re: Maryland will forever and always be a southern state

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Baltimore is certainly more southern than Dallas or St Louis

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Um....no. Baltimore and St Louis are certainly similar (In that they are Yankee, Catholic cities) but no they are not in any way more Southern than Dallas.

Why did Maryland not secede?

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Maryland didn’t secede from the Union during the Civil War for a mix of practical, political, and geographic reasons, even though it was a slave state with some Southern sympathies.

First, its location was a major factor. Maryland borders Washington, D.C., the Union’s capital, on three sides. If Maryland had seceded, the capital would’ve been surrounded by Confederate territory, making it nearly impossible to defend. The federal government knew this and acted fast to keep Maryland in line. In April 1861, after riots in Baltimore showed pro-Southern sentiment, President Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and sent federal troops to occupy the state. Martial law was imposed, and key secessionist leaders—like members of the state legislature—were arrested to prevent any vote on secession.

Second, Maryland’s population was deeply split. While the eastern and southern parts of the state leaned Confederate due to slavery and plantation culture, the western mountains and Baltimore—a growing industrial hub—were more Unionist. Baltimore’s economy relied heavily on trade with the North, not the South, so business interests favored staying with the Union. Plus, a significant number of Marylanders, especially immigrants

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The former Maryland state song, "Maryland, My Maryland," written by James Ryder Randall in 1861, contains several lyrics that explicitly or implicitly refer to the Confederacy and its cause during the Civil War. The song was repealed as the state song in 2021 due to these pro-Confederate sentiments, but here are the key lyrics from the nine-stanza poem that tie it to the Confederacy:

1. **"The despot's heel is on thy shore, Maryland! / His torch is at thy temple door, Maryland! / Avenge the patriotic gore / That flecked the streets of Baltimore"** (Stanza I)
- This refers to the Baltimore Riot of 1861, where Confederate sympathizers clashed with Union troops. The "despot" is widely understood to mean President Abraham Lincoln, and the call to "avenge" aligns with Southern resistance to Union forces.

2. **"Dear Mother! burst the tyrant’s chain, Maryland! / Virginia should not call in vain, Maryland!"** (Stanza IV)
- "Virginia" here is the Confederate state, with its capital at Richmond. The plea for Maryland to "burst the tyrant’s chain" (again, a reference to Lincoln and the Union) and join Virginia explicitly urges secession to support the Confederacy.

3. **"She meets her sisters on the plain— / 'Sic semper!' ’tis the proud refrain"** (Stanza IV)
- "Her sisters" refers to the Confederate states, and "Sic semper" echoes "Sic semper tyrannis" (thus always to tyrants), Virginia’s state motto and a phrase tied to Confederate rhetoric, notably later associated with Lincoln’s assassination.

4. **"Huzza! she spurns the Northern scum!"** (Stanza VIII)
- This line celebrates rejection of the Union (the "Northern scum"), aligning Maryland with the Confederate cause against the North.

5. **"She’ll come! she’ll come!"** (Stanza VIII)
- This expresses hope that Maryland will join the Confederacy, reinforcing the song’s secessionist intent.

These lyrics, set to the tune of "Lauriger Horatius" (also known as "O Tannenbaum"), reflect Randall’s Confederate sympathies and his desire for Maryland to secede, making the song

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Southern VA is south

Northern VA it becomes Yankee

Maryland is Yankee

Maryland is historically more southern than West Virginia, although nowadays I think West Virginia wish they had seceded.
If Virginia became an independent country then West Virginia should probably re-join.

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Not a real state because, if secession is unconstitutional per the Supreme Court, it was created in an unconstitutional manner.

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In Texas vs White the Court held that individual states could not unilaterally secede from the Union. Some legal scholars have said that a state could still secede with the consent of the other states. And none of that is related to a part of a state deciding to separate from the rest of the state.

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Maryland has a lot of cultural South in it.

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Their football sucks. Their women are ugly, and they no one has ever talked about their barbeque.

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nope, my Irish people got off the boat in NOLA

The Scottish ones were in NC

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me Scottish folks got off in SC


Irish in Nola and Biloxi

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It'd say Texas is more southern than Maryland. Maryland today is not "southern" whatsoever and back in the day, probably was hanging by threads on that definition.

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The "South" in Texas does not extend much past a line from Fort Smith Arkansas to Tyler to Katy. That of course includes Houston which is southern in every aspect of the term, but not Dallas which isn't. An area of about 25K square Miles, twice the size of Maryland at 12.5K. That area or Texas is most assuredly Southern but as you head west from there the south quickly becomes either the south west or the midwest......Size wise though Texas is twice as southern as Maryland....