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jmacusa: "I believe the residents of Maryland at the time wanted to secede from the Union but it's state government didn't."

Bigg Red: "Yes, Maryland was a slave state, and Lincoln was determined that the nation’s capital would not be surrounded by the Confederacy.
So he dragged Maryland into the Union when there were many here who wanted to side with the CSA."

In 1861 Maryland was a Southern Border state, one of the border states (Delaware & Missouri were others) where slavery was dying a natural death, and in due time may have been abolished peacefully, gradually, as it was in the North.
By 1861 the majority of Marylanders opposed slavery and the majority of Maryland's African-Americans had already been freed.

So when the Maryland legislature voted on the question of secession, on April 29, 1861, the vote was four to one opposed (53-13).
Of course, some Marylanders were slave holders and many supported the Confederacy, so another meeting was scheduled to reconsider.
But then something extraordinarily important happened:
on May 6, 1861 the Confederacy formally declared war on the United States which meant that any pro-Confederates in Union states met the Constitution's definition of treason:

"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort."

So Lincoln had pro-Confederate legislators arrested and no second vote on secession was taken.

As with many Southern states, Maryland supplied troops for both Union (60,000) and Confederate (25,000) armies, that proportion being a pretty fair reflection of overall Maryland feelings on the subject at the time.

In 1861 Maryland was a Southern Border state, one of the border states (Delaware & Missouri were others) where slavery was dying a natural death, and in due time may have been abolished peacefully, gradually, as it was in the North.

And what is so often annoying about a lot of you Union appologists is the oft repeated claim that it would not have eventually died a natural death elsewhere.

I've read quite a lot regarding the issue of slavery in the United States since 1776, and there was an obvious social/demographic trend occurring. Slavery was slowly being recognized as immoral, and socially unacceptable.

This social pressure was never going to go away, and given enough time it would have eliminated slavery even in the deep South where it was profitable. Yes, abolition slowed as you went from states where slavery was not profitable to states where it was, but that is because there were conflicting pressures between economic and moral arguments.

People normally vote with their pocketbook, but eventually they can be persuaded to do the right thing.

Okay, thanks for the clarification.