MARYLAND. 



503 



United States being the supreme law of the land, no 

 State action can divest its citizens of rights secured 

 by that instrument. That the excuses and grounds 

 urged for the destruction of this right in Maryland 

 were fallacious excuses for personal advancement 

 and gain. That we have suffered already great 

 wrongs and injuries at the hands of the Government 

 of the United States, which was bound to protect 

 us. And lastly, that we were now enveloped in a 

 rale of fanaticism. 



The article was further discussed until June 

 33, when it was adopted yeas 53 ; nays -27. 

 On July 6th the Declaration of Rights reported 

 by the majority of the Committee passed the 

 Convention yeas 43 ; nays 14. 



The Convention continued its sessions during 

 eighty-nine days, until Sept. 6th, when the new 

 Constitution for the State was reported by the 

 Committee on Revision as ready to be submitted 

 to the Convention. It was read and adopted : 

 yeas 53 ; nays 25. Some of the members op- 

 posed to the Constitution, when called to vote 

 briefly stated the grounds of their objections, 

 thus: 



Mr. Dent, of St. Mary's, explained his vote as fol- 

 lows: 



I shall vote against this Constitution for the follow- 

 ing reasons : 



First. Because I believe that the election by which 

 this Convention was called, and its members elected, 

 was not free for the legal voters of the State, but was 

 held and conducted in clear violation of the legal 

 rights of voters, in consequence of which a majority 

 of the legal voters of the State was excluded from 

 the polls. 



Second. Because by this Constitution the cardinal 

 principles of the rights of the State have been repu- 

 diated, and a rapid~stride is taken toward centraliza- 

 tion of power in the Federal Government. 



Third. Because by this Constitution citizens of the 

 State have been unjustly deprived of millions of dol- 

 lars' worth of property by the abolition of slavery, 

 and no compensation to the owners has been pro- 

 vided ; and not only so, but the Legislature is ex- 

 Eressly prohibited from providing compensation 

 ereafter. 



My ft 



fourth objection is because the right of suffrage 

 impaired, or attempted to be impaired, by the 

 provisions for submitting: this Constitution to the 

 voters of the State, that there cannot be a free exer- 

 cise of the invaluable right of suffrage on its adop- 

 tion or rejection. 



Besides these cardinal objections, I have many 

 comparatively minor objections to this Constitution, 

 and believe that, taken as a whole, it is an instrument 

 of wrong and oppression, unparalleled in the history 

 of American Constitutions, and ought not to be 

 adopted. 



Mr. Jones, of Somerset, said he considered it a 

 violation of the rights of the citizens to prescribe an 

 oath to qualify them to vote for the new Constitution, 

 and therefore he should vote " no." 



Mr. Mitchell, of Charles, said that the people of his 

 county would be affected in a great degree by the 

 abolition of slarery hundreds would be ruined by it. 

 A great portion of them would also be disfranchised, 

 and he would therefore vote " no." 



Mr. Pugh, of Cecil, remarked that he had tried 

 hard to be elected a delegate to the Convention, and 

 he was proud that he had succeeded. Xever in his 

 life had he had an opportunity for more rejoicing 

 than in casting his vote in the affirmative on the 

 adoption of the Constitution. 



Mr. Chambers, of Kent, said the new Constitution 

 proposed the most unjustifiable seizure of property, 

 and the most wanton attack on the political rights of 



those whose property, liberty, and every political 

 right the Convention had assembled to protect. He 

 would therefore vote " no." 



A protest against the action of the Conven- 

 tion, signed by thirty-five of its members, was 

 subsequently published. 



The Convention provided for submitting the 

 new Constitution to the people on Oct. 12tli 

 and 13th, under such restrictions as were re- 

 quired in the Constitution for the qualification 

 of voters at State elections, which were as 

 follows : 



SEC. 4. No person who has at any time been in 

 armed hostility to the TTnited States, or the lawful 

 authorities thereof, or who has been in any manner 

 in the service of the so-called " Confederate States of 

 America," and no person who has voluntarily left 

 this State and gone within the military lines of the 

 so-called " Confederate States of America or armies" 

 with the purpose of adhering to said States or ar- 

 mies, and no person who has given any aid, comfort, 

 countenance, or support to those engaged in armed 

 hostility to the United States, or in any manner ad- 

 hered to the enemies of the United States, either by 

 contributing to the enemies of the United States, or 

 unlawfully sending within the lines of such enemies 

 monev or goods, or letters or information, or who 

 has d'isloyally held communication with the enemies 

 of the United States, or who has advised any peron 

 to enter the service of the said enemies, or aided any 

 person so to enter, or who has, by any open deed or 

 word, declared his adhesion to the cause of the ene- 

 mies of the United States, or his desire for the tri- 

 umph of said enemies over the arms of the United 

 States, shall ever be entitled to vote at any election to 

 be held in this State, or to hold any office of honor, 

 profit, or trust under the laws of "this State, unless 

 since such unlawful acts he shall have voluntarily en- 

 tered into the military service of the United States, 

 and been honorably discharged therefrom, or shall be 

 on the day of election actuallv and voluntarily in 

 such service, or unless he shall be restored to his 

 full rights of citizenship by an act of the General As- 

 sembly passed by a vote of two-thirds of all the 

 members elected to each House ; and it shall be the 

 duty of all officers of Registration and Judges of 

 Election carefully to exclude from voting, or being 

 registered, all persons so as above disqualified ; and 

 the Judges of Election, at the first election held un- 

 der this Constitution, shall, and at any subsequent 

 election may, administer to any person offering to 

 vote the following oath or affirmation : " I do swear 

 or affirm that I am a citizen of the United States ; 

 that I have never given any aid, countenance, or sup- 

 port to those in armed hostility to the United States ; 

 that I have never expressed a desire for the triumph 

 of said enemies over the arms of the United States ; 

 and that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the 

 United States, and support the Constitution and laws 

 thereof as the supreme law of the land, any law or 

 ordinance of any State to the contrary notwithstand- 

 ing ; that I will in all respects demean myself as a 

 loyal citizen of the United States ; and I make this 

 oa'th or affirmation without any reservation or eva- 

 sion, and believe it to be binding on me." And anv 

 Eerson declining to take such oath shall not be al- 

 jwed to vote ; but the taking of such oath shall not 

 be deemed conclusive evidence of the right of such , 

 person to vote ; and any person swearing or affirm- 

 ing falsely shall be liable to penalties of perjury, and 

 it lhall be the duty of the proper officers of registra- 

 tion to allow no person to be registered until he shall 

 have taken the oath or affirmation above set out ; and 

 it shall be the duty of the Judges of Election, in all 

 their returns of the first election held under this Con- 

 stitution, to state in their said returns that every 

 person who has voted has taken such oath or affir- 

 mation. 



