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Hailing Maryland's day
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by REID SILVERMAN
"There were 13 stars on the first official United States flag, and Maryland was the one star in the center," said Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) on Sunday during his keynote address celebrating Maryland Day at Historic St. Mary's City. Among those listening above are Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller (D-Calvert, Prince George's). Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md., 5th), St. Mary's County Commission President Francis Jack Russell (D) and Benjamin C. Bradlee, vice president at large of The Washington Post.
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If not for a thunderstorm, the Maryland colonists camped at St. Clement's Island might not have moved down south to establish the first capital at St. Mary's City. "Thank God it happened this way," said St. Mary's County Commission President Francis Jack Russell (D).
Local, state and federal officials gathered Sunday in front of the replica state house at St. Mary's City to celebrate Maryland's 375th birthday, where the wind whipped off the St. Mary's River and the sun tanned the foreheads of the lawmakers.
While Marylanders and other Americans face challenges today in an economic recession, those who settled the state faced physical challenges of survival and still produced practices and ideals that are still held dearly today — of universal suffrage and freedom of religion.
Maryland colonists settled atop the bluffs at St. Mary's City on March 27, 1634, purchasing about 30 square miles of land from the Yaocomico Indians "for some beads, some trinkets, some hatchets and some garden hoes," Russell said.
"Let it be known that Jack Russell knows how to tell a story, absolutely," said Richard Moe, chairman of the Historic St. Mary's City Commission.
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md., 5th Congressional District), a resident of St. Mary's County, said, "The challenges that we face today are relatively small" in comparison to those of the settlers who crossed the Atlantic in two small vessels. In response to widespread criticism of pork-barrel spending in Congress, Hoyer said, "Congressional initiatives I call them, earmarks. They're done for very important things," such as supporting Historic St. Mary's City and the college.
Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) noted Maryland continues today the heritage of democracy, of religious freedom and respect for the natural environment. He cited a long list of notable Marylanders such as Harriet Tubman, Margaret Brent and Edgar Allan Poe.
"It is our shared history that moves us forward," he said.
O'Malley cited Franklin Roosevelt's speech from Nov. 22, 1933, commemorating when the settlers left England heading for Maryland.
Roosevelt said then, "It is a good thing to demand liberty for ourselves and for those who agree with us, but it is a better thing and rarer thing to give liberty to others who do not agree with us. We would do less than our duty to Lord Baltimore if on such an anniversary we paid no tribute to this, his greatest contribution to America, a free America. May we, in our own fights for things which we know to be right, fight as ably and as successfully as he did 300 years ago. For we have our own fights to wage not against the same foe which he beat down, but against other foes just as obstinate and just as powerful and just as intolerant of things we fight for today."
O'Malley said the fight continues today, against foes such as recession, terrorism and racism. "We too can draw strength and let us fight just as courageously," he said.
A procession of fourth-graders from across the state representing each county with their respective county flags was also presented.
