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Declaration
of Rights.
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subject nevertheless to the revision of, and amendment or
repeal by the legislature of this state; and the inhabitants of
Maryland are also entitled to all property derived to them from
or under the charter granted by his majesty Charles the first,
to Caecilius 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 for their conduct; wherefore, whenever the
ends of government are perverted, and public 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 non-resistance against
arbitrary power and oppression, is absurd, slavish, and destruc-
tive of the good and happiness of mankind.
5. That the right in the people to participate in the legisla-
ture 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 in, a common interest
with, and an attachment to the community, ought to have 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.
7. That no power of suspending laws, or the execution of
laws, unless by or derived from the legislature, ought to be
exercised or allowed.
8. That freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in the
legislature, ought not to be impeached in any other court of
judicature.
9. That a place for the meeting of the legislature ought to be
fixed, the most convenient to the members thereof, and to the
depository of the public records; and the legislature ought not
to be convened or held at any other place but from evident
necessity.
10. That for the redress of grievances, and for amending,
strengthening and preserving the laws, the legislature ought to
be frequently convened.
11. That every man hath a right to petition the legislature for
the redress of grievances in a peaceable and orderly manner.
12. That no aid. charge, tax, burthen, fee or fees, ought to
be set, rated or levied, under any pretence, without the consent
of the legislature.
13. That the levying taxes by the poll is grevious and
oppressive, and ought to be abolished; that paupers ought not
to be assessed for the support of government, but every other
person in the state ought to contribute his proportion of public
taxes, for the support of government, according to his actual
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