Maryland State History - Maryland, one of the eastern states of the United States. Maryland is bordered by Pennsylvania on the north, Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Virginia on the south, and West Virginia on the southwest and west. Washington, D.C., the national capital, is an enclave along the Virginia border. The Potomac River forms most of Maryland’s western boundary and Chesapeake Bay deeply indents the eastern part of the state. Annapolis is the state capital and Baltimore is the largest city.
The Maryland colony was founded in 1634 and was named for the wife of English King Charles I, Queen Henrietta Maria. Colonial Maryland attracted many settlers and, as its economy prospered, so did its social, political, and cultural life. Maryland entered the Union on April 28, 1788, as the 7th of the original 13 states.
During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Maryland and its residents were involved in many of the events relating to the attainment of independence by the United States and to the early struggles of the young republic. During the Civil War (1861-1865), Maryland, a border state, became part of the great battleground between North and South, but the state itself stayed within the Union. During the first half of the 20th century the economic development of Maryland was marked by a shift in emphasis from farming to manufacturing. The state is now primarily an industrial state. Despite this shift, agriculture is still carried on throughout most of the state.
Maryland has no official nickname. However, the most commonly accepted name, and also one of the oldest, is the Old Line State. This nickname honors the memory of Maryland’s regiments of the line, which fought with distinction in the American Revolution (1775-1783). The Official State Website is http://www.maryland.gov/.
In 1632 Maryland was granted to George Calvert, formerly secretary of state under King James I of England, but he could not hold public office after he espoused Catholicism in 1625. The Maryland Charter was issued to George's son Cecilius alias Cecil, Second Baron Baltimore, in 1632, but it was Cecil's younger brother Leonard who brought the first colonists aboard the Ark and the Dove, landing in March 1634 at St. Clements Island near the future capital at St. Mary's. Named for Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I, the colony was called Maria's Land or Mariland. Agriculture and trading were quickly established with the help of laborers who worked off their passage to the new land, friendly Native Americans, and slaves from Africa. The Europeans had good relations with the original inhabitants, although by the end of the century many had perished from disease, war, or liquor, and others were forced north or in some cases integrated with other groups.
A significant point in Maryland's history was the passage of the Act of Toleration in 1649, which encouraged settlement by many non-conformists, not only Catholics (in Calvert, Charles, and St. Marys counties) but also dissenters from Virginia (in Anne Arundel County) and Friends (Quakers). The Protestant Revolution in England, however, spread unrest to Maryland, and the proprietary government was overthrown by the Crown in 1689. The Anglican church was established as the state church of Maryland, and the capital moved to a more central location at Annapolis. With the conversion of the young Lord Baltimore to Protestantism, the proprietorship was restored in 1715. In 1781 Catholics were disfranchised and barred from public office, but Jesuit Fathers continued to quietly serve a growing Catholic populace despite laws forbidding them to celebrate the Mass or perform the sacraments. A number of early Maryland gentry unions occurred through Catholic-Protestant marriages.
The earliest settlements congregated in southern Maryland, on the Western Shore, in Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, and St. Marys counties. By 1695, this included Prince Georges County, which until 1748 stretched from Pennsylvania to Virginia. Virginia fur traders had settled at Kent Island prior to Calvert's immigrants' arrival in 1634. On Maryland's Eastern Shore, Somerset County bordered Virginia, from which colony came the first settlers, soon joined by emigrants from St. Marys and new arrivals from Britain. By the 1680s Baltimore County, along the waterways of the Patapsco and Gunpowder rivers, was seated. Because of an uncertain border, evidence of many settlers in western Kent and southern and western Sussex counties in Delaware are found in Maryland records until the time of the Revolutionary War.
In the eighteenth century settlers left the Chesapeake region and began building homes among the hills and valleys of western Maryland. Beginning in the 1730s, Germans from bordering Pennsylvania counties poured into what were then Baltimore and Frederick counties; some Quaker groups came about this time from New Jersey. In the mid-1700s many settlers came from Pennsylvania, and servants, felons, and Jacobite rebels numbered heavily among the eighteenth-century emigrants from Britain, with the Jacobites sold as laborers. Migrations out of Maryland in the eighteenth century included Catholics from St. Marys into Kentucky, and Moravians, most of whom went to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in the 1760s to obtain free land. Other Germans, Ulster-Scots, and Quakers went south to Virginia and the Carolinas. With the completion of the National Road in 1818, migration westward through and out of Maryland was greatly increased. The building of the country's first railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio, as well as a canal system along the Potomac River, also increased mobility within and out of the state.
Although British warships visited the Chesapeake in 1777, and there was a sizable number of Loyalists among the populace, no major battles were fought in Maryland during the American Revolution. The state was, however, the site for much action during the War of 1812. Although loyal to the Union during the Civil War, there was much sympathy for the South in southern Western Shore counties and among the upper classes, and many fought for the Confederacy. After the war, many black Southerners fled to Maryland from their devastated homes. About this same time began a large influx of Germans and eastern Europeans through Baltimore, one of the major eastern ports.
Slavery In Maryland
Slaves were different from indentured servants because they had to work for life. They were considered property by the people who owned them. They could be bought and sold or had no control over their lives. Many slaves were Africans, but not all people of color in the colony were enslaved. Some came to Maryland as indentured servants and worked under exactly the same conditions as white indentured servants.
There is evidence of slavery in Maryland as early as 1638. In 1642, Leonard Calvert offered to sell some land for “fourteene negro men slaves & three women slaves, of betweene 16 and 26 yeare old.” We don’t know if those people ever really came to Maryland. There were also several court cases in the 17th century that involved slavery in St. Mary’s County. In one case in 1658, a plantation owner, Simon Overzee, was accused of killing one of his slaves. The slave, Antonio, had refused to work or learn English. Overzee punished him. Slave masters had the right under the law to punish slaves who would not work. Antonio was punished then left alone. When Overzee came back, Antonio was dead. Master Overzee was brought to court for murder, but was found innocent. No one could prove that he had punished Antonio more than he was allowed.
