Maryland Toleration Act

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The Maryland Toleration Act, also known as the "Act Concerning Religion" was passed in 1649 by the colonial assembly of the Province of Maryland mandating religious toleration.¹ The Calverts, who founded Maryland, needed to attract settlers to make the colonial venture profitable. In order to protect the Catholics from the immigrating Puritans and Protestants, the Calverts supported the Act Concerning Religion. The Act allowed freedom of worship for all Christians in Maryland.²

The typically understood view that Maryland was intended as a safe haven for Catholics has been disputed by many historians who view Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore also known as Lord Baltimore, reasoning for founding the colony to be primarily economic and not religious based.³ The growing numbers of Puritans and their power led to the Toleration Act of 1649 which protected many of the rights for Catholics as well as Protestants, but not of other religions.

1 The Road to Toleration
2 The Act
3 Significance
4 Notes
5 Bibliography
6 External links

[edit] The Road to Toleration

While Lord Baltimore was a Catholic and held fast to his religious roots, his decision making was primarily due to economic interests. Some of his reasoning for protecting the Catholics became clear when Lord Baltimore learned that the Jesuits had secretly acquired Native American lands before the Calverts arrival. This land presented a great economic interest to the Calverts and by taking this land Lord Baltimore was obligated to protect those Jesuits to some extent. In a gesture to appease Puritan critics he replaced the existing Catholic governor with Protestant one in 1648.

The Puritan power in Maryland also led to the passing of the Ordinance of 1639 which granted social and religious freedoms. In 1644, William Claiborne led an uprising of Maryland Protestants forcing Calvert to flee to Virginia, but he used his political connections with Oliver Cromwell to stop the insurrection 1646 and regained power over the colony.⁴

[edit] The Act

When the Puritan majority wanted to amend the Ordinance of 1639 with a new act, Lord Baltimore made a compromise allowing the Catholics to be granted the protection and religious freedoms. The act itself is split into many different parts; the first sections punished those commit blasphemous actions as well as those who insult those of other religions. The later part of the act states that “No person…professing to believe in Jesus Christ, Shall from henceforth be in any way troubled…for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof within the Province nor any way be compelled to the belief or exercise of any other religion against his will.⁵” The act also states that any person who violates or offends any worshipers of Jesus will be fined.

[edit] Significance

In 1652 newly immigrated radical Protestants from Virginia overthrew established government. Under their rule the restrictive Act Concerning Religion of 1654 was passed and it was not until 1658 when Lord Baltimore regained control. When Charles II of England regained full control of his country in 1660 Maryland began to flourish. The ideas within the act of 1649 were finally revised and put into law in 1676.⁶

While the act in itself is a monumental step forward for freedom it is not without its own hypocrisy. The act in theory is tolerant of all religious practices and allows for protection of some groups from persecution, but it denies the freedom of religion for those who are not Christian. “What prevailed eventually were insights into valid principles of freedom, which won devoted adherents. These disciples of liberty left to subsequent generations a tradition of such principles.”⁷

[edit] Notes

Note 1: William Macdonald, Select Charters and Other Documents Illustrative of American History, 1606-1775 (The Macmillan Company, 1899), 104.

Note 2: Perry G.E. Miller, "Colonial Religious History," Church History, Vol. 4 No. 1 (March 1935), 45-48.

Note 3: Iva L. Peters, "A Social Interpretation: Maryland," Social Forces, Vol. 4 No. 3 (March 1926), 511.

Note 4: Evart B. Greene, "Persistant Problems of the Church and State," The American Historical Review,(January 1931), 260.

Note 5: Thomas O'brien Hanley, Their Rights and Liberties: The Beginnings of Religious and Political Freedom in Maryland, (Maryland: Newman Press, 1959), 115.

Note 6: William Macdonald, Select Charters and Other Documents Illustrative of American History, 1606-1775 (The Macmillan Company, 1899), 105.

Note 7: Thomas O'brien Hanley, Their Rights and Liberties: The Beginnings of Religious and Political Freedom in Maryland, (Maryland: Newman Press, 1959), 124.

[edit] Bibliography

Allen, Ethan Maryland Toleration: Or, Sketches of the Early History of Maryland, to the Year 1650 Baltimore: J.S. Waters, 1855.

Gambrall, Theodore C. "Studies in the Civil, Social, and Ecclesiastical History of Early Maryland." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 4. New York: T. Whittaker 1893.

Krugler, John D. "Cecil Calvert." American National Biography. Vol. 3. New York: Oxford 1999.

Greene, Evart B. "Persistant Problems of the Church and State." The American Historical Review. Washington D.C.: American Historical Association 1931.

Hanley, Thomas O'brien. Their Rights and Liberties: The Beginnings of Religious and Political Freedom in Maryland. Maryland: Newman Press, 1959.

Macdonald, William. Select Charters and Other Documents Illustrative of American History, 1606-1775. Norwood MA: The Macmillan Company 1899.

Maclear, J. F. Church and State in the Modern Age: A Documentary History. Oxford University Press 1995.

Miller Perry G.E. "Colonial Religious History."Church History Vol. 4. 1935.

Peters, Iva L. "A Social Interpretation: Maryland." Social Forces. Vol. 4 University of North Carolina Press 1926.

Wiersema, Garry. "The Maryland Toleration Act (1649)." From Revolution to Reconstruction, 1999. Retrieved from "http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1601-1650/maryland/mta.htm"