President Miller, Members of the Senate, ladies and gentlemen
First Citizen is the name by which Charles Carroll of Carrollton chose to sign several articles published in the Maryland Gazette beginning in February of 1773. Carroll, legally a non-citizen who could neither vote nor hold office because he was a Roman Catholic, wrote in response to an unsigned article by the best known lawyer of the day, Daniel Dulany. Dulany held appointed office under Lord Baltimore and did not believe the General Assembly had the right to question or set the fees he charged for his services to the public. In those days public officials generally were not on salary and had to live off the fees they collected.
Dulany tried to argue that the existing constitution worked well and ought not to be changed. He asserted that all of the important issues of what government was and ought to be had been settled years before in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. In that year the English monarchy was made subject to a Bill of Rights and the advice of Parliament. From that point on, with the singular exception of the Colonies' right to resist Parliamentary taxation without representation, according to Dulany, Maryland had the best government it could ever have. To make his point, he created a conversation between a First Citizen and a Second Citizen. He thought he had been most persuasive, and that he had effectively demolished the arguments weakly advanced by his First Citizen that the Maryland Legislature should have the right to determine what fees public officials could charge for their services. Daniel Dulany soon found he was wrong. A 36 year-old Roman Catholic who could not vote, and could not hold office under the Constitution Dulany so loudly defended, took up the part of First Citizen and wrote a response that put Dulany on the defensive. Encouraged by the first woman to be official Printer To the Colony, Anne Catherine Green, who published his essay as First Citizen in the February 4, 1773 issue of the Maryland Gazette, Carroll launched a crusade to expand the powers of representative government that would continue long after his death at the age of 95 in 1832. Indeed, one of Carroll's last acts as a responsible 'Citizen' was to vote for another man who would dramatically alter the face of American Politics and American Democracy, Andrew Jackson.
In his first foray into the arena of public debate, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, as 'First Citizen' argued that public officials were answerable to the Legislature, and that the Legislature had the right, in fact the responsiblity to be constantly adjusting the constitution to make it work better for the benefit of all. Dulany had met his match. He would try to answer Carroll three more times. He even assumed the fictious name of Antilon to help people know who he was. It was unseemly in those days for opinions expressed in print to be signed by their authors, but Dulany, on the defensive, wanted to remind his readers that he had once eloquently defended them against the hated Stamp Tax. He chose 'Antilon' which combines 'anti' and an old english word for unfair taxes, but to no avail.
What began as a simple exchange of views grew into a series of eight letters in which Charles Carroll not only had the last word, he ultimately won the argument. Carroll strongly defended an independent legislature. He was among the first to advance a new concept of government that soon would sweep through the colonies like wild fire. No longer would the people of America allow themselves to be ruled arbitrarily from abroad. While extolling traditional community rights and liberties, Carroll launched a call for a radical restructuring of government based on the advice and consent of the people. Although not yet fully articulated in the First Citizen letters, Carroll was asking all citizens to think about much needed changes in the structure of government that would allow people like him "freedom of speech and thought," that would prevent office holders from having seats in the Legislature, and that would ensure that taxation could not be imposed by anyone not subject to the laws passed by the Legislature.
To Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the Constitution was not something fixed somewhere in the distant past, consisting of principles not to be altered, changed or improved upon, but was, rather, a set of guidelines to be written down, debated, and tested by time. To Carroll and others like his cousin Charles Carroll the Barrister, Samuel Chase, and William Paca, all future members of the Maryland Senate, making government work for the good of the whole meant a thoughtful reworking of the structure of government by writing it all down, debating the results, and crafting the final product in committees separately and of the whole.
In effect Carroll as First Citizen, saw government much as every citizen should see it today, in constant need of attention and thoughtful reform.
Not only did Charles Carroll of Carrollton write as a 'First Citizen,' he, also lived his life as a First Citizen. With the publication of the First Citizen articles he launched a career of public service that would not end until his death at the age of 95.
In addition to helping draft Maryland's first Constitution and signing the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Carroll served as a member of this body from 1777 to 1801 and as its President. He also served as one of the first United States Senators from Maryland and became one of the staunchest advocates of the B & O Railroad which did so much to further the economic development of Maryland. He taught by word and by example. He was willing to put his ideas, his fortune, and his time, on the line in favor of better, more responsive government. It is in that spirit that the Maryland Senate presents the First Citizen Awards to individuals like Carroll, who have taken up the challenge to make government work better for the benefit of all.
Tonight, on behalf of the Senate of Maryland, it is my privilege to present the first Citizen Award to Former Senator Julian L. Lapides.
Jack embodies the spirit of a First Citizen. In his long and distinguished career as a Delegate and as a Senator he was not afraid of forcefully advocating the causes in which he firmly believed.As former Senator Levitan commented at Jack's retirement, "Jack has been called the the conscience of the Senate. He has been ... the guardian of the ethics of the state." Tight-fisted with public money, Jack was always ready to champion the unpopular against overwhelming odds. He authored a tough financial disclosure law and proved the bane of many lobbyists. His performance as an effective interrogrator of those of us who spend appropriated dollars was known to cause considerable discomfort, especially at budget hearings, but I have no doubt that it also led to more careful accounting practices, and more effective management of the public purse.
Most of you know Jack from his service in the Senate. I know Jack and Linda best, however as quintessential bibliophiles, lovers of the book, who have a keen appreciation of the historical record from which the best of the printed word is drawn. Their collection of children's books is without peer. The President of the American Antiquarian Society no doubt dreams of persuading Jack and Linda that their collection could find no better home than Worcester Massachusetts, although some of us would far prefer to see it remain here in Maryland.
While a member of the Senate, Jack also served on the advisory board of the Archives, the Hall of Records Commission. While he applied his frugal approach to budgets to us as much as to anyone else, he also shared with us his wisdom and his love of history. Thanks to Jack we acquired a lovely collection of Maryland maps from one of his friends, one of which is now proudly reproduced as the impressive mural in our searchroom.
Commitment to Ethics, concern for the public purse, an old fashioned progressive belief in the efficacy of government, and the love of books, both for content and the pure joy of ownership, are but a few of the qualities of Jack Lapides that we honor tonight by presenting him with this certificate and boxed volume of the First Citizen/Antillon debates.