of liberty and independence as any
other citizens are most unjustly ex-
cluded from the advantages which
they contributed to establish. But
if bigotry and narrow prejudices
have hitherto prevented the cure
of these evils be it the duty of every
lover of peace and justice to extend
no further."114
On September 25, 1789, the First
Amendment to the United States Con-
stitution was accepted by Congress, and
on December 15, 1791, it went into
effect. To be sure, this was but a par-
tial step on the path to full equality.
The Tenth Amendment reserved non-
delegated powers to the states and the
people; the states had some distance to
travel. In Maryland, it would not be
until 1798 that Quakers, Mennonites
and other conscientious objectors to
taking oaths be constitutionally per-
mitted to make an affirmation in-
stead;115 until 1810 that the legislature
be forbidden to lay a tax for the support
of religion;116 until 1819 that harsh
blasphemy laws, carrying penalties of
death and confiscation of property, be
repealed;117 until 1826 that Unitarians
and Jews receive full political rights;118
nor until the mid-Nineteenth Century
that non-Christian sects could claim full
religious liberty under the state Con-
stitution.119 However, the enduring
foundation had been laid. At last, after
more than a century and a half of strug-
gle for a principle, did the policy so
vigorously espoused by the Calverts, the
114 Id. at 391. See also id. at 400 and
supra note 106.
115 3 the federal and state constitu-
tions 1702 (F. Thorpe ed. 1909).
116 antieau, downey & roberts, supra
note 77 at 147.
117 Id. at 78-79, 185.
118 marnell, supra note 96 at 67.
119 werline, supra note 111 at 208.
30
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Carrolls and their constituencies become
firmly embedded in the Law of the
Land — that
"Congress shall make no law re-
specting the establishment of
religion or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof."
SUBSEQUENT MARYLAND
CONSTITUTIONS
1851/1864/1867
There were four articles in the first
(1776) Maryland Constitution that had
relevance to the freedom of religion and
these four provisions, though modified
through the years, are still present in
our law. They are the current Articles
36, 37, 38 and 39 of the Declaration of
Rights.120
Article 36
Article 36 of the present Declaration
of Rights has undergone an interesting
evolution. In 1776 it provided for a
guarantee of religious liberty to "all per-
120 Although the preamble to the Consti-
tution contains a reference to God, this
has no legal force "except so far as it
recognizes the existence of God and
thereby implies that the government is a
Christian, or at least a deistic government.
niles, supra note 81 at 12. The Supreme
Court has constitutionalized that implica-
tion. See, e.g., Zorack v. Clauson, 343 U.S.
306, 72 S.Ct. 679 (1952), and footnote and
accompanying text, infra. See appendix
I, VI (note .15).
Also, Article III, Section 1 1 of the pres-
ent Constitution, which prevents clergymen
of any denomination from being senators or
delegates, would not seem to offend the First
Amendment to the United States Constitu-
tion and hence will not be dealt with at
length here. For the arguments pro and con,
see debates of the maryland constitu-
tional convention of 1867, at 258-63 (P.
Pearlman comp. 1923). The provision (which
in 1776 was Article 37 of the Constitution
proper; 1851, Article III, Section 11; 1864,
nonexistent ; Article III, Section 11) has never
been tested in a Maryland court.
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