Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore Quotes (1605-1675)

“Both George and Cecilius Calvert may claim the title of founders of Maryland.  The original design belongs to the former; the charter was a modification of his earlier charter of Avalon, and was, no doubt, drawn up in conformity with his suggestions; only his personal favor with the king would have obtained a grant of such a nature, and nothing but what we may call the accident of his death prevented his being the first proprietary. On the other hand, it was Cecilius in whose name the character was drawn, who sent out the first colonists and guided their earliest political steps, and who watched over the infancy of the colony and shielded it from ruin.”

“The grant of Maryland—so named in honour of the queen, Henrietta Maria—was made out in the name of Cecilius, Baltimore's eldest son and heir to the title.  As at first drawn, it included the whole peninsula east of the Chesapeake Bay; but it having been shown that some settlements had been made by Virginians in the southern part of this peninsula (now the Eastern Shore of Virginia), the southern boundary of Maryland was drawn eastward from the mouth of the Potomac.  With this alteration, the charter was confirmed on June 20th, 1632.”

“The first American proprietary was a grant of land in 1632 by King Charles I to Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore.  The grant was carved out of Virginia territory and extended from the Potomac River north to the fortieth parallel, including (but rather larger than) the present boundaries of Maryland.  The king reserved for himself but one-fifth of the gold and silver that might be mined each year in the province.  Otherwise, Lord Baltimore was as free to govern in his vast domain as the king was in England.  The king even expressly granted the power to levy any taxes on Maryland, so named in honor of the English queen Henrietta Maria.  The charter granted to Lord Baltimore ownership of all the land, minerals, rivers, and fisheries in the area as well as the right to confer titles, incorporate cities and towns, levy taxes, erect churches and feudal manors, and constitute courts.  This was a veritable feudal government—a "Palatinate" as existed in Europe, specifically like the Palatinate of Durham in England.  One important limitation on Calvert's absolute rule, as in the case of the king himself, was that he could levy taxes only with the consent of an Assembly representing the freemen, or landholders, of the province.”