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Maryland no longer my Maryland?
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My friend, local attorney and fellow history buff, Greg Kline alerts us to a bill wending its way through the Maryland General Assembly, which aims to officially change the lyrics to our official state song Maryland My Maryland.
Delegate Pam Beidle of Linthicum, who introduced the bill in the House of Delegates, freely admits she “never paid a lot of attention to the words,” but was spurred to change the song by protests from fourth graders from Glen Burnie. Surprisingly, the director of communications for the Maryland Historical Society Anne Garside said that despite her own ignorance of the lyrics, she is open to "changing any language (of an official anthem) that doesn't reflect our current inclusive attitudes." The bill’s cosponsor, Delegate Jolene Ivey of Prince George’s County said, “as a state, we've moved on from glorifying the Confederacy, don't you think?”
Contrary to the good delegates and Ms. Garside, there is more to the history of the song. If only they had bothered to look a little deeper.
The words, sung to the tune of O Tannenbaum, were penned in 1861 by James Ryder Randall. At the outset of the Civil War federal troops passed through Baltimore sparking riots in the city. Baltimore was a hotbed of southern sympathy and Abraham Lincoln, who was the target of an assassination plot in the city himself, took no chances. He imprisoned many prominent Baltimoreans who did nothing but express southern sympathies most notably police chief and future mayor George Proctor Kane, who may have been one of the chief plotters against Lincoln. Federal troops took control of Annapolis to protect the Naval Academy and placed cannons on Federal Hill aimed at downtown Baltimore. Randall, then teaching in Louisiana, received word that a friend died in the riots. Randall was moved to pen the nine stanza poem Maryland My Maryland:
I
The despot's heel is on thy shore,
Maryland!*
His torch is at thy temple door,
Maryland!
Avenge the patriotic gore
That flecked the streets of Baltimore,
And be the battle queen of yore,
Maryland! My Maryland!
II
Hark to an exiled son's appeal,
Maryland!
My mother State! to thee I kneel,
Maryland!
For life and death, for woe and weal,
Thy peerless chivalry reveal,
And gird they beauteous limbs with steel,
Maryland! My Maryland!
III
Thou wilt not cower in the dust,
Maryland!
Thy beaming sword shall never rust,
Maryland!
Remember Carroll's sacred trust,
Remember Howard's warlike thrust,-
And all thy slumberers with the just,
Maryland! My Maryland!
IV
Come! 'tis the red dawn of the day,
Maryland!
Come with thy panoplied array,
Maryland!
With Ringgold's spirit for the fray,
With Watson's blood at Monterey,
With fearless Lowe and dashing May,
Maryland! My Maryland!
V
Come! for thy shield is bright and strong,
Maryland!
Come! for thy dalliance does thee wrong,
Maryland!
Come to thine own anointed throng,
Stalking with Liberty along,
And chaunt thy dauntless slogan song,
Maryland! My Maryland!
VI
Dear Mother! burst the tyrant's chain,
Maryland!
Virginia should not call in vain,
Maryland!
She meets her sisters on the plain-
"Sic semper!" 'tis the proud refrain
That baffles minions back amain,
Arise in majesty again,
Maryland! My Maryland!
VII
I see the blush upon thy cheek,
Maryland!
For thou wast ever bravely meek,
Maryland!
But lo! there surges forth a shriek,
From hill to hill, from creek to creek-
Potomac calls to Chesapeake,
Maryland! My Maryland!
VIII
Thou wilt not yield the Vandal toll,
Maryland!
Thou wilt not crook to his control,
Maryland!
Better the fire upon thee roll, Better the blade, the shot, the bowl,
Than crucifixion of the soul,
Maryland! My Maryland!
IX
I hear the distant thunder-hum,
Maryland!
The Old Line's bugle, fife, and drum,
Maryland!
She is not dead, nor deaf, nor dumb-
Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!
She breathes! she burns! she'll come! she'll come!
Maryland! My Maryland!
Now, the one line in all nine stanzas that indoctrinated fourth graders, Delegates Beidle, Ivey, and Ms Garside consider objectionable and label “confederate sympathies” is the sixth line of the last stanza: “Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!”
But lost on them is that Randall’s words had nothing to do with the confederacy. In reality the song is paen to liberty in the face of oppression from the federal government. Remember, in Maryland Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, tossed citizens in jail and appropriated their property.
The lyrics recall several historic Marylanders, who defied tyranny like Charles Carroll a signatory to the Declaration of Independence and Revolutionary War hero John Eager Howard among others.
As Greg says:
“Invoking the zeal for liberty of the "Old Line State", Randall called for what I think most Marylanders would call for today under the same circumstances, resistance. That is why the song resonates and has relevance to 21st century Marylanders. Its theme is not slavery (which Lincoln never touched in Maryland) or white supremacy but the impassioned plea of a free people to resist an oppressive national government. The original words of this song also speak to a real time in Maryland's history which should never be forgotten, whitewashed or assailed as wrong or evil.”
For people like Ms. Garside, who I remind you works for the Maryland Historical Society, “our current inclusive attitudes” do not include that bedrock principle of liberty. We must not allow vapid political correctness and inane politicians to toss our venerable state song down the memory hole.
Post Script
Per tradition at the Preakness, Naval Academy cadets sing the third stanza of Maryland My Maryland prior to the big race. Should the lyrics change would this tradition go the way of the original lyrics?
Who knows! However, the juveniles in the General Assembly and the governor’s mansion botched the slots program so badly that we may lose the Preakness, rendering the question moot.
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