<P> Each of these five states shared a border with the free states and were aligned with the Union . All but Delaware also share borders with states that joined the Confederacy . </P> <P> By 1860 Delaware was integrated into the Northern economy, and slavery was rare except in the southern districts of the state; less than 2 percent of the population was enslaved . Both houses of the state General Assembly rejected secession overwhelmingly; the House of Representatives was unanimous . There was quiet sympathy for the Confederacy by some state leaders, but it was tempered by distance; Delaware was bordered by Union territory . Historian John Munroe concluded that the average citizen of Delaware opposed secession and was "strongly Unionist" but hoped for a peaceful solution even if it meant Confederate independence . </P> <P> Union troops had to go through Maryland to reach the national capital at Washington, D.C. Had Maryland also joined the Confederacy, Washington would have been surrounded . There was popular support for the Confederacy in Baltimore, Southern Maryland, and the Eastern Shore, the latter two areas with numerous slaveholders and slaves . Baltimore was strongly tied to the cotton trade and related businesses of the South . The Maryland Legislature rejected secession in the spring of 1861, though it refused to reopen rail links with the North . It requested that Union troops be removed from Maryland . The state legislature did not want to secede, but it also did not want to aid in killing southern neighbors in order to force them back into the Union . Maryland's wish for neutrality within the Union was a major obstacle given Lincoln's desire to force the South back into the Union militarily . </P> <P> To protect the national capital, Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and imprisoned without charges or trials one sitting U.S. congressman as well the mayor, police chief, entire Board of Police, and the city council of Baltimore . Chief Justice Roger Taney, acting only as a circuit judge, ruled on June 4, 1861, in Ex parte Merryman that Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus was unconstitutional, but the president ignored the ruling in order to meet a national emergency . On September 17, 1861, the day the legislature reconvened, federal troops arrested without charge 27 state legislators (one - third of the Maryland General Assembly). They were held temporarily at Fort McHenry, and later released when Maryland was secured for the Union . Because a large part of the legislature was now imprisoned, the session was canceled and representatives did not consider any additional anti-war measures . The song "Maryland, My Maryland" was written to attack Lincoln's action in blocking pro-Confederate elements . Maryland contributed troops to both the Union (60,000) and the Confederate (25,000) armies . </P>

Who did not take sides during the civil war