longest continuously operating legislative body in the United States. Originally, the assembly was unicameral, but in 1650, the Governor and his appointed council began serving as the upper house of a now bicameral legislature. These appointees had close political and economic ties to the proprietors of the Maryland colony, Cecilius Calvert and his descendants. Thus, the upper house in colonial times often disagreed with the lower house, which was elected, tended to be more populist, and pushed for greater legislative power in the colony. The upper house was briefly abolished during the English Civil War, as Puritan governors attempted to consolidate control and prevent the return of any proprietary influence. It was again abolished by Governor Josias Fendall in 1660, who sought to create a colonial government based on an elected unicameral legislature like that of the Virginia colony. The position of Governor was removed from the legislature in 1675, but for the following century, its function and powers largely remained the same. In 1776, following the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Maryland threw off proprietary control and established a new constitution. Under this new constitution, the upper house of the General Assembly first became known as the Maryland Senate. The new body consisted of fifteen senators appointed to five-year terms by an electoral college. The college, made up of two electors from each county and one each from the cities of Baltimore and Annapolis, was required to select nine senators from the western shore and six from the eastern shore. The first election under the 1776 constitution took place in 1781, and the system would not change again until 1838. In the interim, a number of problems had cropped up in the appointment process. Under the 1776 constitution, the electoral college selected all of the State Senators, and faced no restrictions, other than the geographic requirement, in how they were selected. As a result, it was commonplace for the electoral college to select a State Senate entirely composed of one political party. Only in 1826, when National Republicans won a majority on the electoral college with a pledge to elect a balanced Senate, was more than one party represented. That year, the electoral college selected 11 National Republicans and four Federalists. Additionally, all vacancies in the State Senate were filled by the Senate itself, which frequently resulted in a disproportionately