PREFACE

This study was undertaken at the suggestion of Dr.
Bernard C. Steiner, of the Johns Hopkins University, and
is an attempt to trace one of the most important movements
in Maryland history. Although obscured and complicated
by the momentous events which were then rending the life
of the nation to its very foundations, its most important
phase was the effort to bring about the total abolition of
slavery in the state. President Lincoln's Emancipation
Proclamation of September 22, 1862, did not apply to
Maryland, as this state was not in rebellion, hence the local
movement was necessary in order to carry out the policy of
the National Government, and the Constitution of 1864,
with its prohibitory clause in regard to slavery, was the
result.

The subject is divided as follows: Part I. treats of the
political movement leading to the call of the Constitutional
Convention; Part II. gives an account of the sittings of
that Convention and the formation of a new Constitution;
Part III. tells of the acceptance of the Constitution by the
state.

The Proceedings and Debates of the Convention, the
State Documents and Legislative Proceedings of the
period, and the contemporary newspapers have been my
chief sources, supplemented in part by personal conversa-
tion with some of those who took part in the movement.

W. S. M.

Baltimore, May, 1901.