Maryland House of Delegates
lower house of the Maryland General Assembly
The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, which serves as the meeting place of the Maryland General Assembly. The State House also houses the Maryland State Senate and the offices of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the State of Maryland. Each delegate has offices in Annapolis, in the nearby Casper R. Taylor Jr. House Office Building.
History
17th century
The Maryland House of Delegates originated as the Lower House of the General Assembly of the Province of Maryland in 1650, when it was an English colony, when the Assembly (legislature) became a bicameral body. The Lower House often fought with the Upper House for political influence in the colony. The Upper House consisted of the Governor and his Council, all personally appointed by Lord Baltimore and Proprietor of the Province, and thus tended to protect his interests in Maryland. Conversely, the Lower House tended to push for political change in the colony, claiming to be the true elected representatives of the people.
The public source identifies “Maryland House of Delegates” as lower house of the Maryland General Assembly. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Maryland, House and Delegates.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Maryland House of Delegates”, the useful work is to connect “lower house of the Maryland General Assembly” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q165752. VIAF identifies the subject as 137811177. The Library of Congress control number is n80051017. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1650.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Maryland House of Delegates”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Maryland House of Delegates primary sources, Maryland House of Delegates archive and Maryland research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Maryland House of Delegates”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Maryland House of Delegates” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.