Eastern Shore State?

I have been pondering, is it possible that the Eastern Shore of Maryland could have become a seperate state.

I am looking at William Claiborne, winning the first naval battle in North America and so keeping his illegal activities a secret. Strengthening his claims on Kent Island and seeing the Eastern SHore of Maryland in Virgina, thwarting Calvert.
Or possible later, convincing Cromwell to give him commonwealth power to seize Kent Island and the Shore area for Virginia.

Possible points where the Eastern Shore could seperate could be during the Civil war, in amove somewhat like West Virginia's creation, when Virginia secedes- the Union seizes the Delmarva Penninsula and creates a new state from the Virginia portion.

Or before during Pre-Revolutionary period with a influx of quakers or such, and the Eastern Shore could seperate as similarly as RhodeIsland did.
 
What if New Sweden had been established on the Delmarva Peninsula? It could then have been conquered by English settlers at a later date when they moved north from Jamestown due to lack of Swedish power projection. It would, however, retain a distinct enough culture to keep it from becoming part of another colony, and could instead have had separate administration. It would then be the 13th colony, taking Delaware's place. Theoretically Delaware could still be founded and it would be the 14th colony, but that seems less likely in my opinion.
 
What if New Sweden had been established on the Delmarva Peninsula? It could then have been conquered by English settlers at a later date when they moved north from Jamestown due to lack of Swedish power projection. It would, however, retain a distinct enough culture to keep it from becoming part of another colony, and could instead have had separate administration. It would then be the 13th colony, taking Delaware's place. Theoretically Delaware could still be founded and it would be the 14th colony, but that seems less likely in my opinion.
Except that New Sweden was on Delmarva, far northern end, but still. Now, it could have gone further south into Delmarva if the Swedes were less interested in furs. Maybe they could have tried for a whaling station like the Dutch did at Zwaanendael. But really, there's nothing on Delmarva to interest the Swedes. Even if they had claimed more of it, it still would have gone back to the Dutch as OTL, so no change.
 
Except that New Sweden was on Delmarva, far northern end, but still. Now, it could have gone further south into Delmarva if the Swedes were less interested in furs. Maybe they could have tried for a whaling station like the Dutch did at Zwaanendael. But really, there's nothing on Delmarva to interest the Swedes. Even if they had claimed more of it, it still would have gone back to the Dutch as OTL, so no change.

I was thinking that they might have ended up there due to some misfortune. It would be similar to that experienced by the Pilgrims, who intended to go to Virginia but were blown off-course to Massachusetts by a storm. Nothing is preventing a similar event from befalling the New Sweden colony.
 
I was thinking that they might have ended up there due to some misfortune. It would be similar to that experienced by the Pilgrims, who intended to go to Virginia but were blown off-course to Massachusetts by a storm. Nothing is preventing a similar event from befalling the New Sweden colony.
There are three reasons I can think of why New Sweden won't be further south.

1) New Sweden was a commercial venture, whereas the Pilgrims were colonists. Any place to plant a farm is good enough for a colonist, but New Sweden requires profit to survive. Other than whaling, there is no profit of that kind on Delmarva. If you can figure a way for the Swedes to turn bog iron and lumber into profit, maybe, but i don't think that'd be enough.

2) It's 620 miles from Plymouth to Jamestown, but it's only 120 from Wilmington to Ocean City. Go farther south than Ocean City, and it'll rile up the Virginians. So, a bunch of families walking for 2 months, VS soldiers, sailers, and hunters walking for a week. One is impossible, the other beyond likely.
___Heck, if we're dealing with a shipwreck, building (or repairing) a boat that would be seaworthy enough to brave the Delaware Bay is much more doable than building a boat that could stand the Atlantic.

3) OTL, the Pilgrims landed in mid-November, the Swedes in late March. Winter is generally recognized as a bad season to sail in, due to freezing temperatures and high winds, whereas March is right next door to summer, which is generally calmer and warm.


And last, stuff for any interested persons to check out and confirm/deny, Wikipedia says that the Pilgrims were headed for the Hudson River (which seems to have been at the top end of Virginia's grant). They tried to sail south when they figured they were at the wrong spot, but ran into strong contrary winds.
 
I've got me an answer, but i'll say few things first.

Or possible later, convincing Cromwell to give him commonwealth power to seize Kent Island and the Shore area for Virginia.
Possible, but it appeared to me that OTL Cromwell supported Calvert against Ingles and Claiborne's invasion. Still, could work.


Possible points where the Eastern Shore could seperate could be during the Civil war, in amove somewhat like West Virginia's creation, when Virginia secedes- the Union seizes the Delmarva Penninsula and creates a new state from the Virginia portion.
I'm doubtful about this as Maryland was a slave state and, while the Eastern Shore didn't have as many slaves as the main part did, they had many more than Delaware, which was also a slave state.


