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"It reminds me of a string of wet
sponges; it reminds me of tattered washing
on the line; it reminds me of stale bean-
soup, of college yells, of dogs barking
idiotically through endless nights.......
"One half looks for him to abandon con-
nected speech at any moment, and to start
a mere chaotic babbling of stereotyped
phrases: 'Please remit/ 'Errors and omis-
sions excepted,' 'For review only/ 'Polizei-
lich verboten/ 'Fur Damen/ 'Apartment to
let.' 'Oh, say, can you see/ 'Less than %
of 1% of alcohol by volume/ 'Post no bills/
'Tradesmen's entrance/ 'In God we trust.' "
I suggest the preamble sounds like: We
the people of the State of Maryland, recog-
nizing that we should "save the flag," and
believing "in God We Trust/' and having
the concept of "e pluribus unum/' and dedi-
cated to the proposition that we should
"bless our country," do establish and ordain
this Constitution.
I suggest that is just about as much as
the preamble means. I think the Committee
went to a great many sources, and I think
they went to my suggested preamble and
took the last phrase out of it for the Com-
mittee Recommendation. They went to a
great many sources, lifted a number of
high-sounding phrases, and put them into
a preamble.
I do not think that that is the way that
a preamble ought to be drafted. Let me
suggest to you that the preamble should
serve the following purposes:
First, it should contain a declaration of
purpose. Why do we make this Constitu-
tion? That is the reason that a preamble
prefaces the Constitution.
Second, it should permit the courts and
legislature to determine our intent. It is
like the whereas clauses in a contract; and
when a given legislative enactment or a
given legislative problem is to be considered
and construed, the courts should look to
the preamble to determine the proper con-
struction to be given.
I suggest that a clear, consistent mean-
ingful statement of constitutional philos-
ophy is desirable in a preamble, and I be-
lieve .that the preamble that I have pro-
posed by amendment expresses such a
philosophy.
Let me point out a couple of the phrases
in it and the meaning that I would like to
attach to those phrases.
"Desirous of securing the blessings of
Almighty God and civilization." Certainly
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the government is designed to secure the
blessings of God and the blessings of
civilization, civilization being those things
created by man which we hope to distribute
meaningfully among man.
"Believing that the chief function and
purpose of government is to facilitate the
enjoyment," not guarantee, but to facili-
tate and to ease the enjoyment by all peo-
ple "of life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness."
I believe that the suggested amendment
states a meaningful, clear philosophy of
government. I believe it is worthy of our
constitution, and I urge you to adopt it.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any ques-
tions of the sponsor of the amendment?
Delegate Sybert.
DELEGATE SYBERT: I would like to
direct a question to the sponsor of the
amendment.
THE CHAIRMAN: State the question.
DELEGATE SYBERT: I would like to
ask Delegate Hardwicke whether he pur-
posely left out the provision, or some provi-
sion showing recognition that all political
power originates in the people?
Would it not be better to have such a
provision in the preamble, one of our most
basic ideas in this country?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Hardwicke.
DELEGATE HARDWICKE: Mr. Chair-
man, I am very glad that Delegate Sybert
raised the point. I think that we can deal
with this expression which comes from the
present Constitution, I believe it is Article
I at the present time.
I would prefer, I believe, to include it as
one of the specific rights or references in
the constitution, as it is in the present
Constitution, rather than part of the pre-
amble. However, if the language I suggested
could be amended in a passive way to per-
mit that expression, I would have no objec-
tion. But I believe I would rather see that
thought set out in the constitution, as it is
in the present Constitution.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any other
questions of the sponsor of the question ?
DELEGATE JAMES: Yes.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate James.
DELEGATE JAMES: Why are you leav-
ing out any reference to our duty and
responsibility to posterity? The thing I am
getting at is that in a society such as ours
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