United States shall give its consent thereto before the fourth day of March next: which terms and conditions are as follows, viz.:

"First. All the lands and buildings belonging to the Commonwealth, within Massachusetts proper, shall continue to belong to said Commonwealth; and all the lands belonging to the Commonwealth within the district of Maine shall belong, the one-half thereof to the said Commonwealth, and the other half thereof to the State, to be formed within the said district, to be divided as is hereinafter mentioned; and the lands within the said district, which shall belong to the said Commonwealth, shall be free from taxation, while the title of said lands remains in the Commonwealth; and the rights of the Commonwealth to their lands, within said district, and the remedies for the recovery thereof, shall continue the same, within the proposed State, and in the Courts thereof, as they now are within the said Commonwealth, and in the Courts thereof; for which purposes, and for the maintenance of its rights, and recovery of its lands, the said Commonwealth shall be entitled to all other proper and legal remedies, and may appear in the Courts of the proposed State, and in the Courts of the United States holden therein; and all rights of action for, or entry into lands, and of action upon bonds, for the breach of the performance of the condition of settling duties, so called, which have accrued, or may accrue, shall remain in this Commonwealth, to be enforced, commuted, released, or otherwise disposed of, in such manner as this Commonwealth may hereafter determine; Provided, however, That whatever this Commonwealth may hereafter receive or obtain on account thereof, if any thing, shall, after deducting all reasonable charges relating thereto, be divided, one-third part thereof to the new State, and two-third parts thereof to this Commonwealth.

"Second. All the arms which have been received by this Commonwealth from the United States, under the law of Congress, entitled, 'An act making provision for arming and equipping the whole body of militia of the United States, passed April the twentythird, one thousand eight hundred and eight,' shall, as soon as the said district shall become a separate State, be divided between the two States, in proportion to the returns of the militia, according to which the said arms have been received from the United States as aforesaid.

"Third. All money, stock, or other proceeds, hereafter derived from the United States, on account of the claim of this Commonwealth, for disbursements made, and expenses incurred, for the defense of the State during the late war with Great Britain, shall be received by this Commonwealth; and when received, shall be divided between the two States, in the proportion of two-thirds to this Commonwealth, and one-third to the new State.

"Fourth. All other property, of every description, belonging to the Commonwealth, shall be holden and receivable by the same, as a fund and security for all debts, annuities, and Indian subsidies, or claims, due by said Commonwealth; and within two years. after the said district shall have become a separate State, the Commissioners to be appointed, as hereinafter provided, if the said States cannot otherwise agree, shall assign a just portion of the productive property so held by said Commonwealth, as an equivalent and indemnification to said Commonwealth for all such debts, annuities, or Indian subsidies, or claims, which may then remain due, or unsatisfied; and all the surplus of the said property, so holden, as aforesaid, shall be divided between the said Commonwealth and the said district of Maine, in the proportion of two-thirds to the said Commonwealth and one-third to the said district; and if, in the judgment of the said Commissioners, the whole of said property, so held, as a fund and security, shall not be sufficient indemnification for the purpose, the said district shall be liable for, and shall pay to said Commonwealth, one-third of the deficiency.

Fifth. The new State shall, as soon as the necessary arrangements can be made for that purpose, assume and perform all the duties and obligations of this Commonwealth, towards the Indians within said district of Maine, whether the same arise from treaties, or otherwise; and for this purpose shall obtain the assent of said Indians, and their release to this Commonwealth of claims and stipulations arising under the treaty at present existing between the said Commonwealth and said Indians; and, as indemnification to such new State therefor, this Commonwealth, when such arrangements shall be completed, and the said duties and obligations assumed, shall pay to said new State the value of thirty thousand dollars, in manner following, viz.: The said Commissioners shall set off, by metes and bounds, so much of any part of the land, within the said district, falling to this Commonwealth, in the division of the public lands, hereinafter provided for, as, in their estimation, shall be of the value of thirty thousand dollars; and this Commonwealth shall, thereupon, assign the same to the said new State, or, in lieu thereof, may pay the sum of thirty thousand dollars, at its election; which election

of the said Commonwealth shall be made within one year from the time that notice of the doings of the Commissioners, on this subject, shall be made known to the Governor and Council, and if not made within that time, the election shall be with the new State.

