Grand Duchy of Maryland

[TLS]

The Grand Duchy of Maryland



Political Organization
Official Title: The Grand Duchy of Maryland
Conventional: Maryland
Political System: Constitutional Monarchy
Capital: Annapolis
Grand Duke: Henry Stuart
Prime Minister: Charles Carroll

Economy
Population: 305,000 (65% free white, 3% free colored, 32% slave)
Port: Annapolis
Income: 2

Military
Force Limit: 6,500 Regular, 14,000 Militia

Army (Maintenance: 2.3, Manpower: 5,000)

Fixed Positions
-2 Forts (Annapolis, Georgetown) [Maintenance: .2, Manpower: 400]

Mobile Forces
-3 Infantry Regiments (Annapolis, Georgetown, Baltimore) [M: 1.5, Man: 3,000]
-3 Cavalry Companies (Annapolis, Georgetown, Baltimore) [M: .6, Man: 600]

Navy (Maintenance: .4, Manpower: 1,500)

Chesapeake Squadron (Annapolis)
-1 Frigate (Old Line) [M: .2, Man: 500]
-2 PatRon [M: .2, Man: 1,000]

Militia (Wartime Maintenance: 3.5, Manpower: 14,000)
-12 Militia Infantry Regiments (Annapolis, Georgetown, Baltimore, Bowie, Waldorf, St. Mary's City, Princess Anne, Salisbury, Elkton, Queenstown, Frederick, Cumberland) [Wartime Maintenance: 3, Manpower: 12,000]
-5 Militia Cavalry Companies (Annapolis, Georgetown, Baltimore, Salisbury, Frederick) [WM: .5, Man: 2,000]

[TLS]

Maryland Pre-Build

Income
Taxes: .3
Resources: 2
Ports: 1
Total Income: 3.3
Pre-build Income: 3.3x3 = 9.9 rounded to 10

Expenditures:
-Fort - 0 Points [Maintenance: .1, Manpower: 200]
-Fort - 4 points [M: .1, Man: 200]
-2 Infantry Regiments - 2 [M: 1, Man: 2,000]
-3 Cavalry Companies - 1.5 [M: .6, Man: 600]
-1 Frigate (Old Line) - 1.5 [M: .2, Man: 500]
-2 PatRon - 1 [M: .2, Man: 1,000]
Total Spent: 10 [Maintenance: 2.2, Manpower: 4,000]

[TLS]

Maryland 1784 Build

Income
Taxes: .3
Resources: 2
Ports: 1
Total Income: 3.3

Expenditures:
-Maintenance: 2.2
-Infantry Regiment: 1

Total Spent: 3.2

[TLS]

Maryland 1785 Build

Income
Taxes: .3
Resources: 2
Ports: 1
Total Income: 3.3

Expenditures:
-Maintenance: 2.7
-1 Fort (Baltimore): .6 [.6/4] [Year 1/2]

Total Spent: 3.3

[TLS]

1784-1785

As the edifice of the United States continues to collapse and the former revolutionary allies begin to fall into disrepute and rivalry, the State of Maryland begins to weigh its options. Maryland is squeezed between two of the most powerful states, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and while it does not yet have any claims to the west it reserves the rights to do so. Particularly as the risk of war in New England continues to escalate, and as the other states seek to grope their way through the new order to establish alliances and foreign benefactors, the Marylanders become acutely aware of their risky predicament.

Bringing the issue further to a head is the fact that the former proprietor of Maryland, the not-yet 30 year old Henry Harford, has returned to the state to try to assert his influence. Harford plays up his ties to the court in London, offering Maryland a vestige of international legitimacy. The Carroll family, local notables with deep ties to the Catholic church, begin arguing that, at the very least, Harford deserves the return of his lands. After concerted debate in the General Assembly, Harford is indeed offered the return of much of his property, on the condition that he remain in the state and not move back to England.

[Lefty]

Senator Richard Henry Lee is sent over the winter of 1785-86 to meet with Marylander politicians to begin talks on Virginia-Maryland relations. He notes that while the greater American experiment may have faltered, regional ties between Maryland and Virginia may be strengthened to the benefit of both.

