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121-431: Deep Creek Lake is a man-made reservoir in the U.S. state of Maryland . It has an area of 3,900 acres (16 km), a shoreline length of 69 miles (111 km), and a volume of 106,000 acre⋅ft (0.131 km). The lake is home to a wide variety of aquatic life, such as freshwater fish and aquatic birds. Along with the nearby Wisp Ski Resort , the lake is a popular regional vacation and tourism destination. The lake

242-623: A Catholic convert who sought to provide a religious haven for Catholics persecuted in England. In 1632, Charles I of England granted Lord Baltimore a colonial charter , naming the colony after his wife, Henrietta Maria . In 1649, the Maryland General Assembly passed an Act Concerning Religion , which enshrined the principle of toleration . Religious strife was common in Maryland's early years, and Catholics remained

363-507: A university , library system , music and dance conservatory , and art museum . Cumberland was Maryland's second-largest city in the 19th century. Nearby supplies of natural resources along with railroads fostered its growth into a major manufacturing center. The Progressive Era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries brought political reforms. In a series of laws passed between 1892 and 1908, reformers worked for standard state-issued ballots (rather than those distributed and marked by

484-488: A "privileged stratum, assigned to lighter work and more skilled tasks". He also notes that "Runaways were regularly advertised in the newspapers, rewards were offered, and both sheriffs and the general public were enlisted to secure their return. ... The standard penalty in the North, not always rigorously enforced, was extra service of twice the time the master had lost, though whipping was also common." Indentured servitude

605-632: A M4.8 earthquake from Tewksbury in central New Jersey was felt slightly throughout Maryland. Indentured servitude in British America The consensus view among economic historians and economists is that indentured servitude became popular in the Thirteen Colonies in the seventeenth century because of a large demand for labor there, coupled with labor surpluses in Europe and high costs of transatlantic transportation beyond

726-471: A Sea faring man, on Diverse Whale Voiages in the several seasons ... the date of these presents: viz. this winter season in ... Barnstable, and the next Spring at Nantucket, and former season following in the sloops or vessels that ... [Lovell] desire[s], all which respective voyages ... and any and all materials for the performing of sd. Voyages ... he the said Isaac Pepenie to have one eighth and diet according to costom ... as shall be needful with his master for

847-553: A century, carried on by the descendants of William Penn and Lord Baltimore—the Calvert family , which controlled Maryland, and the Penn family , which controlled Pennsylvania. The border dispute with Pennsylvania led to Cresap's War in the 1730s. Hostilities erupted in 1730 and escalated through the first half of the decade, culminating in the deployment of military forces by Maryland in 1736 and by Pennsylvania in 1737. The armed phase of

968-464: A charter from King Charles I for the territory between Massachusetts to the north and Virginia to the immediate south. After Baltimore died in April 1632, the charter was granted to his son, Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore (1605–1675), on June 20, 1632. Officially, the new "Maryland Colony" was named in honor of Henrietta Maria of France , wife of Charles I. Lord Baltimore initially proposed

1089-574: A creditor died. Assessing how many Native Americans experienced indenture is difficult as exact Native American populations during the colonial period are unknown. However, Historian John Sainsbury was able to document that by the mid-18th century about a third of all Native Americans in Rhode Island were indentured servants living and working in white households. Also, the Massachusetts state archives contains numerous petitions, written from

1210-771: A demonstrated increase in savings among European laborers, meaning European emigrants would have the capital on hand to pay for their own passage. With no need for transit capital, fewer laborers would have become indentured, and the supply of indentured servants would have decreased. Labor substitutions may have led employers away from indentured servants and towards slaves or paid employees. In many places, African slaves became cheaper for unskilled and then eventually skilled labor, and most farmhand positions previously filled by indentured servants were ultimately filled by slaves. Wage laborers may have been more productive, since employers were more willing to terminate waged employment. In comparison, firing an indentured servant would mean

1331-476: A few months to sometimes years. Rare cases exist when Native Americans were indentured for a decade or more and a few were enslaved for life (this was quite rare however). Many Native Americans experienced repeated indentures over the course of their lifetimes, amounting to a phenomenon of 'serial indenture' or debt peonage—multiple short indentures alternating with brief periods of 'freedom.' The 'time' Native American servants owed could be sold or willed to heirs if

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1452-546: A fixed number of years in order to raise sufficient capital to pay for their voyage. Evidence shows this practice was in use by 1609, only two years after the founding of the Virginia Company's original Jamestown settlement . However, this practice created a financial risk for the Virginia Company. If workers died or refused to work, the investment would be lost. By 1620, the Virginia Company switched to selling contracts of "one hundred servants to be disposed among

1573-541: A highly diversified economy spanning manufacturing, retail services, public administration, real estate, higher education, information technology, defense contracting, health care, and biotechnology. Maryland is one of the most multicultural states in the country; it is one of the six states where non-Whites compose a majority of the population , with the fifth-highest percentage of African Americans , and high numbers of residents born in Africa , Asia , Central America , and

1694-451: A loss on the original capital investment spent purchasing the servant's contract. Either substitution would lead to a decrease in demand for indentured servitude. An additional problem for employers was that, compared to African slaves, European indentured servants who ran away could not always be easily distinguished from the general white population, so they were more difficult to re-capture. Indentured servitude's decline for white servants

1815-535: A minority, albeit in greater numbers than in any other English colony. Maryland's early settlements and population centers clustered around waterways that empty into the Chesapeake Bay . Its economy was heavily plantation-based and centered mostly on the cultivation of tobacco . Demand for cheap labor from Maryland colonists led to the importation of numerous indentured servants and enslaved Africans . In 1760, Maryland's current boundaries took form following

