Maryland Toleration Act: Summary And Analysis

In 1632 Maryland officially became a proprietary colony which meant that an individual was awarded and possesed governmental control of the land. The authority was given to Cecilius Calvert who happen to be a Catholic and was the son of King Charles I. As his father was the first Baron Baltimore he became the second Baron Baltimore. He did not exclude Protestants from Maryland, restrict them in the exercise of their religion, nor et up a Roman Catholic establishment (Johnson, 1876). “The charter gave him ... “full, free, and absolute power,” including control of trade and the right to initiate all legislation, with an elected assembly confined to approving or disapproving his proposals” (Foner, 2016, p. 63). Calvert's image of Maryland was

for it to become a shelter for harassed coreligionists and anticipated it to become a place where Protestants and Catholics could live in peace (Foner, 2016). As people began to settle into Maryland a majority of them were Catholic, along with few priests. However, as the population increased, Puritans began to surpass the Catholics. Puritans were protestants who desired to clear the Church of England from its “Catholic” practices.

One of the primal clues that Calvert along with his brother, Leonard Calvert who became the colony’s first governor, planned to practice a policy of toleration was including Calvert’s directions “to be silent” on objects of religion in the organization of the Protestants settlers.

With that being said, Calvert warned Leonard to be careful to secure unity and peace’ between Catholics and Protestants (Hartsock

1993).

With time more and more Protestants began to increase Calvert greeted fairly up to appoint a mostly Protestant government (Schwarz, 1999).

William Stone became the first Protestant governor. This lead to the making of the Maryland Toleration Act. This act was passed on April 21, 1649, which became an act of religious tolerance where it only applied to Christians who believed in the Trinity. "And whereas the inforcing of the Conscience in matter of Religion hath frequently fallen out to bee of dangerous Consequence in those Commonwealths where it hath beene practised . . . no person or persons whatsoever within this Province . . . professing to believe in Jesus Christ shall from henceforth be any waies troubled, molested or discountenanced, for or in respect of his or her Religion." (Schwarz, 1999). This meaning that any of the settlers who spoke bad of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, or the Virgin Mary would be punished. The punishments varied from being fined, whipped, or even imprisoned.

Christians used this law to hide behind it and felt protected, although people from other religions were practicing their own religion at a very high risk. In one occasion the Toleration act was utilized to try and prosecute Jacob Lumbrozo who was a non-Christian. Lumbrozo was a Jew who was accused of implying that Jesus was not the son of God and the New Testament was nothing but fake. By the end of the trial Calvert decided to drop the charges and at some point Lumbrozo gained full citizenship

in the colony (Modern, 2016).

Eventually policy for religious liberty reached its failure, as Puritan Oliver Cromwell securely took control in England and Puritans steadily increased its population they seized Maryland’s colonial government in 1653 (Schwarz, 1999). Just five years after the Maryland Toleration Act was passed, the Act was revoked. With this the Puritans banned the Roman Catholics to practice their religion or live in the colony. However, the Act was then established until 1692, which was after the England's Protestant Revolution. Ultimately Maryland’s official religion became Anglicanism.

“In English-speaking countries, an assertive and diverse range of social challenges have been presented by religion since the late 60s (Mortensen, 2014). The Maryland Toleration Act of 1649 played a major role in what seemed to have grown the separation between church and state to defend the freedom for the Catholics. St. Mary’s became the only seventeenth-century settlement in British North America who had a very strong Catholic population and became one-quarter of the population throughout the period under study (Terrar, 1993). They became inspired by the way the economic and religion aspects were set up in the community. The majority of the Catholics in Maryland were born and grew up in England with restrictions of their religion. In England it became illegal for Catholic priests to learn more of the religion or for experienced priests to minister (Gerber, 1993).

In 1650, William Stone along with his councillors, burgesses, and thirty-eight freemen Protestants signed a ‘Protestant Declaration’ and sent it to the Cromwellian Parlement. With this declaration was to protect the Calvert administration and proclaimed they had total ‘freedom and liberty in the exercises of our religion’ (Hartsock). Two years before the act was passed Charles I of England was executed and the English Civil War occured. Pastoral services by the established church was abandoned creating this as one of the issues during the English Civil War of the 1640s (Terrar, 1993). The two main causes for the English Civil War was religion and Royal authority. Charles the first believed he was King by the will of God and any of his decisions could not be questioned. Religion was the greater cause for this war, the conflict between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.

James II of England was replaced from the throne with William of Orange. With William on the throne, Calvert sent an emissary directing the colony to pledge allegiance to the new king. However, the emissary died in route and Calvent was not aware of it, therefore, the colonist did not receive an official notice (Hartsock, 1993). This was leading to a rebellion of the Maryland Puritan Protestants as they ignored Calvert’s rule. The term ‘popery’ in Stuart England was more than only fear of Catholics and the church, it was a theory that Catholics were constantly planning the overthrow of the church and state. This lead to the 1689 rebellion, which was also called the Glorious Revolution.

In 1652, William Claiborne and Puritan leader Richard Bennett gained control of the colonial government in St. Mary’s City and removed the Act in 1654. However Calvent regained control and the Act. “ The Toleration Act was then restored and remained in effect until 1692, after England's Protestant Revolution, when Anglicanism became Maryland's official religion” (Schwarz, 1999). With the events of the Glorious revolution and Protestant Revolution, this became the first law on religious tolerance in the British North America and encouraged other colonies to write the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. This treasured religious freedom in the law of America.

The Maryland Toleration Act has been an enormous part of the they way religion was set up for everyone. “ Toleration is a classical paradigm through which liberal democratic countries deal with differences, and first of all with religious differences” (Macioce, 2017, pg. 228). In 1650, William Stone along with his councillors, burgesses, and thirty-eight freemen Protestants signed a ‘Protestant Declaration’ and sent it to the Cromwellian Parlement. With this declaration was to protect the Calvert administration and proclaimed they had total ‘freedom and liberty in the exercises of our religion’ (Hartsock, 1993). Two years before the act was passed Charles I of England was executed and the English Civil War occured. In 1652, William Claiborne and Puritan leader Richard Bennett gained control of the colonial government in St. Mary’s City.

The Protestants-dominated General Assembly where the legislation vetoed by the crown was passed in 1692 that made the Church of England the official church of Maryland. However, the chance to worship publicly was denied. “The ignominy of the repression was reinforced in 1704 in an act important as much for its symbolism when a sheriff, directed by the royal governor, padlocked the door of the Catholic church in St Mary's City. The structure would never be worshipped in again, and was demolished a few years later” (Hartsock, 1993).

This law was not the strongest to ensure religious freedom, but it was a great achievement. Later laws secured religious tolerance and freedom counting the British Act of Toleration, the Holy Experiment in Pennsylvania, and the laws concerning religious in other colonies such as South Carolina (Brown, 1876).