In another case, in 1676, a black indentured servant named Thomas Hagleton brought a case to court against his master, Major Thomas Truman. Major Truman was trying to hold him as a slave. He refused to let his servant go when his indenture was finished. Hagleton brought witnesses to court that proved he had come to Maryland as an indentured servant. He won his case and was set free by his master.
For most of the 17th century, few people owned slaves. Slaves were expensive to import. Most planters did not have enough money to spend so much on a worker. Only the wealthiest men
could afford slaves. By the end of the century, many people had begun turning to slave labor because they could not get indentured servants to come from England. By the end of the 17th century, most
people bound to work on plantations in St. Mary’s County were enslaved.
The first enslaved people to Maryland did not arrive directly from Africa. Instead, they came from the Caribbean Islands where some of them had worked for many years. Sometimes this meant that they were already used to the climate in the New World. There was less chance that they would get sick in Maryland and die. Many of these slaves also spoke English, which made it easier to communicate with them. Some had experience working in fields and growing crops.
Eventually, planters needed more workers than what they could get from the Caribbean. Maryland planters began to bring laborers directly from Africa. These people were stolen from their homes and sold into slavery. They were forced to come to a land that they knew nothing about. Their first challenge was to survive the journey to the New World. The trip became known as the “middle passage.” Hundreds of people did not survive it. Sometimes hundreds of people were crowded aboard ships and chained below deck for the entire journey. There was little light or fresh air. The conditions were very bad.
Adapting to the New World
In the village that Wannas spoke of lived a tribe of Indians called the Yaocomaco. The Yaocomaco were a peaceful tribe of farmers and hunters. They were living on both sides of a river that the English named the St. George’s River (now known as the St. Mary’s River). The natives on one side of the river were moving to be closer to the rest of their tribe. It is possible that they were being attacked by another tribe of Indians called the Susquehannocks. These natives were a war-like tribe that attacked other people in the area.
Whatever the Yaocomaco’s reason for leaving, it was lucky for the English colonists. They were allowed to move into some of the Indian houses and live there until they could build their own homes. Some Yaocomaco stayed in the village, but they agreed that they would move within the first year. The colonists built a fort for protection. The Yaocomaco seemed to be very friendly, but they did not know whom else they might find in this new area. They were afraid of the Spanish, as well as other Indian tribes. The colonists soon learned that they were safe in their new home and moved out of the fort.
What did the colonists need to learn about planting in Maryland?
The colonists were also very lucky because they could use fields that the natives had been planting. This made it possible to grow food crops in time for their first winter in the New World. The natives taught the English how to farm and what sort of plants to grow in the new colony. The English learned about corn, which would become their most important food crop. The colonists had An artist’s drawing of the fort at St. Mary’s Courtesy of Historic St. Mary’s City never seen a crop that could grow so much food from so few plants. They were used to growing plants like wheat and barley, but they learned that these were not good crops to grow in Maryland.
To grow this new type of food, the colonists had to learn a new way to plant their crops. In England, farmers used plows pulled by oxen or horses to get fields ready for planting. The colonists quickly learned, though, that plows would not work well in Maryland. There were too many large trees with huge roots under the ground. The plow blades would break when they hit the roots. It would have taken a very long time to cut down the trees and pull out the roots. Instead, the natives taught the colonists to plant around the trees. They taught the colonists to girdle the trees by cutting a strip of bark off around the trunk of the tree. The tree’s leaves would fall off and the tree would die. As soon as the leaves were gone, the sun could reach anything planted around the tree. The natives taught the colonists to pile up dirt into small hills and plant seeds in those hills. That way, the corn’s roots were above any large roots left by the trees. This also made it much easier to weed around the plants. The colonists learned to grow their corn in this way, but also learned about another very important plant – tobacco.
When Lord Baltimore sent the first colonists to Maryland, he thought that they might make their livings trapping animals for their furs. He hoped that his colonists would send beaver furs back to England. Beaver was very popular because the fur was perfect for making warm, waterproof hats. The colonists could not make enough money in this fur trade. Instead, the Maryland colonists started growing tobacco.
The first person to bring tobacco back to Europe was Christopher Columbus. He discovered the Indians in South America growing and smoking a plant that he had never seen before. He took this plant back to Europe and it became very popular. Many things from the New World like coffee and chocolate were popular, but none more so than tobacco. In fact, people in the 17th century used tobacco as a medicine. They believed that it was good for treating coughs and colds and toothaches.It would be a long time before people learned how dangerous tobacco smoke could be.
The colonists had many difficult problems to deal with in the New World. They had moved to a brand new environment. There were many diseases in the New World that they had never had before. Many colonists got sick with what they called the seasoning. The seasoning was a combination of many diseases including malaria. Malaria was especially difficult because it made people very weak and tired. Many settlers, perhaps one out of every three people in the first year, died in the colony from the seasoning. Life would prove to be very difficult for the settlers to Maryland.
The Founding of a Colony
The history of Maryland actually began in England over 350 years ago. England in the 1600s could be a terrible place to live. Many people lived in large cities like London, which could be very dangerous. Cities were overcrowded and many people could not find jobs. These cities were often very dirty and disease spread very quickly. Poor people had very little chance of making a better life for themselves. Wealthier people owned land in the country. For the most part, if your family did not own land when you were born, you would probably never own land, either.
Even some people who did not live in the cities had a difficult life in England in the 17th century. According to the law, all people in England had to be members of the King’s church, called the Church of England. The laws said that people who did not belong to this church could be fined, could not vote, and could not hold any position in the government. Because of the poor conditions and unfair laws, many people were looking for a better way of life. Some eventually decided to look for it across the Atlantic Ocean in the New World.
Who was George Calvert?
George Calvert was born in 1580 to a wealthy family in Yorkshire, England. He attended Oxford University and became an important member of the English government. Calvert was a Secretary of State for King James I, which meant that he helped the King to make some of his most important decisions. He was very good at his job. In appreciation, the King gave him a large amount of land in Ireland and named him the Baron of Baltimore, or Lord Baltimore. Then, in 1625, Calvert announced that he was becoming a Catholic. By deciding to attend the Catholic Church, he could no longer be a member of the government. Instead, like many others, he decided to try to make a better life for himself in the New World.
