USA > Maryland > Anne Arundel County > A history of Anne Arundel County in Maryland : adapted for use in the schools of the county > Part 16
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PARAGRAPH 4. (a) What decreased the area of Anne Arundel in 1851 as well as its population? (b) How many Governors of the State have come from Howard county since 1851? (e) How many executives has Anne Arundel given the State?
PARAGRAPH 5. (@) Of what centre is Anne Arundel? (b) What four military organizations exist in Annapolis?
PARAGRAPH 6. (a) On what does Anne Arundel front on the eastward? (b) How many rivers are in the county? (c) What are their names?
The birthplace of Reverdy Johnson-now the home of Hon. John Wirt Randall.
Caton's Barber Shop, where Caton shaved Gen. Washington when he was in Annapolis in 1783 to resign his military commission. The shop has now a shed attached to it.
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ASTON LENOX AND TALDEA FOUNDATICHI
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A HISTORY OF ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY.
Prince George's on the west, and Calvert County lies on the south. Anne Arundel is chiefly a level county, with a few tall and commanding elevations. Its views give most beautiful prospects.
7. The tax-rate for 1905 in Anne Arundel was : County Tax, 73 cents on the $100 ; School Tax, 25 cents on the $100; State Tax, 233 cents on the $100. The road tax, in addition, in the several districts in the county, was : First District, 30 cents on the $100; Second District, 26 cents on the $100 ; Third District, 90 cents on the $100; Fourth District, 60 cents on the $100 ; Fifth District, 60 cents on the $100; Eighth District, 18 cents on the $100. There is no seventh district in Anne Arundel, and the sixth is Annapolis, which pays municipal taxes instead of road taxes.
8. Annapolis, the State Capital, is the only incorporated town in the county, but there are others growing in size and importance, such as Brooklyn, South Balti- more, Galloways, Friendship, Eastport, Germantown and Camp Parole. The popu- lation of Annapolis is 8,525. In 1890 its population was 7,604. It was named after Queen Anne.
9. It is estimated that there are 4,500 farms in Anne Arundel County. Some of the earliest and finest berries and fruits find their way to the markets from these farms. The canning and packing of vegetables, in connection with this industry, is large and growing.
10. Considerable numbers of oysters and fish are taken from the waters of Anne Arundel, and for the year ending May, 1905, it is reported that 43, 800 bushels of oysters were packed or shipped. It is estimated 150,000 bushels were caught in Anne Arundel waters. About 2,000 persons are employed in the taking and canning or packing of oysters and fish, and find a good living in this industry. Among the leading firms may be mentioned : C. W. Martin & Co., Charles H. Russell, Charles A. DuBois, James Johnson, Walter Clark, Martin Wagner & Co., and a number of others, mostly located at Annapolis.
11. In addition to the Tolehester Steamboat Company's route, the Annapolis, West and South River line of boats, the county is reached by the Annapolis, Wash- ington and Baltimore Railroad, the Baltimore and Potomac and the Annapolis and Baltimore Short Line, thus offering ample facilities for reaching the market with the products and manufactures of the county.
PARAGRAPH 7. (a) Give the tax rate of Anne Arundel for 1905?
PARAGRAPH 8. (a) What is the only incorporated town in Anne Arundel? (b) What other places are growing in importance? (c) What is the population of Annapolis?
PARAGRAPH 9. («) How many farms are there in Anne Arundel? (b) From these farms what are sent to market? (c) What is growing in connection with the raising of fruits and berries? .
PARAGRAPH 10. (a) What are taken from the waters of Anne Arundel? (b) How many bushels of oysters were packed or shipped in Anne Arundel in 1905? (c) What is the estimated catch in Anne Arundel beside these shipments? (d) How many persons are employed in the county in taking and packing oysters?
PARAGRAPH 11. (a) What are the means of transportation in the county?
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A HISTORY OF ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY.