1936-809: A newspaper that indentured servants were for sale: Just imported, on board the Snow Sally, Captain Stephen Jones, Master, from England, A number of healthy, stout English and Welsh Servants and Redemptioners, and a few Palatines [Germans], amongst whom are the following tradesmen, viz. Blacksmiths, watch-makers, coppersmiths, taylors, shoemakers, ship-carpenters and caulkers, weavers, cabinet-makers, ship-joiners, nailers, engravers, copperplate printers, plasterers, bricklayers, sawyers and painters. Also schoolmasters, clerks and book-keepers, farmers and labourers, and some lively smart boys, fit for various other employments, whose times are to be disposed of. Enquire of

2057-523: A series of newspaper editorials. Maryland's urban and rural communities had different experiences during the Great Depression . The " Bonus Army " marched through the state in 1932 on its way to Washington, D.C. Maryland instituted its first income tax in 1937 to generate revenue for schools and welfare. Passenger and freight steamboat service, once important throughout Chesapeake Bay and its many tributary rivers, ended in 1962. Baltimore

2178-575: A servant to David Rittenhouse of the City of Philadelphia & assigns three years to be found all necessaries. Indentures could not marry without the permission of their owner, were subject to physical punishment (like many young ordinary servants), and saw their obligation to labor enforced by the courts. To ensure uninterrupted work by the female servants, the law lengthened the term of their indenture if they became pregnant. But unlike slaves, servants were guaranteed to be eventually released from bondage. At

2299-546: A set period of work. The majority of Virginians were Anglican, not Puritan, and while religion did play a large role in everyday lives, the culture was more commercially based. In the Chesapeake and North Carolina, tobacco constituted a major percentage of the total agricultural output. In the Deep South (mainly Georgia and South Carolina), cotton and rice plantations dominated. In the lower Atlantic colonies where tobacco

2420-477: A small portion of the state's northeast corner (which drains into the Delaware River watershed). So prominent is the Chesapeake in Maryland's geography and economic life that there has been periodic agitation to change the state's official nickname to the "Bay State", a nickname that has been used by Massachusetts for decades. The highest point in Maryland, with an elevation of 3,360 feet (1,020 m),

2541-622: A state tobacco buy-out program in the 1990s. In an effort to reverse depopulation due to the loss of working-class industries, Baltimore initiated urban renewal projects in the 1960s with Charles Center and the Baltimore World Trade Center . Some resulted in the break-up of intact residential neighborhoods, producing social volatility, and some older residential areas around the harbor have had units renovated and have become popular with new populations. Maryland has an area of 12,406.68 square miles (32,133.2 km ) and

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2662-540: A time when slavery was coming under attack in the Northern states, the growing radicalism of workers influenced with the rhetoric of the American Revolution, and the expansion of suffrage in many states which empowered workers politically. Penal sanctions, previously considered perfectly in line with free labor, became in the 19th century a way to transform ordinary labor into "contracts of slavery." Given

2783-470: A tool to gain popular support. The two years from 1644 to 1646 when Claiborne and his Puritan associates held sway were known as "The Plundering Time". They captured Jesuit priests, imprisoned them, then sent them back to England. In 1646, Leonard Calvert returned with troops, recaptured St. Mary's City, and restored order. The House of Delegates passed the "Act concerning Religion" in 1649 granting religious liberty to all Trinitarian Christians. In 1650,

2904-722: A variety of topography within its borders, contributing to its nickname America in Miniature . It ranges from sandy dunes dotted with seagrass in the east, to low marshlands teeming with wildlife and large bald cypress near the Chesapeake Bay, to gently rolling hills of oak forests in the Piedmont Region , and pine groves in the Maryland mountains to the west. Maryland is bounded on its north by Pennsylvania , on its north and east by Delaware , on its east by

3025-458: A worker's annual wage. European financial institutions could not easily lend to the workers since there was no effective way to enforce a loan from across the Atlantic, rendering labor immobile via the Atlantic because of capital market imperfections . To address this imperfection, the Virginia Company would allow laborers to borrow against their future earnings at the Virginia Company for

3146-406: A year for a plowman, and 40 shillings (£2) a year for an ordinary unskilled worker. Ships' captains negotiated prices for transporting and feeding a passenger on the seven- or eight-week journey across the ocean, averaging about £5 to £7, equivalent to years of work back in England. Still, demand for indentured labor remained relatively low until the adoption of staple crops, such as sugarcane in

3267-605: Is Hoye Crest on Backbone Mountain , in the southwest corner of Garrett County , near the border with West Virginia, and near the headwaters of the North Branch of the Potomac River. Close to the small town of Hancock , in western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way across the state, less than 2 miles (3.2 km) separates its borders, the Mason–Dixon line to the north, and the northwards-arching Potomac River to

3388-609: Is a result of the Youghiogheny Hydroelectric Company hydroelectric project on Deep Creek in the 1920s. Deep Creek Dam , located about 8 miles (13 km) north of Oakland, Maryland , consists of an earth and rock wall dam across a tributary of the Youghiogheny River . Construction of the dam began in 1923 and was completed in 1925. The hydroelectric plant became operational at 4 p.m. on May 26, 1925. The state of Maryland purchased

3509-425: Is comparable in overall area with Belgium [11,787 square miles (30,530 km )]. It is the 42nd-largest and 9th-smallest state and is closest in size to the state of Hawaii [10,930.98 square miles (28,311.1 km )], the next smallest state. The next largest state is Maryland's neighbor, West Virginia , which is nearly twice the size of Maryland [24,229.76 square miles (62,754.8 km )]. Maryland possesses

