Maryland Constitution: History, Structure, and Key Provisions

Maryland has operated under four separate constitutions since statehood — a fact that quietly distinguishes it from states that treat their founding document as permanent architecture. The current constitution, ratified in 1867, has been amended more than 200 times and remains the governing legal framework for every branch of state government. This page covers the document's structure, its major provisions, how it distributes power, and where its internal tensions surface in practice.

• Definition and scope
• Core mechanics or structure
• Causal relationships or drivers
• Classification boundaries
• Tradeoffs and tensions
• Common misconceptions
• Checklist or steps
• Reference table or matrix

Definition and scope

Maryland's Constitution is the supreme law of the state — the document that authorizes government power, distributes it across three branches, and defines its outer limits. It sits beneath the U.S. Constitution in the hierarchy of law (per the Supremacy Clause of Article VI) but above every Maryland statute, regulation, and local ordinance. When a law conflicts with it, the law loses.

The document ratified in 1867 replaced three predecessors: the 1776 constitution (adopted in the same month the Continental Congress was debating independence), the 1851 revision, and the 1864 constitution — the last of which was drafted during Union occupation and carried provisions specific to that moment, including loyalty oaths for voters. The 1867 constitution was a deliberate rollback of some of those wartime measures, adopted by a convention seated in Annapolis within two years of the Civil War's end.

The scope of this page is Maryland state constitutional law. Federal constitutional questions, interstate compacts, and the internal charters of Maryland's 23 counties and Baltimore City — while they interact with the state constitution — are governed by separate legal frameworks and are not covered here. For a broader orientation to how Maryland's government is organized across branches and jurisdictions, the Maryland State Authority Homepage provides a starting point for navigating the state's institutional landscape.

Core mechanics or structure

The 1867 constitution is organized into a Declaration of Rights followed by seven articles. The Declaration of Rights — 47 articles long — functions as Maryland's bill of rights and predates the document itself as a concept, tracing back to the 1776 founding. It guarantees freedom of speech, prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, and — in Article 46, added in 1972 — establishes equal rights regardless of sex.

Article I establishes suffrage and elections. Article II defines the executive branch, vesting power in a Governor elected to a four-year term, with a limit of two consecutive terms under an amendment adopted in 1954. The Governor appoints the heads of principal departments and holds line-item veto authority over appropriations bills — a meaningful power given Maryland's budget process. Article III creates the General Assembly: a 47-member Senate and a 141-member House of Delegates (Maryland General Assembly). The legislature convenes annually beginning the second Wednesday of January, with a 90-day session limit. Article IV organizes the judiciary, establishing a court system that runs from the District Court through Circuit Courts to the Appellate Court of Maryland and the Supreme Court of Maryland (renamed from Court of Appeals by constitutional amendment in 2022). Articles V through VII address the Attorney General, State Treasurer, and miscellaneous provisions including local government authority.

Amendments require approval by three-fifths of both chambers of the General Assembly, followed by ratification by a majority of voters in the next general election — or, alternatively, a constitutional convention. Maryland has held four such conventions (1776, 1851, 1864, and 1867) but none since.

Causal relationships or drivers

Each of Maryland's four constitutions was a response to a specific political rupture, not an exercise in abstract constitutional theory.

The 1776 document was written in eleven days by a committee including Charles Carroll of Carrollton and Matthew Tilghman, responding to the immediate need to replace royal authority with something functional. It created a bicameral legislature with a conservative Senate — the upper chamber had electoral college-style indirect election — deliberately designed to insulate property holders from majoritarian pressure.

The 1851 revision dismantled much of that insulation, shifting toward popular election of judges and other officials, reflecting Jacksonian democratic currents that were reshaping state constitutions across the country during the same decade.

The 1864 constitution was the instrument of a Unionist government operating under conditions that were, charitably, irregular. It abolished slavery in Maryland — a year ahead of the 13th Amendment — and disenfranchised Confederate sympathizers through loyalty oaths. Its ratification margin was narrow enough that its legitimacy was disputed at the time.

The 1867 constitution restored voting rights to former Confederates, removed loyalty oath requirements, and re-established a more conservative structural framework. That political context is baked into the document's bones — including its relatively weak executive provisions compared to states that constitutionalized strong governors later in the 19th century.

The Maryland Government Authority covers the operational structure of Maryland's branches in depth, including how constitutional provisions translate into day-to-day agency function, rulemaking authority, and intergovernmental relationships — making it a useful companion to the structural analysis here.

