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LEGISLATURE, 23 NOVEMBER 1787
[RCS:Md., 63, 64]; and Daniel Carroll to Benjamin Franklin, 2 Decem-
ber [RCS:Md., 96-97].)
Between 23 and 27 November the House of Delegates considered
and then adopted resolutions calling a state convention to consider the
new Constitution. The Senate approved the House resolutions on 1
December. The resolutions called for the election of convention dele-
gates on 7 April 1788, while the convention was to assemble in Annap-
olis on 21 April. Each county, as in the House of Delegates, was allowed
four convention delegates while the city of Annapolis and the town of
Baltimore each could elect two delegates.
On 1 December the Senate received a petition from the inhabitants
of the town of Baltimore approving the Constitution and requesting
that a convention be called to ratify it. The petition was read in the
Senate and ordered to be sent to the House of Delegates for its con-
sideration. The petition was delivered on the same day to the House,
where it was read.
On 1 December the House of Delegates ordered that the state printer
"immediately" print 2,000 copies of the proceedings of the Constitu-
tional Convention and the General Assembly's resolutions "to be dis-
tributed for the information of the citizens of this state." The printer
in Fredericktown was directed to translate the same documents into
German and to print 300 copies "to be equally distributed in Frederick,
Washington, and Baltimore counties." (For more on these imprints,
see "The Publication and Circulation of the Constitution in Maryland,"
22 September-December [RCS:Md., 7].)
On 17 December the Maryland legislature adjourned to meet again
on the second Monday in May 1788.
Senate Proceedings, Friday, 23 November 1787 (excerpts)'
... The president lays before the senate ... and a letter from the
secretary of congress, enclosing a report of the federal convention;2
which were severally read, and sent to the house of delegates by John
Smith, Esquire....
1. Votes and Proceedings of the Senate of the State of Maryland. November Session, 1787...
(Annapolis, 1788) (Evans 21226), 4.
2. For Secretary of Congress Charles Thomson's letter of 28 September 1787, see CDR,
340, or CC:95, p. 241. For the report of the Constitutional Convention, see Appendix III
(RCS:Md., 806-19).
House of Delegates Proceedings, Friday, 23 November 1787 (excerpts)'
... Mr. T. Johnson delivers to Mr. Speaker a letter from the governor
of Virginia of the 14th instant, enclosing resolutions of the legislature
of that state respecting the federal constitution;2 which were read....
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