ESTABLISHMENT OF THE OFFICE


An economic recession of 1833-1834, which many politicians blamed on President Andrew Jackson's closing of the National Bank, paved the way for the Whigs to assume power in the Maryland legislature. Within the next few years political reform became a hotly debated  issue. According to the Constitution of 1776, each county in Maryland was allotted four delegates to the House of Delegates regardless of its population. Delegates from rural counties of southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore, voting as a bloc, tended to dominate the General Assembly at the expense of more populated counties. Senators were selected indirectly by elected Senate electors, a process increasingly seen as undemocratic. Furthermore, the constitution called for the governor and the members of his council to be chosen annually by the General Assembly, a method favoring the party in control of the legislature.

Constitutional reform was the dominate issue in the election of 1836 and in the subsequent legislative session. Democrats used reform proposals to try to gain control of the legislature when they campaigned in the more populous counties. But, the election results for delegates gave the Whigs a five seat majority. In the election for senate electors, Democrats won by 4,000 votes, but came out with only nineteen electors to the Whigs' twenty-one because they were chosen on a county basis. This development displeased the Democrats who foresaw that a Whig senate would be in place until 1841. The rules for the electors specified a quorum of twenty-four. To stymie the process, the nineteen Democrat electors refused to meet with the Whigs, thus preventing the selection of new senators. Whig Governor Thomas W. Veazey ordered the existing senate to continue serving until the dilemma could be resolved. Eventually, four Democrat senate electors conceded defeat and joined the Whigs to select the senators.

Amid an atmosphere of "reform or revolution," the Whig dominated Senate debated the merits of abolishing the Governor's Council and replacing it with a newly created position of Secretary of State. On January 17, 1837, the Senate considered a committee report:

The Senate committee on the constitution unanimously concur in the opinion, that the Council to the Governor may well be abolished. The framers of the constitution considered it unsafe and inexpedient to confide to any man, however exalted, the uncontrolled and absolute power of conferring all the executive appointments. In this sentiment, your committee fully concur. But experience has shown, that the same check to executive independency may be found in the action the Senate; by requiring, that all appointments shall be made, by and with their advice and consent. When acting upon executive business, they would be sitting as a council to the Governor, and not in the exercise of legislative functions.... The abolition of the council would, of course, destroy the office, now known to the constitution, of Clerk to the Council. In his stead, a Secretary of State would be necessary; and to him might be confided the archives of the State; and he might also be entrusted with the performance of various and important duties. Such an officer is known to the laws of several States--and, it is believed, with great convenience.
Ironically, it was a Whig dominated Senate that passed the Reform Act of 1837. The constitutional amendment called for the popular election of a new Senate in 1838 and the election of one-third of the Senate biennially thereafter. It also established the popular election of a new Governor in 1838, limited the term to three years, and, to prevent any section of the state from dominating the executive branch, instituted a plan for alternating election of a new Governor among three geographically distinct gubernatorial districts. The law abolished the Governor's Council and created the office of the Secretary of State. The Governor was given one calendar month, from its passage, to appoint someone for the Senate's approval.
 
 

FIRST OFFICEHOLDER


 


The first appointment of a Secretary of State under the constitutional amendment did not go smoothly as the governor and senate asserted their respective political prerogatives. On March 14, 1838, at 4 p.m. the Senate informed Governor Veazey that according to the new law (Ch. 84, Acts of 1837) he had one calendar month, after the act took effect, to nominate a Secretary of State. The Senate reminded the governor that the time period was expiring that day. Governor Veazey replied with a different opinion. He calculated the calendar month from the passage of the engrossed bill which occurred on February 28.  Joseph H. Nicholson, Clerk of the Senate, acknowledged Veazey's response at 8 p.m., and reiterated the Senate's position. Veazey then submitted the nomination of Thomas Culbreth, former clerk of the Governor's Council. At 9:45 p.m. the Senate denied the nomination and informed Veazey that it would remain in session to await another name. The Governor countered by having Nicholson verbally inform the Senate that "he [Veazey] should not, that night, if ever, make another nomination to them for the Office of the Secretary of State."

On March 19 Governor Veazey formally acknowledged the Senate action and elaborated in detail about his opinion on he effective dates of engrossed bills. Nine days later on March 28, the true deadline according to his argument, the governor nominated John C. Groome as Secretary of State. The Senate immediately gave its approval, and ended its legislative session on March 30. Suspiciously four days later on April 3 Governor Veazey appointed John H. Culbreth, the son of his original choice, as Secretary of State, "vice John C. Groome declined." By declining Groome never held the office. Another source, cited below, indicated a resignation from the position. If he indeed resigned, then Groome must be considered the first Secretary of State, albeit for an abbreviated period.

On October 6, Culbreth resigned as Secretary of State and the governor appointed Joseph H. Nicholson in his place. The governor's appointment powers included the right to fill vacancies when the senate was in recess, subject to its approval at the next session. On January 3, 1839 Governor Veazey submitted the appointments made in the Senate's absence, including those of Culbreth and Nicholson. In his message Veazey recommended that Nicholson remain as Secretary of State until his successor could be appointed by the next governor who took office on January 7. There are two versions of Governor Veazey's address to the Senate; in one of them Groome resigns as Secretary of State, and in the other he declines to accept the position. One account appeared in the Proceedings of the Governor:

To the Senate of Maryland:
   I herewith submit for the consideration of the Senate, a list of the appointments which I have made since the adjournment of the Senate on the 30th of March last, in virtue of the power vested in me by the constitution. And now I nominate the several persons therein mentioned, (or so many of them as it may be thought necessary to recommission,) to be appointed, by and with the advise and consent of the Senate, to the offices respectively attached to their names.
  John C. Groome having declined to accept the office of Secretary of State, to which he had been appointed by and with the advice and consent of the last Senate, on the 3rd day of April last I appointed John H. Culbreth to fill the vacancy. Mr. Culbreth resigned on the 6th day of October last and on the 8th day of the same month I appointed Joseph H. Nicholson Secretary of State....
The second account was recorded by the Senate in its executive proceedings:

To the Senate of Maryland,
   I herewith submit for the consideration of the Senate, a list of the appointments which I have made since the adjournment of the Senate on the 30th of March last, in virtue of the power vested in me by the constitution. And now I nominate the several persons therein mentioned, (or so many of them as it may be thought necessary to recommission,) to be appointed, by and with the advise and consent of the Senate, to the offices respectively attached to their names.
   John C. Groome having resigned the office of Secretary of State, to which he had been appointed, by and with the advise and consent of the Senate, on the 3d day of April last, I appointed John H. Culbreth to fill the vacancy. Mr. Culbreth also resigned on the 6th day of October last; and on the 8th day of the same month, I appointed Joseph H. Nicholson, Secretary of State....
Firm resolution of which version is accurate awaits further research.
 

Sources:
Governor (Proceedings) 1838-1839 [MSA S1072-1]
General Assembly, Senate (Journal of Proceedings) 1836 [MSA L3132]
General Assembly, Senate (Journal of  Executive Proceedings) 1837 [MSA L3131]
Everstine, Carl N. The General Assembly of Maryland 1776-1850. Charlottesville, VA: The Michie Company, 1982.
Walsh, Richard and William Lloyd Fox, eds. Maryland: A History. Annapolis: Hall of Records Commission, 1983.
White, Frank F., Jr. The Governors of Maryland 1777-1970. Annapolis: Hall of records Commission, 1970.