Baltimore & the Fifteenth Amendment, May 19, 1870
An Interactive Historical Investigation by David Troy © 1996
| 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. |
GENERAL ASSEMBLY (Joint Resolutions). 1870. Joint Resolution rejecting
the 15th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution.
MSA S 967-1870-8 MdHR 50,029.
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