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Montgomery...

Washington..

Frederick.

Caroline

Worcester.

Somerset.

Dorchester.

Harford.

Baltimore.

Baltimore City.

Prince George's..

Anne Arundel..

Annapolis..

Cecil..

Kent...

Talbot..

Queen Anne's.

Calvert.

Charles......

St. Mary's..

TOTAL.

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68 245 223 516 206 463 231 493 841 746 112 211 152 128 790 1164 353 40 253 166 519 112 120 362, 497 158 206 106 212 150 128 37 254 166 520 96 117 248 475 145 205 108 212 75 128 48 203 171 520 119 118 253 490 146 205 16, 211 151 129

7616

782 1164 362

5819 784 1164 318 5476 790 1164 316 5456

William Smith..

96 139 166

33 254 164 519 105 118 241 455 141 204 108 212

71

120

786 1164 310

5415

Michael Jenifer Stone..

George Dent.....

Samuel Sterett..

92 70 161 35 258 98 25 21 87 9

24 4 461

30 250 166 519 93 107 231 465 141 203 10 211
1 115 357 288 381 603 241 101.

66

127

770 1164 278 5154

89

2

84 2731

55

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Nathaniel Ramsey.

12

1 9

4

36

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REPRESENTATIVES FOR CONGRESS.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE Revolutionary War left the Established Church in a state of prostration. Some eighteen or twenty clergymen remained in the State when the conflict had closed; and the Declaration of Rights, adopted in 1776, secured to the church forever all the glebes, churches, chapels and other property then in its possession, and directed that the repairs of churches then in progress under former Acts, should still go on. It forbade all further assessments by vestries for the support of the ministers, and directed that all incumbents of churches who had remained and performed their duty should be paid up to the 1st of November, 1776. The instrument also forbade any gift, sale or devise of property to ecclesiastical uses, unless by consent of the legislature, with an exception, however, that allowed a church to take and hold two acres of land for the erection of a house of worship, or for a place of interment. It also declared that no one ought to be compelled to frequent or maintain the religious worship of any other denomination than that of his choice; but at the same time it was affirmed that the legislature might, in its discretion, impose a common and equal tax for the support of the Christian religion in general; in such case, however, every individual paying the tax was held to possess the right of designating the religious denomination, to the support of which it was to be applied; or he might resolve this legislative support of Christianity in general, into mere alms-giving, and direct his tax to be applied to the maintenance of the poor.

In 1782, a considerable number of the vestries of the State petitioned the legislature for the passage of an Act whereby pursuant to the Declaration of Rights, a common and equal tax might be laid for the support of religion; and praying also that the church-wardens and vestries might by an assessment on pews, raise money for the repair of the churches. This application was refused, and the subject was again brought to the attention of the assembly at its session in May, 1783, by an address from Governor Paca. In this, after a just tribute to the perseverance and firmness of such of the clergy of all denominations, as had endured sufferings and faithfully discharged their duties amid the privations of a state of war, he called the attention of the legislature to the provisions of the Declaration of Rights, and recommended, as among the first objects proper for consideration on the return of peace, an adequate support of the Christian religion.

A meeting of the clergy of the Established Church was convened at the first commencement of Washington College, when the whole subject was discussed and a plan of action agreed upon to present to the legislature at its next session. Another meeting of the clergy was held in August, 1783, and again in the spring of 1784, and again in

June of the same year, when a full plan was digested for the purposes designated. The application to the legislature was made by the clergy in the latter part of the year 1784, and resulted in the passage of the Act incorporating the Episcopal clergy of the State as a society for the relief of the widows and children of the ministers of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Maryland. In this year there was held in New York the first regular meeting of representatives from the different colonial churches, for the purpose of forming an ecclesiastical union, and Maryland was represented by the Rev. Dr. William Smith, who presided at the convention. In 1786, another State Convention was held, followed on the 29th of May, 1788, by another, which established a governing power over the church in Maryland. A superintending committee, consisting of ten clergymen, was appointed, five on each shore, who were to superintend the concerns of the church in general, and of parishes and congregations in particular, on their respective shores. To them belonged the sole right of examining and recommending candidates for orders, as well as for a settlement in any parish. Besides this superintending committee, it was provided by the canons that there should be a standing committee of five clergymen and five laymen on each shore, to be chosen annually in convention, the clerical members by the clergy and the lay members by the laity. To this body belonged the regulation of all matters of government and discipline, during the recess of the convention.

