“ He graduated from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1795, began the study of law at Annapolis in 1796, and was admitted to the bar in 1799. In 1806 he married Anne Phebe Key, sister of Francis Scott Key. He entered politics as a Federalist, and was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in 1799-80. His faith in Federalism was weakened by the party's opposition to the War of 1812, and he gradually became associated with the Jacksonian wing of the Republican party. He served in the state Senate in 1816-21, was attorney-general of Maryland in 1827-31 ”