The four Maryland signers of the Declaration of Independence were Thomas Stone, Samuel Chase, Charles Carroll, and William Paca. While not as glamorous as their counterparts from other states such as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and James Madison, they have this one unique commonality - they were all Marylanders, born and bred, and they represented the Maryland colony at the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
If you need some kind of memory trick to remember the four Maryland signers of the Declaration of Independence, just remember what every Maryland history teacher will tell you: Paca Chased Carroll with a Stone.
Samuel Chase aka: Old Bacon Face (1741-1811) is the second in our three part series on the Maryland Signers.
Born near Princess Anne, Maryland, Samuel Chase moved to Annapolis to study law and begin his own practice. To say he let his temper get the better of him would be an understatement; he was kicked out of the local debate club “for extremely irregular and indecent behavior.” Indeed, many a tour guide in Annapolis will tell you he was nicknamed “Old Bacon Face” because he would literally get red with rage while expounding on his political views.
He served in the Maryland General Assembly, then became a delegate to the Second Continental Congress in 1776, but tried to profit from insider trading obtained through Congressional information, and therefore failed in his reelection campaign.
So you see, even some of our Founding Fathers are not without skeletons in their closet. That said, Chase served as Chief Justice of the Criminal Court of Baltimore, then 8 years later was appointed associate judge of the U.S.Supreme Court.
However, being a strong Federalist — a proponent of a strong central government — Thomas Jefferson was influential in having Chase impeached. He is the only Supreme Court judge to have been removed from office in this manner.
These early Maryland settlers were Patriots who gave their time and talents to usher in self-governance and freedom from British rule. Today, though we do not mount a standoff at the Lexington Green or the Concord Bridge, we do engage in wrestling back our independence from a central government who increasingly seeks to overtake our liberties and impose its unwelcome agenda upon the will of the people.
They were patriots — ordinary people like you and I who threw down the gauntlet to stand against tyranny. As their descendants, we must do the same, or we will be surrendering our rights as United States citizens to live within a society of fair elections, fair trade, fiscal responsibility, and independent statehood.
Just as they put their pens to parchment at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, so too must we exercise our electronic pens and declare our support to call for a Convention of States. Won’t you please sign the petition and help us secure 50,000 signatures toward our Maryland resolution?
Citizens concerned for the future of their country--under a federal government that's increasingly bloated, corrupt, reckless, and invasive--have a constitutional option. We can call a Convention of States to bring power back to the states and the people, where it belongs.
Be a 21st Century patriot and 1 of 50,000 Marylanders to join our Race to Liberty and sign the petition at Convention of States Action today.
