Examining the lives of 460 of the wealthiest men from colonial Maryland, Burnard traces the development of this elite from a profit-driven merchant-planter class in the 17th century to genteel plantation owners in the 18th century.

List of Abbreviations Acknowledgments 1. Problems and Perspectives : A Picture of the Maryland Elite 2. A Gentleman's Competence : The Economic Ambitions of the Maryland Elite 3. A Species of Capital Attached to Certain Mercantile Houses : Elite Debts and the Significance of Credit 4. Patriarchy and Affection : The Demography and Character of Elite Families 5. Arrows over Time : Elite Inheritance Practices 6. The Rule of Gentlemen : Elite Political Involvement 7. The Development of Provincial Consciousness : The Formation of Elite Identity 8. Conclusion : Toward a History of Elites in the Eighteenth-Century British Empire Appendix : The Creation of the Elite Sample of Wealthy Marylanders Index

"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