451]                          The Constitution.                            73

The first article of the constitution relates to the elective
franchise. Some salutary reforms were made in this with
the view of obtaining the purity of the ballot-box. Il-
legal voting had been a great source of complaint from
both political parties. The right of suffrage required a
residence of twelve months in the State, and six in the
city or county. The act of Congress requiring members
of that body to be elected by single districts throughout
the United States, made it necessary to divide the State
into congressional districts. There was no fixed dura-
tion of residence required in passing from one district to
another within the same county or city. This gave fa-
cility to the perpetration of frauds on the elective franchise
under the system, known as " colonizing voters."

The first attempt to have a registration of voters was
made in 1837. In that year a law was passed to provide
for the registration of the voters in Baltimore City. This
law was considered by many to be unconstitutional, be-
cause it imposed duties upon the citizens of Baltimore City,
which were not common to other citizens of the State. An
unsuccessful attempt was made in the convention of 1850
to provide for a general registration law in the State. It
was not until 1865 that Maryland had such a law.¹⁸

The constitution of 1851 required six months' residence
in the district, and twelve in the State, in order to exer-
cise the right of suffrage. The right to vote was retained
in one district, until the same right was acquired in an-
other. The constitution also provided that a person guilty
of receiving or giving bribes for the purpose of procur-
ing votes, should be forever disqualified to hold any
office of profit or trust, or to vote at any election there-
after. The pardoning power of the governor did not ex-
tend to this offense. All officers before entering upon
their duties were obliged to take an oath that they had not
been guilty of bribery or fraud in any way.¹⁹

¹⁸ Steiner's Citizenship and Suffrage in Md., p. 47.

¹⁹ Art. i, sec. 4.