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582 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. answer, not only the printed questions, but whatever it pleased the judges- to ask. Voters who refused to give a direct answer to these questions were turned away, and in some instances where they had taken the oath of allegiance. In Kent County, a few days before the election, a Government steamer with General Lockwood on board arrived at Chestertown and landed part of a company of infantry, fully armed, who were quartered in the court house until the day of election, when they were distributed in squads of ten about the county, at the distance of a mile from the several polls. In Frederick County " citizens of all ranks and conditions of life, from the venerable and honored ex-Judge Marshall, down to the humblest, most honest, industrious, quiet and unobtrusive mechanic or day-laborer, whose sentiments might be known to the selected and hired challengers to be in opposition to a convention, were turned away from the polls, without being allowed to vote."1 In Baltimore city, out of a voting population of about forty thousand, only nine thousand one hundred and eighty-nine ballots were allowed to be polled, of which number only eighty-seven were cast in opposition to a call of the constitutional convention. The Constitutional Convention assembled at Annapolis, on the 27th of April, 1864, and organized by the election of Henry H. Goldsborough of Talbot County, the State Comptroller, as permanent president of the convention. After a session of over four months it adopted a new constitution and form of government, and adjourned on the 6th of September. The Declaration of Rights and Constitution adopted by the Convention of 1864, made radical changes in the organic law of the State. Of these, the most important were the articles abolishing slavery, and declaring " paramount allegiance " to be due to the Constitution and Government of the United States. In the Declaration of Rights three new articles were introduced, one withdrawn and two modified; in other respects it was essentially the same as that of 1851. The first article was the following acknowledgment from the Declaration of Independence with an attempted improvement: " Article I.—That we hold it to be self-evident that all men are created equally free; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, the enjoyment of the proceeds of their own labor and the pursuit of happiness. The fifth article introduced a new feature which was a novelty in State papers, as it denied the sovereignty of the State, which had been recognized since the foundation of the government, and was indeed the corner-stone of the whole Federal structure. It ran thus : "Article V.—The Constitution of the United States and the laws made in pursuance thereof, being the supreme law of the land, every citizen of this State owes paramount allegiance to the Constitution and government of the United States, and is not bound by any law or ordinance of this State in contravention or subversion thereof." What idea it was intended to convey by the preposterous phrase "paramount allegiance," it were as idle now, as it would have been dangerous theiv to inquire. 1 Frederick Citizen.
Title | History of Maryland - 3 |
Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
Publisher | J. B. Piet |
Place of Publication | Baltimore |
Date | 1879 |
Language | eng |
Type | Books/Pamphlets |
Title | 00000617 |
Type | Books/Pamphlets |
Transcript | 582 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. answer, not only the printed questions, but whatever it pleased the judges- to ask. Voters who refused to give a direct answer to these questions were turned away, and in some instances where they had taken the oath of allegiance. In Kent County, a few days before the election, a Government steamer with General Lockwood on board arrived at Chestertown and landed part of a company of infantry, fully armed, who were quartered in the court house until the day of election, when they were distributed in squads of ten about the county, at the distance of a mile from the several polls. In Frederick County " citizens of all ranks and conditions of life, from the venerable and honored ex-Judge Marshall, down to the humblest, most honest, industrious, quiet and unobtrusive mechanic or day-laborer, whose sentiments might be known to the selected and hired challengers to be in opposition to a convention, were turned away from the polls, without being allowed to vote."1 In Baltimore city, out of a voting population of about forty thousand, only nine thousand one hundred and eighty-nine ballots were allowed to be polled, of which number only eighty-seven were cast in opposition to a call of the constitutional convention. The Constitutional Convention assembled at Annapolis, on the 27th of April, 1864, and organized by the election of Henry H. Goldsborough of Talbot County, the State Comptroller, as permanent president of the convention. After a session of over four months it adopted a new constitution and form of government, and adjourned on the 6th of September. The Declaration of Rights and Constitution adopted by the Convention of 1864, made radical changes in the organic law of the State. Of these, the most important were the articles abolishing slavery, and declaring " paramount allegiance " to be due to the Constitution and Government of the United States. In the Declaration of Rights three new articles were introduced, one withdrawn and two modified; in other respects it was essentially the same as that of 1851. The first article was the following acknowledgment from the Declaration of Independence with an attempted improvement: " Article I.—That we hold it to be self-evident that all men are created equally free; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, the enjoyment of the proceeds of their own labor and the pursuit of happiness. The fifth article introduced a new feature which was a novelty in State papers, as it denied the sovereignty of the State, which had been recognized since the foundation of the government, and was indeed the corner-stone of the whole Federal structure. It ran thus : "Article V.—The Constitution of the United States and the laws made in pursuance thereof, being the supreme law of the land, every citizen of this State owes paramount allegiance to the Constitution and government of the United States, and is not bound by any law or ordinance of this State in contravention or subversion thereof." What idea it was intended to convey by the preposterous phrase "paramount allegiance," it were as idle now, as it would have been dangerous theiv to inquire. 1 Frederick Citizen. |