Editing Maryland (section)

==History==
{{Main|History of Maryland|Native American tribes in Maryland}}
===17th century===
====Maryland's first colonial settlement====
{{Main|Province of Maryland}}
Present-day Maryland was originally inhabited by tribes such as the [[Piscataway people|Piscataway]] (including the [[Patuxent people|Patuxent]]), the [[Nanticoke people|Nanticoke]] (including the [[Tockwogh|Tocwogh]], the [[Ozinie]] and other subdivisions), the [[Powhatan]], the [[Lenape]], the [[Susquehannock]], the [[Shawnee]], the [[Tutelo]], the [[Saponi]], the [[Pocomoke people|Pocomoke]] and the [[Massawomeck people|Massawomeck]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Maryland Indian Tribes and Languages |url=https://www.native-languages.org/maryland.htm |access-date=2024-09-03 |website=www.native-languages.org}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|date=September 2024}} [[George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore]] (1579–1632), sought a charter from King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]] for the territory between [[Massachusetts]] to the north and [[Virginia]] to the immediate south.<ref name="Stewart 1967 42–43">{{Cite book|last=Stewart
|first= George R.|author-link= George R. Stewart|title= Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States|orig-year= 1945 |edition= Sentry (3rd)|year= 1967 |publisher= [[Houghton Mifflin]]|pages= 42–43}}</ref>
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.{{sfn|Marsh|2011|p=5}} Lord Baltimore initially proposed 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."<ref name=":1" />

The original capital of Maryland was [[St. Mary's City, Maryland|St. Mary's City]], on the north shore of the [[Potomac River]], and the county surrounding it was the first erected and created in the province,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/speccol/photos/lowe/html/sm_2.html|title=Maryland In Focus—St. Mary's County|first=Kristin P.|last=Masser|website=Maryland State Archives|access-date=September 6, 2017|archive-date=October 10, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010135440/http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/speccol/photos/lowe/html/sm_2.html|url-status=live}}</ref> first called Augusta Carolina, after the King, and later named [[St. Mary's County, Maryland|St. Mary's County]].<ref>''History of Maryland'', p. 32</ref>

Lord Baltimore's first settlers arrived in the new colony in March 1634, with his younger brother, [[Leonard Calvert]] (1606–1647), as the first provincial [[Governor of Maryland]]. They made their first permanent settlement at [[St. Mary's City, Maryland|St. Mary's City]] in what is now [[St. Mary's County, Maryland|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 [[state capital|capital]] of Maryland, and remained so for 60 years until 1695. More settlers soon followed. Their tobacco crops were successful and quickly made 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]].<ref name=iha>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ushistory.org/us/5a.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322155310/http://www.ushistory.org/us/5a.asp|url-status=dead|title=Maryland—The Catholic Experiment |archive-date=March 22, 2016|website=www.ushistory.org}}</ref>

====Persecution of Catholics====
{{See also|Plundering Time}}
Maryland was founded to provide a haven for England's [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] minority.<ref name="washingtonpost.com">{{Cite news |last=Greenwell |first=Megan |author-link=Megan Greenwell |date=August 21, 2008 |title=Religious Freedom Byway Would Recognize Maryland's Historic Role |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081504104.html |access-date=May 3, 2014 |archive-date=February 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217132059/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081504104.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
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 the total population.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Slavery's Capitalism: A New History of American Economic Development|last=Wilder|first=Craig Steven|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|year=2016|isbn=978-0-8122-4841-8|editor-last=Beckert|editor-first=Seth|location=Philadelphia, PA|page=233|chapter=War and Priests: Catholic Colleges and Slavery in the Age of Revolution|editor-last2=Rockman|editor-first2=Seth}}</ref>

In 1642, several [[Puritans]] left [[Virginia]] for Maryland and founded the city of Providence, now called [[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis]], on the western shore of the upper [[Chesapeake Bay]].<ref>Taylor, Owen M., ''History of Annapolis'' (1872) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vr9ib-I1WlIC p. 5]</ref> 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 [[Roundheads|pro-Parliament]] Puritan [[Richard Ingle]], took over St. Mary's.<ref>Brenner, Robert. ''Merchants and Revolution'' London:Verso. 2003, {{ISBN|1-85984-333-6}}</ref> Both used religion as 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, and 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 [[Trinitarianism|Trinitarian]] Christians.<ref name=iha/>

In 1650, the Puritans revolted against the proprietary government. "Protestants swept the Catholics out of the legislature{{spaces}}... and religious strife returned."<ref name=iha/> The Puritans set up a new government prohibiting both [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] and [[Church of England|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 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.<ref name=":0" /> The celebration of 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 [[bequest|bequeathed]] them to evade the legal restrictions on religious organizations' owning property.<ref name=":0" />

===Border disputes (1681–1760)===
{{Main|Penn–Calvert boundary dispute|Cresap's War}}
[[File:1732 map of Maryland.jpg|thumb|A 1732 map of Maryland<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ghostsofbaltimore.org/2014/03/04/lord-baltimores-map-maryland-1732/|title=Lord Baltimore's Map of Maryland in 1732|last=Tom|date=March 4, 2014|website=Ghosts of Baltimore|access-date=February 24, 2019|archive-date=February 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190225044819/https://ghostsofbaltimore.org/2014/03/04/lord-baltimores-map-maryland-1732/|url-status=live}}</ref>]]
The royal charter granted Maryland the land north of the [[Potomac River]] up to the [[40th parallel north|40th parallel]]. A problem arose when [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] granted a charter for the [[Province of Pennsylvania]], which defined Pennsylvania's southern border as the 40th parallel, identical to Maryland's northern border. But the grant indicated that Charles II and [[William Penn]] assumed the 40th parallel would pass close to [[New Castle, Delaware]], where it falls north of [[Philadelphia]], which Penn already designated as Pennsylvania'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.<ref name=hubbard>{{Cite book|last=Hubbard |first=Bill Jr. |title=American Boundaries: the Nation, the States, the Rectangular Survey |url=https://archive.org/details/americanboundari00jrbi |url-access=limited |year=2009 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-35591-7 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/americanboundari00jrbi/page/n35 21]–23}}</ref> 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 a century, carried on by the descendants of William Penn and Lord Baltimore—the [[Baron Baltimore|Calvert family]], which controlled Maryland, and the [[William Penn|Penn family]], which controlled Pennsylvania.<ref name=hubbard/>

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 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.<ref name=hubbard/>

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 was based on the [[Transpeninsular Line]] and the [[Twelve-Mile Circle]] around New Castle.<ref name=hubbard/>

===18th century===

{{Main|American Revolutionary War|Maryland in the American Revolution|Lee Resolution|United States Declaration of Independence|Philadelphia campaign|Articles of Confederation#Ratification|Treaty of Paris (1783)|Mount Vernon Conference|Annapolis Convention (1786)|Constitutional Convention (United States)|Admission to the Union|List of U.S. states by date of admission to the Union}}

Most of the English colonists arrived in Maryland as [[indentured servant]]s, and had to serve a several-year term as laborers to pay for their passage.<ref>[http://www.folger.edu/html/folger_institute/jamestown/c_shifflet.htm "Indentured Servants and the Pursuits of Happiness"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100104180311/http://www.folger.edu/html/folger_institute/jamestown/c_shifflet.htm |date=January 4, 2010 }}. Crandall Shifflett, ''Virginia Tech''.</ref> 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 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.<ref name="Heinegg">[http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/ Paul Heinegg. ''Free African Americans in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100807191511/http://www.freeafricanamericans.com/ |date=August 7, 2010 }}. Retrieved February 15, 2008.</ref> 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 was one of the [[Thirteen Colonies|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|Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union]], first proposed in 1776 and adopted by the [[Second Continental Congress]] in 1778, which brought into being the United States as a united, [[sovereignty|sovereign]] and [[nation state|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 of the United States|federal government]] for its creation. The land was provided along the north shore of the [[Potomac River]] from [[Montgomery County, Maryland|Montgomery]] and [[Prince George's County, Maryland|Prince George's]] counties, as well as from [[Fairfax County, Virginia|Fairfax County]] and [[Alexandria, Virginia|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.

===19th century===
[[File:Ft. Henry bombardement 1814.jpg|thumb|The bombardment of Fort McHenry in the [[Battle of Baltimore]], which inspired "[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]"]]
Influenced by a changing economy, revolutionary ideals, and preaching by ministers, numerous planters in Maryland freed their slaves in the 20 years after the [[American Revolution|Revolutionary War]]. Across the Upper South the free black population increased from less than 1% before the war to 14% by 1810.<ref name="Kolchin"/> Abolitionists [[Harriet Tubman]] and [[Frederick Douglass]] were born slaves during this time in [[Dorchester County, Maryland|Dorchester County]] and [[Talbot County, Maryland|Talbot County]], respectively.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/harriet-tubman|title=Harriet Tubman|website=HISTORY|date=October 29, 2009 |access-date=January 18, 2019|archive-date=January 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119121457/https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/harriet-tubman|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Douglass |first=Frederick |title=Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave |publisher=Barnes & Noble Classics |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-59308-041-9 |location=New York, NY |pages=17 |language=English}}</ref>

During the [[War of 1812]], the British military attempted to capture Baltimore, which was protected by [[Fort McHenry]]. During its bombardment, 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 in Maryland|U.S. Route 40]], was authorized in 1817 as the federal highway, and ran from [[Baltimore]] to [[St. Louis]]. The [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad]], the first chartered railroad in the United States, opened its first section of track for regular operation in 1830 between Baltimore and [[Ellicott City, Maryland|Ellicott City]],<ref name="Dilts">{{cite book |title=The Great Road: The Building of the Baltimore and Ohio, the Nation's First Railroad, 1828–1853 |last=Dilts |first=James D. |year=1993 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Palo Alto, CA |isbn=978-0-8047-2235-3 |page=80}}</ref> and in 1852 it became the first rail line to reach the [[Ohio River]] from the eastern seaboard.<ref name="Stover">{{cite book |last=Stover |first=John F. |title=History of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad |publisher=Purdue University Press |year=1987 |location=West Lafayette, IN |isbn=978-0-911198-81-2 |page=18}}</ref>

====Civil War====
{{Main|Maryland in the American Civil War}}
[[File:Kurz & Allison - Battle of Antietam.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Antietam]] in 1862, one of the bloodiest battles of the [[American Civil War]], with nearly 23,000 casualties]]
The state remained in the Union during the [[American Civil War]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://civilwarmonths.com/2016/04/29/maryland-remains-in-the-union/ |title=Maryland Remains in the Union |access-date=July 7, 2016 |date=April 29, 2016 |publisher=Walter Coffey |author=Walter Coffey |website=The Civil War Months |archive-date=August 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817135903/https://civilwarmonths.com/2016/04/29/maryland-remains-in-the-union/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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 black|free]].<ref name="Kolchin">Peter Kolchin, ''American Slavery: 1619–1877'', New York: Hill and Wang, 1993, pp. 81–82</ref>

Governor [[Thomas Holliday Hicks]] suspended the state legislature, and to help ensure [[1861 Maryland gubernatorial election|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 (mayor)|George William Brown]]; suspended several civil liberties, including ''habeas corpus''; and ordered artillery placed on [[Federal Hill, Baltimore, Maryland|Federal Hill]] overlooking Baltimore.

In April 1861, Federal units and state regiments were attacked as they marched through Baltimore, sparking the [[Baltimore riot of 1861]], the first bloodshed in the Civil War.<ref>{{cite web |last=Vogler |first=Mark E. |title=Civil War Guard on duty in Baltimore to save President Street Station |url=http://www.eagletribune.com/punews/local_story_107204538.html |date=April 18, 2009 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20090419134532/http://www.eagletribune.com/punews/local_story_107204538.html |archive-date=April 19, 2009 |url-status=dead |website=eagletribune.com |publisher=Eagle Tribune |access-date=April 28, 2015 }}</ref> 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]].{{citation needed|date=March 2016}} The largest and most significant battle in the state was the [[Battle of Antietam]] on September 17, 1862, near [[Sharpsburg, Maryland|Sharpsburg]]. Although a tactical draw, the battle was considered a strategic Union victory and a [[turning point of the American Civil War|turning point]] of the war.

====Post-Civil War====
A new state constitution in 1864 [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolished]] slavery and Maryland was first recognized as a "Free State" in that context.<ref name=freestate>{{cite web |url=http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/nickname.html |title=Maryland at a Glance: Nicknames |publisher=Maryland State Archives |date=September 29, 2015 |access-date=February 8, 2018 |archive-date=January 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180122110422/http://msa.maryland.gov/msa/mdmanual/01glance/html/nickname.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Following passage of constitutional amendments that granted voting rights to [[freedmen]], in 1867 the state extended suffrage to non-white males.

The [[History of the United States Democratic Party|Democratic Party]] rapidly regained power in the state from [[History of the United States Republican Party|Republicans]]. Democrats replaced the Constitution of 1864 with the [[Maryland Constitution of 1867|Constitution of 1867]]. Following the end of Reconstruction in 1877, Democrats devised means of [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|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 the electorate.<ref name="tuck">{{cite web |url=http://www.brandonkendhammer.com/democratization_Spring2013/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Tuck-2007.pdf |first=Stephen |last=Tuck |title=Democratization and the Disfranchisement of African Americans in the US South during the Late 19th Century |date=Spring 2013 |department=Reading for "Challenges of Democratization" |via=Brandon Kendhammer, Ohio University |author-link=Stephen Tuck |access-date=February 11, 2014 |archive-date=February 23, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223124800/http://www.brandonkendhammer.com/democratization_Spring2013/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Tuck-2007.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

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.<ref name="tuck"/> Whites did impose [[racial segregation]] in public facilities and [[Jim Crow]] laws, which effectively lasted until 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 a [[Johns Hopkins University|university]], [[Enoch Pratt Free Library|library system]], [[Peabody Institute|music and dance conservatory]], and [[Walters Art Museum|art museum]].