"Sixth. Commissioners with the powers, and for the purposes mentioned in this act, shall be appointed in manner following: The executive authority of each State shall appoint two; and the four so appointed, or the major part of them, shall appoint two more; but, if they cannot agree in the appointment, the executive of each State shall appoint one in addition; not, however, in that case, to be a citizen of its own State. And any vacancy happening with respect to the Commissioners, shall be supplied in the manner provided for their original appointment; and, in addition to the powers hereinbefore given to said Commissioners, they shall have full power and authority to divide all the public lands within the district between the respective States, in equal shares, or moieties, in severalty, having regard to quantity, situation, and quality; they shall determine what lands shall be surveyed and divided, from time to time, the expenses of which surveys, and of the Commissioners, shall be borne equally by the two States. They shall keep fair records of their doings, and of the surveys made by their direction, copies of which records, authenticated by them, shall be deposited, from time to time, in the archives of the respective States; transcripts of which, properly certified, may be admitted in evidence, in all questions touching the subject to which they relate. The executive authority of each State may revoke the power of either or both its Commissioners; having, however, first appointed a substitute, or substitutes, and may fill any vacancy happening with respect to its own Commissioners; four of said Commissioners shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business; their decision shall be final upon all subjects within their cognizance. In case said commission shall expire, the same not having been completed, and either State shall request the renewal or filling up of the same, it shall be renewed or filled up in the same manner as is herein provided for filling the same in the first instance, and with the like powers; and if either State shall, after six months' notice, neglect or refuse to appoint its Commissioners, the other may fill up the whole commission.

"Seventh. All grants of lands, franchises, immunities, corporate or other rights, and all contracts for, or grants of lands not yet located, which have been, or may be, made by the said Commonwealth, before the separation of said district shall take place, and having or to have effect within the said district, shall continue in full force, after the said district shall become a separate State. But the grant which has been made to the President and trustees of Bowdoin College out of the tax laid upon the banks within this Commonwealth shall be charged upon the tax upon the banks within the said district of Maine, and paid according to the terms of said grant; and the president and trustees, and the overseers of said college, shall have, hold and enjoy their powers and privileges in all respects; so that the same shall not be subject to be altered, limited, annulled, or restrained, except by judicial process, according to the principles of law; and, in all grants hereafter to be made, by either State, of unlocated land within the said district, the same reservations shall be made for the benefit of schools, and of the ministry, as have heretofore been usual in grants made by this Commonwealth. And all lands heretofore granted by this Commonwealth to any religious, literary or eleemosynary corporation, or society, shall be free from taxation, while the same continues to be owned by such corporation or society.

Eighth. No laws shall be passed in the proposed State, with regard to taxes, actions, or remedies at law, or bars, or limitations thereof, or otherwise making any distinction between the lands and rights of property of proprietors not resident in, or not citizens of, said proposed State, and the lands and rights of property of the citizens of the proposed State, resident therein; and the rights and liabilities of all persons shall, after the said separation, continue the same as if the said district was still a part of this Commonwealth, in all suits pending, or judgments remaining unsatisfied, on the fifteenth day of March next, where the suits have been commenced in Massachusetts proper, and process has been served within the district of Maine; or commenced in the district of Maine, and process has beeen served in Massachusetts proper, either by taking bail, making attachments, arresting and detaining persons, or otherwise, where execution remains to be done; and in such suits, the courts within Massachusetts proper, and within the proposed State, shall continue to have the same jurisdiction as if the said district had still remained a part of the Commonwealth. And this Commonwealth shall have the same remedies within the proposed State as it now has, for the collection of all taxes, bonds, or debts, which may be assessed, due, made, or contracted, by, to or with the Commonwealth, on or before the said fifteenth day of March, within the said

district of Maine; and all officers within Massachusetts proper and the district of Maine shall conduct themselves accordingly.

"Ninth. These terms and conditions, as here set forth, when the said district shall become a separate and independent State, shall, ipso facto, be incorporated into, and become, and be a part of, any Constitution, provisional or other, under which the government of the said proposed State shall, at any time hereafter. be administered; subject, however, to be modified, or annulled by the agreement of the Legislature of both the said States; but by no other power or body whatsoever."

§ 6. This Constitution shall be enrolled on parchment, deposited in the Secretary's office, and be the supreme law of the State; and printed copies thereof shall be prefixed to the books containing the laws of this State.

Done in Convention, October 29, 1819.

AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.

ADOPTED IN PURSUANCE OF THE FOURTH SECTION OF THE TENTH ARTICLE OF THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION.