12. While the mannfactures of Anne Arundel are not numerous, vet some of the largest manufacturing houses of the State are located in South Baltimore, Anne Arundel County, which is a manufacturing centre. Among the largest industries in Anne Arundel are the Martin Wagner Packing Company, packers and canners of all kinds of fruits, vegetables and oysters ; the East Brooklyn Box Factory, the Monumental Chemical Works, the Chemical Chrome Works, the Maryland Car Wheel Works, the National Supply Company, the South Baltimore Steel Car Foundry, which together represents a capital of over $3,500,000, and the output annually, when all are at work, is upwards of $7,000,000. They employ nearly 2,000 hands. Other large packers and manufacturers in Anne Arundel are : Noah H. Green, fruit packer, Benfield ; David Wigley, canning factory, Gambrill's Packing Company, Gambrill ; W. L. Gardner & Sons, canning factory, C. G. Summers, fruit packers, George M. Murray, canning factory, Odenton ; Diamond Dust Soap Powder Company, Maryland Bolt and Nut Works, Ryan & McDonald Mfg. Company, man- ufacturers of contractors' supplies, South Baltimore Foundry, iron founders ; South Baltimore Harbor & Improvement Company, South Baltimore; K. Boswell, canning factory, Waterbury : C. Noeklitz, canning factory, St. Margaret's ; Richard H. Maynard, canning factory, Woodwardsville ; Carson Bros. Asbestos Pipe Cover- ing Factory, Revell's Station ; O. P. Roberts' Canning Factories at Chalk Point and Galesville ; Charles S. Tate, canning factory at Arnold's; Brown Bros. crab meat industry at Annapolis. The Sewell chemical factory is now being erected in the third distriet of the county, directly opposite the Naval Academy.
CHAPTER FORTY-SECOND.
LEGISLATIVE SCENES IN ANNAPOLIS.
I. The county of Anne Arundel is in closer touch with the General Assembly than any other political division of the State, since the capital is located in its chief city. No little part of the public life of the county has been accentuated by this proximity of the legislative body to the people of the county. The many highly dramatie and politically potential scenes, enacted in their midst, have not failed to give the people a keen zest for public affairs and have enabled them to view the motives of legislators with a more discerning vision than those of the public farther removed from the arena of events. While many of the great scenes of legislative
PARAGRAPH 12. (a) Where are some of the largest packing houses in the State located? (b) Can you name some of them?
PARAGRAPH 1. (a) Why is Anne Arundel in close touch with the General Assembly?
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history have been lost to posterity, some have been preserved, and so the color they give to the legislative acts, from age to age, lend additional interest to the political annals of the State.
2. The Legislature met in Anne Arundel County for the first time on October 2, 1683. This was at the Ridge, near Herring Bay. At this session the Lower House pursued the subject of the Bill for the Elections of Burgesses to such a degree that, on October 29th, his Lordship called the Speaker and Lower House before him and addressed them reminding the members that a whole month had passed since the Assembly had met, and for three weeks they had debated the bill for the Advancement of Trade, and said : "'Tis strange that a Bill that has cost so much time and the Province so much Tobacco, and which in itself, Contains the greatest Good to this Province that, as yet, We can think of, should, at last thus stick. You will all of you take it unkindly at my hands should I question whether you come here for the public Good, and yet, it plainly appears by the Proceedings of the Lower House, That, without I purchase a General Good for the Inhabitants of My Province, I must not expect it from Mr. Speaker and the Lower House ; Had I, at the first Meeting of this Assembly, proposed to you any Particular Advantage to my Self, you then might have had some pretence for the making a Bargain for the People ; But Since Nothing of that Nature was Moved to You, why must a General Good be had at so Dear a Rate you would Impose upon me? I Confess the Seeing that Message with the Bill for Towns was the Occasion of my telling Gentlemen of the Upper House that I would Conclude the Session-this Day, of which I ordered the Lower house should immediately have Notice, But, having Since Considered with how ill a face the Proceedings of this Assembly would look should the Bill for Towns at last be Rejected, and, after all endeavors for so great a Good, this present Meeting should be now rendered thereby fruitless, especially after so great Expence made both at this and the former Assembly upon this Matter, I was resolved to Meet you once more before I concluded this Sessions; And my Business now is to Desire that every person hear will bear an Open forehead, and if this Bill for Towns be not that Good I Esteem it to be, That you, Mr. Speaker and the Gentlemen here with you, will go to your house and accordingly Vote it so, That so it may be known where and at whose Doores it Lyeth. 'Tis not fitt, nor reasonable, that I should be thus Imposed on when I only Seek the generall, not my private, Advantage. When you catch me at the Latter, Gentlemen, I will give you leave to make Bar- gains, and then to use me as you have lately. Pray, Mr. Speaker, you and the Gentlemen of the Lower House, go and immediately put what I have now directed to the Vote upon these Terms, and no other I am willing to put off the Day of Sessions."
