City Hall - Frederick, MD
Posted by: 
vhasler
N 39° 24.957 W 077° 24.752
18S E 292311 N 4365713
City hall was formerly the courthouse, at which several events related to the US Civil War occurred.
Waymark Code: WMFWBE
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 12/07/2012
Views: 12
The lengthy text on this marker begins:
"Connections with the Civil War abound around this Courthouse Square, where the first official act of defiance against the British crown - the 1765 Stamp Act Repudiation - occurred almost a century earlier. In 1857, Roger Brooke Taney, Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court and a former resident who is buried in Frederick, wrote in the Dread Scott Decision that the Constitution's freedoms did not extend to African-Americans, one of the steps on the road to war. Taney and his brother-in-law, Francis Scott Key, both practiced law here. A bust here honors the Chief Justice who administered the Oath of Office to seven presidents, including Abraham Lincoln in 1861.
Governor Thomas Hicks called a special session of the Maryland Legislature in 1861 to address the question of secession. Because of the large number of US troops in the capital city of Annapolis, the legislature met here at the site of the former Frederick County courthouse. Finding the space inadequate, the lawmakers convened a block away in Kemp Hall. Under orders from President Lincoln, legislators likely to favor the South were detained in route. With no quorum, Maryland's legislature could not vote to secede. The courthouse burned during the session, and the legislature promptly authorized financing to construct the present building, now City Hall."
Type of site: Other
Address:
101 North Court Street
Frederick, MD USA
21701
Admission Charged: No Charge
Driving Directions:
Downtown Frederick. Metered parking in the area.
Phone Number: Not listed
Website: Not listed
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