1788. April 28—.Maryland ratified Federal Constitution.

1791. Maryland ceded the District of Columbia to the United States.

1792. September—Rev. Thomas John Claggett consecrated the first
Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church In Maryland.
1810. Property qualification for Electors abolished.
1814. September 12—Battle of North Point.
1814, Bombardment of Fort McHenry, during which Francis Scott Key

wrote ' "The Star-Spangled Banner, " September 13.

1824. Religious tests for office removed.

1825. Jewish disabilities removed.
1828. July 4—Cornerstone of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad laid by

Charles Carroll of Carrollton.

1836. Obed Hussey, of Baltimore, the inventor of the first reaper and
mower, cut the first field of grain ever harvested by a reaper
(180 acres of wheat, oats and timothy), on the farm of Gen.
Tench Tilghman, near Oxford, Talbot County, Md., under the
auspices of the Board of Agriculture for the Eastern Shore
of Maryland. Owen Dorsey, of Howard County, Md., invented
the first successful side-rake reaper attachment.

1837. Governor's Council abolished and the office of Secretary of State
created.

1841. The Eastern Shore Land Office abolished.

1844. First telegraph line in the world built between Baltimore and

Washington.

1845. United States Naval Academy established at Annapolis.
1851. July 4—Second State Constitution adopted.
1851. Office of Chancellor abolished and a Commissioner of the Land
Office created.

1864. October 12—Third State Constitution adopted.

1867. September 18—Fourth State Constitution adopted.

1879. New foundation placed under State House and interior of building
modernized.

1901. Court of Appeals building completed.

1902. Annex to State House commenced. Occupied by Legislature of
1904.

1906. The historic old Senate Chamber restored by Governor Edwin
Warfield.