USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The first Lord Baltimore, a proud Catholic, envisioned the Maryland Colony as a place where English people would have religious freedom. He also wished to found the colony for economic gain. The new colony was named Maryland in honor of Henrietta Maria, the queen consort of Charles I.

Detailed explanation-2: -Fearful that the Protestant masses might restrict Catholic liberties, the House of Delegates passed the Maryland Act of Toleration in 1649. This act granted religious freedom to all Christians.

Detailed explanation-3: -Religious toleration was not new to the men and women of Maryland. Planned by George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore, and actually founded by his son Cecil, the province was primarily a haven for persecuted Catholics; yet its founders had welcomed, and even sought, Protestants as settlers.

Detailed explanation-4: -The Calverts intended the colony as a haven for Catholics fleeing England and as a source of income for themselves and their descendants. Many of Maryland’s first settlers were Catholic, including at least two Catholic priests, one of whom became the earliest chronicler of the colony’s history.

Detailed explanation-5: -Lord Baltimore saw this as an opportunity to grant religious freedom to the Catholics who remained in Anglican England. Although outright violence was more a part of the 1500s than the 1600s, Catholics were still a persecuted minority in the seventeenth century.