3. In 1629 he made a visit to Virginia. The general assembly offered
him citizenship, but required such an oath of allegiance as no honest
Catholic could take. Lord Baltimore thereupon left the narrow-minded
legislators; returned to London; drew up a charter for a new State on
the Chesapeake, and induced King Charles to sign it.
4. The provisions of the charter were ample. No preference was given
to any particular religion. The lives and property of the colonists
were carefully guarded. Arbitrary taxation was forbidden. The power of
making the laws was conceded to the freemen of the colony.
[Sidenote: =Lord Baltimore's Charter.=]
5. Before the patent could receive the seal of state, Sir George
Calvert died. His title descended to his son Cecil; and the charter was
issued to him on the 20th of June, 1632. In honor of Henrietta Maria,
wife of Charles I., the name of MARYLAND was conferred on the new
province. In the fall of 1633 a colony numbering two hundred persons
was collected. Leonard Calvert, a brother of Cecil, was appointed to
accompany the colonists to America.
[Illustration: Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore.]
6. In March of 1634 the immigrants arrived at Old Point Comfort. They
proceeded up the bay and ascended the Potomac. Finding a half-deserted
Indian village at the mouth of the St. Mary's, the English moved into
the vacant huts. The rest of the town was purchased; and the name of
ST. MARY'S was given to the colony. Friendly relations were established
with the natives. The Indian women taught the wives of the English
how to make cornbread, and the warriors instructed the colonists in
the art of hunting. There was neither anxiety nor want in the colony.
Within six months the settlement had grown into greater prosperity than
Jamestown had reached in as many years.
7. In 1639 a representative government was established in Maryland.
Hitherto a system of democracy had prevailed; each freeman had been
allowed a vote in determining the laws. When the new delegates came
together, a declaration of rights was adopted. All the liberal
principles of the colonial patent were reaffirmed. The rights of
citizenship were declared to be the same as those of the people of
England.
8. In 1642 Indian hostilities were begun on the Potomac. But the
settlements of Maryland were compact, and no great suffering was
occasioned. In 1644 the savages agreed to bury the hatchet and to renew
the pledges of friendship.
9. In 1650 the legislature of Maryland was divided into two branches.
The rights of Lord Baltimore were defined by law. An act was passed
declaring that no taxes should be levied without the consent of the
assembly. Such was the condition of affairs in the colony of Maryland
when the Commonwealth was established in England.
[Sidenote: =Conflict with Parliament.=]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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