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 in 1755
failed to spur Maryland during the final five years of the
war.

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 against the Proprietary to the Brit-
ish 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. Maryland takes credit for first refusing to
pay taxes under the Stamp Act; actual repudiation took
place in Frederick County on November 23, 1765. The Brit-
ish Parliament repealed the Townshend Acts in 1770, but a
strong feeling of rebellion remained. Support of Boston
was vigorous after that port was closed; and the Boston Tea
Party of December 16, 1773, had its Maryland counterpart
when a tea ship, the Peggy Stewart, was burned in Annap-
olis harbor on October 19, 1774.

Maryland played leading roles in both the First and
Second Continental Congresses and in the signing of the
Declaration of Independence. Revolutionary action on a
national scale had been foreshadowed by the Maryland
"Association of Freemen."

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—invade
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 of Paris ending the war was ratified in
Annapolis three weeks later on January 14, 1784. The
Maryland capital again played a part in the national scene
by entertaining delegates from New York, New Jersey,
Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Virginia on September