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403] Constitutional Reform Agitation. 25
a vote of the people to be taken upon the subject of a con-
stitutional convention, claiming lack of authority and
power to enable them to do so.
These repeated refusals of the legislature to call a con-
vention; or to take the vote of the people in reference to its
call, made the reform party more determined than ever to-
secure a convention with, or without, the aid of the legis-
lature. Accordingly the leaders of the reform party
throughout the State began early in the spring of 1849 a
more violent agitation than ever on this all-absorbing
question of " conventional reform." Local conventions
were held in several counties, and delegates were selected
to meet in a state reform convention to be held in the city
of Baltimore. One of the first of these county conventions
was held in Westminster, on the 9th of June. In this gath-
ering addresses were made by several prominent men of
the county, earnestly recommending prompt and judicious
action with a view to a thorough reform in the constitution
of the State by a convention. Among the defects of the
constitution comprised in the resolutions adopted were:
its liability to be changed at the caprice of the legislature;
the inequality of representation in the Senate; the life ten-
ure of the judiciary; the lack of constitutional check upon
the legislature in the expenditures of the public money,
and as a grievance, that the legislature had failed to meet
the wishes of the people in granting constitutional reform.28
The Worcester county reform convention met at Snow
Hill on the 10th of July. The complaints made against
the government of the State in the convention were, ex-
cessive taxes, both direct and indirect, and no constitu-
tional check placed upon the legislature in the expenditure
of public money. The convention selected ten delegates
to attend the state reform convention to be held in Balti-
more city.24 Similar conventions were held in several
23 Westminster Democrat, June 11, 1849.
24 Baltimore Sun, July 16, 1849.
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