1S68.1 OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES. 333

WHEREAS, in the establishment of the Government of these
United States, the confederacy was but the result of the vol-
untary action of the separate and independent States uniting
in one grand body to constitute a potent and dignified con-
solidation, retaining as sovereign States their distinct and
separate independence, preserving intact their original organ-
ization, and controlled by their own State Constitutions ; and

WHEREAS, in the startling condition of national affairs, in
the strange system of legislating that has marked the pro-
ceedings of Congress during the last few years of our nation's
insistence, a reckless disregard for State sovereignty seems to
have characterized their deliberations, with a manifest indif-
ference and contempt for the spirit of the Constitution
adopted by the various States for the guidance, the welfare
and perpetuity of nations ; therefore

Resolved by the Senate and House of Delegates of the Mary-
land Legislature, That we, the delegated representatives of
the people of Maryland, empowered to watch over the inter-
ests of the State, and stand as faithful sentinels and guar-
dians of her rights, deem it our imperative duty, in this hour
of peril, to our country and threatened dignity to our State,
to give expression to our sentiments in relation to the politi-
cal condition of oxir country, and the wrongs that have been
extended to our own cherished State.

Resolved, That the present Constitution of Maryland,
framed by the wisest, the best and purest of her sons.,
adopted by no violence, confirmed in every section of the
State with marked approval, admitting within its fold the
humblest as well as the proudest son of Maryland, is a
Document worthy of the age in which we live, just and im-
partial in its operations, and fit to rank side by side with
that which descended from our revolutionary sires.

Resolved, That in the opinion of this legislative body the
persistent refusal of Congress to welcome to the Senate the
eminent and chosen sou of Maryland, is an unwarrantable
indignity to our constituents, an insult to the majesty of our
State, and a flagrant violation of the Constitution, which
provides "that no State, without, its consent, shall be de-
prived of its equal suffrage in the Senate."

Resolved, That in the exclusion of Philip Francis Thomas
from the seat which he would have dignified in the Senator-
ial chamber, Congress has outraged the rights of a citizen,
and, in the depth of ingratitude to our proud old State, has
basely forgotten the services of our Carroll, the chivalric
deeds of the revolutionary founders of our State, the prowess
of the gallant defenders of McHenry, the millions that Mary-
land in the recent struggle of our country has drawn from