page_title: History of Maryland
section_title: Occupation of Baltimore
hierarchical_section_title: History of Maryland / Maryland in the Civil War / Occupation of Baltimore
caption_attribution_description: English: 1850 photo John Pendleton Kennedy at approximately 55 years of age. Kennedy was an author and Maryland politician.
context_page_description: The recorded history of Maryland dates back to the beginning of European exploration, starting with the Venetian John Cabot, who explored the coast of North America for the Kingdom of England in 1498. After European settlements had been made to the south and north, the colonial Province of Maryland was granted by King Charles I to Sir George Calvert, his former Secretary of State in 1632, for settlement beginning in March 1634. It was notable for having been established with religious freedom for Roman Catholics, since Calvert had publicly converted to that faith. Like other colonies and settlements of the Chesapeake Bay region, its economy was soon based on tobacco as a commodity crop, highly prized among the English, cultivated primarily by African slave labor, although many young people came from Britain sent as indentured servants or criminal prisoners in the early years.
  In 1781, during the American Revolutionary War, Maryland became the seventh state of the United States to ratify the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union.
context_section_description: A Union artillery garrison was placed on Federal Hill with express orders to destroy the city should Southern sympathizers overwhelm law and order there. Following the riot of 1861, Union troops under the command of General Benjamin F. Butler occupied the hill in the middle of the night. Butler and his men erected a small fort, with cannon pointing towards the central business district. Their goal was to guarantee the allegiance of the city and the state of Maryland to the federal government under threat of force. This fort and the Union occupation persisted for the duration of the Civil War. A large flag, a few cannon, and a small Grand Army of the Republic monument remain to testify to this period of the hill's history.
  Because Maryland remained in the Union, it fell outside the scope of the Emancipation Proclamation. A constitutional convention in 1864 culminated in the passage of a new state constitution on November 1 of that year. Article 24 of that document outlawed the practice of slavery. A campaign by state politician John Pendleton Kennedy and others ensured that abolishment of slavery would be in the new document, and the issue was hotly contested for nearly a year throughout the state. In the end the elimination of slavery was approved by a 1,000-vote margin. The right to vote was extended to non-white males in the Maryland Constitution of 1867, which is still in effect today.
caption: John Pendleton Kennedy, politician, author. Kennedy played a major role in bringing an end to slavery in Maryland. 1850 photograph.
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