3630-550: The Aberdeen Proving Ground , and the Edgewood Arsenal were established. Existing facilities, including Fort McHenry , were greatly expanded. After Georgia congressman William D. Upshaw criticized Maryland openly in 1923 for not passing Prohibition laws, Baltimore Sun editor Hamilton Owens coined the "Free State" nickname for Maryland in that context, which was popularized by H. L. Mencken in

3751-694: The Atlantic Ocean , and on its south and west, across the Potomac River , by West Virginia and Virginia . The mid-portion of its border with Virginia is interrupted by Washington, D.C. , which sits on land that was originally part of Montgomery and Prince George's counties and including Georgetown, Maryland , which was ceded to the United States federal government in 1790 to form the Washington, D.C. Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects

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3872-684: The Baltimore riot of 1861 , the first bloodshed in the Civil War. Of the 115,000 Marylanders who joined the military during the Civil War, around 85,000, or 77%, joined the Union army , while the remainder joined the Confederate Army . The largest and most significant battle in the state was the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg . Although a tactical draw, the battle

3993-623: The Caribbean . The state's central role in U.S. history is reflected by its hosting of some of the highest numbers of historic landmarks per capita. The western portion of the state contains stretches of the Appalachian Mountains , the central portion is primarily composed of the Piedmont , and the eastern side of the state makes up a significant portion of Chesapeake Bay . Sixteen of Maryland's twenty-three counties, and

4114-474: The Industrial Revolution , driven by its seaports, railroad networks, and mass immigration from Europe. Since the 1940s, the state's population has grown rapidly, to approximately six million residents, and it is among the most densely populated U.S. states. As of 2015 , Maryland had the highest median household income of any state, owing in large part to its proximity to Washington, D.C., and

4235-528: The Puritan way of life was often part of the condition of indenture, and people tended to live in towns. The labor-intensive cash crop of tobacco was farmed in the American South by indentured laborers in the 17th and 18th centuries. Indentured servitude was not the same as the apprenticeship system by which skilled trades were taught, but similarities do exist between the two, since both require

4356-614: The Thirteen Colonies between the 1630s and the American Revolution came under indentures. The practice was sufficiently common that the Habeas Corpus Act 1679 , in part, prevented imprisonments overseas; it also made provisions for those with existing transportation contracts and those "praying to be transported" in lieu of remaining in prison upon conviction. In any case, while half the European immigrants to

4477-465: The Thirteen Colonies had been indentured servants at some time, actively indentured servants were outnumbered by non-indentured workers, or by those whose indenture had expired. Thus free wage labor was more common for Europeans in the colonies. Indentured persons were numerically important mostly in the region from Virginia north to New Jersey . Other colonies saw far fewer of them. The total number of European immigrants to all 13 colonies before 1775

4598-482: The United States . It borders Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to its east, and the national capital of Washington, D.C. to the southwest. With a total area of 12,407 square miles (32,130 km ), Maryland is the ninth-smallest state by land area , and its population of 6,177,224 ranks it the 19th-most populous state and

4719-537: The West Indies or tobacco in the American South . With economies largely based on these crops, the West Indies and American South would see the vast majority of indentured labour. Author and historian Richard Hofstadter has written: The most unenviable situation was that of servants on Southern plantations, living alongside but never with Negro slaves, both groups doing much the same work, often under

4840-458: The fifth-most densely populated . Maryland's capital is Annapolis , and the most populous city is Baltimore . Maryland's coastline was first explored by Europeans in the 16th century. Prior to that, it was inhabited by several Native American tribes, mostly the Algonquian peoples . As one of the original Thirteen Colonies , Maryland was founded by George Calvert , 1st Baron Baltimore,

4961-609: The settlement of a long-running border dispute with Pennsylvania. Many of its citizens played key political and military roles in the American Revolutionary War . Although it was a slave state , Maryland remained in the Union during the American Civil War , and its proximity to Washington D.C. and Virginia made it a significant strategic location . After the Civil War ended, Maryland took part in

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5082-425: The 1730s to 1760s from Native American tribes in their jurisdiction complaining about abuses in the indenture system and predatory lending by whites. Statutes were eventually passed attempting to regulate practices. Colonial military records do provide some data on Native American indenture as well. Enlistment records from 1704 to 1726 show that almost two-thirds of Native Americans who joined the army were indentured at

5203-546: The 17th century as Europeans became aware of the cruelty of plantation masters and the high death rate of servants, largely due to tropical disease . After the British Empire ended slavery in 1833, plantation owners returned to indentured servitude for labor, with most servants coming from India , until the British government prohibited the practice in 1917. Between one-half and two-thirds of European immigrants to

5324-687: The 20 years after the Revolutionary War . Across the Upper South the free black population increased from less than 1% before the war to 14% by 1810. Abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass were born slaves during this time in Dorchester County and Talbot County , respectively. During the War of 1812 , the British military attempted to capture Baltimore, which was protected by Fort McHenry . During its bombardment

5445-438: The 20th century). These penal sanctions for indentured laborers continued in the United States until the 1830s, and by this point treatment of European laborers under contract became the same as the treatment of wage laborers (however, this change in treatment didn't apply to workers of color). This change in treatment can be attributed to a number of factors, such as the growing identification of white indented labor with slavery at

