Maryland

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Notes:
-Border State who exhibits tendencies from both the North and South. Has more in common with northeastern states, but her country comes out when she gets angry. (Is considered part of the South by U.S. census)
-Has a very diverse climate and land. Is one of the most environmentally friendly states. She works very hard to keep herself "green" and wishes her neighbors were a little more concerned about their wastes. (She and Vermont get along for this reason.)
-Called "America in Miniature" because of diverse land. (Appearance closely reflects the fem!America nyotalia design.)
-Formed as a colony to be a haven for Catholics and allowed Protestants/Puritans to live with her. She was the first colony to be truly tolerant of other religions. (Rhode Island was only tolerant of those who had differing views of Puritanism. He didn't really like Catholics, either.) In 1649 she passed the Toleration Act which made her tolerant policies into an official law. (But it was only tolerant of the different sects of Christianity. She was still intollerant of anything outside of Christianity.)
-Maryland didn't have any conflicts with the Indian Nations when she was a colony. (As far as I know so far)
-Maryland, who knew of how successful Virginia's tobacco industry had been (something Virginia had worked hard on through trial and error), followed the older colony's example and became involved in tobacco production which allowed her to grow quickly.
-Virginia disliked Maryland for three main reasons: 1) Maryland had been founded on land that had originally belonged to Virginia. 2) Maryland was Catholic. Virginia might not have been quite as radical as Massachusetts, but that didn't mean she was tolerant, either. 3) Maryland was allowed free trade in foreign markets (Virginia wasn't allowed to) Virginia had objected to Maryland's charter before and after it was drawn up and wasn't happy at first about having a neighbor.
-Virginia and Maryland's relations were not helped by the acts of a Virginian named Claiborne (Clayborne?). Maryland sent a force to capture a trading post he owned on her land. The post had been constructed on Kent Island before Maryland was even chartered to Lord Baltimore but Kent Island now fell within her territory. (She forcefully took the island in 1637) Claiborne resisted and continued to harass Maryland over the island for many years to come. He eventually manated to capture Kent Island in 1644 with the help of Captain Richard Ingle (who had previously visited Maryalnd and been temporarily arrested as a treasonous supporter of Parliament <--England's Civil War stuff). The pair invaded Maryland by leading an uprising of Puritans and plundered the colony for almost two years (the Plundering Time) while her Governor Calvert had to seek refuge with Virginia. Maryland was badly treated during this time and there was virtually no law to stop the poor from taking out their frustrations on richer colonists and such.
-Claiborne had been Virginia's Secretary of State, but because he threatened Maryland, her governor was forced to remove him from office. Supporters of Claiborne chased Virginia's governor out of the colony in retaliation. Virginia didn't stop them because she didn't like her governor much to begin with.
-Governor Calvert returned in 1646 to save the colony with Virginia's aid. Virginia and Maryland teamed up to reestablish law and order by putting Governor Calvert back in charge. He was governor of Maryland again by 1647 although he died that summer of disease... Governor Stone was made her next governor.
-As the Civil War continued in England, Maryland kept silent about her beliefs even as the New Englanders professed their loyalty to the Parliament and Virginia remained defiantly loyal to the Crown and claimed Charles II was the true king. No one really knew what Maryland's loyalties were until 1649 when she agreed with Virginia that Charles II was undoubtedly the rightful heir to the throne and all of all his father's dominions.
-The Parliament appointed two Commissioners, one being Claiborne (Maryland's old nemesis), to force Maryland to submit to Parliament authority and surrender her Governor Stone (who was Protestant, but not Puritan) in 1652. That March he was removed then reinstated as governor in June. He continued to rule for two more years until he resigned under duress and Maryland fell under the de facto rule of Claiborne (and the other Commissioner).
-Claiborne (and the other Commissioner) held an assembly in October of 1654 and didn't allow any Catholics or people that bore arms against Parliament to participate (and others so it was pretty much just Puritans who were allowed to vote). There they passed 44 Acts and repealed Maryland's beloved Tolerance Act.
-In January 1655 a letter was delivered to Stone from Oliver Cromwell (the man who lead the Parliamenters and was currently rulling England) which was addressed to "Captain Stone, Governor of Maryland." Stone used this letter to challenge Claiborne's (and the other Commissioner's) authority over Maryland. He gathered loyal troops to go deal with the Puritans that had taken over Maryland. Which was pretty cool, but he was defeated and his life was only spared because Maryland and the ladies begged for the executions to stop.
-Maryland remained under Puritan rule until 1658 when Lord Baltimore regained proprietorship of the colony. Maryland was given religious freedom again and Fendall was appointed as her new governor. Oliver Cromwell didn't like the way Maryland was being run and felt his fellow Puritans had gone too far.
-Claiborne only gave up on pestering Maryland when an agreement was made in 1657. Lord Baltimore forgave Claiborne for his offenses, Virginia gave up any claims she had on Maryland's territory and Virginia compensated Claiborne with generous land grants so he would drop the whole Kent Island issue.
-In 1659 Governor Fendall lead a bloodless rebellion against Lord Baltimore and established a new government, but the Restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660 returned her to proprietorship and Fendall was exiled. (More details on this later)
-From 1661, Charles Calvert (Lord Baltimore's son) became Maryland's governor and remained her governor until 1675 when his father died and he became the Lord Proprietor. (It was the first time Maryland had ever lived with her proprietor) As much as Maryland had loved Lord Baltimore, he had never so much as traveled over the ocean to meet her in person. (Charles Calvert would become the next Lord Baltimore)
-1676 she had a rebellion similar to the Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia. (More on this later)
-Despite a few issues with the government here and there, Maryland was content and lived peacefully (Aside from her border disputes with the recently formed Pennsylvania who was given to William Penn by King Charles II who disregarded her charter) until the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Lord Baltimore had sent Maryland a message to proclaim the new soveriegns of England, William and Mary, but the messenger died at sea. While all the other colonies proclaimed the new soveriegns, Maryland hesitated and was uncertain what to make of this "new development" which wound up costing Lord Baltimore his charter and she became a royal province in 1691. She still maintained contact with Lord Baltimore and he was allowed to collect some revenues.
-When Maryland became a royal province, one of her new legislature's first acts was establishing the Church of England and the subsequent persecution of both Catholics and Puritans. (By this point she wasn't very Catholic at all after all the turmoil but she was confused about what was going on)
-She was a royal province from 1691 until 1715 when she was given back to the Calverts (Lord Baltimore's family) and remained in their hands until the Revolution.
-Had border issues with Pennsylvania that lasted for a century. Also fought with Virginia and Delaware over her borders. She kind of got kicked around a lot when she was a colony.
-She was the one who donated land to America for Washington D.C. and frequently visits when she's bored. Texts all the other states if she founds out something interesting is going on and tends to feed the rumor mills.
-Loves lacrosse, jousting and going on long walks. She likes sports/outdoor activites and is called a tom-boy, but she's still into "girly" things even if she's little rougher than the other eastern ladies.
-Mariner. Likes fishing but has a pretty diverse economy.
-Her state motto is "Manly deeds, womanly words" ... She's really is a tom-boy, huh?
-Has a Sister State relationship with the Kanagawa Prefecture.
Category:United States