THE DECLARATION OF RIGHTS,
Agreed to by the Delegates of Maryland in free and full Convention
November 3d, Anno Domini 1776.
THE Parliament of Great Britain, by a declaratory
act, having assumed a
right to make laws to bind the Colonies in all cases whatsoever, and
of such claim endeavoured by force of arms to subjugate the United
to an unconditional submission to their will and power, and having
length constrained them to declare themselves Independent States, and
Government under the authority of the People, Therefore WE, the Delegates
of Maryland, in free and full Convention assembled, taking into our
most serious consideration the best means of establishing a good Constitution
this state, for the surer foundation, and more permanent security thereof,
1. That all government of right originates
from the people, is founded in
compact only, and instituted solely for the good of the whole.
2. That the people of this state ought to have
the sole and exclusive right of
regulating the internal government and police thereof.
3. That the inhabitants of Maryland are entitled
to the common law of England,
and the trial by jury according to the course of that law, and to the
of such of the English statutes as existed at the time of their first
and which by experience have been found applicable to their local and
other circumstances, and of such others as have been since made in
or Great Britain, and have been introduced, used and practised by the
of law or equity; and also to all acts of assembly in force on the
first of June,
seventeen hundred and seventy-four, except such as may have since expired,
have been, or may be altered by acts of convention, or this declaration
rights; subject nevertheless to the revision of, and amendment or repeal
legislature of this state; and the inhabitants of Maryland are also
all property derived to them from or under the charter granted by his
Charles the first, to Cæcilius Calvert, baron of Baltimore.
4. That all persons invested with the legislative
or executive powers of
government, are the trustees of the public, and as such accountable
conduct, wherefore, whenever the ends of government are perverted,
liberty manifestly endangered, and all other means of redress are ineffectual,
the people may, and of right ought, to reform the old, or establish
a new government;
the doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power and oppression,
is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
5. That the right in the people to participate
in the legislature is the best security
of liberty, and the foundation of all free government; for this purpose
elections ought to be free and frequent, and every man having property
a common interest with, and an attachment to, the community, ought
a right of suffrage.
6. That the legislative, executive and judicial
powers of government, ought
to be for ever separate and distinct from each other.
(a) As far as this part of
the declaration made the right of suffrage depend on the having property
in, as well as a common interest with, and an attachment
to, the community is altered
by the acts of 1809, ch. 83, and confirmed by 1810, ch.