Maryland Day

Greetings,

Today is, of course, Maryland Day.  March 25, 1634, the Ark and the Dove land at the old St. Marys City and the Calvert family claims its land granted by the King Charles I of England to George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore.  Calvert wished to found a colony for persecuted Roman Catholics. He died in 1632, however, and the charter was granted to his son Cecilius, or Cecil, the second Lord Baltimore.  The Calvert grant of land embraced the present state of Maryland and parts of Pennsylvania and Delaware. Under this charter, the first settlers arrived in 1634. Led by Cecilius' brother, Leonard Calvert, they settled about 10 miles up the St. Mary’s River, near the southern tip of the Western Shore. On the East bank of the river they built St. Mary’s City. This served as the seat of government until Annapolis became the capital in 1695.

      Officially Maryland was named for Queen Henrietta Maria (Mary), the wife of Charles I.  Unofficially, the Roman Catholic Calvert-Crossland family chose the name to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus.  They also saw it as God’s will that the date of the landing, March 25, was the Feast of the Annunciation of the Maternity of Mary (when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would bear God’s child). 

Governor Calvert welcomed not only Roman Catholics but non‑Catholic Christians as well.  In 1649 Maryland passed the Act Concerning Religion that granted liberty of worship to all Christians.  This was the first religious toleration act passed in America, and, indeed, one of the first passed anywhere in the world.  This Act had tremendous influence on the shaping of religious freedom in the colonies and in the new country soon to be formed.

In 1649 some Puritans from Virginia Colony made a settlement at Providence (now Annapolis). For years this group quarreled with the Catholic government of the Calverts.  Finally, in 1692, Maryland became a royal colony with the Church of England as the established religion.  Marylanders were then taxed to support this church.  They continued to protest this tax until the Revolution.  To protest against another British tax, the ship Peggy Stewart with its cargo of tea was burned in the Annapolis harbor on Oct. 19, 1774 (Boston’s may have been first, but ours was better - the same as with the U.S.F. Constitution in Boston and the original U.S.F. Constellation, the first frigate in the U. S. Navy, and the U.S.S. Constellation, the Sloop of War now in its honored place in Baltimore Harbor, restored by the Navy at a cost of only $9 million).  Peggy Stewart Day is still celebrated in Maryland (at least that’s the official line - last I looked ours was the only celebration I could find). 

During the American Revolution the state contributed many soldiers and officers, including General William Smallwood, the highest ranking Marylander in the Revolutionary War (talk to Roberta about General Smallwood - everything you always wanted to know, but were afraid to ask).  Indeed, the popular nickname for Maryland is the Old Line State, supposedly suggested by Gen. George Washington in admiration for the performance of the Maryland troops during the American Revolution. Another nickname, Free State, is used to honor Maryland's long tradition of freedom, especially religious freedom (though it was originally proposed by a newspaper editor to criticize the state's position against prohibition - though it should be remembered that back then prohibition was a “religious” issue).

I was very disappointed to see virtually no comment on this being Maryland Day.  Maryland has a place of importance in the history, economics, and politics of the nation far out of proportion to its geographic and population size.  If we in Maryland do not lift up our heritage to learn from it, and to challenge us to carry it forward, who will?   In our society today the lessons of Maryland’s heritage are desperately needed, from religious freedom to philanthropy to commitment to medical and scientific research and advances to patriotism to literature to the arts.  Eubie Blake, M. Carey Thomas, Johns Hopkins, Ebenezer Cook, Frederick Douglass, Howard Kelly, Francis X. Bushman, Samuel Chase, William Osler, James M. Cain, George Peabody, Sidney Lanier, John Work Garrett, Daniel Coit Gilman, Charles Carroll, Brooks Robinson, William S. Halstead, Dashiell Hammett, Harriet Tubman, Enoch Pratt, Charles Wilson Peale, Helen Tausig, William Smallwood, William H. Welch, Jimmy Foxx, Clarence Mitchell, Payton Rous, Edgar Allan Poe, John Charles Thomas, William Walters, Henry Walters, Cal Ripkin, Theodore R. McKeldin, John Eager Howard, Tom Clancy, Francis Scott Key, Thurgood Marshall, Carl Brode, Rosa Ponsell, John M. T. Finney, Perrin Mitchell, Rodger B. Taney, Jonathan Hager, William S. Thayer, Christopher Morley, Wallis Warfield Simpson, John Unitis, H. L. Menken, Mason Locke Weems, and Barry Levinson - fifty Marylanders (born here and/or lived here) off the top of the head who had a major influence on life in this country or the world. 

It is not too late to celebrate Maryland Day.  Be like the Federal government and switch all holidays to a Monday, and celebrate it this year on Monday, March 26.  Let the rich diversity of Maryland’s heritage inspire you.  Let the standard of freedom and commitment to the highest principles which informed the history of Maryland shape our actions today and tomorrow.  And may we, whatever our work and endeavors, follow in the path of excellence blazed by those Marylanders who have gone before us.

Yours & His,

DED