Avalon
“. . . from the middest of October to the middest of May there is a sad face of winter upon all this land.”
- George Calvert to the King of England, 1628 Avalon was the colony founded by George Calvert in 1621. It was on the coast of Newfoundland in what is now Canada. He sent 12 settlers with Governor Edward Wynne in 1621. Calvert hoped that his colonists would make a good living catching fish from the Atlantic Ocean. He
thought that they could trade these fish with other colonies and with England.
Governor Wynne wrote to Lord Baltimore to tell him how much progress they had made in their new land. When Lord Baltimore moved there with his family in 1628, he was surprised at the severe weather. It was cold and dark for much of the year. Many people got very sick at Avalon. Lord Baltimore wrote the King about living at Avalon. The quote above comes from a letter that Lord Baltimore wrote to the King. It was in this letter that Lord Baltimore asked for land further south to start another colony. That colony eventually became Maryland.
Archaeologists are working now to learn more about the settlement at Avalon. They have found the remains of the house that George Calvert and his family lived in when they moved to Avalon.
They have also found a cobblestone road from the 17th century and a blacksmith’s shop where metal items were made. There is now a museum called The Colony of Avalon that is dedicated to teaching people about Newfoundland’s history and the story of Lord Baltimore’s first colony. |
George Calvert had been interested in starting a colony in the New World for some time. He had invested money in the colonies of Virginia and Massachusetts. Calvert had also asked the King for permission to start a colony in Newfoundland, which is now in Canada. He purchased land there and in 1621, sent a group of settlers to the colony he called Avalon. Several years later, he and his family moved there. Calvert found that it was very cold in Avalon and decided that it was not a good place for his new colony. Instead, he sailed back to England to ask the King for land further south. On the way, he stopped in the colony of Virginia. He decided that the area around the Chesapeake Bay would be the best place for his new colony.
On March 27, 1625, King Charles I became the new king of England after his father, King James, died. In 1632, Lord Baltimore presented the new king with a charter. This document said that Lord Baltimore would become the owner of a large piece of land next to the colony of Virginia. He would be called the proprietor of this new colony, which meant that he would own all of the land. The charter also said that he would be allowed to make the laws in his new colony as long as the colonists agreed. The charter gave him permission to give land to anyone he chose and to raise an army to defend his colony.
Many people in England did not want to see Calvert get the land he was asking for because he was a Catholic. They tried to convince the King not to grant Calvert his request, but after time, the King did grant the charter for the colony. Unfortunately, by the time the King made his decision, George Calvert had died. Instead, the charter was granted to his son. In 1632, George Calvert’s oldest son, Cecilius, became the second Lord Baltimore and the first proprietor of Maryland.
How do you prepare for a new colony?
Cecilius began to make plans to settle his new colony. He decided to call the land Terra Maria, or Maryland, after the King’s Catholic wife, Henrietta Maria. He knew he needed to find investors, or people to help him pay for the expense of starting the new colony. He found seventeen men who were interested in helping him start Maryland. Most of these men were Catholic, like Cecilius. Many of them went on the first voyage to Maryland and hoped to find riches there.
Cecilius also found members of a group of Catholic priests, called the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, who were interested in going to Maryland. These priests hoped to convince more people, including the Indians in Maryland, to join the Catholic Church.
Cecilius also needed someone to be the leader of the new colony. He had realized that he would not be able to leave England and go to Maryland, himself. The people who did not want Lord Baltimore to receive his charter were still causing problems for him in England. Instead, Cecilius sent his younger brother, Leonard, to be the leader of the first journey and the first governor of Maryland.
What was the voyage to Maryland like?
In November 1633, about one hundred and forty passengers boarded a ship called the Ark at Cowes, England, and set sail for the New World. Of the colonists, seventeen were the gentlemen investors, four were with the Jesuits, and almost all of the rest were servants. These servants worked for the others.
Almost all of the servants were Protestants and members of the King’s Church of England. There were very few women on the voyage and no families. There was at least one young boy. A tenyear old boy named William Browne was a servant on the voyage.
Leonard Calvert and the other Catholic gentlemen had to be very careful on the voyage. They had to make sure that there were no problems about religion between themselves and their Protestant servants. To avoid any arguments, Lord Baltimore instructed the gentlemen to worship quietly and let the servants worship in any way that they wanted. This idea is called religious toleration. We will learn more about this in a later chapter.
The Ark was accompanied by a smaller ship called the Dove that was owned by the Calvert family and several of the investors. The smaller ship carried all of the supplies that the settlers would need when they got to their new home. Lord Baltimore wrote a list of supplies that he thought people would need to bring to the new colony. Once the settlers got to Maryland, the Dove would be used to explore the rivers in the area.
Not long after the ships left England, they sailed into a bad storm. The Ark became separated from the Dove. People on the Ark were afraid that the Dove had sunk with all of their supplies. The Ark had to go on with its journey and hope for the best. The journey took the ship down the coast of Africa then across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Islands. Once the Ark landed on the island of Barbados, the passengers had a great surprise. The Dove had survived the storm and come across the ocean with the supplies that they would need to start their new colony.
Although they were happy to find the Dove again, the passengers on the Ark had a very difficult journey from England to the New World. Along with the storms, there were long periods at sea with no wind to move the ship along. The passengers were always nervous about pirates that might try to take the ship. They also had to live in very cramped spaces and eat bad food. The settlers and sailors on board the Ark had to heat pots over wood fires to cook their food. If the ship was in rough weather, they could not cook because the fire from the hearth might get out of hand and burn the entire wooden ship. The passengers might go days without any hot food. The passengers also had to make sure that the food that they brought on board would last for the entire journey. Most food was dried or salted to ensure that it did not spoil. The bread was baked for a long time until it was very, very hard. This kept the bread from getting moldy and also kept insects and mice from eating it. The bread would have to be soaked in soup or beer before it could be eaten. Passengers and sailors were always anxious for any opportunity to get fresh food.
