of the district lines; for instance, add to the
first, which at present embraces the 8 counties
on the Eastern Shore, the county of Harford
adjoining. Let the second be composed of Car-
roll and Baltimore counties, and the city of
Baltimore. The third district to embrace the
remaining counties of the Western Shore.
Now, the reason that Harford county was put
with those of the Eastern Shore, was because
it adjoined them; and those of Carroll and Bal-
timore counties are attached to Baltimore city,
is because they are side by side, all having
identical opinions and general interests. All
the other counties coming together, are agricul-
tural, and therefore have interests in common,
But if you should think proper, instead of pla-
cing Carroll with Baltimore county and city,
you add Howard, the distribution will be still
more equal; Carroll, with a population of
20,000, and Howard with but 13,000, would re-
duce the population in that district to 223,000,
instead of 230,000. If this mode of districting
the State is is adopted, the districts will stand
thus, throwing out fractions :
1. Baltimore city, and Baltimore
county and Carroll containing a pop-
ulation of 230,000
2. The 8 counties of the Eastern
Shore and Harford, 150 000
3. The remaining counties of the
Western Shore, 203,000
Total population, 583,000
A much more equal division than the present,
and which is the same now passed by this sec-
tion of the executive hill. Mr, J. said he should
therefore move to amend that section by striking
out all after the word (district.) in the. 3d line
of the 5th section, and insert the amendment
which he had indicated, and which he would
now send to the clerk. Mr. J. said, to show
how the district system had worked, he would
call the attention, especially of his friends
from the Eastern Shore, at whose instance the
system had been adopted, to the Constitution of
Maryland in 1776, and the articles in that Con-
stitution in 1836. In the original Constitution
no districts are drawn, the Eastern and Western
Shores were one and the same—they composed
the State of Maryland; amongst the changes in
the Constitution in 1836, the district system was
just adopted, which provided that the State
should be divided into three Gubernatorial dis-
tricts, two on the Western and one on the East-
ern Shore, from which the Governor was to be
selected alternately—yet it required the whole
popular vote of the State to elect the Governor
—still their choice was confined to one-third of
the State. The Governor of Maryland should
always be well qualified for the station he is
called to fill. Give him a liberal salary, and
require of him all the attention to its duties the
interest of the State demands. Mr. J. said the
Eastern Shore had not been benefited by the
change in the Constitution, which limited it lo
one Governor in three terms. Prior to the reso-
lution, the three last Governors on record were |
Thomas Tench, Edward Lloyd and Benjamin
Tasker—from the names, Mr. J. proved that two,
if not the three, were from the Eastern Shore of
Maryland. This was under the Provincial Gov-
ernment.
From 1776 to 1806, there were twenty-eight
Governors. The preponderance was in favor of
the Western Shore Governors. From 1806 to
1836, a period of thirty years, the Eastern Shore
was again in the ascendant—for it appears of the
sixteen Governors during that period, ten were .
from the Eastern and but six from the Western
Shore.
Mr. J, said as a friend had desired it, and he did
not suppose it would be uninteresting to give the
names of those Governors. Those in 1806, were
from the Eastern Shore—Robert Wright, Edward
Lloyd, Levin Winder, Charles Goldsborough,
Samuel Stevens, Daniel Martin, Thomas King
Carroll, Daniel Martin, Thomas Veazy, William
Grason—10.
From the Western Shore—Robert Bowie,
Charles Ridgely, of Hampton, Samuel Sprigg,
Joseph Kent, George Howard, James Thomas
--6.
Two of those, Mr. J. said, he was happy to
see here in this Convention, his friends Mr. Grason
and Mr. Sprigg, with the sons of some others
who had filled the Executive office.
Upon that score, our friend of the Eastern
Shore gained nothing. They then had ten out
of sixteen, whereas now they can have but one
of them, and if the amendment of the gentle-
man from Frederick, (Mr. Thomas,) prevails,
still further to district the State into four dis-
tricts, the Eastern Shore will be entitled to but
one Governor in four terms.
Mr. J. said he would now give notice that,
whether the district system of three or four pre-
vailed, when the section was gone through, he
would move to strike out the whole section. This
he had advised his friend, Mr. Grason, chairman
of the Executive Committee, of which he, (Mr.
J.,) was a member, before the bill was reported.
Mr. THOMAS here repeated what his motion
had been on a previous occasion, and then he
moved to amend the section now under consider-
ation by striking out all of the section to the
word "third," inclusive in the fifth line, and in-
serting in lieu thereof the amendment offered by
him on the 8th of March, being as follows:
"The State shall be divided into four districts,
Allegany, Washington, Frederick, Carroll and
Baltimore counties to be the first; St. Mary's,
Calvert, Charles, Prince George's, Anne Arun-
del, Howard and Montgomery counties the sec-
ond; Baltimore city the third; Harford, and the
eight counties on the Eastern Shore, the fourth
district."
Mr, T. said he would merely state—for he did
not know that any member had taken the trouble
to investigate the subject, in order to ascertain
what would he the population of the several districts
—some particulars as to the amount of pop-
ulation.
The gentleman from Charles, (Mr. Jenifer,)
had said that the districts, as at present arranged,
were very unequal. This was true. There was |
