MARYLAND Historical Magazine Cover: “Children at Parade,” C
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Summer 2015 MARYLAND Historical Magazine Cover: “Children at Parade,” c. 1912–1915 Eugene Gwynn McFee (c.1892–1974) worked as a staff photographer for the Baltimore Sun from 1913 to 1919 before joining the army during World War I and serving as an x-ray technician at U.S. Army Hospital No. 2, Fort McHenry. He captured these wonder-filled smiles during an unidentified parade in Baltimore, c. 1912–1915. Clues in the photograph such as the forty-eight star flag, first issued July 4, 1912, and the Billy Whiskers book held by the little girl on the right, which was published between 1903 and 1915, help date the event. Perhaps it was a Fourth of July parade or a Defender’s Day event commemorating the Centennial of the War of 1812. Whatever the occasion, these happy young faces are timeless and the photograph is a century-old record of patriotic summer traditions. (Maryland Historical Society.) “The Best Justice of Peace in the Province”: Colonel Henry Hooper (ca. 1687–1767) by J. Elliott Russo Charles Carroll of Carrollton and the Creation of the “Three American Graces” by Mary Clement Jeske Go Quietly or Else: The Resignation of Vice President Spiro T. Agnew by Peter Levy Research Notes & Maryland Miscellany What’s in a Name? Baltimore—“The Monumental City,” by Lance Humphries Maryland History Bibliography, 2014 The Journal of the Maryland Historical Society Maryland Historical Magazine Vol. 110, No. 2, Summer 2015 Friends of the Press of the Maryland Historical Society The Maryland Historical Society continues its commitment to publish the finest new work in Maryland history. This year marks a decade since the Publications Committee, with the advice and support of the development staff, launched the Friends of the Press, an effort dedicated to raising money to be used solely for bringing new titles into print. The society is particularly grateful to H. Thomas Howell (1937–2014), past committee chair, for his unwavering support of our work and for his exemplary generosity. The committee is pleased to announce twO new titles funded through the Friends of the Press. Rebecca Seib and Helen C. Rountree’s Indi- ans of Southern Maryland, offers a highly readable account of the culture and his- tory of Maryland’s native people, from prehistory to the early twenty-first century. The authors, both cultural anthropologists with training in history, have written an objective, reliable source for the general public, modern Maryland Indians, schoolteachers, and scholars. Appearing this fall, Milt Diggins’s compelling story of slave catcher Thomas McCreary examines the physical and legal battles that followed the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Was seizing escaped slaves the legal capture of fugi- tives—or an act of kidnapping? Residing in Cecil County, midway between Phila- delphia and Baltimore, and conducting his “business” in an area already inflamed by clashes like the violent Christiana riots, McCreary drew the ire of abolitionists. Frederick Douglass referred to him as “the notorious Elkton kidnapper.” These are the seventh and eighth Friends of the Press titles, continuing the mission first set forth in 1844. We invite you to become a supporter and help us fill in the unknown pages of Maryland history. If you would like to make a tax- deductible gift to the Friends of the Press, please direct your donation to Develop- ment, Maryland Historical Society, 201 West Monument Street, Baltimore, MD 21201. For additional information on MdHS publications, contact Patricia Dock- man Anderson, Director of Publications and Library Services, 410-685-3750 x317 or [email protected]. Maryland Historical Society Founded 1844 Officers Louise L. Hayman, Chairman Robert M. Cheston, Assistant Secretary Richard C. Tilghman Jr., Vice Chairman Sandra R. Flax, Vice President Mark B. Letzer, President George S. Rich, Vice President M. Willis MacGill, TreasureR Lynn Springer Roberts, Vice President James W. Constable, Secretary Jacqueline Smelkinson, Vice President Board of Trustees Thomas C. Barbuti Robert Hopkins Chairpersons Emeriti Justin A. Batoff Patricia King Jackson Jack S. Griswold H. Clay Braswell Jr. Page Lyon Barbara P. Katz Francis J. Carey III Eleanor Shriver Magee Stanard T. Klinefelter Timothy Chase Edward St. John Robert R. Neal Virginia Clagett Henry Hodges Stansbury Russell C. Dashiell Jr. Immediate Past Chairman Chandler B. Dennison Thomas A. Collier Presidents Emeriti Alex. G. Fisher John McShane Brian Topping Ex-Officio Trustees The Hon. John P. Sarbanes The Hon. Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Representative: William B. Gilmore II The Hon. Kevin Kamenetz Drucilla Null, Maryland Genealogical Society The Maryland Historical Magazine Patricia Dockman Anderson, Editor Deborah L. Harner, Associate Editor Christopher T. George, Donna B. Shear, James Singewald, Joe Tropea, Editorial Associates Editorial Board Charles W. Mitchell, ChaiR John S. Bainbridge; Jean H. Baker; Robert J. Brugger; Lois Green Carr; Suzanne E. Chapelle; Toby L. Ditz; Jack G. Goellner; Elizabeth Gray; Edward C. Papenfuse; Lawrence Peskin; Jean B. Russo; James F. Schneider ISSN 0025-4258 © 2015 by the Maryland Historical Society. Published quarterly as a benefit of membership in the Maryland Historical Society, spring, summer, fall, and winter. Articles appearing in this journal are abstracted and indexed in Historical Abstracts and/or America: History and Life. Periodicals postage paid at Baltimore, Maryland, and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Please send address changes to the Maryland Historical Society, 201 West Monument Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21201. Printed by The Sheridan Press, Hanover, Pennsylvania 17331. MARYLAND Historical Magazine VOLUME 110, NO. 2 (Summer 2015) CONTENTS “The Best Justice of Peace in the Province”: Colonel Henry Hooper (ca. 1687–1767)........165 J. ELLIOTT RUSSO Charles Carroll of Carrollton and the Creation of the “Three American Graces”..............193 MARY CLEMENT JESKE Go Quietly or Else: The Resignation of Vice President Spiro T. Agnew ............................. 226 PETER LEVY Research Notes & Maryland Miscellany ..................................................................................253 What’s in a Name? Baltimore—“The Monumental City,” by Lance Humphries Book Reviews...............................................................................................................................271 Ziegler, Harlots, Hussies,& Poor Unfortunate Women: Crime, Transportation & The Servitude of Female Convicts 1718–1783, by Teresa Bass Foster McDonald, ed., Sons of the Father: George Washington and His Protégés, by Michael P. Gabriel Robbins, James McHenry, Forgotten Federalist, by Kimberly Nath Benn, ed., Native Memoirs from the WaR of 1812, by Brian C. Rindfleisch Keehn, Knights of the Golden Circle: Secret Empire, Southern Secession, Civil War, by Ben Wynne Recko, A Spy for the Union: The Life and Execution of Timothy WebsteR, by Brian Dunne Seranno, Last of the Blue and Gray: Old Men, Stolen Glory, and the Mystery that Outlived the Civil War, by Rachel Crone Smith, The Slaves’ Gamble: Choosing Sides in the WaR of 1812, by Christopher T. George White, Abraham Lincoln and Treason in the Civil War: The Trials of John MeRRyman, by Lawrence A. Peskin Curran, Shaping American Catholicism: Maryland and New York, 1805–1915, by Joseph G. Mannard Martelle, The Admiral and the Ambassador: One Man’s Obsessive Search for the Body of John Paul Jones, by David McDonald Olesker, Front Steps in the Fifties: Baltimore Legends Come of Age, by W. Edward Orser Maryland History Bibliography 2014........................................................................................293 2 Maryland Historical Magazine This rare broadside, dated April 14, 1761, was written by Henry Hooper when he was Speaker of the Lower House. The Speaker offered condolences regarding the death of the king offered support to the new sovereign and his government. (Maryland Historical Society.) Colonel Henry Hooper 165 “The Best Justice of Peace in the Province”: Colonel Henry Hooper (ca. 1687–1767) J. ELLIOTT RUSSO he career of Maryland resident Henry Hooper, a man described shortly before This death as “the best Justice of Peace in the Province,” provides unique insight into the social and politicaL development of the colony during the eighteenth century. Today, the phrase “justice of the peace” suggests an official of a lower court holding limited jurisdiction over minor offences, small claims, and civiL marriages. In the eighteenth century, a justice of the peace was a far more powerfuL figure, not only in his county but frequently at the provincial leveL as weLL. CoLLectively, the justices of the peace for a county functioned as both the executive branch of locaL government and the county court. The Maryland colony’s court structure was less complex than either the English courts of the period or today’s judicial system, with essentiaLLy two tiers: the county courts and the Provincial Court. County courts held original jurisdiction over the vast majority of cases, and the justices of the peace were the government officials with the most direct connection to the everyday activities and concerns of colonists. As a justice of the peace for Dorchester County, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Henry Hooper played a leading role in the affairs of his county and his province for more than four decades. Native-born, weLL connected, and one of his county’s most prominent residents, Hooper mediated between the business of the colony and the locaL concerns