5566-618: The 40th parallel would pass close to New Castle, Delaware when it falls north of Philadelphia , the site of which Penn had already selected for his colony's capital city. Negotiations ensued after the problem was discovered in 1681. A compromise proposed by Charles II in 1682 was undermined by Penn's receiving the additional grant of what is now Delaware. Penn successfully argued that the Maryland charter entitled Lord Baltimore only to unsettled lands, and Dutch settlement in Delaware predated his charter. The dispute remained unresolved for nearly

5687-490: The American South, where cash crops necessitated labor-intensive farming. As the Northern colonies moved toward industrialization, they received far less indentured immigration. For example, 96% of English emigrants to Virginia and Maryland from 1773 to 1776 were indentured servants. During the same time period, 2% of English emigrants to New England were indentured. An indenture was a legal contract enforced by

5808-492: The Americas are recorded, though these were often indentured in the same way as their willing counterparts. An illustrative example is that of Peter Williamson (1730–1799). As historian Richard Hofstadter pointed out, "Although efforts were made to regulate or check their activities, and they diminished in importance in the eighteenth century, it remains true that a certain small part of the white colonial population of America

5929-524: The Americas was first used by the Virginia Company in the early seventeenth century as a method for collateralizing the debt finance for transporting people to its newfound British colonies . Before the rise of indentured servitude, a large demand for labor existed in the colonies to help build settlements, farm crops and serve as tradesmen, but many laborers in Europe could not afford the transatlantic crossing , which could cost roughly half

6050-500: The British colonies found it very difficult to hire free workers, primarily because it was easy for potential workers to set up their own farms. Consequently, a common solution was to transport a young worker from Britain or a German state, who would work for several years to pay off the debt of their travel costs. During the indenture period the servants were not paid cash wages, but were provided with food, accommodation, clothing and training. The indenture document specified how many years

6171-568: The Calvert family and Lord Baltimore regained proprietary control and re-enacted the Toleration Act. After England's Glorious Revolution in 1688, Maryland outlawed Catholicism. In 1704, the Maryland General Assembly prohibited Catholics from operating schools, limited the corporate ownership of property to hamper religious orders from expanding or supporting themselves, and encouraged the conversion of Catholic children. The celebration of

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6292-475: The Captain on board the vessel, off Walnut-street wharff, or of MEASE and CALDWELL. When a buyer was found, the sale would be recorded at the city court. The Philadelphia Mayor’s Court Indenture Book , page 742, for September 18, 1773 has the following entry: James Best, who was under Indenture of Redemption to Captain Stephen Jones now cancelled in consideration of £ 15, paid for his Passage from London bound

6413-524: The Catholic sacraments was also officially restricted. This state of affairs lasted until after the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). Wealthy Catholic planters built chapels on their land to practice their religion in relative secrecy. Into the 18th century, individual priests and lay leaders claimed Maryland farms belonging to the Jesuits as personal property and bequeathed them in order to evade

6534-594: The Constitution of 1864 with the Constitution of 1867 . Following the end of Reconstruction in 1877, Democrats devised means of disenfranchising blacks, initially by physical intimidation and voter fraud, later by constitutional amendments and laws. Blacks and immigrants, however, resisted Democratic Party disfranchisement efforts in the state. Maryland blacks were part of a biracial Republican coalition elected to state government in 1896–1904 and comprised 20% of

6655-1232: The Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern , and Southern regions of the country. What is now Maryland was originally inhabited by tribes such as the Piscataway (including the Patuxent ), the Nanticoke (including the Tocwogh , the Ozinie and other subdivisions), the Powhatan , the Lenape , the Susquehannock , the Shawnee , the Tutelo , the Saponi , the Pocomoke and the Massawomeck . George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore (1579–1632), sought

6776-565: The Peace for said County being present at the execution of the premesis do allow and approbate the same as just and reasonable. Indentured servitude appeared in the Americas in the 1620s and remained in use as late as 1917. The causes behind its decline are a contentious domain in economic history. The end of debtors' prisons may have created a limited commitment pitfall in which indentured servants could agree to contracts with ship captains and then refuse to sell themselves once they arrived in

6897-521: The Piedmont in the Coastal Plain, though it straddles the border between the two regions. Earthquakes in Maryland are infrequent and small due to the state's distance from seismic/earthquake zones. The M 5.8 Virginia earthquake in 2011 was felt moderately throughout Maryland. Buildings in the state are not well-designed for earthquakes and can suffer damage easily. As well as this, notably

7018-594: The Puritans revolted against the proprietary government. "Protestants swept the Catholics out of the legislature   ... and religious strife returned." The Puritans set up a new government prohibiting both Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism . The Puritan revolutionary government persecuted Maryland Catholics during its reign, known as the "plundering time". Mobs burned down all the original Catholic churches of southern Maryland. The Puritan rule lasted until 1658 when

7139-406: The United States as a united, sovereign and national state . It also became the seventh state admitted to the Union after ratifying the new federal Constitution in 1788. In December 1790, prior to the move of the national capital from Philadelphia in 1800, Maryland donated land selected by first President George Washington to the federal government for its creation. The land was provided along

7260-574: The World 1984, pp. 405ff) instances a 1783 report on "the import trade from Ireland" and its large profits to a ship owner or a captain, who: ...puts his conditions to the emigrants in Dublin or some other Irish port. Those who can pay for their passage—usually about 100 or 80 [ livres tournois ]—arrive in America free to take any engagement that suits them. Those who cannot pay are carried at

