11/06/2024
This year marks the 160th anniversary of Maryland’s Emancipation Day, the day when the state abolished slavery. Article 24 of the Maryland Constitution of 1864 states 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.”
Throughout the Civil War and after, freedom came at different times for different groups of enslaved people. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 freed only those enslaved in states aligned with the Confederacy, excluding people enslaved in the Union. Maryland was one of the first states to abolish slavery just before the end of the Civil War, and the 1864 constitution passed by a vote of 30,174 to 28,380. Soldiers serving in the Union Army cast 2,633 votes in favor and 263 against – making the difference that established the new constitution. Congress abolished slavery nationally 91 days later, by approving the 13th Amendment for ratifications by the states on January 31, 1865. But it would be an additional 139 days before Union soldiers arrived in Texas with news of emancipation (today celebrated as Juneteenth) and a further 182 days before Secretary of State Seward announced to the world that the 13th Amendment had the approval of the required number of states and was now officially part of the US Constitution.
Juneteenth is now a federal holiday, but observances around the country commemorate the different Emancipation Days by individual states. In Maryland, for example, the annual Nace's Day in Trappe (Talbot County) honors Emancipation Day and the memory of Civil War Union veteran Nathaniel Hopkins, who first organized the local celebration on November 1, 1867. This year, the celebration is tomorrow, November 2, with the parade starting at 1 PM.
Image 1: Maryland’s 1864 constitution, article 24 ending slavery in the state; Image 2: Nathaniel "Nace" Hopkins, his wife Caroline, and his daughters Carrie and Lucretia.
