THE STATE OF MARYLAND rejected the 15th Amendment on April 4, 1870.
Democratic Governor Oden Bowie addressed the legislature stating that
passage of the 15th Amendment would limit the State's ability to make its
own rules regarding suffrage and taxation. He felt it would be a poor
precedent to set with respect to states' rights, but did not argue
specifically against black suffrage. It was unanimously rejected in
both houses of the legislature. Maryland
did not ratify the amendment until 1973. Why do you think it took over
100 years for the state of Maryland to officially recognize the 15th
Amendment? Source: The
Legislative History of the Fifteenth Amendment. |