, taking the sword out of the Governor's
hands and asserting itself as a second Power in the Province.
In the second stage, it organized itself more fully, and gradu-
ally grew until it completely overshadowed the Proprietary
Authority, and, in the third, it cut the Gordian-knot, declared
the Colony's independence, broke all connection with the
Proprietary, and ended in the setting up of a new State Gov-
ernment. In all this time—a period of nearly three years-
it had pursued no other policy than the calm, consistent defense
of the people's rights. It did not want to do anything more
than maintain these rights, and the forcing upon it of the
ultimate consequences was only the result of circumstances.
But, under the pressure of those circumstances, it nobly showed
itself equal to its task and started forward the Government
which, with some alterations, has worked smoothly for more
than a century. During its continuance, its actions were
marked by calm good sense and sober judgment.¹ Drawing
its authority directly from the people, it ever kept close to the
source of its power, and, though the spirit of the age was far
less democratic than that of ours, it was always true to the
voice of its constituents. In comparison with the character
and development of other such transitional periods in the
history of Government, its history may well be a matter of
pride to every loyal Marylander.
1"Such an administration, the immediate offspring of necessity, might
have been reasonably expected to be subversive of that liberty which it was
intended to secure. But in the course of more than two years, during
which it was cheerfully submitted to by all, except the advocates for British
usurpation, although many occasions occurred in which an intemperate
zeal transported men beyond the just bounds of moderation, not a single
person fell a victim to the oppression of this irregular government. The
truth is that, during the whole memorable interval, between the fall of the
old, and the institution of the new, form of government, there appeared to
exist amongst us such a fund of public virtue as has scarcely a parallel in
the annals of the world." Chancellor Hanson's introduction to the pro-
ceedings and resolves of the Convention which framed the Constitution.
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