The Price of Nationhood

The American Revolution is seen as a formative event, but it was also a shattering one to those who experienced it. Charles County, situated on the Potomac near Chesapeake Bay, long enjoyed the prosperity of a rich soil and thriving overseas trade. Its social order - white planters at the top, enslaved blacks at the bottom - was stable and its politics were local. This world was swept away by Independence and the war with Britain. Led by its accustomed elite, the county was drawn into the Revolution, fought battles local and distant, and emerged part of a nation, its society admitting greater degrees of freedom and yet impoverished and depleted.