7381-405: The above Indenture and every Clause therein, absolutely Void and of no Effect. In Witness whereof the said Parties have hereunto interchangeably put their Hands and Seals the 6th Day of July in the Year of our Lord, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy Three in the Presence of the Right Worshipful Mayor of the City of London. (signatures) When the ship arrived, the captain would often advertise in

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7502-415: The city of Baltimore, border the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay estuary and its many tributaries, which combined total more than 4,000 miles of shoreline. Although one of the smallest states in the U.S., it features a variety of climates and topographical features that have earned it the moniker of America in Miniature . In a similar vein, Maryland's geography, culture, and history combine elements of

7623-629: The colonial period indentured or heavily indebted Native American whalers were the primary labor force in the early whaling industry. They remained an important source of labor into the Revolutionary and early national era, but as their numbers dwindled and the industry expanded exponentially, they made up a decreasingly small proportion of the labor force. Text of Whaling Indenture Contract of Isaac Pepenie ( Wampanoag Indian) to James Lovell Jr. 1729.: Witnesseth that Isaac Pepenie Indian of Falmouth, Barnstable labourer, hath ... of his own free will ... Bound and obliged himself to Serve James Lovell Junr ...

7744-437: The colonies. Increased lobbying from immigrant aid societies led to increased regulation of the indentured labor market, further increasing the difficulty of enforcing contracts. With less ability to enforce the contracts, demand for indentured servants may have fallen. However, most debtor prisons were still in service when indentured servitude disappeared and many regulations on indentured servitude were put in place well before

7865-402: The conflict ended in May 1738 with the intervention of King George II, who compelled the negotiation of a cease-fire. A provisional agreement had been established in 1732. Negotiations continued until a final agreement was signed in 1760. The agreement defined the border between Maryland and Pennsylvania as the line of latitude now known as the Mason–Dixon line . Maryland's border with Delaware

7986-425: The control of courts and were bound out to work as an apprentice until a certain age. Two famous bound apprentices were Benjamin Franklin who illegally fled his apprenticeship to his brother, and Andrew Johnson , who later became President of the United States . George Washington used indentured servants; in April 1775, he offered a reward for the return of two runaway white servants. Indentured servitude in

8107-453: The cost and, based on a predatory lending scheme, advanced them credit for these purchases, knowing full well most Native Americans would not be able to repay the debts. Eventually when debts mounted, Native Americans were hauled into court by their creditors. When they could not pay either their lands, or more commonly their labor, was seized to settle the debt. Native American debtors were then indentured to their creditors for terms ranging from

8228-475: The cost of an indenture, while early termination made it less valuable. The rising cost of indentured labor and its inelastic supply pushed American producers towards a cheaper alternative: enslaved workers. Not only were they substantially cheaper, the supply was more abundant; in contrast with indentured workers, they had to emigrate whether they wanted to or not. No incentives were necessary, although higher prices motivated slave traders to expand "production" (in

8349-457: The courts. One indenture reads as follows: This INDENTURE Witnesseth that James Best a Labourer doth Voluntarily put himself Servant to Captain Stephen Jones Master of the Snow Sally to serve the said Stephen Jones and his Assigns, for and during the full Space, Time and Term of three Years from the first Day of the said James’ arrival in Philadelphia in AMERICA, during which Time or Term the said Master or his Assigns shall and will find and supply

8470-685: The dominant culture as well as channel their labor into the market-based Atlantic economy. Following King Philip's War (1675–1676) most Native Americans in the region were resigned to reservations or lived in increasingly marginal enclaves on the edges of colonial towns. Due to restricted access to resources, land loss , and changes to the environment caused by European settlement, many Native Americans, especially coastal groups, could no longer practice traditional subsistence activities and therefore became increasingly dependent on European trade goods—cloth, tools, guns, alcohol, and increasingly, food. Merchants trading these items to Native Americans often inflated

8591-582: The eastern and western halves of Maryland were linked for the first time by the Chesapeake Bay Bridge , which replaced a nearby ferry service. Maryland's regions experienced economic changes following WWII. Heavy manufacturing declined in Baltimore. In Maryland's four westernmost counties, industrial, railroad, and coal mining jobs declined. On the lower Eastern Shore , family farms were bought up by major concerns and large-scale poultry farms and vegetable farming became prevalent. In Southern Maryland, tobacco farming nearly vanished due to suburban development and

8712-491: The election of a new pro-union governor and legislature, President Abraham Lincoln had a number of its pro-slavery politicians arrested, including the Mayor of Baltimore, George William Brown ; suspended several civil liberties, including habeas corpus ; and ordered artillery placed on Federal Hill overlooking Baltimore. In April 1861, Federal units and state regiments were attacked as they marched through Baltimore, sparking

8833-403: The electorate and immigrants comprised 15%, and the legislature had difficulty devising requirements against blacks that did not also disadvantage immigrants. The Progressive Era also brought reforms in working conditions for Maryland's labor force. In 1902, the state regulated conditions in mines ; outlawed child laborers under the age of 12; mandated compulsory school attendance; and enacted

8954-509: The electorate. Compared to some other states, blacks were better established both before and after the civil war. Nearly half the black population was free before the war, and some had accumulated property. Half the population lived in cities. Literacy was high among blacks and, as Democrats crafted means to exclude them, suffrage campaigns helped reach blacks and teach them how to resist. Whites did impose racial segregation in public facilities and Jim Crow laws, which effectively lasted until

9075-525: The end of their term they received a payment known as "freedom dues" and became free members of society. One could buy and sell indentured servants' contracts, and the right to their labor would change hands, but not the person as a piece of property. Both male and female laborers could be subject to violence, occasionally even resulting in death. Richard Hofstadter notes that, as slaves arrived in greater numbers after 1700, white laborers in Virginia became