Classification boundaries

Maryland's constitution occupies a specific tier in a layered legal structure:

• Above it: The U.S. Constitution and federal law (Supremacy Clause, Article VI)
• At its level: No state law can supersede it; only a constitutional amendment process can change it
• Below it: Maryland statutes (Annotated Code of Maryland), Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR), county charters, and municipal ordinances

County charters are worth noting separately. Maryland's 23 counties and Baltimore City operate under either code county status or charter county status. Charter counties — including Montgomery, Prince George's, Baltimore, and Howard — have constitutionally granted home rule authority under Article XI-A, added in 1915. That article permits charter counties to enact local legislation without General Assembly approval on matters of local concern, but the state constitution sets the outer boundary of what "local concern" can encompass.

Baltimore City occupies a legally unusual position. Under Article XI-E, the city functions as an independent jurisdiction separate from Baltimore County — a distinction embedded in the constitution itself and not alterable by ordinary statute. The Maryland County Government Structure page addresses how this plays out across Maryland's 24 jurisdictions.

Tradeoffs and tensions

The most persistent structural tension in the 1867 constitution involves the relationship between the legislature and the executive in the budget process. Under Article III, Section 52, the Governor submits the budget bill, and the General Assembly cannot increase any item in it — only reduce or delete appropriations. This makes Maryland's constitution unusually governor-centric in fiscal terms: the Governor proposes, the legislature can only cut. Political scientists and budget analysts have repeatedly noted this asymmetry as one of the stronger executive budget powers among all 50 states (National Conference of State Legislatures, NCSL Budget Procedures).

A second tension runs through the Declaration of Rights. Article 46's equal rights amendment, ratified in 1972, applies to sex discrimination under state law — but its interaction with other Declaration of Rights provisions, particularly Article 36 on religious freedom, has generated litigation when religious institutions claim exemptions from state anti-discrimination requirements. Maryland courts have navigated this without a definitive resolution that fully subordinates one provision to the other.

The amendment process itself creates a structural tension between flexibility and stability. With more than 200 amendments ratified since 1867, the document has accumulated significant specificity — including provisions governing the specific number of judges on certain courts and detailed fiscal rules — that would, in a more streamlined constitution, be left to statute. Critics of this pattern, including the Maryland Constitutional Convention Study Commission in 1967, argued for a wholesale revision; Maryland voters rejected the resulting proposal in 1968.

Common misconceptions

Misconception: The 1776 constitution is still in force in some provisions.
It is not. Maryland's current constitution is entirely the 1867 document as amended. The 1776 constitution is historically significant and referenced frequently, but it carries no operative legal authority.

Misconception: Maryland's Governor can veto any legislation.
The Governor holds a general veto power, but it is subject to override by a three-fifths vote of both chambers — not a simple majority. The Governor also holds line-item veto authority specifically for appropriations bills, which functions differently from the general veto.

Misconception: The Declaration of Rights is equivalent to the federal Bill of Rights.
The Maryland Declaration of Rights is older than the federal Bill of Rights (1776 vs. 1791) and contains 47 articles — substantially more provisions. Some protections are broader under the Maryland document than under federal interpretation; Maryland courts apply independent state constitutional analysis and are not bound by federal Fourth Amendment case law when interpreting Article 26 of the Declaration of Rights.

Misconception: Constitutional amendments require a referendum every time.
Amendments proposed by the General Assembly require a voter referendum at the next general election. However, under Article XIV, a constitutional convention can be convened — and convention proposals ratified — through a different process. Maryland voters last approved calling a convention in 1967; the resulting proposals were rejected at referendum in 1968.

Checklist or steps

The following sequence describes the constitutional amendment process under Article XIV of the Maryland Constitution:

• A proposed amendment is introduced as a bill in the General Assembly
• The bill must receive approval by three-fifths of the members of both the Senate (29 of 47) and the House of Delegates (85 of 141)
• The approved amendment is published and distributed to voters before the election
• The amendment is placed on the ballot at the next general election
• A majority of voters casting ballots on the question must approve the amendment
• Upon certification of the vote, the amendment becomes part of the constitution
• Alternatively, the General Assembly may submit the question of calling a constitutional convention to voters; if approved, delegates are elected and the convention proceeds under Article XIV procedures

Reference table or matrix

References

• Maryland State Archives — Maryland Constitution of 1867 (full text)
• Maryland State Archives — Maryland Manual Online: Constitutional History
• Maryland General Assembly — Official Website
• National Conference of State Legislatures — State Budget Procedures
• Maryland Courts — Court Structure Overview
• Annotated Code of Maryland — Maryland General Assembly
• Maryland Department of Legislative Services — Constitutional Amendments Reference