Old Slave Owner's Constitution
Summary
The representation of white voters proposed in the new Constitution under consideration for the Maryland will be far greater for the slave counties of the Eastern Shore and Southern Maryland than it will be for Baltimore City and the western counties. If the new constitution is adopted "we will be sold to the late slave owners of lower Maryland." The paper predicts that after the enumeration of 1870, the inequality will be even greater. It presents figures showing the populations in various counties and estimates the increase in population needed for the western counties to simply maintain their current level of representation in the Maryland legislature. People of Washington County are warned that if they vote for the proposed constitution, they vote to sell their "rights of person and property to the old slave power of lower Maryland."
Article Source
Newspaper: The Herald and Torch Light
Publication Date: September 4th, 1867
Page/Column: 2B
Town: Hagerstown, MD
County: Washington
Subjects
- Aftermath of War / Reconstruction