3. The Lower House made reply that they were heartily sorry that any expres- sion of their messengers should give his Lordship any distate for their House ; they
PARAGRAPH 2. (a) When did the Legislature first meet in Anne Arundel and where? (b) What caused the Lord Baltimore to call the members of the Lower House before liini?
PARAGRAPH 3. (a) What reply did the Lower House make to Lord Baltimore?
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liad only wanted, some expression from the Upper House, which was near his Lordship, that his Lordship would give his assent to the bills "that the said three bills might be presented to your Lordship together." "This house," they added, "could not in the least Imagine your Lordship would deny your Lower House of Assembly so reasonable a request for the Settlement of the certainty in Electing of Delegate, &c."
4. The Lower House then voted his Lordship a gratuity of 100,000 }bs. of tobacco, and desired him to signify where he intended to call future Assemblies, Provincial Courts and Offices in order that a Committee of both houses might " forthwith go out to consult the readiest and best way of making Provision of Build- ings fitt for the Reception and Accommodation thereof." There was at this time a sentiment existing for changing the capital. The efforts of the Lower House were unavailing to secure a settled mode of electing delegates, the Proprietary, evidently, being adverse to fresh burgesses from the people, and to more of them than he could not possibly prevent.
5. At this session, in reply to a proposition to erect public buildings, Lord Baltimore declared that when a "Convenieney shall be provided in South River in Anne Arundell County, Sufficient for Reception of his Lordship and Council, and for holding of Assemblies and Provinciall Courts, and the severall and respective Offices thereon Depending, his Lordship will make use thereof for such Ends, so long as he shall see Convenient." At this time on South River, where Col. William Burgess was the leading spirit, there was an effort to build the ancient town called New London or Londontown.
6. During the year, 1683, Lord Baltimore and William Penn had a conference at the Ridge upon the disputed boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania.
7. The second time the Legislature met in Anne Arundel County was on Feb- ruary 28th, 1694-5. This meeting was at " Ann-Arundel Town," now Annapolis. This session was brief. Three acts only were passed. Amongst them was an act to naturalize Daniel Davison, Sr. and Daniel Davison, Jr. The third session in Anne Arundel began at Ann-Arundel Town on May 8th, 1695, was a most important one, and the session is flavored with many acts arising from the location of the Provincial capital, at Annapolis, which had now become the name of Ann-Arundel town.
8. The Lower House was always a very brave body in protecting the rights of the people, and their spirited conduct could not fail to inspire the people of Anne Arundel with a high sense of their rights. At the May session, 1744, the Lower House refused to vote two thousand pounds more to finish the Governor's house-
PARAGRAPH 4. (a) What gratuity did the Lower House vote his Lordship?
PARAGRAPH 5. (@) Whit reply to the citizens of South River did Lord Baltimore make in regard to their offer to 'erect public buildings?
PARAGRAPH 6. (a) With whom did Lord Baltimore have conference in 1683 at the Ridge? PARAGRAPH 7. («) When did the second session of the Legislature take place in Anne Arundel? PARAGRAPH 8. (a) What was the Lower House? (b) Can you give some instances of its bravery ?
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The ancient Jail of Anne Arundel County, located on Calvert Street, Annapolis.
CUBANOLA
The City Dock, where the citizens of Annapolis, on or about the 20th of August. 1765, met the vessel of the Maryland Stamp Distributor, Zachariah Hood, and, after a serions affray, drove away the vessel and would not let Hood land.
PUBLIC LIBRARY
AST JA, LEARN AND 1. DEA COLADAFICHE
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A HISTORY OF ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY.
Bladen's Folly. The Governor, on May 25th, sent the Lower House a lengthy and bitter message complaining that, in offering to give instructions to the Commis- sioners to treat with the Indians, the Lower House " has, in this Instance, assumed to themselves an anthority which a British House of Commons never attempted." The Lower House declared, in an address to Lord Baltimore, that the disannulling of an act, once made, is an exercise of a legislative power "that is given by the Charter to the Proprietary in conjunction with the Freemen of the Province or their Delegates," and another resolved, that " We know ourselves to be a Branch of that Free People, of whom your Lordship is a Representative, entitled to all their Rights and Privileges, and, therefore, WE CAN NEVER SUBMIT TO THE PAYMENT OF ANY TAX OR IMPOST BUT WHAT IS LAID UPON US BY LAW." Over and over again, in the pres- ence of the people of Annapolis were these sturdy sentiments announced, and to the effect of them may be attributed, in part, at least, the wonderfully boll and patriotic conduct of the people of Annapolis when the American Revolution approached and was later in the full vigor of conflict.
