largely Virginian in character, the Maryland Assembly
was stern against Governor Horatio Sharpe and refused to
vote funds or raise troops. Edward Braddock, the British
general deputed to drive back the French, operated within
Western Maryland, but even his rout and death failed to
spur Maryland..

Prelude to Revolution.

The accession in 1751 of Frederick Calvert, a "gay young
blade", to the title of Lord Baltimore meant less interfer-
ence from the Proprietor, therefore Marylanders trans-
ferred their complaints from the Proprietary to the British
Government. Conflict between French and English only
sharpened the point. Debts to English merchants, lack of
a proper colonial currency, and taxes on imports led Mary-
land, this time in common with other colonies, to take
drastic action. The joint protest against the Townshend
Acts was made ineffective by repeal of those laws, but a
strong feeling of rebellion remained. Maryland takes credit
for first refusing to pay taxes under the Stamp Act; cate-
gorical repudiation took place in Frederick County on No-
vember 23, 1765. Support of Boston was vigorous after
that port was closed in 1774; and the Boston Tea Party had
its counterpart when a tea ship, the Peggy Stewart, was
burned in Annapolis harbor..

In both the First and Second Continental Congresses and
in the signing of the Declaration of Independence (fore-
shadowed here by the Maryland "Association of Freemen,"
nearly a year earlier) Maryland played lead roles..

The Revolutionary War.

From the first skirmish in Boston to the surrender at
Yorktown, Maryland soldiers saw service. Despite alarms,
only once did the British—by water at Vienna—set foot on
Maryland soil. Pulaski's Legion was organized in Baltimore,
Baron de Kalb and Lafayette spent some time in Maryland,
and here it was that in 1783 the Continental Congress met.
George Washington passed into civilian life in the Senate
Chamber of the State House at Annapolis on December 23,
1783. The treaty with Great Britain, ending the war, was
ratified in Annapolis..

Second British Conflict.

On April 28, 1788 Maryland became the seventh state to
ratify a constitution she had, through her leadership in the.