Pages on Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore

“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.”

“Former governor Stone now raised his insurrectionary army loyal to the proprietary, and in 1655 attacked Providence, the principal Puritan settlement in Maryland.  The erstwhile governor was crushed by a force of Puritan planters, Stone was imprisoned, and several of his followers executed, even though they had been promised their lives before surrender.  Calvert, however, proved extremely agile and managed to convice Cromwell and Parliament that religious toleration and hence his own rule should be reestablished.  Calvert was permitted to appoint a new governor in 1656 and this governor, Josiah Fendall, joined with the Puritans in agreeing to establish religious toleration, including toleration for Catholics.”