In September, 1785, the second meeting of the church organization was held in Philadelphia, and again in June and October, 1786, at which Maryland was represented. The general convention again assembled in September, 1789, and adopted the Book of Common Prayer now in use in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. In 1790, the Maryland Convention adopted the Book of Common Prayer and the Constitution of the Church General. Having thus become a constituent part of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States, and having provided herself with a body of laws for her internal government, it only remained for the Church in Maryland to supply herself with a bishop to complete her organization. Accordingly, at the convention of May, 1792, by an unanimous vote of both orders, the Rev. Thomas John Claggett, D. D., was elected the first bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Maryland, and his testimonials were signed accordingly. He was consecrated in September, 1792, and immediately entered upon the discharge of his duties. Bishop Claggett was born at White's Landing, on the Patuxent River, in Prince George's County, on the 2d of October, 1742. His father, the Rev. Samuel Claggett, was, for many years, rector of a parish in Charles County. Bishop Claggett was ordained a deacon by the Bishop of London, September 20th, 1767, and on the 11th of October, in the same year, and from the same hands, received

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BISHOP CLAGGETT.

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orders as a priest. He immediately returned home and took charge of All Saints' Parish, in Calvert County, and continued as rector until the War of the Revolution. When peace was restored, he took up his residence in St. James' Parish, Anne Arundel County, and officiated alternately in that and in his former charge of All Saints. In 1791 he removed to the family seat at Croom, in Prince George's County, and there resided until his death. On September 1, 1814, Rev. Dr. James Kemp was consecrated as Suffragan Bishop of Maryland, and Bishop Claggett assigned to him the Eastern Shore, as his principal field of labor. In 1810, the Rev. George Dashiell, rector of St. Peter's, Baltimore, showed a spirit of insubordination and resistance to the authority of the bishop and convention, which continued under one form or another until 1816, when he, with the Rev. Mr. Handy, Rev. Alfred Dashiell and the Rev. William Gibson attempted to establish what they called "the Evangelical Episcopal Church," and by the act of ordaining, the Rev. George Dashiell assumed to himself the exercise of Episcopal authority. They were all dismissed from the church, and thus ended what looked to be at one time a very dangerous schism.

1 The Episcopalians, at a very early period, had made vigorous efforts to secure the appointment of a bishop to supervise the affairs of the Established Church in the colonies, but were unsuccessful. They determined to make another effort, and accordingly, in September, 1770, the Revs. McGill, Addison, Hamilton, Ross, Neill, Read, Allen, Hughes and Boucher drew up addresses to the king, to Lord Baltimore, to the Archbishop of Canterbury, to the Bishop of London and to Governor Eden, praying for the ordination of an American bishop. In their petition to the governor, they say that "the establishment here cannot subsist much longer without some form of government. Whether this shall be that constitutional one by bishops, to which alone a clergyman of the Church of England can, in conscience, think it his duty to submit, or the unconstitutional and palpably Presbyterian system, not long ago warmly contended for by both Houses of Assembly, is a question hardly less interesting to the civil government of this province than it is to its clergy. The jurisdiction of a presbytery, and every other jurisdiction in its principles akin to it, is so adverse to the whole frame and scope of our excellent establishment, both in Church and State, that, in attempting to keep it forever at a distance from Maryland, we trust your Excellency will consider us as doing what most undoubtedly it is our duty ever to do, consulting the best interests of the Lord Proprietary and the welfare of the community at large, as well as our own in particular, On these principles, and on these alone, we presume to solicit your Excellency's concurrence and assistance in promoting so salutary a scheme." To which the governor replied as follows:

"ANNAPOLIS, 15th September, 1770. "Gentlemen-Though your address, I think, im

ports that it is the act of the whole clergy of the Established Church, flowing from their general deliberation and unanimous opinion, yet, to enable me to consider it with propriety in this light, a clearer satisfaction is requisite than what arises from the delivery of a paper by nine clergymen, or from the formal attestation of a person in an official character, unknown in our constitution, and assumed I know not on what grounds. The proper satisfaction would have been given by the subscription of the clergy individually. That the factious spirit of the sectaries has appeared in their daily openly calling in question his Lordship's right of patronage in disposing of the donatives of this province, your address gives me the first information. Indiscretions and irregularities of another kind have, indeed, occurred in some parishes, but his Lordship's right has been vindicated; as the laws are a sufficient security to his Lordship and the persons collated by him, no degree of support or assistance is needed from episcopal authority. How far, and under what forms, the establishment of an American bishop may be a salutary measure, is a consideration of the most momentous concern, deserving the most serious and mature attention; and being of so great and extensive importance, I shall take an early opportunity of laying the matter before the General Assembly, together with your address and the papers attending it. The motives both of duty and inclination, will ever engage me to countenance the worthy ministers of the Established Church, and to support the just rights of the clergy of Maryland, holding it, at the same time, to be my indispensable duty to protect all quiet and peaceable subjects of every denomination in the full enjoyment of their rights."

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