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The current Constitution of the State of Maryland, which was ratified by the people of the state on September 18, 1867, forms the basic law for the U.S. state of Maryland. It replaced the short-lived Maryland Constitution of 1864 and is the fourth constitution under which the state has been governed. It was last amended in 2024.
The 1776 constitution defined the Maryland General Assembly, a bicameral legislature consisting of the Maryland House of Delegates and Maryland State Senate. It acknowledged the power of county governments in administering their own affairs, and called for separate treasurers and land registrars on Maryland's Eastern and Western Shores.
The government of Maryland is conducted according to the Maryland Constitution.The United States is a federation; consequently, the government of Maryland, like the other 49 state governments, has exclusive authority over matters that lie entirely within the state's borders, except as limited by the Constitution of the United States.
St. Mary's City was the largest settlement in Maryland and the seat of colonial government until 1695. Because Anglicanism had become the official religion in Virginia, a band of Puritans in 1649 left for Maryland; they founded Providence (now called Annapolis). [25] In 1650 the Puritans revolted against the proprietary government.
The Maryland Declaration of Right was created at the 1776 Assembly of Freemen in Annapolis. On August 1, 1776, freemen with property in Maryland elected 76 delegates.They met from August 14 to November 11 and during that time drafted and approved the new Maryland's first constitution—of which the Declaration of Rights is the lead statement. [1]
Stone accepted election to the Maryland Senate from 1779 until 1785, at first in order to promote the Articles of Confederation, which Maryland was the last state to approve. But he gave up the practice of law to care for his wife and children. As her health continued to decline, he gradually withdrew from public life.
Maryland was the last hold-out; it refused to ratify until Virginia and New York agreed to rescind their claims to lands in what became the Northwest Territory. Maryland would later accept the United States Constitution more readily, ratifying it on April 28, 1788.
As one of the original Thirteen Colonies, Maryland was founded by George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, a Catholic convert [13] [14] who sought to provide a religious haven for Catholics persecuted in England. [15] In 1632, Charles I of England granted Lord Baltimore a colonial charter, naming the colony after his wife, Henrietta Maria. [16]