MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY                         425

The methods governing the erection of counties subsequent to the
American Eevolution have been determined by. the various constitutions.

The Constitution of 1776 contains no provision for the erection of
new counties, it apparently being the consensus of the Convention that
the work which they had already done in dividing Frederick County
into three parts by the erection of Washington and Montgomery coun-
ties met all the requirements at that time. This first Constitution of
the State remained in force until the adoption of the second Constitu-
tion in 1850. It was, however, very much modified by the Acts of 1836,
Chapter 197, which changed in great measure the organic law of the
State with respect to the election of governor and other matters.
Although the Act grouped the counties into three gubernatorial dis-
tricts and changed the representation of the towns, by including them in
certain instances within the county, no change was made in the limits
of the counties then existing and no general law was laid down as to the
manner of erecting new counties.

The Constitution of 1850 devotes a special article to new counties in
which it erects Howard District, which up to this time had been a part
of Anne Arundel County, into Howard County, and provides for the
erection of a new county with the limits now possessed by Garrett
County whenever the territory so described should include a population of
10,000, and the majority of the electors should desire to separate and
form such a new county. There is, however, no provision made for the
formation of new counties in the future.

The Constitution of 1864 provided for the organization of new coun-
ties by vesting the power in the General Assembly. They were also
empowered to move the county seat or change the county boundaries
under certain limitations. At this time it was provided that no new
county should contain less than 400 square miles or less than 10,000
white inhabitants, a provision which still remains in our Constitution of
1867. The second section of Article 10 in the Constitution of 1864
states: " The General Assembly shall provide by general law for divid-
ing the counties into townships or permanent municipal corporations in
place of the existing election districts, prescribing their limits and con-