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- Us history to 1877
- Us history to 1877
- Ch. 3 british colonial america
Maryland
Maryland (named after Henry VIII's Catholic daughter Mary) was founded in 1634 by George Calvert and his son Cecilius (the second Lord Baltimore), staunch Catholics, as a refuge for England's Roman Catholics. Like Virginia, tobacco was wildly successful in Maryland. And not unlike Virginia, Maryland initially had a difficult time in growing its population, thus Maryland's leaders decided on employing the indentured servant strategy. One reason why so few people migrated to British colonial America was the cost -they could not afford the cost of the venture. SO what Maryland did was to pay for poor people to move to Maryland. Once in the colony, indentured servants undertook a debt -they had to pay back the costs of getting them to Maryland. So, indentured servants would work for the person holding the debt for a period of three to seven years. Less time if the labor was intensive (such as tobacco harvesting) or longer if the work was less demanding (such as being a nanny for the children). After the debt was paid in full, the owner of the debt would give the debtor a new set of clothes and new tools and be set free to find their own success in Maryland. Like the ex-prisoners in Virginia the ex-indentured servants in Maryland began moving west, which meant they came into increasing contact with Indians. However the biggest example of strife in colonial Maryland was the story of William Clayborne. Clayborne was a Virginian and a few years before the establishment of Maryland, Clayborne established a trading post on Kent Island, in the Chesapeake -territory that would become part of Maryland and land that Clayborne was merely squatting on. Lord Baltimore instructed Clayborne to leave, Clayborne refused (in part due to the backing of the Virginia governor). In 1635 Clayborne and his Virginia supporters and elements of the Maryland government clashed, resulting in the deaths of several men and the capture of the Virginians by the men from Maryland. In 1649, the same year that in British history King Charles I was put to death, witnessed the famous Toleration Act in Maryland. By this act, the toleration of all Christian sects, a privilege that the people had enjoyed in practice since the founding of the colony, was recognized by law.
The Toleration Act was very liberal for that period, but it would not be so considered in our times. For example, it did not "tolerate" one who did not believe in the Trinity, the penalty for this offense being death. Anyone speaking reproachfully concerning the Virgin Mary or any of the Apostles or Evangelists was to be punished by a fine, or, in default of payment, by a public whipping and imprisonment. The calling of anyone a heretic, Puritan, Independent, Popish priest, Baptist, Lutheran, Calvinist, and the like, in a "reproachful manner", was punished by a light fine, half of which was to be paid to the person or persons offended, or by a public whipping and imprisonment until apology was made to the offended. This act was drawn up under the directions of Cecilius Calvert himself; it was probably a compromise between the Catholic party and the Puritans, who, driven from Virginia by Berkeley, had arrived in Maryland in large numbers. This was the first law of its kind enacted in America, and it was in force, with brief intervals of suspense, for many years (http://www.usahistory.info/southern/Maryland.html). Many historians see the Act of Toleration not so much as Maryland's views on religion but rather the Catholics attempts to ensure that their religious beliefs would not be trampled under the boot of an increasing number of immigrants who were Protestant.
Source:
OpenStax, Us history to 1877. OpenStax CNX. Jan 20, 2013 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11483/1.1
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