ANNAPOLIS.

1 lie first white person to behold the site of Annapolis, the
present State capital, was Capt. John Smith, who saw it in
1608, in a voyage tip the Chesapeake. It was settled in
16491 by a company of English Puritans seeking relief from
religious persecution, and called Providence. These men
were soon urged to take the oath of allegiance to Lord
Baltimore, but they refused, claiming that it were equiva-
lent to declaring their fealty to the Catholic Church, and
that Lord Baltimore was aiming at absolute dominion.
However, by 1650 the Courts of Anne Arundel county were
established, and Providence sent delegates to the General
Assembly of Maryland.

In 1604, the capital of the State was removed to Annapolis.
Annapolis, between this period and the Revolution, became
the centre of refined and attractive society, noted for its
gayety and intelligence, and which gained for the city the
title of "The Athens of America,"

The "Town of Anne Arundel" was surveyed and laid out
in 1604. by Richard Beard and in 1696 this map and survey
were legalized by Act of Assembly. The original plat having
been destroyed with the State House in the fire of 1704, a
resurvey on the original lines was ordered by the Acts of
1718, ch. 19, James Stoddart being employed for this purpose.
The Stoddart plat is now in the Land Office.

On September 3d, 1765, Annapolis made the first forcible
and successful opposition to the Stamp Act. Zachariah Hood,
the stamp officer, was prevented from landing with his
stamps, and Thomas McNeir, one of the mob, had his thigh
broken in the first fight for American liberty on American
soil.

Ill 184.5, the United States Naval Academy was located at
Annapolis. It is claimed that the first building erected to
the dramatic art, and the first union of Federal and Con-
federate soldiers to decorate the graves of their common, dead,
were at Annapolis. The last event took place in May, 1883.

In addition to the Governor and Secretary of State the
following State officers are located in Annapolis: Comptroller,
Treasurer, Commissioner of the Land office, Tax Commis-
sioner and Commander of the State Fishery Force.