Maryland: Catholic Colony?
Many people think of Maryland as a “Catholic colony,” but only about twenty of the first 140 settlers to Maryland were Catholic. There were always more Protestants in Maryland than Catholics.
Why then is Maryland called a Catholic colony?
In the 17th century, people who belonged to the Catholic Church in England were not treated fairly. They had to pay fines for not attending the King’s Church of England. They also could not vote or hold any positions in the government. It was against the law to be a Catholic in England. When George Calvert announced that he was becoming a Catholic, he decided to start a colony where Catholics would have the same rights as Protestants. He knew that he would not be able to convince the King to give him a colony where only Catholics would be allowed to live. It would also have been difficult to find enough people to settle a colony like that. Calvert needed to think of a way to protect Catholics in a place where people of different religions could live. He decided to build his new colony on the idea of religious toleration.
What is religious toleration?
Religious toleration is an idea that we still live by today in this country. It means that people of different religions can live in the United States and worship in whatever way they chose. No one can be punished for what they believe. Also, all people, no matter what their religion, can vote or can run for political office. Another important idea that is related to religious toleration is the separation of the church and the government. In England in the 17th century, the King said that he was the head of the government and of the church. People who were Catholic believed that the Pope was the head of their church. The King called this idea treason because he was afraid that it might take away from his power.
George Calvert knew that he had to be very careful about how he protected Catholics in his new colony. His son Cecilius also knew how important this was. When Cecilius sent the first colonists to Maryland in 1634, he gave the leaders instructions about religion. He told them that they should not try to convince any of the Protestants on board to join the Catholic Church. He also told them to worship very quietly on the voyage so that they did not upset the other passengers. They followed his instructions on the voyage and after they arrived in Maryland. This idea of letting everyone worship quietly as they chose is the basis of the idea of religious toleration.
For a number of years, the people in Maryland lived by the instructions that Cecilius Calvert gave the first settlers. Unfortunately, this did not last for very long. After the colony was attacked by Protestants in 1645, Cecilius decided that Catholics who lived in Maryland needed more protection. He wrote a law that was passed by the Assembly in Maryland. The law, passed on April 21, 1649, was called “An Act concerning Religion.” It said that any Christian could worship in Maryland. The law protected Catholics and Protestants, but did not include everyone. For example, people who are Jewish are not Christians, so they were not protected by the Act. In fact, the law said that people who did not believe certain things about God could be punished. A Jewish man named Jacob Lambruzo was brought to court because of that law.
Even though the Act did not apply to everyone, it helped people of different religions to live and work together peacefully. While there were wars being fought over religion in Europe, Catholics and Protestants were making laws, trading, and building a colony together in Maryland. The policy of religious toleration only lasted in Maryland for about sixty years. Nevertheless, it was a great accomplishment for Lord Baltimore and the colonists of Maryland.
Tobacco:
The Stinking Sotweed
Almost everyone in the colony of Maryland in the 17th century lived on a plantation and raised tobacco. Any farm that raised tobacco was called a plantation. It could be very large, sometimes thousands of acres, or perhaps as small as fifty acres. There were very few people who did not make their living growing what the colonists called the “stinking sotweed” on their own or someone else’s plantation. In fact, people in the 17th century thought that tobacco was good for their health. They used many herbs that they grew as medicines and considered tobacco just one more. Tobacco was used as a cure for coughs and colds. Also, fresh leaves were put on sore teeth to help stop the pain. Men, women, and even children used tobacco as a cure. There were a few people in the 17th century who did not like tobacco, including King James I, but most people paid little attention to their arguments.
Tobacco became the cash crop for Maryland. A cash crop is one that is grown to be sold. In fact, tobacco became so important in Maryland that it was used as money. Anything that was bought or sold in the colony was priced in pounds of tobacco. For instance, if you wanted to buy a cow, it might cost four hundred pounds of tobacco. You might have to pay about twenty pounds of tobacco for a new hat.
Tobacco took a lot of time and energy to grow. In fact, almost everyone might help with the tobacco crop, especially on a small plantation. Plantation owners who could afford help would bring indentured servants from England. An indentured servant was someone who worked for a plantation owner in Maryland in return for passage to the New World. The servant would have to work for about four years. During that time, he would get food, clothing, and a place to live, but he would have to do whatever his master asked of him. He could not marry or start a life of his own. After his indenture was finished, the servant received his freedom dues – one ax, two hoes, three barrels of corn, a new suit of clothes, and the rights to fifty acres of land. Although this land was free, the new owner could not start a plantation without money. He would have to pay to have the land mapped out and registered with the government. Coming to Maryland as an indentured servant was often the best opportunity to own land for many people who could not in England.
How do you grow tobacco?
Most servants coming to Maryland, especially men, were brought to help with the long, hard task of growing tobacco. The growing season started in February or March when the tiny tobacco seeds were planted in a small patch of ground called a seed bed. As the seeds began to grow, they would have to be watched very carefully. If it got too cold at night, the plants might die, so they had to be covered with pine branches to protect them. While the plants grew in seed beds, the fields were prepared. To clear new fields, large trees were girdled so that tobacco could be planted around them without having to cut them down. After the field was cleared, planters piled up the soil into small hills with a hoe. When the tobacco plants were large enough, they were transplanted into these hills. The plants would take the rest of the summer to grow.
As the tobacco grew in the fields, it would have to be checked quite often. Weeds that grew around the plants had to be pulled and sometimes plants might have to be watered if there was little rain. Most importantly, farmers had to make sure that tobacco worms did not eat their tobacco plants.
These worms fed on the leaves of the tobacco as it grew. The only way that farmers found to get rid of the worms was to go through the fields and pick them off the leaves, one at a time. With hundreds or even thousands of tobacco plants to check, this would take a great deal of time. If it was not done, the worms might eat all of the leaves, leaving the farmer with no money. A servant was expected to pick off every worm. If he missed a single one, the planter might make him bite off its head. The servant would surely try harder after that! Plants had to be watched all summer in the hot Chesapeake sun until they were ready to be harvested.
