XIV
The Constitution of 1864
Constitution of Maryland
ADOPTED IN CONVENTION, WHICH ASSEMBLED AT THE CITY OF ANNAPOLIS,
ON THE TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY OF APRIL, EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND
SIXTY-FOUR, AND ADJOURNED ON THE SIXTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER,
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOUR.
THE DECLARATION OF RIGHTS.1
We, the people of the State of Maryland, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and
religious liberty, and taking into our serious consideration the best means of es-
tablishing a good Constitution in this State, for the sure foundation and more
permanent security thereof, declare:
Article 1. That we hold it to be self-
evident that all men are created equally
free; that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable rights,
among which are life, liberty, the enjoy-
ment of the proceeds of their own labor
and the pursuit of happiness.
Art. 2. That all government of right
1 This is a verbatim reprint of the first
recorded printed edition of the Maryland
Constitution of 1864. It was printed with
marginal notes, an appendix, and an index
by Edward Otis Hinkley, Esq., in Baltimore
in 1864 by John Murphy & Co., after the
Constitution was ratified by the people on
October 12 and 13, 1864. The punctuation
and capitalization is that originally used.
The copy of the 1864 edition from which this
reprint was prepared is owned by the Mary-
land Historical Society, Baltimore. The Con-
vention's handwritten draft is on file at the
Hall of Records, Annapolis.
|
originates from the people, is founded in
compact only, and instituted solely for
the good of the whole; and they have at
all times, the unalienable right to alter,
reform, or abolish their form of govern-
ment, in such manner as they may deem
expedient.
Art. 3. That the people of this State
ought to have the sole and exclusive
right of regulating the internal govern-
ment and police thereof.
Art. 4. That the inhabitants of Mary-
land are entitled to the common law of
England, and the trial by jury according
to the course of that law, and to the
benefit of such of the English statutes as
existed on the fourth day of July, seven-
teen hundred and seventy-six, and
which, "by experience have been found
applicable to their local and other cir-
445
|
|
 |
