DELMARVA HERITAGE
EASTERN SHORE OF MARYLAND
COLONIAL PERIOD
In the colonial period the
Eastern Shore of Maryland was under the capital
government at St. Mary's,
then Annapolis, but at the same time some government
agencies did exist on the
Easter Shore. At that time both “Old Dover” and Easton
had been called the
capital of the Eastern Shore. These villages had been designated
by the Maryland governor
as a “ Registar of Land Office” and a 'Shore Treasurer Office”.
The Maryland General
Assembly in the 1770's called for there to be a “General
Court of the Eastern Shore”
to 'meet' at the tiny settlement of Dover which sat upon the
shore of the Choptank River
in Talbot county.
In 1777 the General
Assembly called for 'court' be held at Easton until a town
be established at Dover,
with a courthouse and prison, then and only then would the judges
hold court at Dover which
would become the Eastern Shore Capital of Maryland. This did
not happen and Easton
became the capital.
In 1780's the General
Assembly 'created' post of two state “Armourers” one who
was to live at Easton,
the other to live on the Western Shore. Ten year later there were
three armourers, still one
to live on the Eastern Shore at Easton.
1795 a Judge and an
Examiner for the Eastern Shore Land Office were authorized
and they too were required
to live in Eastton.
From 1775 to 1843 there
was a “Treasurer of the Eastern Shore” which was
abolished in 1843.
From 1805 , when the
General Court of Maryland was abolished , to 1857, a
Court of Appeals sat at
Annapolis and Easton.
In 1789, when the
Federal Constitution was adopted it was agreed that one of
the U. S. senators was to
be from the Eastern Shore. The first U.S. Senator from Maryland
was an Eastern Shore man,
John Henry.
1809 Eastern Shore was
given more recognition as a major political division
under the “Eastern Shore
Compact”. One senator needed to live on the Eastern Shore.
The Eastern Shore Compact
was temporarily repealed in 1867 to permit Gov.
Thomas Swann be chosen one
of the Maryland Senator's but as this did not happen it was
reenacted and was law
until 1896.
The United States House
of Representatives always had one from the Shore
and at one time there were
two as the Eastern Shore had two districts, the 2nd and
the 5th.
From the Eastern Shore
there have been 19 presidents of Maryland Senate, 18
Speakers of House of
Delegates , also Secretaries of State and Comptrollers of
Treasury .
The 1776 Maryland
Constitution held that Maryland's Senate would be of 15
members , 9 from the
Western Shore and 6 from the Eastern Shore, chosen by a
college of electors
composed of two delegates elected by people of each county, one
each
of Baltimore and
Annapolis.
The 1776 Maryland
Constitution held that the governor be elected annually by a
joint ballet of the two
houses General Assembly. An 1838 amendment held the governor
be elected by the people
to a term of three years and that the state be divided into three
gubernatorial districts .
Eastern Shore counties composed the first districts.
Abstract: May 17, 2018,
by Harrison H. from Salisbury Daily Times, Monday, May
4, 1959, Delmarva
Heritage, by William A. Wroten, Jr., Salisbury State Teachers
College History
Professor.
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