96. Financial Distresses.

Failure of the Bank of Maryland.

Riots occur, and serious loss of property results; the riots quelled by
General Samuel Smith.

The heavy expenditures of Maryland for public improvements.

The credit of the state saved by George Peabody.

97. The First Telegraph Line.

Location of the first telegraph line.

98. Government Reforms.

What changes were made by the amendments to the Constitution in 1837?

What other changes were made?

What changes were made by the Constitution of 1851?

What was the general effect of all these changes?

99. The War with Mexico.

State the cause of the Mexican War.

Give an account of the services of Marylanders in this war.

QUESTIONS FOR ORIGINAL THOUGHT AND RESEARCH

1. Is it well to erect monuments to the memory of illustrious men? Give reasons for your answer. What is the largest monument in the world? 2. Name some other railroads in Maryland at the present time besides the Baltimore and Ohio. What is the route of each you have named? Explain in detail how a railroad benefits the country through which it is built. Name four large cities along the line of the Baltimore and and Ohio railroad in Maryland.

3. State some of the advantages of the telegraph. Show how it strengthens the union of the states of our country. Express your opinion of the various changes made in the government of Maryland, as described in section 98.

REFERENCES

James' revision of McSherry's History of Maryland, pp. 305–338. If available, see Scharf's Maryland, Vol. III. For Constitutional changes, see Steiner's Institutions and Civil Government of Maryland, pp. 12-15. For a full account of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, see Dr. G. W. Ward's Early Development of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Project, in the Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, Seventeenth Series, ix, x, xi. For an account of the Mexican War, see Elson's History of the United States, pp. 523-533, or any good history of the nation.

CHAPTER V

SLAVERY AND THE CIVIL WAR

100. Introduction. We have now reached the saddest part of our story· - the time when the people of our country were to meet on the deadly battle-field, not to repel a foreign enemy, but in bloody strife with one another. War is always terrible, even when waged against a foreign nation, and in defense of home and country; it is infinitely more terrible when a nation becomes divided in civil war, when relatives and friends are arrayed under opposing standards, and even brothers meet in deadly combat. It is therefore painful even to look back upon this unfortunate period of our history, and in studying about it we should try to free ourselves from all feeling of bitterness and prejudice. There is here simply a record of the most important points of Maryland's connection with the great struggle. The bitter feelings of anger and hatred that the war naturally excited are now practically all allayed, and our people are again united; it should be our effort to perpetuate this friendly feeling in every possible way, to look back upon the wrongs and mistakes committed by both sides in the great civil war with no other feelings than those of pity and regret, and to take care ourselves that no repetition of these sad occurrences ever be possible.

101. Negro Slavery. — Very early in the history of our country slaves were introduced, and gradually came to be held throughout the land. As the population increased and the condition of the various sections of the country became fixed, the people of the North engaged largely in commerce and manufac

turing, while those of the South were occupied almost entirely with agriculture. To the people of the North slavery was of little or no use, and gradually the institution was abolished; in the South, on the other hand, slave labor was very valuable, and slavery was therefore retained.

102. The Maryland Colonization Society. There were, however, many people in the South who favored the gradual emancipation of the slaves, and efforts to accomplish this end were made, particularly in Maryland. No state made greater efforts to improve the condition of the negro. In 1790 there were 8,043 free negroes in the state; by 1860 there were 83,718, only 3,470 less than the slave population. The proportion of slaves to free negroes had been reduced from 12.81 to 1.04.

Early in the century the American Colonization Society was formed for the purpose of planting colonies of free negroes in Africa. A similar organization was formed in Maryland in January, 1831, called "The Maryland State Colonization Society." Soon afterward a colony was sent out to Liberia, a piece of territory on the western coast of Africa. The following is a resolution adopted by the Society: "That the Mary

land State Colonization Society look forward to the extirpation of slavery in Maryland, by proper and gradual efforts addressed to the understanding and experience of the people of the state, as the peculiar object of their labors." This they thought could best be accomplished by colonization, and it is worth noting that the use of intoxicating liquors was forbidden, both to the employees of the Society and to the emigrants. The Society was liberally aided by the state, and succeeded in establishing a prosperous colony, which was known as "Maryland in Liberia." This colony was given a republican form of government, and finally granted independence. It was afterward united by treaty with Liberia, and became Maryland county.

103. The Controversy over Slavery between the North and South. The regulation of slavery was not, however, left to the states to manage in their own way. A party arose in the North called Abolitionists, who declared that slavery was a great moral wrong and ought to be abolished by the national government. The enormous growth of the cotton industry made slavery seem more necessary, and this, with the natural resentment at the bitter Abolition attacks, checked the emancipation movements already in progress.

The increase of national territory was closely connected with the slavery question. At the close of the Revolutionary War our territory extended to the Mississippi; as time went on it gradually extended across the continent to the Pacific. A party was formed in the North, called the Republican, for the purpose of prohibiting slavery in the territories, on the ground that it was morally wrong. The people of the South, supported by a decision of the United States Supreme Court, claimed the right to take their slaves with them wherever they pleased, just as they could take any other property. So here were the elements of a fatal quarrel. In 1860 the Republican party nominated

It

Abraham Lincoln for the presidency, and he was elected. was the election of Lincoln that precipitated the Civil War. 104. States' Rights; Secession of Southern States. From the time when the Federal Union was formed there had been much difference of opinion about the powers that belonged to the general government and those which were retained by the Many persons believed that a state had the right to

states.

secede," or withdraw from the Union into which it had entered, while others thought that once in the Union a state was obliged to remain there. In the early history of the United States threats of secession were often heard both from Northern and Southern states. The right to secede was now claimed and actually exercised.

Many of the Southern leaders declared that the interests of the South were no longer safe in the Union after the election of