ARTICLE 1. The electors resident in any city, may at any meeting duly notified for the choice of Representatives, vote for such Representatives in their respective ward meetings; and the wardens in said wards shall preside impartially at such meetings, receive votes of all qualified electors present, sort, count, and declare them in open ward meetings, and, in the presence of the ward clerk, who shall form a list of the persons voted for, with the number of votes for each person against his name; shall make a fair record thereof in the presence of the wardens, and in open ward meeting; and a fair copy of this list shall be attested by the warden and ward clerk, sealed up in open ward meeting, and delivered to the city clerk within twenty-four hours after the close of the polls. And the aldermen of any city shall be in session, at their usual place of meeting, within twenty-four hours after any election, and in the presence of the city clerk, shall examine and compare the copies of said lists; and in case any person shall have received a majority of all the votes, he shall be declared elected by the aldermen; and the city clerk of any city shall make a record thereof, and the aldermen and city clerk shall deliver certified copies of such lists to the person or persons so elected, within ten days after the election. And the electors resident in any city may, at any meeting duly notified and holden for the choice of any other civil officers for whom they have been required heretofore to vote in town meeting, vote for such officers in their respective wards, and the same proceedings shall be had by the warden and ward clerk in each ward, as in the case of votes for representatives. And the aldermen of any city shall be in session within twenty-four hours after the close of the polls in such meetings, and in the presence of the city clerk, shall open, examine, and compare the copies from the lists of votes given in the several wards, of which the city clerk shall make a record, and a return thereof shall be made into the Secretary of State's office, in the same manner as selectmen of towns are required to do.

ART. 2. No person, before conviction, shall be bailable for any of the crimes which now are or have been denominated capital offenses since the adoption of the Constitution, when the proof is evident or the presumption great, whatever the punishment of the crime may be.

ART. 3. All judicial officers now in office, or who may be hereafter appointed, shall, from and after the first day of March in the year 1840, hold their offices for the term of seven years from the time of their respective appointments (unless sooner removed by impeachment or by address of both branches of the Legislature to the Executive), and no longer, unless re-appointed thereto.

ART. 4. The second section, article fourth, part first, of the Constitution, is amended by substituting the words one hundred and fifty one for "not less than one hundred nor more than two hundred," before the word "members" in said section, so as to establish the number of Representatives for the State at the number of one hundred and fifty-one; and the latter part of said section, being the words and sentences following: "and whenever the number of Representatives shall be two hundred, at the next annual meetings of election which shall thereafter be had, and at every subsequent period of ten years, the people shall give in their votes, whether the number of Representatives shall be increased or diminished, and if a majority of votes are in favor thereof, it shall be the duty of the next Legislature thereafter to increase or diminish the number by the rule hereinafter prescribed," shall not be a part of the Constitution; but one hun

dred and fifty-one Representatives shall be apportioned according to the rule in this Constitution.

ART. 5. [*The annual meeting of the Legislature shall be on the second Wednesday of May, in each year; and the Governor and other State officers elected for the political year commencing on the first Wednesday of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, shall hold their offices till the second Wednesday of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-six.]

ART. 6. The credit of the State shall not be directly or indirectly loaned in any case. The Legislature shall not create any debt or debts, liability or liabilities on behalf of the State, which shall singly, or in the aggregate, with previous debts and liabilities hereafter incurred at any one time, exceed three hundred thousand dollars, except to suppress insurrection, to repel invasion, or for purposes of war; but this amendment shall not be construed to refer to any money that has been, or may be deposited with this State by the government of the United States, or to any fund which the State shall hold in trust for any Indian tribe.

ART. 7. The Constitution of this State is amended in the fifth section of the first part of the fourth article, by striking out the words, "a majority of all the," and inserting instead thereof, the words, "the highest number of," and by striking out the words "a majority" where they again occur in the same section, and inserting instead thereof, the words "the highest number;" also in the first amendment to the Constitution of this State, by striking out the words "a majority of all the," and inserting instead thereof, the words "the highest number of."

ART. 8. The annual meeting of the Legislature shall be on the first Wednesday of January, in each year; and the Governor and other State officers elected for the political year commencing on the second Wednesday of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, shall hold their offices till the first Wednesday of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.

CONSTITUTION OF MARYLAND. 1864.t

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.

We, the people of the State of Maryland, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberty, and taking into our serious consideration the best means of establishing a good Constitution in this State, for the sure foundation and more permanent security thereof, declare:

ARTICLE 1. 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.

ART. 2. That all government of right originates from the people, is founded in compact only, and instituted solely for the good of the whole; and they have at all times the unalienable right to alter, reform or abolish their form of government in such manner as they may deem expedient.

