Carter, Crawford, Cunningham, Cushing, Dail,
Daniel, Davis, of Charles, Davis, of Wash-
ington, Dellinger, Dent, Earle, Farrow, Gale,
Galloway, Greene, Hatch, Hebb, Hollyday,
Hopper, Horsey, Jones, of Cecil, Jones, of Som-
erset, Keefer, Kennard, King, Lansdale,
Larsh, Lee, Marbury, Markey, Mayhugh,
McComas, Mitchell, Miller, Morgan, Mullikin,
Murray, Negley, Nyman, Parker, Parran, Pe-
ter, Pugh, Purnell, Ridgely, Russell, Schley,
Schlosser, Scott, Smith, of Dorchester, Sneary
Stirling. Stockbridge, Swope, Sykes, Thomas,
Todd, Turner, Valliant, Wickard, Wilmer,
Wooden—73.
On motion of Mr. AUDOUN,
Further proceedings under the call were
dispensed with.
The PRESIDENT. The constitution having
now been read through, the question is upon
its adoption, which will be taken by yeas
and nays.
The question was then taken by yeas and
nays, and resulted—yeas 53, nays 26—as
follows:
Yeas—Messrs. Goldsborough, President ;
Abbott, Annan, Audoun, Baker, Barron, Ber-
ry, of Baltimore county, Brooks, Carter,
Cunningham, Cushing, Daniel, Davis, of
Washington, Dellinger, Earle, Ecker, Farrow,
Galloway, Greene, Hatch, Hebb, Hoffman,
Hopper, Jones, of Cecil, Keefer, Kennard,
King, Larsh, Markey, Mayhugh, McComas,
Mullikin, Murray, Negley, Nyman, Parker,
Pugh, Purnell, Ridgely, Russell, Schley,
Schlosser, Scott, Sneary, Stirling, Stock-
bridge Swope, Sykes, Thomas, Todd, Val-
liant, Wickard, Wooden—53.
Nays—Messrs. Belt, Bond, Brown, Cham-
bers, Crawford, Dail, Davis, of Charles, Dent,
Duvall, Gale, Henkle, Hodson, Hollyday,
Horsey, Jones, of Somerset, Lansdale, Lee,
Marbury, Mitchell, Miller, Morgan, Parran,
Peter, Smith, of Dorchester, Turner, Wil-
mer—26.
Absent and not voting—Messrs. Berry, of
Prince George's, Billingsley, Blackiston, Bris-
coe, Clarke, Dennis, Edelen, Harwood, Hop-
king, Johnson, Mace, Noble, Robinette, Sands,
Smith, of Carroll, Smith, of Worcester, and
Thruston—17.
The constitution as engrossed and read,
was accordingly adopted.
Pending the call of the yeas and nays, the
following explanations were made by mem-
bers as their names were called :
Mr. DENT. I shall vote against this consti-
tution for the following reasons:
First. Because I believe that the election
by which this convention was called, and its
members elected, was not free for the legal
voters of the State, but was held and con-
ducted in clear violation of the legal rights
of voters, in consequence of which a majority
of the legal voters of the State was excluded
from the polls.
Second. Because by this constitution the |
cardinal principles of the rights of the State
have been repudiated, and a rapid stride is
taken towards centralization of power in the
Federal government.
Third. Because by this constitution citi-
zens of the State have been unjustly deprived
of millions of dollars worth of property by
the abolition of slavery, and no compensa-
tion to the owners has been provided; and
not only so, but the legislature is expressly
prohibited from providing compensation
hereafter.
My fourth objection is because the right of
suffrage is so impaired, or attempted to be
impaired, by the provisions for submitting
this constitution to the voters of the State,
that there cannot be a free exercise of the in-
valuable right of suffrage on its adoption or
rejection.
Besides these cardinal objections, I have
many comparatively minor objections to this
constitution, and believe that, taken as a
whole, it is an instrument of wrong and op-
pression, unparalleled in the history of Amer-
ican constitutions, and ought not to be
adopted. I vote "no."
Mr. JONES, of Somerset. I have urged my
objections to various parts of this constitu-
tion, from time to time, as they have succes-
sively come before the convention, as will
appear by the debates. I desire now to urge
an additional reason why I cannot vote to
adopt it. This convention was called "to
frame a new constitution and form of gov-
ernment." The sixth section of the law au-
thorizing this convention provides " that the
constitution and form of government adopted
by the said convention, shall be submitted to
the legal and qualified voters of the State for
their adoption or rejection." The existing
constitution declares that "every free white
male person of twenty-one years of age or
upwards, who shall have been one year next
preceding the election a resident of the State,
and for six months a resident of the city of
Baltimore, or of any county in which he may
offer to vote, being a citizen of the United
States, shall be entitled to vote in the ward
or election district in which be resides, in alt
elections hereafter to be held." These are
" the legal and qualified voters of the State"
to whom your proposed constitution must be
submitted. I understand that during my
absence the convention have decreed that
their work shall be submitted to those only
of said voters who shall submit to take a de-
testable oath, purging themselves of a long
catalogue of supposed political offences
against the United States government, and
even then they are not to be allowed to vote
unless the judges of election shall choose to
permit them. I protest against such an
attempt to subvert the present government of
Maryland, as a revolution by usurpation.
In addition to the objections I urged against
the oath, on a former occasion, one of the of-
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