Political Background
The Calvert family were Roman Catholics and had founded Maryland as a Catholic colony of Great Britain. Cecil Calvert had received the proprietorship that was intended for his father, George Calvert, the 1st Lord Baltimore, who died in 1632, shortly before it was granted. Cecil established his colony in Maryland from his home in England, and as a Roman Catholic continued the legacy of his father by promoting religious tolerance in the colony. He governed Maryland for forty-two years, though he never visited his colony in person.
In 1649 Maryland passed the Maryland Toleration Act, also known as the Act Concerning Religion, a law mandating religious tolerance for trinitarian Christians. Passed on September 21, 1649 by the assembly of the Maryland colony, it was the first law requiring religious tolerance in the British North American colonies. The Calvert family sought enactment of the law to protect Catholic settlers and those of other religions that did not conform to the dominant Anglicanism of Britain and her colonies.
Read more about this topic: Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Maryland
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