The Maryland History and Culture Bibliography
Menard, Russell R. "'Maryland's 'Time of Troubles:' Sources of Political Disorder in Early St. Mary's." Maryland Historical Magazine 76 (Summer 1981): 124-40.
Notes: An excellent analysis of the difficulty faced by the Calverts in establishing a stable political system in Maryland in the first several decades of settlement. Confronted with William Claiborne's commercial outpost on Kent Island, and hostility from other Virginians and their supporters in London, not to mention Richard Ingle's almost fatal attack on the colony in the mid-1640s, Lord Baltimore used his considerable influence and political skill to protect his interests. Within the colony, the ostensible Catholic hegemony was rent by a dispute between the Proprietor and the Jesuits over their influence in secular affairs, and his goal of establishing a hierarchical manorial political system was undermined by the ease with which indentured servants could obtain land and influence.
Categories: Politics and Law, Seventeenth Century, St. Mary's County
Papenfuse, Edward C. "Remarks on the History of the Maryland Legislature, 1643-1694." Chronicles of St. Mary's 32 (May 1984): 149-155.
Categories: Politics and Law, Seventeenth Century, St. Mary's County
Raley, J. Frank, Jr. "The Senate Desk 1776 to 1966." Chronicles of St. Mary's 40 (Fall 1992): 145-48.
Categories: Politics and Law, Eighteenth Century, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century, St. Mary's County
"Recognizing Maryland's Role in 'The First Freedom.'" A Briefe Relation 21 (Spring 1999): 1, 8.
Categories: Politics and Law, Eighteenth Century, St. Mary's County
Roberts, David. "St. Mary's Elects the President, 1840-1980." Chronicles of St. Mary's 28 (September 1980): 225-29.
Categories: Politics and Law, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century, St. Mary's County
Social Studies Seminar, Chopticon High School, Morganza, St. Mary's County, Maryland. "St. Mary's County, Maryland, Cemetery Indexes." Maryland and Delaware Genealogist 21 (January 1980): 4-5.
Categories: Family History and Genealogy, Historical Organizations, Libraries, Reference Works, Politics and Law, St. Mary's County
Social Studies Seminar, Chopticon High School, Morganza, St. Mary's County, Maryland. "St. Mary's County, Maryland, Cemetery Indexes." Maryland and Delaware Genealogist 21 (April 1980): 36-37.
Categories: Family History and Genealogy, Historical Organizations, Libraries, Reference Works, Politics and Law, St. Mary's County
Social Studies Seminar, Chopticon High School, Morganza, St. Mary's County, Maryland. "St. Mary's County, Maryland, Cemetery Indexes." Maryland and Delaware Genealogist 21 (July 1980): 68-69.
Categories: Family History and Genealogy, Historical Organizations, Libraries, Reference Works, Politics and Law, St. Mary's County
Social Studies Seminar, Chopticon High School, Morganza, St. Mary's County, Maryland. "St. Mary's County, Maryland, Cemetery Indexes." Maryland and Delaware Genealogist 21 (October 1980): 100-01.
Categories: Family History and Genealogy, Historical Organizations, Libraries, Reference Works, Politics and Law, St. Mary's County
Stevens, L. Tomlin. "Maryland and the Adoption of the Federal Constitution." Chronicles of St. Mary's 35 (Fall 1987): 49-54.
Categories: Politics and Law, Eighteenth Century, St. Mary's County
Stewart, Oliver D., Jr. "350 Years of Service: St. Mary's County Sheriff's Department." Chronicles of St. Mary's 35 (Winter 1987): 77.
Categories: Politics and Law, St. Mary's County
Towers, Frank, ed. "Military Waif: A Sidelight on the Baltimore Riot of 19 April 1861." Maryland Historical Magazine 89 (Winter 1994): 427-46.
Categories: Politics and Law, Nineteenth Century, Baltimore City, Civil War
Carr, Lois Green. "Sources of Political Stability and Upheaval in Seventeenth-Century Maryland." Maryland Historical Magazine 79 (Spring 1984): 44-70.
Notes: Challenging the prevailing notion that seventeenth century Maryland politics were inherently chaotic, Carr argues that community networks were being formed through which information was exchanged and community oversight imposed, and that County courts emerged as <em>de facto</em> local governments. Local men, who may have been planters or former indentured servants, were appointed as justices. During the hiatus following the Revolution of 1689 local government continued to operate. After discussing the various political crises before and after 1689, Carr concludes that the underlying cause of Maryland's political instability was a failure of leadership of the men at the top of Maryland society.
Categories: Politics and Law, Seventeenth Century, St. Mary's County
Henig, Gerald S. Henry Winter Davis: Antebellum and Civil War Congressman from Maryland. New York: Twayne Press, 1973.
Notes: A sympathetic biography of a leading Maryland politician who died in 1866 at the early age of forty-eight. A gifted orator and political writer, and a passionate opponent of the Democratic Party, Davis initially associated with the Whig Party, which was popular in the north but less so in the south, just as it was in the throes of disintegration. He then aligned with the newly formed Know Nothing Party, whose primary appeal was nativism and anti-Catholicism, and was elected to Congress in 1855. He was a leading opponent of the Buchanan administration and an early supporter of Abraham Lincoln. Active in trying to stem the tide of secession and to keep Maryland in the Union, he hoped for a Cabinet position, but Montgomery Blair won the appointment. At odds with his constituents, he was defeated for re-election and his political career appeared to be ended. He became gradually disenchanted with Lincoln's leadership, and, after re-election to Congress as a Unconditional Unionist, he led the effort to reassert Congressional leadership over reconstruction policies. When the President pocket-vetoed the Wade-Davis bill, he issued a highly publicized protest manifesto and actively opposed Lincoln's renomination. During the 1864 campaign, however, he decided that the Democratic candidate, McClellan, was a greater threat, so he campaigned for the Republican ticket. Davis also played a decisive role in the writing and ratification of the Maryland constitution of 1864. Once again his radical position eroded his constituent base and he was not renominated for his Congressional seat.
