History of Western Maryland. J. Thomas Scharf

      The election was a severe blow to the friends of the new county. They had not anticipated defeat: indeed, they thought that the measure would be approved by a large majority of the voters. They did not make sufficient allowance for county attachments and the influence of tradition, nor did they properly estimate the jealousy of other villages and the prejudice and fear of increased taxation, but they were not dismayed by the disaster. They now knew both their weakness and strength, and they went manfully to work to retrieve their mistakes. More meetings were called, the people were reasoned with, and a public sentiment created in favor of the measure in places where the stoutest opposition had been developed. In 1835 the Whigs nominated Dr. William Willis as a member of the House of Delegates from Frederick County, and the Democrats nominated Isaac Shriver. They were both elected, many of the friends of the new county voting for them. Willis and Shriver, with their colleagues, Robert Annan and Daniel Duvall, originated and boldly pressed another bill on the attention of the Legislature. By this act a large portion of the Liberty District in Frederick County and all of the New Market District were excluded from the limits of the new county by making the Buffalo road the line from Sam's Creek to Parr's Spring, and thus' were removed the objections of the people residing in those districts, who were almost unanimously opposed to separation from the old county. The delegates were supported in their action by a petition containing 1800 names, and after laboring diligently during the whole session they had the satisfaction of procuring the passage of the bill by both branches of the Legislature.

      A confirmatory act by the next Legislature was necessary before the bill could become a law, and it was expected that the measure would have to encounter determined opposition, especially from the representatives of Baltimore County, as the project was strongly opposed there, and her representatives considered themselves under obligations, if possible, to defeat it.

      The political campaign of 1836 was one of the most exciting and closely-contested struggles that has ever taken place in the State, and resulted in important changes of the organic law. Senatorial electors were to be chosen, two from each county, who were to meet in Annapolis and select the Senate, then consisting of fifteen members. The Whigs of Frederick County nominated Evan McKinstry and Gideon Bantz, and the Democrats, John Fisher and Casper Quynn. A strong party in favor of reform in the State Constitution caused the election of Fisher and Quynn. Of the whole number of electors the Whigs elected twenty-one and the Democrats nineteen. The constitution prescribed that twenty-four electors should constitute a quorum. The electors met in Annapolis, but the nineteen Democrats claimed a majority of the senators as Reformers, inasmuch as they represented a large majority of the popular vote of the State, and declined to enter the electoral college until their proposition was granted. The Whigs indignantly refused to accede to their demand, and the Democrats left for their homes in a body, receiving from their friends the appellation of the " Glorious Nineteen."

      The withdrawal of the Democrats from Annapolis produced a profound sensation in Maryland. By the Whigs it was considered revolutionary, and many persons became alarmed. The Whig friends of the new county were afraid that it would cause the rejection of their favorite scheme.

      When the Whig and Democratic senatorial electors were nominated in Frederick County a ticket was named by each party for the House of Delegates. The Whig ticket was composed of Jacob Matthias, Francis Brengle, Joshua Doub, and George Bowlus. Isaac Shriver was again placed on the Democratic ticket. Francis Thomas, afterwards Governor of Maryland, was at that time the leader of the Democracy in the western portion of the State. The action of the Democratic electors, and the feeling in the party consequent thereupon, led him to believe that the time was ripe for a change in the constitution. He therefore advised the withdrawal of the Democratic legislative ticket, and proposed instead the selection of delegates to a Constitutional Convention at the regular election. This was done, and the Whig delegates in Frederick County were elected without opposition. In other portions of the State the secession of the 'Glorious Nineteen" was not regarded with favor, and the reaction in public sentiment gave the Whigs a large majority in the House of Delegates, a number of counties in which they had been defeated at the September elections sending solid Whig delegations to Annapolis.

      Five of the Democratic senatorial electors considered themselves instructed by this decisive manifestation of the will of the people, and agreed to unite with the twenty-one Whigs and elect a Senate. William Schley, of Frederick, and Elias Brown, of Baltimore County, were chosen as two of the fifteen senators. The proposition to hold a Constitutional Convention was abandoned. It was conceded, however, that some reform was needed, and accordingly, upon the assembling of the Legislature, Governor Veazy, in his annual message, recommended that the election of Governor and senators should be given to the people, and that Carroll County be created, so as to diminish the size of the largest two counties and give an addition of four members to the popular branch of the Legislature. These measures received the sanction of public approval, the constitution was amended to meet the views of the Governor, and the confirmatory act creating Carroll County passed the House of Delegates by a majority of twenty-eight, and every senator, with the exception of Elias Brown, cast his vote in favor of it. It was signed by the Governor, and became a law Jan. 19, 1837, so that in all probability the course pursued by the " Glorious Nineteen," instead of proving adverse to the creation of the new; county, had the tendency to bring to its support, as a conciliatory measure, many of the representatives from the smaller counties of the State. This long deferred victory was hailed with demonstrations of delight by the citizens of Westminster and the surrounding country. It was celebrated by a procession, with arches, banners, and an illumination, and an address was delivered in the Old Union church by James Raymond.

      The following is the act of Assembly, passed March 25, 1836, for the creation of Carroll County: