ARCHIVES OF MARYLAND. PROCEEDINGS AND ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND. SEPTEMBER 1693-JUNE 1697.

Browne, William Hand.

Published by Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore

About this Item

1899, 4to, x, 607pp, index. Gilt lettering on the spine is faded, extremities lightly worn, else G+. From the preface: "In 1693, Lionel Copley, the first royal governor, died, and Francis Nicholson, who had been Deputy Governor of New York and Lieut. Governor of Virginia, succeeded to the office. The most important business before the Assembly at this session, was the case of Sir Thomas Lawrence, Secretary of the Province, who had been illegally suspended from his office and imprisoned by Copley. The first assembly called by Nicholson met in the old capital, St. Maries, and among other proceedings erected the settlement called Severn, on the river of that name, into the town and port of Anne Arundel. Soon after, Anne Arundel Town was renamed Annapolis and the provincial court was moved there. The removal of the capital emphasized the fact that Maryland was no longer proprietary and Catholic, but royal and Protestant. Though Maryland was fairly prosperous under Nicholson's administration, yet the state of affairs was not entirely satisfactory. Nearly all of the land was given up to tobacco, and the best soils were worn out. Outside of tobacco, scarce anything was exported: some furs and sassafras root to England, and insignificant quantities of beef, pork, pipe staves and timber to Barbadoes and New England." During this period William was the reigning monarch after the death of his wife and first cousin, Mary, in 1694, with whom he had shared the crown. They had signed the English Bill of Rights of 1689, which both signaled the end of several centuries of tension and conflict between the crown and parliament, and the end of the idea that England would be restored to Roman Catholicism, King William being a Dutch Protestant leader. The Bill of Rights also inspired the English colonists in the Thirteen Colonies to revolt against the rule of King James II and his proposed changes in colonial governance. These revolts occurred in the colonies of Massachusetts, New York, and Maryland. Stamp duty was first introduced into England during this reign, by an act of 1694; but, not being a legal scholar, I don't know whether it was the model for the notorious Stamp Act of 1765, imposed upon, and rejected by the American colonies. A heavy volume; will require the shipping charges for two books.

Seller Inventory # 04918

Bibliographic Details

• Title: ARCHIVES OF MARYLAND. PROCEEDINGS AND ACTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND. SEPTEMBER 1693-JUNE 1697.
• Publisher: Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore
• Language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Seller catalogs:
  • Colonial History