Maryland Constitution of 1864

A controversial product of the Civil War and in effect only until 1867, when the state's present constitution was adopted, the 1864 document was short-lived.

The document outlawed slavery, disenfranchised Southern sympathizers, and reapportioned the General Assembly based upon the number of white inhabitants.

This provision further diminished the power of the small counties where the majority of the state's large former slave population lived.

The language in the constitution that outlawed slavery in the state was contained in a "Declaration of Rights", and it said, "That hereafter, in this State, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except in punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted; and all persons held to service or labor as slaves, are hereby declared free."

[2] It also made it difficult for them to regain the full rights of citizenship, and it required office-holders to take a new oath of allegiance to support the state and union and to repudiate the rebellion.