Or before during Pre-Revolutionary period with a influx of quakers or such, and the Eastern Shore could seperate as similarly as RhodeIsland did.
Problem with this is that, as an oppressed minority, the Catholics were very accepting of other faiths. Several things that i read suggest to me that Maryland acted as as Virginia's Rhode Island. By that i mean that where Massachusettes was rabidly Puritan, at several points Virginia was rabidly Anglican and the unwelcome religious groups (ironically Puritans, who settled around Annapolis) moved to Maryland, where they were accepted. Again, not to say it can't happen, it could, it'd just take a lot of work to be plausible.


Nay, not a seperate state.

Rather...Greater Delaware. :D
That gets a little cliched. Now i like those, and i've done one myself, but i think i can offer a different spin on it. Read my next post and assume that when Penn rents the Lower Three Counties on the Delaware from the Duke of York, in the legal battles over where the boundaries are (if such arise ITTL), Penn gets the smallest boundaries possible. Thus, by making OTL Delaware smaller, we make ITTL Delaware larger.
 
After a little bit of research (mostly involving Wikipedia:eek:), here's my suggestion.

Easiest would be for George Calvert to die of plague in 1630, as almost happened, but that feels like cheating.

Sir John Harvey, serving as governor of Virginia 1630-1635, 1637-1639, favored Lord Baltimore over Claiborne (not sure why, but i suspect money was involved) and, in 1635, removed Claiborne from his position of Secretary of State. This was what prompted Harvey's first impeachment. I'm thinking that if Harvey does something really stupid and gets run out of Virginia in 1634, that would give Claiborne two or three years of support from John West, who replaced Harvey as governor 1635-1636. (I'm assuming that West and Claiborne were friends. In any case, Claiborne had to have some influential friends to get Harvey kicked out for dismissing him.) At the least, Claiborne will still have his position as Secretary of State to bring some more strength to bear in his struggle against Maryland and Thomas Cornwallis, Commissioner of Maryland.

In 1635, Cornwallis seized one of Claiborne's pinnaces. OTL, Claiborne tried to get it back by force and was whupped. ITTL, Virginia puts a little muscle on Claiborne's side and gets his pinnace back. (Peacefully or not, does it really matter? Maybe.) A little fringe effect of this is that legislative power in Maryland is passed from the proprietor to an assembly a year or two sooner than OTLs 1638.

Getting in the home stretch here, according to Wikipedia (I admit to some slight doubts, but i'll go with it anyway) the death knell of Claiborne's initial tenure on Kent Island was when his attorneys, Cloberry and Co., who were concerned about not getting enough money to recoup their investment, took possession of the settlement (how does an attorney take possession of a settlement with it's own small military? Legal possession, i guess) and ordered Claiborne to return to England so they could sue him. Then they invited Maryland to take over by force, which it did.

ITTL, Claiborne has some of the pressure of survival taken off him by having more support from Virginia, and his people can spend more time getting furs, trapping and trading and whatever. His attorneys get enough money to keep them happy and off his back. Calvert can still cause legal trouble for him with the authorities back in England, but i think in, say, 1641, Claiborne gets a patent from the king for his new settlement and preempts any more of that sort of thing. Settlement prior to the grant to Calvert, sufficient strength to keep New Sweden in check, and backing of Virginia (i'm sure that if Harvey got back in, he's out again) are all points in his favor, so i think he's got a good chance.

That's survival settled, now how about some other issues?

OTL, the Susquehannocks were good buddies with New Sweden, trading with them and such and so on. In 1642, Maryland fought a war against them and the Susquehannocks, with the aid of New Sweden, defeated Maryland by 1644. By the time Claiborne was 'evicted' from Kent Island, he had good relations with these same Susquehannocks, trading for beaver furs and such. ITTL, i'm not sure how this would go as Kent Island and New Sweden are both trading with the Susquehannocks and vying for their favor. Further down the road, ill-advised attacks against the Susquehannocks were part of the start of Bacon's Rebellion. I think that will be completely different if the Susquehannocks are Claiborne's allies.

This brings us to Ingle's piracy and invasion of Maryland in 1644. This could be another good PoD as Claiborne assisted Ingle in an attempt to get Kent Island back. He definitely won't help ITTL, no reason to, and might even help Maryland, if asked. But i doubt it.

I've heard that there is a dispute about which branch of the Potomac River the Virginia/Maryland border follows. ITTL, i think the matter may get settled as it being the South Branch, which gives Maryland most of West Virginia's eastern panhandle.

Final thoughts. Remember Claiborne's friend West from the third paragraph? OTL, in 1650 he sold the plantation he'd lived at since 1630 and moved. Where to ITTL? Claiborne's colony, of course, 'cause I say so. His brother was Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, and the town where his OTL next plantation was was originally called (ya ready for it?) Delaware.

My only problem with this whole thing is that Kent Island could end up as part of Virginia. Maybe if Kent's survival looks set, Maryland would help them so as to weaken Virginia.

A couple of non-Wiki sources:
Exploring Maryland's Roots Library: William Claiborne (1600-c.1677)
Sir John Harvey
Encyclopedia >*John West (governor)
 
Top