Late summer or fall was harvest time for the tobacco crop. The entire stalk of each tobacco plant was cut at the bottom and allowed to wilt in the fields for a few hours. Then, a hole was cut in each stalk so that it could be threaded onto a long stick, called a tobacco stake. Perhaps as many as six or eight stalks could be put on each stake. These stakes were then hung in tobacco barns to dry for six to ten weeks. Once they were dry, the plants were taken down and the leaves were stripped from the stalks. Planters made sure to do this on a rainy day so the leaves were not so dry that they would crumble and break. The leaves were bundled into “hands.” A hand was a bunch of ten to twenty leaves wrapped together. These hands were packed into very large casks called hogsheads and readied for shipping. These hogsheads could hold between 300 and 500 pounds of tobacco, depending on how well they were packed.
Once the crop was grown and harvested, the only thing left to do was to trade it to England. Most plantations were located next to rivers or other waterways. These waterways were the easiest way to travel and to transport goods in the 17th century. Large ships coming from England anchored in the river and sent small boats to plantations up and down the coast. These boats delivered the goods that the plantation owners had ordered from England and picked up hogsheads of tobacco to be carried back to London. Planters would simply roll the hogsheads to the water’s edge and onto the boats. Almost all of the goods that colonists bought with their tobacco were made in England and delivered on these ships.
What good was tobacco anyway?
Things made of metal, glass, and pottery, and finished pieces of furniture would be imported from England. Most people in the colonies did not have the skill to make all of these goods. Even if they did know how to make these items, they did not want to take the time. Tobacco was a very difficult crop to grow and took a great deal of time and energy, as we have seen. Tradesmen who came to Maryland usually discovered that they could make more money raising tobacco than practicing their trade. They often found that they would not have time to do both, so they gave up their trade and grew tobacco, instead.
The ships from England only came to Maryland once each year. They arrived in the fall as the tobacco crop was being harvested and stayed through the winter to finish all of their trading. In the spring, they sailed back to England with a load of tobacco. That meant that colonists in Maryland often had just one chance each year to get supplies from England. News of the rest of the world, or from family and friends back in England came on those ships, too. It also meant that anything that a planter ordered in the spring before the ships sailed for England might not be delivered until the next fall. There were some merchants, or shopkeepers, who might have supplies for sale if a family was in need of something, but planters would probably pay a very high price for these items. More likely, the family would simply do without until the fall.
Since tobacco was only harvested from the fields once a year, colonists could only pay for goods at that time. The rest of the year they had to work on credit. Credit means buy now, pay later, and is similar to our modern-day credit cards. A farmer would buy the things that he needed and then promise to pay for them when his tobacco crop was harvested for the year. He might even sign something called a promissory note to prove that he would pay his debt. If there was a drought or the tobacco crop was ruined one year, the farmer could have a very difficult time paying all the people that he owed. Colonists were quite often in court trying to get the tobacco that they were owed by their neighbors.
Life on a
17th-Century Plantation
Let’s imagine that suddenly you were
transported back to the year 1661.
Colonists have been in Maryland for almost
30 years. What would your life have been
like if you lived in Maryland 350 years
ago? It probably would have been very
difficult. Let’s imagine your typical day:
You wake up with the sunrise, for there
is much to do today. You sleep upstairs in the loft of your father’s house with all of your brothers and
sisters. You also share the space with the indentured servants that are working for your father. One
servant has only a few months left on his indenture. He will leave the plantation soon. He hopes to
start his own farm. Your father will surely want to bring another indentured servant from England to
replace him. Your parents want to have as many people as possible on the plantation to help with all
the work there is to be done.
Your house is like many others in the area. The frame is made of large wooden posts sunk into
the ground. The outside is covered with long split pieces of wood called clapboard. Inside, there is
only one room on the main floor. This is
where your parents and youngest brothers
and sisters sleep. It is also where the
cooking is done and where your family
eats. The girls of the house often do their
chores here, as well. Upstairs, there are
two large rooms, one for the girls and
female servants and the other for the boys
and male servants. There is almost no
furniture in these rooms and not a great
Plantation house and garden
deal downstairs, either. Father says that you are lucky for all that you have because most of the
furniture had to be imported from England at great expense. He also points out the glass windows
and wooden floor that many of your poorer neighbors can not afford. You hope that someday your
own home will be so nice.
You have slept in your shift, or long shirt, as usual, and put on your outer clothes before going
downstairs. Your first chore every day is to beat out the bed tick that you use as a mattress. The
straw and cornhusks on the inside get very dusty and provide the perfect place for unwanted bugs to
live. You will have to ask your mother to put more herbs in the tick to keep away the bed bugs. She
says that she has several plants in her garden that will do the trick.
Mother then shoos everyone away to their morning chores before breakfast. She has to start
the fire and begin the cooking for the day. Father takes the boys and male servants out to clean out
the cow barn and then bring in firewood for the day’s
cooking. The youngest boys can’t bring in the heaviest
wood, but they can still collect kindling, or small sticks,
for starting fires. They also take wooden buckets down
to the nearby stream
to fetch fresh water.
Meanwhile, the girls
head out to let the
chickens out of their
coop and collect the
eggs that were laid
overnight. After that, they go to milk the cows and cool
the milk for use later. The cows are nearby, but not in
fences. They are allowed to roam freely through the
woods so that they can search for food. There are fences
around all the fields and the garden so that the cows and pigs do not go where they do not belong.
Father explains that by letting the animals run wild, food does not have to be grown for them. That
land, instead, can be used to grow more tobacco. That is just one of the things that father had to get
used to in this New World.