9196-438: The expense of the shipowner, who in order to recoup his money, advertises on arrival that he has imported artisans, laborers and domestic servants and that he has agreed with them on his own account to hire their services for a period normally of three, four, or five years for men and women and 6 or 7 years for children. In modern terms, the shipowner was acting as a contractor , hiring out his laborers. Such circumstances affected

9317-557: The father any money. The captain would transport the indentured servants to the American colonies, and sell their legal papers to someone who needed workers. At the end of the indenture, the young person was given a new suit of clothes and was free to leave. Many immediately set out to begin their own farms, while others used their newly acquired skills to pursue a trade. A few became sufficiently prosperous that they were eventually able to acquire indentured servants of their own. Given

9438-482: The first rail line to reach the Ohio River from the eastern seaboard. The state remained in the Union during the American Civil War , due in significant part to demographics and Federal intervention. The 1860 census, held shortly before the outbreak of the civil war, showed that 49% of Maryland's African Americans were free . Governor Thomas Holliday Hicks suspended the state legislature, and to help ensure

9559-538: The form of raiding expeditions). Supply was relatively elastic. Slavery thus was better able to satisfy labor demands in colonies requiring large quantities of unskilled agricultural workers (for example, plantation colonies in the Caribbean). Indentures, however, prevailed in colonies that required skilled workers, since the cost of an indenture was less than the cost of training an enslaved worker. Alison Smith and Abbott E. Smith's analysis of London port records shows how

9680-524: The high death rate, many servants did not live to the end of their terms. In the 18th and early 19th century, numerous Europeans, mostly from outside the British Isles, traveled to the colonies as redemptioners , a particularly harsh form of indenture. Indentured servants were a separate category from bound apprentices . The latter were American-born children, usually orphans or from an impoverished family who could not care for them. They were under

9801-519: The higher prices. As a result, the companies that generated indentures disrupted the price signaling effect , and thus the supply of immigrants did not expand sufficiently to meet demand. Some actors in the market attempted to generate incentives for workers by shortening the length of indenture contracts, based on the productivity of the prospective emigrant. Some American firms also opted to incentivize workers by paying small wages or by negotiating early expiration of indentures. These measures increased

9922-519: The labor market and the legal system that made it cheaper and less risky for an employer to hire African slave labor or paid employees, or made indentures unlawful; increased affordability of travel to North America that made immigrants less likely to rely on indentures to pay travel costs; and effects of the American Revolution, particularly on immigration from Britain . In the Caribbean, the number of indentured servants from Europe began to decline in

10043-511: The labor of many adult men was funneled into the whaling industry on Long Island, Rhode Island, Cape Cod and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, as well as the coast of eastern Connecticut. These whaling indentures were somewhat distinct from normal indenture contracts, and stipulated that Native Americans serve not as servants in white households but instead as crew members on a certain number of whaling voyages or 'seasons' of whaling (typically November through April). Throughout most of

10164-544: The lake in 2000 from the Pennsylvania Electric Company , and Deep Creek Lake State Park provides public access to the lake. Fish commonly caught by anglers include: Deep Creek Lake has a humid continental climate ( Köppen Dfb ). Maryland Maryland ( US : / ˈ m ɛr ɪ l ə n d / MERR -il-ənd ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of

10285-421: The legal restrictions on religious organizations' owning property. The royal charter granted Maryland the land north of the Potomac River up to the 40th parallel . A problem arose when Charles II granted a charter for Pennsylvania . The grant defined Pennsylvania's southern border as identical to Maryland's northern border, the 40th parallel. But the grant indicated that Charles II and William Penn assumed

10406-479: The market for indentured servitude developed, with length of contracts showing close correlations to indicators of health and productivity. Tall, strong, healthy, literate or skilled servants would often serve shorter terms than less productive or more sickly servants. Similarly, destinations with harsh working climates such as the West Indies would come to offer shorter contracts compared to the more hospitable colonies. The majority of indentured servants ended up in

10527-482: The means of European workers. Between the 1630s and the American Revolution , one-half to two-thirds of white immigrants to the Thirteen Colonies arrived under indentures. Half a million Europeans, mostly young men, also went to the Caribbean under indenture to work on plantations . Fraud and sometimes even force were widely used as methods of recruitment. A debt peonage system similar to indenture

10648-513: The name "Crescentia", the land of growth or increase, but "the King proposed Terra Mariae [Mary Land], which was concluded on and inserted in the bill." The original capital of Maryland was St. Mary's City , on the north shore of the Potomac River , and the county surrounding it, the first erected/created in the province, was first called Augusta Carolina, after the King, and later named St. Mary's County. Lord Baltimore's first settlers arrived in

10769-445: The nation's first workers' compensation law. The workers' compensation law was overturned in the courts, but was redrafted and finally enacted in 1910. The Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 burned for more than 30 hours, destroying 1,526 buildings and spanning 70 city blocks. More than 1,231 firefighters worked to bring the blaze under control. With the nation's entry into World War I in 1917, new military bases such as Camp Meade ,

10890-648: The new colony in March 1634, with his younger brother the Honorable Leonard Calvert (1606–1647), as first provincial Governor of Maryland . They made their first permanent settlement at St. Mary's City in what is now St. Mary's County . They purchased the site from the paramount chief of the region, who was eager to establish trade. St. Mary's became the first capital of Maryland, and remained so for 60 years until 1695. More settlers soon followed. Their tobacco crops were successful and quickly made