[[Cumberland, Maryland|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.<ref name="WDL">{{cite web |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11374/ |title=Bird's Eye View of Cumberland, Maryland 1906 |website=[[World Digital Library]] |year=1906 |access-date=July 22, 2013 |archive-date=October 3, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131003004014/http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11374/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===20th century===
[[File:Rubble_of_the_Great_Baltimore_Fire.jpg|thumb|The ruins left by the [[Great Baltimore Fire]] of 1904]]
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 the parties); obtained closed voting booths to prevent party workers from "assisting" voters; initiated [[Partisan primary|primary election]]s 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.<ref name="tuck"/> Disenfranchisement bills in 1905, 1907, and 1911 were rebuffed, in large part because of black opposition. Blacks comprised 20% of the electorate and immigrants comprised 15%, and the legislature had difficulty devising requirements against blacks that did not also disadvantage immigrants.<ref name="tuck"/>

The Progressive Era also brought reforms in working conditions for Maryland's labor force. In 1902, the state regulated conditions in [[Mining|mines]]; outlawed [[child labor]]ers under the age of 12; mandated compulsory school attendance; and enacted 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 [[firefighter]]s worked to bring the blaze under control.

With the nation's [[World War I#Entry of the United States|entry into World War I]] in 1917, new military bases such as [[Fort George G. Meade|Camp Meade]], 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 in the United States|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 a series of newspaper editorials.<ref name=freestate /><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/ph-ce-eagle-archive-1008-20121003-story.html |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |date=October 7, 2012 |first=Kevin |last=Dayhoff |title=Eagle Archive: Here's a toast to Maryland's origins as 'The Free State' |access-date=February 8, 2018 |archive-date=February 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180209063600/http://www.baltimoresun.com/ph-ce-eagle-archive-1008-20121003-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1093&context=mlr
| title = History and Constitutionality of the Maryland Income Tax Law
| last1 = Cairns
| first1 = Huntington
| date = December 1937
| website = Maryland Law Review
| series = Legal History, Theory and Process Commons
| publisher = UM Carey Law
| at = pp. 1, 6
| access-date = August 19, 2015
| quote = "...{{spaces}}1937 Special Session of the Maryland Legislature imposed an income tax{{spaces}}... expenditure of public funds for the benefit of able-bodied persons whose inability to support themselves arises from the prevalence of widespread unemployment."
| archive-date = March 4, 2016
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304112451/http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1093&context=mlr
| url-status = live
}}</ref>

Passenger and freight steamboat service, once important throughout Chesapeake Bay and its many tributary rivers, ended in 1962.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Steamboats of Chesapeake Bay |url=https://www.calvertmarinemuseum.com/DocumentCenter/View/2347/-Bugeye-Times-Winter-2017?bidId= |access-date=March 9, 2020 |archive-date=August 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804222419/http://calvertmarinemuseum.com/DocumentCenter/View/2347/-Bugeye-Times-Winter-2017?bidId= |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Baltimore was a major war production center during [[World War II]]. The biggest operations were [[Bethlehem Steel]]'s Fairfield Yard, which built [[Liberty ship]]s; and [[Glenn L. Martin Company|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 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, Maryland|Columbia]], [[St. Charles, Maryland|St. Charles]], and [[Montgomery Village, Maryland|Montgomery Village]]. Concurrently the [[Interstate Highway System]] was built throughout the state, most notably [[Interstate 95 in Maryland|I-95]], [[Interstate 695 (Maryland)|I-695]], and the [[Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)|Capital Beltway]], altering travel patterns. In 1952, the eastern and western halves of Maryland were linked for the first time by the [[Chesapeake Bay Bridge]], which replaced a nearby [[ferry]] service.<ref name="baybridge.com-history">{{cite web|url=http://www.baybridge.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=|title=William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bay Bridge—History|publisher=baybridge.com|access-date=February 5, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080701104741/http://www.baybridge.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=|archive-date=July 1, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

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 of Maryland|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 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.