ART. 3. That the people of this State ought to have the sole and exclusive right of regulating the internal government and police thereof.

ART. 4. That the inhabitants of Maryland are entitled to the common law of England, and the trial by jury according to the course of that law, and to the benefit of such of the English statutes as existed on the fourth day of July, seventeen hundred and seventy-six, and which, by experience, have been found applicable to their local and

* Annulled. See 8th Amendment

†The first State Constitution of Maryland was adopted in 1776, which was amended in 1775, 1799, and 1812. In 1851, there was a revision which remained in force until the adoption of the present form in 1864. The last Convention for revision of the Constitution met at Annapolis, April 27, and on the 6th of September, 1864, they submitted the Constitution, to the decision of an election held on the 12th and 13th days of October, of that year. The vote was as follows:

Home vote, 27,541 for, and 29,536 against; blank, 61; soldiers' vote-2,633 for, and 263 against; majority in favor of adoption, 375.

other circumstances, and have been introduced, used and practiced by the courts of law or equity, and also of all acts of Assembly in force on the first day of June, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, except such as may have since expired or may be inconsistent with the provisions of this Constitution, subject, nevertheless, to the revision of and amendment or repeal by the Legislature of this State; and the inhabitants of Maryland are also entitled to all property derived to them from or under the charter granted by His Majesty Charles the First, to Cecillus Calvert, Baron of Baltimore.

ART. 5. 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.

ART. 6. That all persons invested with the Legislative or Executive powers of Government are the trustees of the public, and as such accountable for their conduct; wherefore, whenever the ends of Government are perverted, and public liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual, the people may and of right ought to reform the old or establish a new Government. The doctrine of non-resistance against arbitrary power and oppression is absurd, slavish and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.

ART. 7. That the right of the people to participate in the Legislature is the best security of liberty and the foundation of all free government; for this purpose elections ought to be free and frequent, and every free white male citizen having the qualifications prescribed by the Constitution, ought to have the right of suffrage.

ART. 8. That the Legislative, Executive and Judicial powers of government ought to be forever separate and distinct from each other and no person exercising the functions of one of said departments shall assume or discharge the duties of any other.

ART. 9. That no power of suspending laws or the execution of laws, unless by or derived from the Legislature, ought to be exercised or allowed.

ART. 10. That freedom of speech and debate, or proceedings in the Legislature, ought not to be impeached in any court of judicature.

ART. 11. That Annapolis be the place for the meeting of the Legislature, and the Legislature ought not be convened or held at any other place but for evident necessity.

ART. 12. That for the redress of grievances, and for amending, strengthening and preserving the laws, the Legislature ought to be frequently convened.

ART. 13. That every man hath a right to petition the Legislature for the redress of grievances, in a peaceable and orderly manner.

ART. 14. That no aid, charge, tax, burden or fees ought to be rated or levied, under any pretense, without the consent of the Legislature.

ART. 15. That the levying of taxes by the poll is grievious and oppressive, and ought to be prohibited; that paupers ought not to be assessed for the support of the Govern ment, but every other person in the State, or persons holding property therein, ought to contribute his proportion of public taxes for the support of Government, according to his actual worth in real or personal proporty; yet fines, duties or taxes may properly and justly be imposed or laid, with a political view, for the good government and benefit of the community.

ART. 16. That sanguinary laws ought to be avoided as far as it is consistent with the safety of the State; and no law to inflict cruel and unusual pains and penalties ought to be made in any case, or at any time hereafter.

ART. 17. That retrospective laws, punishing acts committed before the existence of such laws, and by them only declared criminal, are oppressive, unjust and incompatible with liberty, wherefore no ex post facto law ought to be made.

ART. 18. That no law to attaint particular persons of treason or felony ought to be made in any case, or at any time hereafter.

ART. 19. That every man, for any injury done to him in his person or property, ought to have remedy by the course of the law of the land, and ought to have justice and right freely without sale, fully without any denial, and speedily without delay, according to the law of the land.

ART. 20. That the trial of facts where they arise is one of the greatest securities of the lives, liberties and estate of the people.

ART. 21. That in all criminal prosecutions every man hath a right to be informed of the accusation against him; to have a copy of the indictment or charge in due time (if required) to prepare for his defense; to be allowed counsel; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have process for his witnesses; to examine the witnesses for and against him on oath; and to a speedy trial by an impartial jury, without whose unanimous consent he ought not to be found guilty.