Books and Manuscripts

First Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania William Markham Summons a Militia in the Early Stages of the Border Dispute with Maryland

Markham, William
Autograph Document, signed
(Philadelphia), October 1, 1682. One sheet folded to make four pages, 13 x 8 1/2 in. (330 x 216). One-page autograph document, signed with initials by acting governor of the Province of Pennsylvania William Markham, proclaiming that all men between the ages of 16 to 60 must serve in a militia. Docketed on verso. Creasing from old folds, separations along same; scattered spotting and soiling. 

"Pennsilvania
Where as the Governour Assistants and Councell hath taken into Consideration the Danger this Province is now in of Invasion-Did Think Requisite to order that all possible Care & Speed be Taken for ye prevention There of-in order There unto I thought fitt to Issue out This my Proclamation: willing & requiring all Male persons with in this province as Expressed by his Majts: letts pattents to Wm Penn Esqr That is from Twelve Miles distance upwards of New Castle Towne to ye Three & fortieth Degree of Northern Lattd &c: That all persons as aforesaid from Sixteen yeares of age and upwards and under ye age of Sixty: be ready at an Hours warning with armes and ammunition fitt for a Defence and to repare to Such place or places of rendezvous as shall be directed by me or my order Given under my Hand as Explaind October: 1: 1682 WM"

A very early document related to the multi-generational border dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland, dating to before William Penn's first arrival in America.

When Pennsylvania was officially chartered by King Charles II in March 1681 its southern boundary was placed at the 40th parallel, near to where Maryland's northern border was placed in its own charter of 1632. This was despite the fact that the 40th parallel's exact location was vague and not then properly delineated. Conflicting claims over its location resulted in a multi-generational land dispute between the several Lords Baltimore and William Penn and his sons over border rights in the region around modern day Delaware. The conflict would drag on for over 80 years, with frequent threats and outbursts of violence, and eventually, the intervention of the English Crown itself.

Before Penn first arrived in Pennsylvania on October 29, 1682—28 days after this document was penned—he empowered his cousin William Markham as his deputy and acting governor, and gave him numerous responsibilities in the new colony in preparation for his arrival. This included the settling of boundaries, the establishment of courts, the sale of lands, the cultivation of relationships with Native tribes, locating a suitable site for the capital city of Philadelphia, among myriad other tasks. In pursuit of this, Markham was authorized by Penn to negotiate directly with Charles Calvert, third Lord Baltimore, over their conflicting border claims. Negotiations were slow with little progress, due to a combination of Markham's inclination to wait for Penn's arrival before making any decisions, frequent bouts of sickness, and his own obfuscating delay tactics in order to gain the best advantage.

By the summer and early fall of 1682 tensions between Baltimore, Markham, and Penn had reached a tipping point. Penn, then still in England, had earlier received inaccurate news that the 40th parallel was located 30 miles south of New Castle. Before this information was corrected he began instructing settlers living in that area to stop paying taxes to Lord Baltimore, an affront to Baltimore’s authority that left him incensed when he found out. Further aggravating the situation was a curious episode involving a sextile surveying device that Baltimore procured and that he used to measure the 40th parallel, locating it at Upland (present day Chester)—land already claimed by Penn after it was leased to him by James II, Duke of York. 

Markham, fearing that Baltimore would then use this as a pretense to take both Upland and New Castle, cancelled all further negotiations and, as seen in this proclamation, summoned all males between ages 16 and 60 to be prepared to mobilize in an hours' notice. This document thus represents not only an early call for a citizens’ militia in America, but a critical escalation of this feud. As historian Harry Emerson Wildes explains, Markham's proclamation was startling, due in part to its questionable efficacy, while as a non-Quaker, it would have certainly infuriated Penn.

While no invasion took place, tensions between the two colonies over the boundary continued to build after Penn's arrival, and would require his premature departure from the colony two years later to pursue his claims in English court. It would not be until 1709 that Queen Anne sided with Penn's claims in the Lower Counties, but the conflict's peaceful resolution was still 50 years away until the official survey of the Mason-Dixon Line from 1763-67 that defined the border, and that is now the symbolic demarcation between the Northern and Southern United States.