Soon, it is time for the morning meal. Mother has
made cold corn mush again this morning. You are thankful
that your family can afford a bit of sugar and cream to
sweeten the mush. Mother reminds those who complain
that many families can not afford such luxuries. You have
corn with almost every meal. Father says that Englishmen
did not even know what corn was before they came to
Maryland. In England, he grew wheat, barley, and other
grains in his fields. Once he arrived in Maryland, though,
he had to learn to grow corn instead. The old grains do not
grow nearly so well in his new home. Your whole family
and all your father’s servants eat together. Everyone
hurries to finish their meal to get to the rest of the chores
for the day.
Once the meal has been finished,
mother and the girls wash the dishes and put
them away. Then, they must begin to prepare
for the next meal. It can take an entire
morning to cook a large enough meal for your
whole family. As the meal cooks, some of the
girls churn the milk into butter. Others must
A tobacco barn grind corn into flour for cooking. Many say
that corn grinding is the worst job on the plantation. Each person on the plantation eats between two
and four cups of corn everyday and it can take up to 10 minutes to grind each cup. On many
plantations, there can be as many as ten people to feed. That means it takes hours to grind corn every
day. You will probably have to take your turn at the grinding, as well.
As the women start their chores,
father and the other men and boys go out
to the fields to take care of the tobacco.
At many times of the year, the men spend
almost the whole day in the tobacco
fields. It is very hard work, especially in
the summertime. Even boys as young as
five or six work with the men in the
fields. These boys help with the chores,
but also are taking this time to learn how
to farm in Maryland. Father says that farmers here have learned much since arriving in the colony.
Every generation makes improvements and grows more and more tobacco every year.
The youngest babies in the house do not have much work expected of them, but by the time
you are two or three you have chores to do. The youngest children stay close to the house where
mother and the older girls can look after them. They collect small pieces of kindling for the fire and
collect eggs from the chickens. They also watch the chickens to make sure that they do not get into
the garden or into any food that is being stored or dried. They may even help with weeding the
garden or grinding the corn.
When the sun gets to be its highest in the sky, it is time for the mid-day meal. This is always
the largest meal of the day. Mother and the other women have been cooking all morning. The meal
today is a pottage, or thick stew, made of meat from animals on the plantation and vegetables grown
in the garden. Mother says that the easiest way to feed all the people in the house is to cook what she
calls a one-pot meal. She takes whatever vegetables are in season and whatever meat she happens to
have on hand and puts them in one pot to cook slowly over the fire all day. She has also taken some
herbs that she grows in the garden and has put them in the pot for flavor. Sometimes, when the meat
on hand is starting to get old, this is especially important. With the pottage, the ladies have prepared
a green sallet (salad). Often, mother will use any vegetables that do not go into the pottage to make
something to eat with the stew. In the spring and summer, greens like spinach, kale, lettuce, and
collards are often made into a simple salad. The final part of the meal is the same everyday – some
type of bread made from corn. Today, mother has made corn cakes by mixing corn flour and water,
making it into patties, and frying them in a long-legged skillet. Just when you think that is all that
you have to eat, though, you discover that mother has a surprise for you. The apples have just begun
to ripen, so she has made your favorite, apple tart. It is very similar to the pies that she makes of
spinach and meat, but this one is very sweet and has imported spices like cinnamon and cloves. You
know you will probably not have another treat like this for
some time, so you enjoy every bit, spooning the last of it
off your wooden trencher, or plate.
You can’t sit and enjoy this meal for long, though, as
there is still work to do before the sun goes down. Father
and the men and boys head right back out into the tobacco
fields where they were this morning. The only time that
they do not spend their days in the fields is in the winter
after the crop has been harvested. Even then there is much
work to do. Repairs are made to the house and the fences
and woodworking projects can be completed. There also
may be some time for hunting and fishing in these months.
Ladies working in the plantation Almost all of the meat that you eat is raised on the
garden
plantation, but there are plenty of deer in the woods that can be caught from time to time. Father says
that he never had deer until he came to Maryland. In England, he says, all the deer belong to the
King. Only royalty could eat deer in England. Even though there are many deer here, there is often
very little time to hunt them. Time is much better spent in the fields growing tobacco.
After mother and the girls finish cleaning up the mid-day meal, they might spend the afternoon
in the garden. When the sun begins to set, it is a bit cooler to work outside. It is very important that
the garden is well cared for. Most of the vegetables that will feed your family are grown there.
Perhaps even more important, so are your medicines. Mother is very good at using the herbs that she
grows in her garden to make simples. She says that her mother taught her how to take care of her
family with these herbs. She has had much practice lately with your brother being so sick.
Sometimes mother’s herbs are not enough to help. You remember the servant that died last winter
very well.
The girls have the cows to milk again and more milk to skim. Young children collect more
firewood and several more buckets of water from the nearby stream. As it gets toward winter, the
women will do more work inside the house like sewing and knitting. The women are also responsible
for butchering the cows and pigs so they can be eaten. Some of the meat is soaked in salt so that it
can be preserved for later use.
There will be time for a small supper in the evening, but it is mostly just the food that has been
left from the mid-day meal. Unfortunately, there is no apple tart to be found. As the sun begins to
set, chores from earlier in the day are completed and everyone comes back to the house for the night.
The youngest children are put to bed first, while everyone else listens to father lead prayers or read
from the Bible. Eventually, it is dark enough that everyone goes to sleep for the day. You sleep very
well after everything you have accomplished on this busy day, knowing that tomorrow will bring
more of the same.
As you begin to drift off to sleep, you look forward to Sunday. There is a little less work to do
on the Lord’s day. Some things though, like the cooking and gathering firewood and water, can not
be forgotten on any day, even on Sunday. Perhaps you and your brothers and sisters might have a bit
of time for fun on Sunday. Maybe you can play nine pins where you try to knock down pins with a
wooden ball, or maybe quoits, a game trying to throw a ring of rope around a short wooden stake.
You are very good at these and would love a chance to beat your older brother again. You usually
don’t get very much time to play these games because there is just too much work to be done.
