Trevor Burnard is a Reader in Early American History at Brunel University in England.

"Burnard's book makes a useful and worthy contribution." -- The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography"Burnard has written a valuable book. He asks significant questions that are sure to elicit provacative responses . In particular, his emphasis on situating Maryland within the entire English imperial context is a welcome approach that will broaden our understanding of the entire system from which British North America withdrew in 1776." -- American Historical Review, February 2003"Trevor Burnard breathes new life into the field of Maryland's colonial history by providing us with a superb portrait of its native-born, Creole elite. Deftly uncovering the various layers of reality that gave meaning to their experience, he captures the distinctive duality of their identity, split between an ardent pursuit of British cultural values, especially genteel respectability, and a rapidly growing independence coupled with a commitment to local, provincial interests .A major contribution to the scholarship on early modern British America." -- Michael J. Rozbicki, author of TheComplete Colonial Gentleman: Cultural Legitimacy inPlantation America"Trevor Burnard breathes new life into the field of Maryland's colonial history by providing us with a superb portrait of its native-born, Creole elite. Deftly uncovering the various layers of reality that gave meaning to their experience, he captures the distinctive duality of their identity, split between an ardent pursuit of British cultural values, especially genteel respectability, and a rapidly growing independence coupled with a commitment to local, provincial interests .A major contribution to the scholarship on early modern British America." -- Michael J. Rozbicki, author of TheComplete Colonial Gentleman:"Trevor Burnard breathes new life into the field of Maryland's colonial history by providing us with a superb portrait of its native-born, Creole elite. Deftly uncovering the various layers of reality that gave meaning to their experience, he captures the distinctive duality of their identity, split between an ardent pursuit of British cultural values, especially genteel respectability, and a rapidly growing independence coupled with a commitment to local, provincial interests .A major contribution to the scholarship on early modern British America." -- Michael J. Rozbicki, Author of TheComplete Colonial Gentleman: Cultural Legitimacy inPlantation America"This is a lucid, superbly argued study of "the lives of moderately well off gentleman at the edges of the Atlantic plantation world" that reconstructs the social and material contexts that anchored the identities and framed the behaviors of Maryland's elite. ." -- S. Max Edelson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• List of AbbreviationsAcknowledgments1. Problems and Perspectives: A Picture of the Maryland Elite2. A Gentleman's Competence: The Economic Ambitions of the Maryland Elite3. A Species of Capital Attached to Certain Mercantile Houses: Elite Debts and the Significance of Credit4. Patriarchy and Affection: The Demography and Character of Elite Families5. Arrows over Time: Elite Inheritance Practices6. The Rule of Gentlemen: Elite Political Involvement7. The Development of Provincial Consciousness: The Formation of Elite Identity8. Conclusion: Toward a History of Elites in the Eighteenth-Century British EmpireAppendix: The Creation of the Elite Sample of Wealthy MarylandersIndex