9. One of the most extraordinary events of legislative action in Annapolis was the attempted arrest in 1757, by the Lower House, of Mr. John Ridont, the Secre- tary of the Governor. The Lower House, in its proceedings, stated -- that, an account, in the expenditure of 6,000 pounds by the Governor, under a grant to his Majesty's service, being missing-and, "a new one of a very different Nature, put in its Place, we judged it expedient, that, upon the Appointment of the same Person as our Clerk, (who at first View must be supposed to be privy to that Exchange of Papers), he should be at least Reprimanded for such a Breach of Trust, and tokl, that any future Misconduct must occasion his Removal from it : Upon our Enquiry into this affair, a Letter from Mr. Jolin Ridont was produced, and Part of it read in the House, which is in the following words :
"' As the Assembly will meet again the Ist of July at farthest, the Governor will be impatient to receive your Accounts fully and clearly stated before that Time, because the Money is all expended. I before writ to you on this Matters, and left several Papers, &c., which had been delivered in, with your Son at Concocheague.'
" As, from this Letter, and the Information of Col. Cresap, now a Member of our House, (to who that letter was directed) that the Account which had under the Examination of the Committee, was one of the Papers mentioned in it, we could not but be of opinion, that the Account which was missing, had passed into Mr. Ridont's Hands ; and, as our Clerk, denied, that he had delivered it to any Person whatever, and alleged, he supposed it must have been removed by some Members of the Lower House ; a Regard for our own Characters, as well as the Security of the Public Papers, laid us under a Necessity of calling upon Mr. Ridont to know how he came to the Possession of that Account. Mr. Ridout came before the House, in Conse- quence of a Request made by our Sergeant to that Purpose ; the Letter being handed to him, he was asked, if the Name subscribed was his Hand-writing ; he said
PARAGRAPH 9. (a) Whose arrest was attempted by the Lower House in 1757?' (b) What was the cause of it? (c) What was the result with Mr. Ridout?
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he could not, or did not think proper, to answer that question. He was asked, how the Papers, mentioned in that Letter, came into his Possession ; he said, the Governor's Name being mentioned in that Letter, he did not think it proper to give an answer. He was desired to withdraw. Being called in again, he was desired to give an Answer to the Question proposed to him before : he said, he perceived by the Date, the Letter had been wrote some Time ago ; said, if he might have the Letter awhile, he would reflect upon the Matter: he was told, he might have a copy of it, and might consider it against the Afternoon. He made no Answer. He was then ordered to attend again in the Afternoon. He said, the Governor had Business for him to do, or, he had Business of the Governor's that must be done, and he must desire to be excused. He was then ordered to withdraw. In a short Time, the House ordered him to be called again, but he was not to be found. Upon this Behaviour of Mr. Ridout, so unprecedented amongst us, and so dangerous in it's Consequences, a Warrant of this House was issued to our Serjeant, to bring Mr. Ridout before the House, to answer for a Contempt of the Authority, and a Breach of its inherent Rights and Privilegis."
The address stated that the Serjeant called at the Governor's, where Mr. Ridout lived, and asked for him, and that he came, and Mr. Ridont, after several interviews, told the Serjeant that he must excuse him, he could not attend. It was then that the Governor came, after the Serjeant had sent a message by a servant lad to Mr. Ridout, that " he should be glad to see him."
The House repudiated the suggestion of the Governor that, in apologizing for the behaviour of their sergeant, they had apologized for their conduct.
" We are far from being disposed to have it believed, that our Serjeant may not, at any Time, except when you are at Dinner, enter your House and take any Person from thence that we may order him."
"We do not know of any such Officer as a Governor's Secretary, and when there is one it will be time enough," asserted the House, for it to discuss the right of their Serjeant to take him into custody.
While not intending to infringe the Governor's rights, the House assured his Excellency " nor will we tamely suffer ours to be violated or infringed."
" What," continued the Lower House, " your Excellency is pleased to observe to ns, by Way of Information, as to our Rights and Privileges, as one Branch of the Legislature, may be New to You, but we assure you it is not so to us. What are the Rights and Privileges of those Gentlemen, that are said to constitute another Branch, we know nothing about as it is a Branch undevised in our Charter, and unknown in its Original." Acknowledging the rights of the Governor, the House denied that he had "any Servant constitutionally attendant upon" him, in his legislative capacity in the discharge of his duty. They hoped the Governor would not insist upon a private person having such an appointment, "and one that never even underwent the Qualification necessary to distinguish him to be a loyal subject," but, if the Governor did, they would take no notice of him as such.
