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To: Non-Sequitur
"There was as vote of the Maryland legislature on April 29, 1861. They voted secession down."

That falls considerably short of complete accuracy. The legislature did not "vote secesion down" at that session. The lower house voted to denounce and to have no part of the war "which the Federal Government had declared on the Confederate States." They did not consider an ordinance of secession at that time. When it appeared that a secession ordinance might be voted in in the fall session of the legislature, Lincoln had the legislators who were expected to support secession arrested; this was a completely illegal act.

My source is McPherson, pp. 287-289.

49 posted on 11/02/2002 5:42:02 PM PST by Aurelius
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To: Beernoser
BUMP
50 posted on 11/02/2002 5:44:33 PM PST by Aurelius
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To: Aurelius
Your version fails in the accuracy department. The Maryland Legislature did meet in special session requested by the supporters of secession. The meeting of the legislature was moved from Annapolis specifically to allow the southern-leaning legislators freedom to make their case away from Federal troops under the command of General Butler. When the legislature did finally meet on April 26, 1861, an act of secession was proposed by a delegation from Prince George's County. The legislature's Committee on Federal Relations ruled that in their view the legislature did not have the jurisdiction to secede from the Union and the measure was voted down by the whole legislature 53-13. A good source of information on this is Daniel Carroll Toomey's "The Civil War in Maryland".

This, of course, did not end the supporters of rebellion in Maryland and those members of the legislature that still advocated secession were eventually jailed. It wasn't until Governor Augustus Bradford was elected in November 1861 that Maryland was firmly in the Union camp. There remained significant southern support and like other border states Maryland provided troops to both sides. But that does not negate the fact that secession was proposed in April 1861 and voted down.

53 posted on 11/02/2002 7:12:38 PM PST by Non-Sequitur
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