The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1930-10-23
An Interesting Fact
THE FRANCHISE.

| The right OF FRANCHISE is a sacred
privilege which, when intelligently
and conscientiously exercised, tends
to insure righteous government and
protection to our republican institu-
lions, but it carries with it grave re-
sponsibilities.
Article l of our Constitution pro-
vides that every citizen of Maryland
of the age of twenty-one years or up
wards, who has been a resident of
the State for one year, and of the
Legislative District of Baltimore City
or of any county in which he may Of
fer to vote, for six months next pre-
ceding the election, shall be entitled
to vote, etc. Originally the word "cit-
izen" was qualified by two words,
'white" and "male." But the former
became imperative under the 18th
Amendment and the latter under the
Nineteenth Amendment of the Con-
stitution of the United States. There
is limitation, however, under Sec
ton 2 of the Article which provides
that "No person above the age Of
twenty-one years, convicted of larceny
or other infamous crime, unless par
doned by the Governor, shall never
thereafter be entitled to vote at any
election in this State; and no person
under guardianship, as lunatic, or
as a person non compos mentis, shall
be entitled to vote"
However, the qualifications of a
voters were not always as democratic
as under our present Constitution. In
1869, Charles Calvert determined to
limit the suffrage to such freemen as
owned at least fifty acres of land or
personal property to the value OF
about three hundred dollars in mod
ern currency. This deliberate attempt
tn extend the powers of the aristoc-
racy and curb the elective power of the
masses is not surprising, for it us
entirely natural to presume that the
early rulers of Maryland brought
with them to the New World some of
the aristocratic teachings of the Old
World. -...
1t is interesting to note that CEN
fury later, when the election was held
in connection with the Constitution of
1776, those disqualified to vote in the
respective counties were freemen of
twenty-one years and over, who had
fifty acres of land in freehold or prop
erty to the value of fifty pounds.
It was not until twenty-five years
later that this undemocratic voting
qualification was abolished. Following
the election of Thomas Jefferson as
President (made possible, by the way,
by the votes of the representatives
from Maryland an amendment to the
State Constitution in 1901 gave the
suffrage to "every free white male
citizen of the State, and no other,
above twenty-one years Of age" etc.
At the same time the ballot was sub
stituted for the viva voce procedure.
Thus the direct influence of the veal
thy in government was eliminated.
Following the closing of the pro-
vost marshal's office in Baltimore in
the beginning of 1866, and the proc
lamation by the President on April
2 of that year that the rebellion"
was at an end, it followed that those
who had raised themselves to power
by fraud or force, must devise some
means to hold that power. Being no
longer able to appeal to the military,
they attempted to restrict the fran
chise. In fact, prior to that time, in
1865, about two-thirds of the voters
of the State were disqualified under
the prescribed forms of registration.
In 1870 the Fifteenth Amendment to
the Constitution of the United States
was adopted, providing that "The
right of citizens of the United States
to vote shall not be denied or abridg-
ed by the United States or by any
State on account of race, color or pre-
vious condition of servitude." Thus
the negro, only removed from slav-
cry by few years, was given the
right to vote.
But still universal suffrage was not
to be. 1t was not until fifty years
later that the Nineteenth Amendment
to the Constitution was adopted
which provided that "The right of cit
liens of the United States to vote
shall not be denied by the United
States or any State on account of
SEX"
So it is that all citizens of the
United States, properly qualified and
not within the prohibited classes, are
entitled to vote.
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