[TLS]

Maryland 1786 Build

Income
Taxes: .3
Resources: 2
Ports: 1
Total Income: 3.3

Expenditures:
-Maintenance: 2.7
-1 Fort (Baltimore): .6 [1.2/4] [Year 2/2]

Total Spent: 3.3

[TLS]

1786

As 1786 progresses, and greater acts of regional cohesion and conflict begin to unfold across the former colonies, the Marylanders become increasingly aware of their conspicuous lack of allies. In this chaotic milieu, Henry Harford becomes especially valuable as a conduit to the European powers. Britain remains suspect as an ally, but the French seem increasingly interested in the Marylanders and Harford is able to convince the French to establish an embassy in Annapolis. The Marylanders know that France has interests in the seaboard, as seen by France's outreach to Georgia, and also note that the French seem to have obtained a favorable outcome for the Georgians in their negotiations with the Spaniards. The French party thus becomes increasingly prominent in Maryland, championed not only by Harford but by the Carroll family and their attendant grouping on Jesuits based on the Potomac river.

[TLS]

Maryland 1787 Build

Income
Taxes: .3
Resources: 2
Ports: 1
Total Income: 3.3

Expenditures:
-Maintenance: 2.7
-1 Fort (Baltimore): .6 [1.8/4] [Year 2/2]

Total Spent: 3.3

[TLS]

1787

In an attempt to shore up international support and legitimacy for the new state, particularly in light of the British crown's newfound willingness to intervene in their former colonies, the Maryland general assembly decides that decisive action is necessary to guarantee Maryland's security in an increasingly tumultuous region. Years of lobbying by Harford and the Carrolls, combined with the clear decline in prestige for the idea of democratic governance, finally culminates in an offering being made to the former scion of the Barons Baltimore: a throne in return for international peace.

To be sure, the days of the Proprietorship are over. The conditional crown offered to Harford would be one of constitutional governance below a supreme parliament, with an upper House of Peers (dominated by the landed gentry, especially the Carroll family) and a lower House of Citizens. To ensure French support for the new endeavor, and to keep the Carrolls and other powerful Catholic families on board, the state shall officially recognize the two faiths of Anglicanism and Catholicism as legitimate expressions of belief, with full rights for both. In return for these rights, and in return for Harford's lobbying to obtain the favor and protection of both the British and French crowns, however, the people of Maryland vote to establish Henry Harford as Grand Duke Henry I of Maryland.

This plan hits a snag when, of course, the General Assembly also demand that Hardford sell his ancestral estates in England and Ireland. A crown is all well and good, but Harford is an English gentleman who desires the life of, well, an English gentleman, not the crown of a tottering rump state. The negotiations between the Carrolls and Harford continue at length, but cannot resolve the issue. Harford appears before the General Assembly to declare his undying love and affection for the people of Maryland, and his desire to do well by their people and represent their interests abroad, but to decline their crown. The attempted monarchical restoration in Maryland, then, is put on hold, and the grandees of the state go back to the drawing board.

[TLS]

Spring 1788: A Grand Duke is Found

After the embarrassing debacle the previous year, where the potential Grand Duke of Maryland decided to abandon his crown, the grandees of the proprietorship are almost forced to resort to an abandonment of the monarchical principle and the embrace of democratic norms. However, Harford reveals that his decision to withdraw from consideration was not undertaken with no thought for the future of the state. In early February, 1788, news reaches Maryland of the passing of the Young Pretender, Charles Edward Stuart, leading to the head of the Jacobite movement now passing to his brother, Henry Benedict Stuart. Henry is a bishop in the Catholic Church, but the news that his family's future now rests with him results in an re-evaluation of his clerical ties. With the potential loss of recognition of his family's claims, due to his taking the robes and his brothers errant conversion to Anglicanism, Henry begins to cast about for ways to restore his family's fortune.

At this point, the French crown intervenes, along with Harford, to convince the new Jacobite pretender that he has a viable stepping stone on his path back to the crown of Great Britain, if only he will seize it. The Carrolls quickly see the value in having both a powerful Catholic figure and a real claimant to the British throne in Maryland, as it would help ensure the legitimacy of their new-found monarchy. If the Barons Baltimore can't be retained, then a king's blood will have to suffice. By late March, Henry Benedict Stuart has been whisked across the ocean in a French frigate, arriving in Annapolis on March the 28th. His arrival causes a sensation in governing circles, and the Carrolls quickly use their influence to arrange a vote on the investiture of Henry Benedict Stuart as Grand Duke Henry I of Maryland. After a promise by the Stuart to renounce his clerical post in return for the title, as well as as his promise to defend the rights of Anglicans to worship freely in Maryland, he receives the overwhelming vote of the General Assembly.

[Lefty]

Word of royalism’s creeping infestation reaches Richmond, and angry mobs fill the streets demanding action. Effigies of the Stuart pretender are burnt, and trade in Alexandria seems to all but cease.

The Richmond government issues a recall of any official staff in Maryland and sends word to the Continental Congress of the betrayal of the Revolution.

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