Lord Baltimore did not himself go to America, but sent his brother,
Leonard Calvert, as Governor. Maryland was not founded like the
Puritan colonies for religious purposes, but like New Hampshire,
merely for trade and profit. But in those days religion and religious
strife entered into everything. So it did into the founding of
Maryland.
For Lord Baltimore was a Catholic, and in England Roman Catholics
in their turn, as well as dissenters, were persecuted, and Lord
Baltimore hoped to found a refuge for them in his new possessions
in America. So although, in the charter given by a Protestant King
the Church of England was recognised as the state religion, in
reality there was great religious freedom in Maryland, and for a
time it was there only that Catholics found freedom in America.
But in order to secure toleration for the Catholic religion Lord
Baltimore found himself obliged to tolerate all others. So men of
all creeds came to settle in Maryland and find freedom.
The people of Virginia were very far from pleased when they heard
of the new colony about to be planted so near them. For part of the
land which had been given to Lord Baltimore they claimed as their
own, and they looked upon the newcomers as intruders on their
territory and resolved to maintain their rights. They did all they
could to prevent the new settlers coming.
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