11011-527: The new colony profitable. However, given the incidence of malaria , yellow fever , and typhoid , life expectancy in Maryland was about 10 years less than in New England . Maryland was founded to provide a haven for England's Roman Catholic minority. Although Maryland was the most heavily Catholic of the English mainland colonies, the religion was still in the minority, consisting of less than 10% of

11132-694: The north shore of the Potomac River from Montgomery and Prince George's counties, as well as from Fairfax County and Alexandria on the south shore of the Potomac in Virginia ; however, the land donated by the Commonwealth of Virginia was later returned to that state by the District of Columbia retrocession in 1846. Influenced by a changing economy, revolutionary ideals, and preaching by ministers, numerous planters in Maryland freed their slaves in

11253-507: The old Planters" as soon as the servants reached the colonies. This minimized risk on its investment to the two–three months of transatlantic voyage. As the system gained in popularity, individual farmers and tradesmen would eventually begin investing in indentured servants as well. The archaeological excavation of a 17th-century Maryland residence in Anne Arundel County discovered what was most likely an indentured servant who

11374-675: The parties); obtained closed voting booths to prevent party workers from "assisting" voters; initiated primary elections to keep party bosses from selecting candidates; and had candidates listed without party symbols, which discouraged the illiterate from participating. These measures worked against ill-educated whites and blacks. Blacks resisted such efforts, with suffrage groups conducting voter education. Blacks defeated three efforts to disenfranchise them, making alliances with immigrants to resist various Democratic campaigns. Disenfranchisement bills in 1905, 1907, and 1911 were rebuffed, in large part because of black opposition. Blacks comprised 20% of

11495-564: The passage of federal civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s. Baltimore grew significantly during the Industrial Revolution , due in large part to its seaport and good railroad connections, attracting European immigrant labor. Many manufacturing businesses were established in the Baltimore area after the Civil War. Baltimore businessmen, including Johns Hopkins , Enoch Pratt , George Peabody , and Henry Walters , founded notable city institutions that bear their names, including respectively

11616-433: The practice's disappearance. A rise in European per-capita income compared to passage fare during the nineteenth century may also explain the disappearance of indentured servitude. While passage from England to the colonies in 1668 would cost roughly 51 percent of English per-capita income, that ratio would decrease to between 20 and 30 percent by 1841. This increase in relative income may have been further supplemented by

11737-482: The principle of partus sequitur ventrem , by which children took the social status of their mothers, a principle of slave law that was adopted throughout the colonies, following Virginia in 1662. Many of the free black families migrated to Delaware, where land was cheaper. As the flow of indentured laborers to the colony decreased with improving economic conditions in England, planters in Maryland imported thousands more slaves and racial caste lines hardened. Maryland

11858-453: The rapid expansion of colonial export industries in the 17th and 18th century, natural population growth and immigration were unable to meet the increasing demand for workers. As a result, the cost of indentured servants rose substantially. In the Chesapeake Bay, for example, the cost of indentures rose as much as 60% in the 1680s. The increase in the price of indentures did not motivate European workers to emigrate, for they did not benefit from

11979-561: The said James with sufficient Meat, Drink, Apparel, Lodging and all other necessaries befitting such a Servant, and at the end and expiration of said Term, the said James to be made Free, and receive according to the Custom of the Country. Provided nevertheless, and these Presents are on this Condition, that if the said James shall pay the said Stephen Jones or his Assigns 15 Pounds British in twenty one Days after his arrival he shall be Free, and

12100-523: The servant would be required to work, after which they would be free. Terms of indenture ranged from one to seven years with typical terms of four or five years. In southern New England, a variant form of indentured servitude, which controlled the labor of Native Americans through an exploitative debt-peonage system, developed in the late 17th century and continued through to the period of the American Revolution. Not all European servants came willingly. Several instances of kidnapping for transportation to

12221-425: The several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years .... Displaced from their land and unable to find work in the cities, many of these people signed contracts of indenture and took passage to the Americas. In Massachusetts, religious instruction in

12342-476: The song " The Star-Spangled Banner " was written by Francis Scott Key ; it was later adopted as the national anthem. National Road, later renamed U.S. Route 40 , was authorized in 1817 as the federal highway, and ran from Baltimore to St. Louis . The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the first chartered railroad in the United States, opened its first section of track for regular operation in 1830 between Baltimore and Ellicott City , and in 1852 it became

12463-692: The south. Portions of Maryland are included in various official and unofficial geographic regions. For example, the Delmarva Peninsula is composed of the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland, the entire state of Delaware , and the two counties that make up the Eastern Shore of Virginia , whereas the westernmost counties of Maryland are considered part of Appalachia . Much of the Baltimore–Washington corridor lies just south of

12584-491: The state, and the counties east of the bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore . Most of the state's waterways are part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, with the exceptions of a tiny portion of extreme western Garrett County (drained by the Youghiogheny River as part of the watershed of the Mississippi River ), the eastern half of Worcester County (which drains into Maryland's Atlantic coastal bays), and

12705-483: The sum of fifteen pounds which he the said James Lovell doth hereby agree to pay for him, ... then the sd. Pepenie doth by these [agreements] oblige himself to attend [the] Whale Voiages at the order and direction of said James Lovell, his administrators or assigns in manner aforesaid ... this first day of October in the Eleventh year of His Majesty's Reign ano dom 1729. We the subscribers two of his Majestys Justices of

