INTRODUCTION

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Although the Assembly sessions whose official records appear in this volume
are the last sessions of the Proprietary or Provincial Assembly, the last pre-
Revolutionary meetings, it would not appear from a reading of the text that
this was going to be the case. It is true that on October 15, 1773 (pp. 23-24)
the Lower House appointed a Committee of Correspondence and Enquiry,
and that the members of the committee were the leaders of the house, and
leaders in the fight for independence. But even those who believed that the
colonies must some day be independent would not have sensed that indepen-
dence in 1773 or 1774. The make-up of the Upper House in October 1773
was much the same as it had been in June. The members present at the opening
session were Benedict Calvert, Daniel Dulany the Younger, John Ridout,
George Steuart, William Fitzhugh, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer and George
Plater. William Hayward re-appeared ten days later, and two new members,
Benjamin Ogle and Philip Thomas Lee came for the first time October 28 and
29, at the very end of this session. It was rumored around Annapolis that Ogle
had been added to the Upper House at this time for the sole purpose of break-
ing a tie over the inspection bill by voting against it, but the Maryland Gazette
for November 4 denied this emphatically. The rejection had been determined
on before, even if it had not been carried down to ihc Lower Houoe.

The same men who made up the Upper House were at the same time mem-
bers of the Council, the Provincial Court and the Court of Appeals. They
were also the well-paid holders of most of the really important Proprietary
offices. Benedict Calvert and Dr. George Steuart were judges of the Land
Office, Daniel Dulany the Younger was commissary-general, one of the very
richest offices in the Province. William Fitzhugh was treasurer of the Western
Shore, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer was the Proprietary's Agent and Receiver-
General, Ridout and Plater and Richard Lee were Naval Officers. William
Hayward—of Talbot County—was Rent Roll Keeper of the Western Shore.
It was estimated that in 1754 the average income of the members from their
offices was £372, and that by the time the Revolution broke out, it had in-
creased 50%, an enormous income for the day. Moreover, most of the men
were also wealthy outside their offices.

In the Lower House, of a possible total of fifty-eight members, four for
each county and two for Annapolis, sixty per cent had been members since
before 1771. The newer members, to judge by their performances, were at
least as strongly anti-Proprietary as the older ones. Because this was not the
first session of the newly elected House, there was no general swearing-in cere-
mony like that held on June 15, 1773, nor was there now any report from the
Committee of privileges and elections (Archives of Maryland, vol. LXIII,
PP- 335- 368-369). Sometimes on the day set for the Assembly to meet there