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posterity, protection, religious liberty, wel-
fare, et cetera.
The preamble as submitted by our Com-
mittee passed by a vote of 16 to 1. I be-
lieve there was a pride in authorship.
The 141 other delegates would like to
have their preamble used. The Committee
would really like to accommodate every
individual, but it cannot.
As Delegate Hardwicke stated, the Com-
mittee even used one of his sentences. As
a matter of fact, his entire preamble was
submitted. This preamble as submitted by
the Committee was placed on the black-
board and everyone in the Committee par-
ticipated in writing it word for word, and
this was the composite thinking of all
participants in the writing of this preamble.
I would urge you to vote against the
amendment and go along with the Commit-
tee's Recommendation.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other dele-
gate desire to speak in favor of the amend-
ment?
DELEGATE HARDWICKE: Mr. Chair-
man, normally I would not disagree with
the Chairman of my Committee and Sub-
committee Chairman Kosakowski unless it
were a matter of great importance. I sug-
gest when the language was submitted,
there was absolutely no attempt to explain
a cogent philosophy. There was no attempt
to consider whether or not the words used
would be helpful in the construction of a
constitution that we are going to submit
to the people of Maryland.
I believe the preamble that I have sug-
gested does suggest such a philosophy and
will be of assistance in construing the
language. It does have a meaning, and it
does have a flavor.
The preamble that I have suggested here
by amendment will do a great good in the
construction of our constitution, and in the
preservation of its ife.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is there any further
discussion?
Delegate Dorsey.
DELEGATE DORSEY: 1 have a point of
personal privilege. At this time I would
like to call to the Convention's attention
that there are 40 students from Chaptico
High School in St. Mary's County attend-
ing the Convention, accompanied by their
teachers.
I might also say that Chaptico is one of
the finest and most modernized schools in
the State.
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THE CHAIRMAN: Delighted to have
them. (Applause.)
Delegate Beachley.
DELEGATE BEACHLEY: Mr. President,
I would like to speak for the preamble that
was prepared by the Committee on Personal
Rights and Preamble. I would like to give
you a definition that has been given for a
preamble, but I would like you to keep in
mind that no matter what you say in the
preamble, it really has no legal force.
A preamble is merely an introduction or
a preface to the document stating the rea-
sons or intent of what is being considered.
We went back to some of the books on
constitutional law and found a statement
that had been made by Justice Joseph
Story who was one of the United States
Supreme Court Justices in the Marshall
era. It is hard to come by definitions really
for preambles, but this is what he gives:
"A preamble is the key to open the mind
of the makers as to the mischiefs which
are to be remedied and the objectives which
are to be accomplished by the provisions of
a statute," and so we considered that we
would put a preamble to our constitution.
Now, as far as the divisions of a pre-
amble, we of the Committee feel that our
preamble fits all of the points that are
necessary for a preamble.
In the first part we have, "we the people
of the State of Maryland," and that points
out the legislative source of the constitu-
tion.
It is also reinforced by a statement taken
from Article I of the draft constitution,
which the Committee decided should not
be section 1 of Article I of our constitution,
but should be incorporated into the pre-
amble. That statement was, "all political
power originates in the people and is in-
stituted therefor." So we have reinforced in
our preamble that the legislative source of
the government is "we the people." All
government originates in the people.
The Committee unanimously voted that
that purpose of government as suggested
in the draft should be incorporated, and
we followed their instructions.
A preamble should contain a purpose
and philosophy. We studied the preambles
of all of the constitutions of the states of
the United States, and we found out that
all of them either had a purpose or a
philosophy.
The last phrase denominates the pre-
amble as a constitution, and to contradict
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