439]           The Maryland Constitution of 1864.              93

tion of the inalienable rights of all the citizens of the
state."

Certain citizens of Cecil County presented a memorial
to Governor Bradford objecting to the test oath and ap-
pealing to him to instruct the Judges of Election to disre-
gard it, and also to disregard it himself by announcing
that he would not count the votes of any county in which
the oath had been administered to voters. Governor
Bradford, on September 21, 1864, wrote a letter to Mr. D.
R. Magruder, the chairman of the committee which pre-
sented the above petition, and declined to take such action
as beyond his jurisdiction, maintaining that his duties were
merely ministerial. He also defended the action of the Con-
vention on the ground that the body had plenary powers,
and cited the Convention of 1850-1 as a precedent.

Mr. George Vickers, a prominent citizen of Chester-
town, wrote several letters to the Governor advocating
the same line of action on his part, and in reply Governor
Bradford again took a like stand as to limitation of his
powers.²

The Democrats, who were now becoming better organ-
ized throughout Maryland, in their State Convention which
met in Baltimore on September 29, 1864, by a unanimous
vote passed resolutions offered by Mr. Clarke of Prince
George's in which the new Constitution was condemned,
and its defeat at the polls was urged.³ Many political
meetings were held throughout the state by both parties,
and the various newspapers contained numerous articles
for and against the Constitution, many of them contribu-
ted by the foremost men of the state. On the other
hand, the following from the Centreville (Queen Anne's
County) Observer⁴ may be taken as an instance of the atti-

² This correspondence was made public during the first week of
October. See "American," October 5, 1864.
³ "Sun" and "American" of September 30, 1864.
⁴ Quoted in "American," October 6, 1864.