The Lower House thought it pretty extraordinary that Mr. John Ridout, or (your Secretary) if agreeable to have him so called, should have known so little of
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his duty as to have come before the House withont the Governor's consent ; but when he did appear, the House certainly had a right to interrogate him. The Lower House gave it as its opinion that it had as much right to call Mr. Ridout before them, " as any other Gentleman that may reside in your Excellency's House, and as much Right to call one of your Family before us, as one of any Gentleman's Family in the Province."
"And we must here take the Freedom to tell your Excellency, that, if calling a Gentleman in your Family, your Secretary, and, endeavoring thereby to protect him against the Authority of this House, be one of those Rights and Privileges, which you intend, whenever you shall leave this Government, to deliver up to your Successor ; we hope it will be rejected as unknown and unconstitutional in this Government."
The House declared, that, in the affair which Mr. Ridont, the Governor's con- duct gave them some reason to believe to the contrary to what the Governor had stated, and that it was to conceal something from the House that it was proper they should know.
The House concluded that the suggestion of the Governor that they attend more strictly to their business, excited no wonder in them, as it was calculated to call their attention away from the vindication of their rights ; but " tho' the Time spent in public Enquiries, in Endeavors for Redress of the Grievances the people labour under and in the Support of the Rights and Privileges of this House, must necessarily lay upon them an heavy burthen ; yet, we are well assured, by the People themselves, that, as they plainly see it unavoidable, as we have, they shall chearfully submit to it, as a lesser Evil."
The Governor alleged that he engaged in the Controversy "much against my Inclination." He argued that there was a Governor's Secretary, and showed there was a Secretary of the Province as early as 1637-8, who was confirmed in the title by an Act of Assembly of 1649. " Whether it is necessary that I should have a Secretary or not," declared the Governor, "I may, I think, be supposed the best judge, and the impartial World will, perhaps, be surprised at your making that a Question, since I did not ask any Thing of you for his Support." He added that Mr. Ridout had qualified himself as a loyal subject before he came to this Province, "and, I persuade myself, you will not imagine that his principles have since Debauched by living in my Family."
Mr. Ridout, under the Governor's protection, was relieved from further molestation.
10. One of the most remarkable incidents in the history of the General Assembly of Maryland, and one that could not fail to impress the people with a sense of their rights was the rejection by the Lower House, nine times in successive sessions, during the French and Indian War, of bills suggested by the Upper House to raise supplies for the King. The Lower House had voted that supplies
PARAGRAPH 10. («) What extraordinary instance of the determination of the Lower House to protect the assessables at large occurred during the French and Indian War? (b) What was the difference between the two bills that led to these dissensions between the two Houses?
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should be given the King ; but provided that the office-holders, the affluent and the Lord Proprietary himself should pay part out of their income and revenues, the new and burdensome war taxation, and that all of it should not fall upon the body of the assessables at large, already heavily taxed to support the government. The Upper House, the appointees of Lord Baltimore, declined to pass this Act, and proposed throwing all of the new rates upon those already taxed. This action led to many bitter letters of official correspondence between the two Houses and the Governor, and, became one of the primary causes for the British Stamp Act, and the subse- quent taxation that led to the Revolutionary War. So Maryland was the pioneer that opened the path to American liberty.
11. At the canvass preceding the elections in May, 1773, political parties in Maryland had formed along the lines of approval or disapproval of Gov. Eden's proclamation fixing the fees of public officers and the rates of the clergy. On the one side was the Governor, the office-holders, the Conneil and the clergy. On the other, the people. For three years this contest raged with the virulence of an ever- increasing tempest. The Governor, after two years of proroguations of the Assembly, had to abandon these makeslrifts and to appeal to the people in a new election. The press, the hustings and the polls took up the insistent question in their turn- the public correspondence in that day in the Maryland Gazette, from January, 1773, to May following, being a most valuable contribution of fiery and instructive con- tributions to Maryland history. Whilst this was in progress, amongst the lesser lights, the remarkable, and historic correspondence, masterful in argument, pro- found in research, terrific in invective, between Antilon, Daniel Dulany, on the side of the Governor, and First Citizen, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, for the people, took place. At the election not a single member of the Assembly, favorable to the Governor, was elected. Even in Annapolis, the stronghold of the administration, its champion, Anthony Stenart, withdrew from the contest on the morning of election.
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