United States George Washington – Maryland State Quarter 2000 S Proof Silver Quarter (25 Cents) 24mm (6.30 grams) 0.900 Silver (0.1808 oz. ASW) Reference: KM#
KM# 306a | Engraver: John Flanagan, T. D. Rodgers
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA LIBERTY S IN GOD WE TRUST QUARTER DOLLAR, The portrait
in left profile of George Washington, the first President of the United States
from 1789 to 1797.
MARYLAND 1788 THE OLD LINE STATE 2000 E PLURIBUS UNUM TDR, The dome of the
Maryland Statehouse framed by two white oak leaf clusters.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
The “Maryland Line” was a formation within the Continental Army, formed and authorized by the Second Continental Congress, meeting in the “Old Pennsylvania State House” (later known as “Independence Hall”) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in June 1775.
Col. George Washington, delegate and formerly of the Virginia Regiment of the colonial militia, served as commander-in-chief of the colonial forces and he assumed command at Cambridge, Massachusetts outside of Boston, of the various units from several of the American colonies which surrounded Boston, laying siege to the British Army in June 1775. Washington’s previous military experience had been during the late French and Indian War (1754–1763), (known in Europe as the Seven Years’ War).
Not all Continental infantry regiments raised in a state were part of a state quota. On December 27, 1776, the Second Continental Congress gave commanding General George Washington temporary control over certain military decisions that the Congress ordinarily regarded as its own prerogative. These “dictatorial powers” included the authority to recruit and raise sixteen additional Continental infantry regiments at large.
Forman’s, Gist’s, Grayson’s, and Hartley’s Regiments were partially drawn from Maryland. Other Continental infantry regiments and smaller units, also unrelated to a state quota, were raised as needed for special or temporary service.
Under the assumption that paid soldiers furnished with rations and suits of clothes would be better soldiers, on 18 January 1776, the Maryland Provincial Convention established the Maryland Line as a regiment of uniformed regulars. According to Maryland State Archivist Ryan Polk, what distinguished the Maryland troops from other colonial levies was the time they spent drilling before joining the ranks of the Continental Army. This resulted in a disciplined, cohesive unit.
The term “Maryland Line” referred to the quota of numbered infantry regiments assigned to Maryland at various times by the Continental Congress. These, together with similar contingents from the other twelve colonies, formed the “Continental Line”. The concept was particularly important in relation to the promotion of commissioned officers. Officers of the Continental Army below the rank of brigadier general were ordinarily ineligible for promotion except in the line of their own state.
The “Maryland Line” was assigned a quota of eight regiments in 1777, which was reduced to five in 1781. The regiments of the line were:
- 1st Maryland Regiment, disbanded in 1783
- 2nd Maryland Regiment, disbanded in 1783
- 3rd Maryland Regiment, disbanded in 1783
- 4th Maryland Regiment, disbanded in 1783
- 5th Maryland Regiment, disbanded in 1783
- 6th Maryland Regiment, disbanded in 1781
- 7th Maryland Regiment, disbanded in 1781
- German Battalion (counted as half a regiment against the quota), disbanded in 1781
- Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment (counted as half a regiment against the quota), disbanded in 1781
- 2nd Independent Maryland Company – Somerset County absorbed into the 2nd Maryland Regiment in 1781
According to popular tradition, Washington expressed his high esteem for the Maryland Line after their heroic stand at the Battle of Long Island. Because of the long service of the high quality regiments, General Washington referred to the Maryland units as his “Old Line”, giving the State of Maryland one of its nicknames as “The Old Line State”.
- The Maryland Line protected the evacuation of Washington’s troops across the East River to Manhattan at the Battle of Long Island. On August 27, 1776 members of the 1st Maryland Regiment under the command of Major Mordecai Gist, repeatedly charged a numerically superior British force, allowing General Washington to successfully evacuate the bulk of his troops to Manhattan. Of the approximately 270 men of the so-called Maryland 400, fewer than a dozen made it back to the American lines.
- Two months later at the Battle of White Plains, William Smallwood’s 1st Maryland Regiment, along with regiments from New York and Delaware, reinforced Chatterton’s Hill, covering the retreat of other troops across the Bronx River.
- In the Battle of Camden, (South Carolina), August 16, 1780, Major General Horatio Gates, a former British officer, placed Mordecai Gist’s 2nd Maryland on the right flank, in traditional British deployment, the place of honor. The 1st Maryland Regiment under William Smallwood was held in reserve.