Categories: Biography, Autobiography, and Reminiscences, Politics and Law, Nineteenth Century, Baltimore City, Civil War
Ridgway, Whitman H. Community Leadership in Maryland, 1790-1840. A Comparative Analysis of Power in Society. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1979.
Notes: Applying social science methodology to reconstruct patterns of decision making and their significance, this work examines the formation of elites in four political communities representing the diversity of the state (Baltimore City, and the counties of Frederick, St. Mary's, and Talbot) in two political eras (the Jeffersonian and the Jacksonian). In the more rural areas, such as St. Mary's and Talbot counties, decision makers overlapped with those who held public office and dominated community affairs, and little changed between the two periods. Where there was greater social and economic diversity, the patterns were considerably different. Elites became more specialized forcing decision makers to accommodate the demands of new leaders who represented a expanding popular political base. Members of the different elites (decisional, commercial, positional and traditional) are identified, along with individual socio-economic information, in the appendices.
Categories: Politics and Law, Eighteenth Century, Nineteenth Century, Baltimore City, Frederick County, St. Mary's County, Talbot County
Beitzell, Edwin W., ed. "Diary of Dr. Joseph L. McWilliams, 1868-1875." Chronicles of St. Mary's 23 (March 1975): 17-24; (May 1975): 37-44; (June 1975): 45-50.
Categories: Biography, Autobiography, and Reminiscences, Society, Social Change, Folklife, and Popular Culture, Nineteenth Century, St. Mary's County
Bennett, Joyce. "Steeped in English Tradition." Chronicles of St. Mary's 47 (Winter 1999): 412-13, 419.
Berger, Michael L. "Farmers, Flivvers, and Family Life: 1900-1929." Chronicles of St. Mary's 32 (July 1984): 165-175.
Categories: Society, Social Change, Folklife, and Popular Culture, Twentieth Century, St. Mary's County
Carr, Lois Green, and Lorena S. Walsh. "Changing Life Styles in Colonial St. Mary's County." Working Papers from the Regional Economic History Research Center 1 (no. 3, 1978): 73-118.
Categories: County and Local History, Economic, Business, and Labor History, Society, Social Change, Folklife, and Popular Culture, Seventeenth Century, St. Mary's County
Carr, Lois Green, and Lorena S. Walsh. "Inventories and the Analysis of Wealth and Consumption Patterns in St. Mary's County, Maryland, 1658-1777." Historical Methods 13 (Spring 1980): 81-104.
Categories: County and Local History, Economic, Business, and Labor History, Society, Social Change, Folklife, and Popular Culture, Seventeenth Century, Eighteenth Century, St. Mary's County
Carr, Lois Green, and Lorena S. Walsh. "The Standard of Living in the Colonial Chesapeake." William and Mary Quarterly 45 (January 1988): 135-59.
Notes: Carr and Walsh make detailed use of probate records from seventeenth and eighteenth century Maryland to argue that the period in Chesapeake area history represented a shift from an early emphasis upon material necessities to an improved standard of living marked by "gentility." The authors contend that this change reached across class lines and helped to fuel, rather than check, the productive economy of the colony. The article includes extensive tables and graphs of evidence regarding consumer items for several Maryland and Virginia counties.
Categories: County and Local History, Society, Social Change, Folklife, and Popular Culture, Seventeenth Century, Eighteenth Century, Anne Arundel County, St. Mary's County, Somerset County, Chesapeake Region, Southern Maryland, Eastern Shore
Costello, M. Starr. "The Role of Wealth in Widowhood and Remarriage Patterns in Seventeenth Century Maryland." Chronicles of St. Mary's 28 (July 1980): 197-216.
Categories: Economic, Business, and Labor History, Society, Social Change, Folklife, and Popular Culture, Seventeenth Century, St. Mary's County
"A Dialect Study of St. Mary's County, Maryland." Chronicles of St. Mary's 30 (November 1982): 497-504; (December 1982): 507-15.
Categories: County and Local History, Society, Social Change, Folklife, and Popular Culture, St. Mary's County
Dyson, Roy. "St. Mary's County and Maryland's 350th Anniversary." Chronicles of St. Mary's 32 (February 1984): 125-128.
Fausz, J. Frederick. "Present at the 'Creation': The Chesapeake World that Greeted the Maryland Colonists." Maryland Historical Magazine 79 (Spring 1984): 7-20.
Notes: Fausz examines relations between Europeans (especially the English of Maryland and Virginia) and Native Americans of the Chesapeake region in the decade immediately preceding the settlement of the Maryland colony at St. Mary's in 1634. He argues that the interaction between Englishmen and Native Americans provided the basis for tobacco cultivation and the beaver fur trade. Both paved the way for successful adaption of the early English settlers to new American conditions.
Categories: County and Local History, Native American, Society, Social Change, Folklife, and Popular Culture, Seventeenth Century, St. Mary's County, Chesapeake Region