ANNAPOLIS. 15

Important changes were made by the Legislature in the
organic law of the State in the year 1837. Amongst these
changes was the election of the Governor by the people.

The second Constitution of the State was reported and
adopted by the Convention which assembled at Annapolis
November 4, 1850, and which Constitution was ratified by
the people on the first Wednesday of Jane, 1851.

The third Constitution of the State was reported and
adopted by the Convention which assembled at Annapolis
April 27, 1864, and was ratified by the people on the 12th
and 13th of October, 1864. The fourth and present Con-
stitution of the State, was formed and adopted by the Con-
vention which assembled at Annapolis, May 8, 1867, and
ratified by the people, September 18, 1867.

ANNAPOLIS.

The first white person to behold the site of Annapolis,
the present State capital, was Capt. John Smith, who saw it
in 1608, in a voyage up the Chesapeake. It was settled in
1649, by a company of English Puritans seeking relief from
religious persecution, and called Providence. These men
were soon urged to take the oath of allegiance to Lord
Baltimore, but they refused, claiming that it were equiva-
lent to declaring their fealty to the Catholic Church, and
that Lord Baltimore was aiming at absolute dominion.
However, by 1650 the Courts of Anne Arundel county
were established, and Providence scut delegates to the
General Assembly of Maryland.

In 1694, the capital of the State was removed to Annap-
olis. Annapolis, between this period and the Revolution,
became the centre of refined and attractive society, noted
for its gayety and intelligence, and which gained for the
city the title of "The Athens of America. "

On September 3d, 1765, Annapolis made the first forcible
and successful opposition to the Stamp Act. Zachariah
Hood, the stamp officer, was prevented from landing with
his stamps, and Thomas McNeir, one of the mob, had his
thigh broke in the first fight for American Liberty on
American soil.