- One hundred eighty Marylanders saw action at the January 17, 1781 Battle of Cowpens.
George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was the first President of the United States (1789-1797), the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War , and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States . He presided over the convention that drafted the United States Constitution , which replaced the Articles of Confederation and remains the supreme law of the land .
Washington was elected president as the unanimous choice of the electors in the elections of both 1788-1789 and 1792 . He oversaw the creation of a strong, well-financed national government that maintained neutrality in the wars raging in Europe, suppressed rebellion, and won acceptance among Americans of all types. Washington established many forms in government still used today, such as the cabinet system and inaugural address . His retirement after two terms and the peaceful transition from his presidency to that of John Adams established a tradition that continued up until Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to a third term. Washington has been widely hailed as “father of his country” even during his lifetime.
Washington was born into the provincial gentry of Colonial Virginia ; his wealthy planter family owned tobacco plantations and slaves, that he inherited. Although Washington owned hundreds of slaves throughout his lifetime, his views on slavery evolved, and he desired to free them and abolish slavery. After both his father and older brother died when he was young, Washington became personally and professionally attached to the powerful William Fairfax , who promoted his career as a surveyor and soldier. Washington quickly became a senior officer in the colonial forces during the first stages of the French and Indian War . Chosen by the Second Continental Congress in 1775 to be commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolution, Washington managed to force the British out of Boston in 1776, but was defeated and almost captured later that year when he lost New York City . After crossing the Delaware River in the dead of winter, he defeated the British in two battles, retook New Jersey and restored momentum to the Patriot cause.
Because of his strategy, Revolutionary forces captured two major British armies at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781 . Historians laud Washington for his selection and supervision of his generals, encouragement of morale and ability to hold together the army, coordination with the state governors and state militia units, relations with Congress and attention to supplies, logistics, and training. In battle, however, Washington was repeatedly outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies. After victory had been finalized in 1783, Washington resigned as Commander-in-chief rather than seize power, proving his opposition to dictatorship and his commitment to American republicanism .
Dissatisfied with the Continental Congress , in 1787 Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention that devised a new federal government for the United States. Elected unanimously as the first President of the United States in 1789, he attempted to bring rival factions together to unify the nation. He supported Alexander Hamilton ‘s programs to pay off all state and national debt, to implement an effective tax system and to create a national bank, despite opposition from Thomas Jefferson .
Washington proclaimed the United States neutral in the wars raging in Europe after 1793. He avoided war with Great Britain and guaranteed a decade of peace and profitable trade by securing the Jay Treaty in 1795, despite intense opposition from the Jeffersonians . Although he never officially joined the Federalist Party , he supported its programs. Washington’s Farewell Address was an influential primer on republican virtue and a warning against partisanship, sectionalism, and involvement in foreign wars. He retired from the presidency in 1797 and returned to his home in Mount Vernon , and domestic life where he managed a variety of enterprises. He freed all his slaves by his final will.
Washington had a vision of a great and powerful nation that would be built on republican lines using federal power. He sought to use the national government to preserve liberty, improve infrastructure, open the western lands, promote commerce, found a permanent capital, reduce regional tensions and promote a spirit of American nationalism. At his death, Washington was eulogized as “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen” by Henry Lee .
The Federalists made him the symbol of their party but for many years, the Jeffersonians continued to distrust his influence and delayed building the Washington Monument . As the leader of the first successful revolution against a colonial empire in world history, Washington became an international icon for liberation and nationalism. He is consistently ranked among the top three presidents of the United States, according to polls of both scholars and the general public.
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million km2), the United States is the world’s third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe’s 3.9 million square miles (10.1 million km2). With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital’s federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world’s 17 megadiverse countries.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century. The United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, and the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776. The war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. The United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, and gradually admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848.
During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery. By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, and its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish-American War and World War I confirmed the country’s status as a global military power. The United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The Rights Acts of 1964, 1965 and 1968 outlaws discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U.S. Moon landing. The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world’s sole superpower.
The United States is the world’s oldest surviving federation. It is a federal republic and a representative democracy. The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States (OAS), and other international organizations. The United States is a highly developed country, with the world’s largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for approximately a quarter of global GDP. The U.S. economy is largely post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world’s largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U.S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country.
Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank very high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, and worker productivity. The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, and is a leading political, cultural, and scientific force internationally.
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