Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1954-03-25
Highlights
OF History
Noted For
State Day
By Arthur C. Broadly

March 25th is Maryland Day.
This is the three hundred twen-
tieth anniversary of the landing
of the first settlers in what is
now st. Mary's County.
George Calvert, first Baron of
Baltimore, applied for his char.
ter for the province with the in
tention of making it a place to
which persons who were per-
secuted for religious differences
might emigrate. George Calvert
died before the charter was issued
but Cecil was given the charter
by Charles 1 on June 20, 1882.
Cecil outfitted two caravels,
The Ark and The Dove, and
placed his brother Leonard in
charge with Jerome Hawleys and
Thomas Cornwaleys as advisers.
The two ships sailed from Eng
land November 20, 1888 with
twenty Catholic gentlemen, two
hundred craftsmen, laborers and
servants, many of whom were
Professionals. Cecil had given ex-
press instructions to Leonard to
give no cause for offence to the
Protestants.
The first General Assembly of
record was held at st. Mary's and
was begun January 25, 1887 and
ended March "a, 1887. The Hon
orable Leonard Calvert, Esquire,
Lieutenant General, presided.
The freemen assembled rejected
the body of laws which had been
drawn up in England and trans
mitted by Cecil to be passed.
These laws did not fit the circum-
stances and conditions existing
in the new settlement. A commit
tee was appointed to prepare
draft of laws to be presented to
Cecil Calvert, the Lord Proprie-
tor, for his assent.
The General Assembly held at
st. Johns, begun April 2, 1649
and ended April 81, 1649, Will
liam Stone, Esquire, Governor,
presiding, was the one which has
become celebrated for its having
passed what is popularity known
as the federation Act. Acts of
The General Assembly Chapter
One, entitled An Act Concerning
Religion, recorded in Liber
C&WTI, at folio LOG, provided as
follows:
The offens Re of blasphemy
against Jesus Christ. The Virgin
Mary and The Blessed Trinity
shall be punished by death and
the confiscation of lands.
Persons using reproachful
words in public against The Vir-
gin Mary, the Holy Apostles or
Evangels shall be punished as fol-
lows: For the first offence a fine
of Five Pounds, for the second
offence a fine of Ten Pounds
Sterling payable to the Lord Pro-
prietor, For the Third offense the
offender would forfeit his lands
and be banished from the pro-
vince.
Persons reproaching another
as Hereto, Idolator, Puritan,
Presbyterian, Jesuit, Lutheran,
Calvinist, Anabaptist, Round
Head or Sepratist or any other
name relating to religion shall
forfeit for the first offence Ten
Shillings, (one-half to the person
reproachedD, if default in pay
ment of the fine the offender
was to be publicly whipped and
imprisoned without bail until he
asked pardon publicly of the per-
son reproached.
No person in the province is
to be molested in respect to his
religion or the exercise thereof
nor compelled to believe in any
other religion or practice it
against his consent. The often
der to be fined twenty shillings
for the first offence, one-half to
the party offended and one.half
to the Lord Proprietor Upon de-
fault of payment to be publicly
whipped and imprisoned at the
pleasure of the Lord Proprietary.
This Act did much toward pre-
venting the religious strife which
occurred in some of the other
colonies and is the forerunner of
the guarantee of religious free
dom which was later incorpor-
ated in the Constitution of the
United States in Article One of
the Bill of Rights.