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MARYLAND MANUAL 29 his famous Legion in Baltimore, while both De Kalb and Lafayette spent considerable time in Maryland. At the close of the war, the Continental Congress met at Annapolis, and in one of the dramatic moments of American history George Washington resigned his commission in the Senate Chamber of the State House on December 23, 1783. It was at Annapolis, also, that Congress, on January 14, 1784, ratified the Treaty of Paris ending the Revolutionary War. Between September II and 14, 1786, the Maryland capi- tal entertained delegates from New York, New Jersey, Del- aware, Pennsylvania and Virginia in what has become known as the Annapolis Convention. Ironically, Maryland did not participate. The delegates discussed means of im- proving and strengthening relations between the states. Recognizing the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, the delegates urged that another meeting be held to devise means of remedying these defects. Accordingly, the Fed- eral Constitutional Convention met in May 1787 at Phila- delphia. On April 28, 1788, Maryland ratified the Constitu- tion; the seventh state to endorse the document which she had helped to bring into being. Because of the exhaustion of the tobacco lands, however, serious agricultural problems remained. Slavery was be- coming a burden, and currency problems vexed Maryland's economic life. In the formation of a new nation, Maryland did its part by sacrificing its territory and advancing money for public buildings to form the District of Columbia (1791). To offset some of the difficulties, Baltimore had grown until it was five times as great as Annapolis, the flourishing port of the "Golden Age." Early in the new century exports from Maryland ports reached the $14,000,000 mark. The Second British Conflict This shipping was, however, seriously hampered by Brit- ish policy. Finally British interference with our vessels and crews brought on the War of 1812. Fighting began in Canada but was soon carried south by the British. From 1813 Maryland bore the brunt of the war. British troops routed our forces at Bladensburg and then proceeded to Washington, where they burned the public buildings. But defeats at North Point and Fort McHenry prevented the British from capturing Baltimore. During the bombard- ment of Fort McHenry on the night of September 13, 1814, a Maryland lawyer, Francis Scott Key, was inspired to write the "Star Spangled Banner". |
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Maryland Manual, 1965-66
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