As you sleep, you dream of what your life will be like as you get older. Perhaps when you get
to be as old as your father, you will own a plantation as prosperous as his. Maybe you will even be
able to go into St. Mary’s City as your father does to take care of his business dealings. As it is, you
hardly ever see anyone except your family and the servants on your plantation. Your closest neighbor
lives several miles away. Father tells stories, though, after he has been in town about all the exciting
events there. He tells of court cases and other government business and of the news from the ships’
masters. Maybe someday you will be able to go into town, yourself. For now, you will have to make
do with your father’s stories and your imagination.
The Changing Face of Tobacco
How were 18th-century plantations different from plantations in the 17th century?
In the 18th century, more and more people living in Maryland had been born there. People born in Maryland did not have to live through the new diseases of the seasoning like the people coming from England did. They were healthier and lived longer. They did not have to work as indentured servants because they did not need passage to Maryland. They could marry at a younger age. They had the chance to have more children. The children were healthier, too. More of the children lived to become adults and inherit land from their fathers. Often in the 17th century, when men died they had no children who were old enough to take over their farm. The father’s land was sold to pay money that was owed. These children would have to wait until they got older to buy land to start a whole new plantation. It was much more difficult to be successful when you had to start from scratch.
In the 18th century, boys were more often old enough to take over the plantation when their father died. These boys did not have to buy their own land. They could add on to what their fathers had already built. Men who could inherit property became richer. As they did, they bought more land, and needed more people to work on it. Soon, there were not enough indentured servants to do all the work.
In the 17th century, planters imported almost all of the supplies that they needed from England. Eighteenth-century planters made some of their own goods. They did not have to rely as much on the ships to bring things from England. Some plantations had outbuildings, or extra buildings, that had particular purposes. Plantations had blacksmith shops where metal tools were made and repaired. Dairy houses were built to store milk and cheese. Smokehouses were also built for preserving meats for the winter. Some plantations even had spinning houses where wool was spun and woven into cloth. These plantations also often had their kitchen in a separate building. It was much safer to keep large cooking fires away from the main house.
The owners of the largest plantations became very wealthy men. They did not have to work in their fields because they had people working for them. Many of these men were also merchants, or traders. Some held positions in the government. This group of men became very powerful in Maryland. As they became wealthier, they bought even more land. It became more difficult for smaller planters to make a good living. This also made it difficult for indentured servants to be successful once they were done with their time.
Marylanders had always relied on indentured servants from England to work in their fields. At the end of the 17th century, fewer Englishmen were willing to come to Maryland as indentured servants. There were many reasons for this. There was not as much opportunity in Maryland for indentured servants after they were freed as there was at the beginning of the colony. The first indentured servants who came to Maryland had a very good chance of owning land once they got out of their indenture. There was a lot of good land and very few people to work it. The biggest challenge for these servants was living long enough to start their own plantations. As more people came to Maryland, the good land was being taken. People looking for good land at the end of the century had to travel north or west to find it. Also, they might have to work for several years as tenant farmers or hired servants to earn enough money to start their own plantations. Suddenly, risking the voyage across the ocean and working for a master for four long years did not sound like such a bargain.
At the same time, conditions in England were getting better for poor people. There were more jobs and higher pay. There were also fewer people living in England and competing for jobs. People had a better chance of success in England. The combination of fewer things “pulling” people to Maryland and fewer things “pushing” people out of England meant fewer indentured servants for Maryland’s planters.
Instead, farmers in Maryland had to find another way to make sure that their crops were taken care of. They had to find a new source of labor. They found it in enslaved people brought from Africa.
Life on an
18th-Century Plantation
If you lived in the 18th century in Maryland, you would probably want to be the son or daughter of a wealthy plantation owner. You would have had many privileges that other children might not have. You would live in a large plantation home with your brothers and sisters. You might also have some servants or slaves living in the house with you. These people would be responsible for cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the house. Other slaves would have different jobs on the plantation.
Your father would own a large amount of land. You couldn’t imagine sometimes how far his land stretches. You would not go to the edges of the plantation very often. Those are the areas where the tobacco is grown. Slaves work in the tobacco fields. Those slaves live in cabins near the fields where they work. Slaves might also work to take care of animals, or work as blacksmiths or carpenters.
Your father would have to travel beyond the plantation quite often. He might be a member of the Assembly, the group that makes laws for the colony. He also might have to go to court to help to decide how to punish people who have broken the law. Your father might be away quite a lot of the time. Your mother would stay home, though, to watch after the plantation and the children.
What would children do on the plantation?
You don’t have to work outside. You have other things to keep you busy in the house. Some of the day is taken up with lessons. You might have a tutor to teach you or you might go to a small school with other children in the area. Boys learn to do math and to read many different languages, including Latin. Boys might also learn about navigation and science and about geography. They are taught everything that they will need to know to run a successful plantation of their own some day. Eventually, the boys might be sent to college, like the College of William and Mary in Virginia, where George Plater III and other colonial leaders went to school. They also might have the opportunity to go to England for more education. When they finished their education, these boys were expected to become leaders in the colonies like their fathers.
One game that was very popular throughout the colonial period in Maryland was a board game called nine man’s morris. This game was played by adults and children. It is similar to playing tic tac toe. It is a very easy game to learn. You can even play at home. All you need is to draw a board on a piece of paper, just like the one in the picture above. Then, you need two players and nine markers for each player. The markers can be beans or stones, but just make sure that you can tell the difference between the two players’ pieces.
The object of the game is to try to get three of your pieces in a row as many times as possible. Play starts with one player putting a piece on the board at a spot where two lines cross. The players take turns putting one piece on the board at a time. Both players try to get three of their pieces in a row while blocking their opponent from doing the same thing.
Every time that a player does get a line of three pieces, he gets to take one of his opponent’s pieces off the board. This piece is then out of play for the rest of the game. Once both players have all nine of their pieces on the board, the players take turns moving their pieces, one space at a time, still trying to get three in a row. The game is over when one player has only two pieces left. The other player is the winner!
Girls learned very different things in the 18th century. They would be taught to read and write and to do simple math. Other than that, they learned how to be ladies. They would be taught to dance and to play musical instruments. They would also spend hours practicing their fine sewing skills. They would learn to embroider on small pieces of cloth called samplers. They would sew letters or patterns into the sampler to practice what they had learned. Eventually, girls would marry, probably to the sons of other wealthy landowners, and become the mistresses of their own houses.