12826-564: The supervision of a relentless overseer… Even as late as 1770, William Eddis, the English surveyor of customs at Annapolis, thought that the Maryland Negroes were better off than "the Europeans, over whom the rigid planter exercises an inflexible severity." The Negroes, Eddis thought, were a lifelong property so were treated with a certain care, but the whites were "strained to the utmost to perform their allotted labour." Over time

12947-580: The time of their enlistment. Records from 1748 to 1760 show a decline in this rate, but still show almost a third of Native American recruits being bound to white masters at the time of their enlistment. One Connecticut regiment raised in 1746 during King George's War (containing 980 men total) contained 139 Native American men. Almost half of them had signed their wages over to white creditors before being deployed. While many Native American men, women and children became servants in New England households,

13068-467: The total population. In 1642, a number of Puritans left Virginia for Maryland and founded the city of Providence, now called Annapolis , on the western shore of the upper Chesapeake Bay . A dispute with traders from Virginia over Kent Island in the Chesapeake led to armed conflict. In 1644, William Claiborne , a Puritan, seized Kent Island while his associate, the pro-Parliament Puritan Richard Ingle , took over St. Mary's. Both used religion as

13189-553: The traditionally Southern and Tidewater culture that previously dominated most of the state. Agricultural tracts gave way to residential communities, some of them carefully planned such as Columbia , St. Charles , and Montgomery Village . Concurrently the Interstate Highway System was built throughout the state, most notably I-95 , I-695 , and the Capital Beltway , altering travel patterns. In 1952,

13310-457: The treatment a captain gave his valuable human cargo. After indentures were forbidden, the passage had to be prepaid, giving rise to the inhumane conditions of Irish ' coffin ships ' in the second half of the 19th century. Starting in the late 17th century, in southern New England and parts of Long Island, Native Americans were increasingly pulled into an exploitative debt-peonage system designed to control and assimilate Native American people into

13431-603: Was 500,000–550,000; of these, 55,000 were involuntary prisoners . Of the 450,000 or so European arrivals who came voluntarily, Tomlins estimates that 48% were indentured. About 75% were under the age of 25. The age of legal adulthood for men was 24 years; those over 24 generally came on contracts lasting about 3 years. Regarding the children who came, Gary Nash reports that, "many of the servants were actually nephews, nieces, cousins and children of friends of emigrating Englishmen, who paid their passage in return for their labor once in America." Farmers, merchants, and shopkeepers in

13552-421: Was a major war production center during World War II . The biggest operations were Bethlehem Steel 's Fairfield Yard, which built Liberty ships ; and Glenn Martin , an aircraft manufacturer. Maryland experienced population growth following World War II. Beginning in the 1960s, as suburban growth took hold around Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, the state began to take on a more mid-Atlantic culture as opposed to

13673-648: Was a method of increasing the number of colonists, especially in the English and later British colonies. Voluntary migration and convict labor only provided so many people, and since the journey across the Atlantic was dangerous, other means of encouraging settlement were necessary. Contract-laborers became an important group of people and so numerous that the United States Constitution counted them specifically in appointing representatives: Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among

13794-418: Was also largely a result of changing attitudes that accrued over the 18th century and culminated in the early 19th century. Over the 18th century, the penal sanctions that were used against all workers were slowly going away from colonial codes, leaving indentured servants the only adult white labor subject to penal sanctions (with the notable exception of seaman, whose contracts could be criminally enforced up to

13915-476: Was also used in southern New England and Long Island to control and assimilate Native Americans from the 1600s through the American Revolution. Indentured servitude continued in North America into the early 20th century, but the number of indentured servants declined over time. Although experts do not agree on the causes of the decline, possible factors for the American colonies include changes in

14036-561: Was based on a Transpeninsular Line and the Twelve-Mile Circle around New Castle. Most of the English colonists arrived in Maryland as indentured servants , and had to serve a several years' term as laborers to pay for their passage. In the early years, the line between indentured servants and African slaves or laborers was fluid, and white and black laborers commonly lived and worked together, and formed unions. Mixed-race children born to white mothers were considered free by

14157-434: Was brought by force, and a much larger portion came in response to deceit and misrepresentation on the part of the spirits [recruiting agents]." Many white immigrants arrived in colonial America as indentured servants, usually as young men and women from Britain or Germany, under the age of 21. Typically, the father of a teenager would sign the legal papers, and work out an arrangement with a ship captain, who would not charge

14278-444: Was considered a strategic Union victory and a turning point of the war. A new state constitution in 1864 abolished slavery and Maryland was first recognized as a "Free State" in that context. Following passage of constitutional amendments that granted voting rights to freedmen , in 1867 the state extended suffrage to non-white males. The Democratic Party rapidly regained power in the state from Republicans . Democrats replaced

14399-492: Was murdered, buried and hidden beneath the floor alongside a garbage pit. In 1661 Virginia law prohibited the inappropriate burial of indentured servants. The Transportation Act 1717 established a regulated system for indentured criminal laborers. In the 18th century, wages in Great Britain were low because of a surplus of labor. The average monetary wage was about 50 shillings (£2.50, equivalent to £474 in 2023)

14520-547: Was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution . Near the end of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), on February 2, 1781, Maryland became the last and 13th state to approve the ratification of the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union , first proposed in 1776 and adopted by the Second Continental Congress in 1778, which brought into being

14641-433: Was the main cash crop , the majority of labor that indentured servants performed was related to field work. In this situation, social isolation could increase the possibilities for both direct and indirect abuse, as could lengthy, demanding labor in the tobacco fields. The system was still widely practiced in the 1780s, picking up immediately after a hiatus during the American Revolution. Fernand Braudel ( The Perspective of

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