The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1909-03-25
MARYLAND'S OLD STATE HOUSE
One of the Most Interesting OF Amer
lean Landmarks.

date there IS an interesting illustrated
article upon the historic landmarks of
America. There are pictures and de-
scriptions of various monuments and
buildings connected with our history.
Among them we find pictures of Ply
mouth Rock, the Concord and Bunker
Hill Monuments; of independence Hall,
of Mount Vernon, of Monticello and of
Arlington. But the building which is
perhaps, from an architectural and his
toric point of view. the most interesting
in the United States is omitted. This
is the old State House of Maryland. At
the close of the Revolution this venera-
BILE building was described by the chap
lain of the French Army, which had
been stationed at Annapolis, as the fin
est building in America and of the most
beautiful architecture. Events o f
/ greater Importance occurred within its
venerable walls than in any other Amer
lean building. The Declaration of In
| dependence was adopted in the Philadel
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war had been in progress a year and it
was merely a formal expression of
what was, in fact, already determined
upon by the progress of events. The
war would haye gone on and the Col
onies would have become free and indie
/ pendent States, even if the formal dec
laratiOn made to manifest decent re-
spect for the opinions of mankind had
never been made.
Maryland State House were not merely
formalies. They formulated events
and directed the course of history. In
the old Senate Chamber of the State
/ House the Continental Congress held it's
sessions from the 18th of November,
1888, to the Sd of June, 1884. Shortly
after tbs Congress come to Annapolis
the Treaty of Versailles, which had been
signed on the Sd of September, arrived
and was ratified in the old Senate
Chamber. The treaty conceded the
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and independent nation and established
its claim to all the territory between
the Alleghenies and the Mississippi
river. On the 23d day of December,
/ 1888, following the ratification of the
/ treaty, came General George Washing
/ ton, the commander-in-chief, who had
1 led the American Army to victory, who
! surrendered his commission and laid
down his sword.
Then the scheme for confederation
of the States arose. Daniel Carroll, of
I Maryland, member of the Continental
Congress, offered resolution, as fol-
! low: THE United States, in Congress
assembled, should have the sole and ex-
elusive right and to assertion and fix
the Western boundary of such States
as claimed to the Mississippi any lay
out the land so ascertained into separate
and independent States from time to
timeias the number and circumstances
of the people may require. The re-
suits of this resolution made the United
States as it exists today possible.
Maryland occupied commanding posi-
ton Her territory was interposed be-
tween the Northern and Southern Col
onies, and the confederation would be
futile without the consent of Maryland
But Maryland refused absolutely to Join
! hn odd ha 70
rendered their claim to the Western
lands This was finally done under what
amount of compulsiOn from MARYLAND.
and then, in the old State House at An
napols, the Articles of Confederation
were ratified and the separate States
became the United States. with the
public lands as common property, and
out Of these lands the great States of
Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois,
Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin were
erected. A few years after the ratif-
cation Of the Articles of Confederation
another and greater event occurred in
the State House On the 18th Of Sep
TENDER, 1855, the annapolis convention
assembled IN the old Senate Chamber
This convention passed a resolution
/ recommending that convention of all
the States be called for the purpose of
rendering the Constitution of the Fed
eral Government adequate to the ext
gencies of the Union. Out of this reso-
luton, passed in the Maryland State
! House, came the Constitution of the
United States and the Government as
it exists today. The State House may
therefore be considered, in a sense, the
birthplace of the United States.
Through the initiative of Governor
Warfield the State House Building Com
mission few years ago restored the
old Senate Chamber as it was when
Congress received George Washington
there in 1888. In a message to the
Legislature January 3, 1906, Governor
Warfield told of the restoratian, and
said that the Senate Chamber would, in
connection with the two adjoining
rooms, be kept as place in which will