When not working on your lessons, you might have some time for play. You might play with board games in the house. Outside, you might enjoy a game of nine pins, a type of lawn bowling, or rolling a hoop with your sisters and brothers to see who could go the fastest. The clothes you wear would look very much like the clothes that your parents wear. Girls would wear something called stays under their dress. Stays were pieces of bone sewn into cloth and laced up under the jacket, or bodice, of a dress. They made certain that girls stood up straight and tall. Boys would wear pants called breeches and long, heavy coats. Babies would wear lose-fitting dresses called frocks. On their head they might wear something called a pudding cap. A pudding cap padded the baby’s head like a helmet in case they fell while learning to walk.
You might have several different outfits. Some would be special clothes that you would wear when your parents were entertaining guests. People would come to stay at your plantation. Sometimes, they would stay for quite a long time. For very special guests, your father might have a party or a large dinner. Some of your neighbors might come for this occasion, as well. You would lead a very comfortable life. Not everyone in 18th-century Maryland was so lucky. Most children did not live on a large plantation with slaves to work for them. There were children on small plantations that probably had to help with chores around the house and in the fields. There were also enslaved children. These children would have to work the rest of their lives for someone else and would never have any control over their situation.
Slavery in Colonial Maryland
What might life have been like for enslaved people in colonial Maryland?
The Africans that did survive to see Maryland were only beginning their struggles. Just like Englishmen coming to the New World, Africans suffered a form of the seasoning. They got diseases to which they had no immunity. It was even more difficult to fight these diseases because they were weak from their difficult journey.
Africans coming to Maryland often came from different tribes and did not speak the same language. They may have had different traditions and ways of life in Africa. Once they reached Maryland, groups of slaves were often sold to many different owners. Some small planters could not afford many laborers, so sometimes there were only a few slaves on each plantation. A new slave could easily find himself on a plantation where he could not understand or speak to anyone else.
Even on larger farms, groups of slaves were often divided up and sent to work in different fields. Family was very important to Africans coming to the New World. It was very difficult for enslaved people to keep family ties. In the beginning, there were very few women being brought from Africa to America. Even after more women did arrive, masters did not often encourage slave marriages. Families were often split up and sometimes sold and separated for life. Eventually, masters allowed slaves to marry and sometimes even to have their own family houses, but some members of families were still sold to other owners. It was particularly difficult if a master died and he owed other people money. Slaves might be sent to many different plantations to settle these debts. Slaves were not allowed to travel without a pass, or written permission from their master.
Sometimes, slaves would risk punishment to see members of their family on other plantations. Those who left the plantation without permission were called runaways. Historians now believe that almost half the runaways in Maryland were people trying to visit family on other plantations.
Perhaps the most difficult part of slavery for families was the fact that it was passed from parent to child. Any child of an enslaved woman was also a slave for life. It was very difficult for slaves to change their situation. There are a few cases of slaves working for their freedom. Others ran away and started lives in other areas. These cases were rare. Most enslaved people had to live everyday knowing that their lives and the lives of their children probably would not change.
There was some resistance to slavery. Running away was a form of resistance, but there were others. Some slaves would purposefully work very slowly. Sometimes they stole things from the plantation. Other times they might pretend that they were sick. All of these things would cost the plantation owner time and money.
Most enslaved people lived in poor conditions even on the largest and wealthiest plantations. They were given some food by the master, but had to grow extra on their own time. They may have been able to get some food from fishing, as well. The work for this food had to be done after the master’s crops were taken care of. Slave houses were often small with little furniture. They were usually wood houses with dirt floors. These houses were often only one room and gave people very little privacy. They had little in the way of luxury items. Their clothing was often poor. It was made from cheap fabric with very little decoration. House slaves might sometimes get hand-me-downs from the master and his family.
How would life have changed from Africa to Maryland?
It was very difficult under these conditions for enslaved people to have any control over their lives. It was also difficult for them to remember traditions that they brought with them from Africa. Sometimes, elders were unable to teach traditions to the children. Some traditions and even languages died out as the elders died. If there was only one or two people on a plantation from the same tribe, it could be very difficult for them to keep traditions alive. Even with all of this pressure, Africans managed to hold on to some of the customs from their homeland. Many traditions were changed and adapted to their situation in the New World.
Africans brought music with them from their homeland. They made instruments that looked like the ones that they knew. Some also learned to play English instruments. Slaves worked usually six days a week. They had only a small amount of time for leisure activities. They would often spend Sundays playing music and dancing. They might also have ceremonies like weddings on Sundays.
Historians do not know much about the religion of Africans in Maryland. They do think, though, that they brought some religious traditions with them. There were medicine men and other religious leaders who helped to heal people with herbs and other remedies. Archaeologists have also found objects that they think were used by the slaves in their religion. Sometimes archaeologists find stones or other material that have been made into different shapes. These were probably used as symbols in religious ceremonies.
Archaeologists have found other examples of African culture in Maryland. On a plantation near Baltimore, archaeologists found pewter spoons with a very interesting decoration. There is a tribe in Africa today that makes spoons with a design that is very similar to the ones that the archaeologists found. It is possible that the slaves living on that plantation came from that tribe. They remembered the designs from Africa and used them in Maryland. There have also been pipes with African influences found on sites in Maryland.
Eventually, African traditions were adapted and changed in the New World and became part of a new African-American culture. There is still much to learn about the experience of Africans in Maryland during colonial times. Most slaves were not allowed to learn to read or write English, so there are few written records of their lives. Archaeologists and historians will continue to look for clues about the lives of the enslaved people in colonial Maryland.
As the Revolutionary War began, many people began to look closely at the institution of slavery in the colonies. Some of the leaders of the Revolution were slave owners. Some thought that it was unfair for Englishmen to fight for their independence while Africans were held as slaves. Even with this opposition, it would take another hundred years for slavery to change in America.
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