MARYLAND

This is the first American ordinance of freedom of conscience. Note that it only provided freedom of religion for Christians. However, that was an important first step as different sects of Christianity had been persecuting each other whenever the opportunity arose.

In 1639 the Maryland Assembly recorded what was probably the first American attempt to obtain the vote for women.

By the beginning of the 21st Century, some Republicans had perfected the art of naming legislation completely contrary to its intent and effect in order to make opposition to it more difficult for opponents in the legislature. But nothing they ever did came close to the audacity of naming this legislation, The Toleration Act, as it was about the most intolerant legislation ever passed in America. Exactly what the motivation of the legislative drafters was is not known. One theory is that as a Catholic Colony, perhaps they really thought that they were being tolerant as they would not execute Protestants except Unitarians. In any event is was a low point in American history and was one of the examples that was before the Founding Fathers when they added the First Amendment to the Constitution. See {624142} for the text.

Miscegenation was very common between Blacks and whites throughout American history. Even though it was a taboo subject in “polite society” white women marrying or cohabiting with Negro men was so common in Colonial America that the State of Maryland had to pass a law making the children slaves to further discourage the white women. This violated the long held tradition that the slave status of children followed the status of the mothers. The law backfired as Maryland colonists encouraged their white female indentured servants to interbreed with Black slaves so that the children would also become their property as slaves as even slave children were very valuable. The law was then repealed after only 20 years.

Christie was a Tory—a British supporter, but what he did that was so offensive was that he had requested that British Troops come to Maryland to control the rebellion.

It would be more than a decade before the phrase “well regulated militia” would be added into the Constitution as the 2nd Amendment of the Bill of Rights. This resolution was the last of several passed at this meeting by which Maryland endorsed resistance to the British. So these resolations would have been widely distributed throughout the colonies and known by the leaders. In 1788 Alexander Hamilton Published Federalist 29 which also used the phrase. (See {588393}.) Then on September 25, 1789, the Congress proposed the Bill of Rights and the 2nd Amendment using the same key phrase, “well regulated militia.” Whether the drafters of the 2nd Amendment got the phrase from Hamilton’s Federalist 29 or from the Maryland Resolutions is not known but Hamilton’s was much more current. Did he get the phrase from Maryland? Did Congress get it from him? Did Maryland originate the phrase or was there an earlier use that influenced the Maryland drafters? At this point no one is sure, but the phrase is critical to the meaning of the 2nd Amendment because the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the Second Amandment does not apply to individuals but only to the State’s right to bear arms within the “well regulated militia” and not as individual citizens. The right is that of the State government and that is why a state can control guns including banning them if they choose. So an individual in America does not have the constitutional right to bear arms. He may have a state constitutional right but in other states he may not use a gun in certain places and may not possess certain types of guns like hand guns which are illegal in New York, Washington DC and some other places.

Christie was a Tory—a British supporter, but what he did that was so offensive was that he had requested that British Troops come to Maryland to control the rebellion.

In 1639 the Maryland Assembly recorded what was probably the first American attempt to obtain the vote for women.

This is the first American ordinance of freedom of conscience. Note that it only provided freedom of religion for Christians. However, that was an important first step as different sects of Christianity had been persecuting each other whenever the opportunity arose.

At first this clause appears to be very enlightened and establishing freedom of conscience. This clause allowed Catholics to practice freely whereas in other colonies they could not. However, as one reads on, it becomes clear that the “tolerance” is limited to Christians only. Then if one examines the exception within the parentheses and refer to the rest of the act—see {611994}—, one finds that even Christians who have certain theological beliefs are to be put to death—those for example who deny the holiness of the Trinity such as Unitarians who were a major group in the New England Colonies. It was a significant step at the time however to protect Roman Catholics.

This quotation illustrates two interesting facets of colonial politics. First, as in modern times, the title of an act often was inconsistent with the substance, and in many cases, this act among them, the act itself completely contradicts the implication of the title. The draconian intolerance exhibited by this clause was typical of the targets of the framers of the Constitution in erecting the separation of church and state. The fascinating thing about this act is another clause which acknowledged the difficulty of enforcing a common religion, and allowed that no one should be

Official List of groups which were prohibited from religiously criticizing the Catholic Church—the established church of Maryland. One interesting observation is that the Jesuits—a Catholic order were on this list. Catholic orders did not then subject their representatives to the authority of the local bishops and took direction only from the Pope. In the case of the Jesuits at the time, there were many who believed the Jesuits were beyond the de facto control of the Papacy and some Jesuits thought they should be—thus the two designations of Jesuits. This makes clear the fundamental intolerance that was common on many parts of Colonial America, that criticism of and heresy to the Established Church was not to be permitted. To the orthodox Catholics of Maryland, they were as concerned with the potential criticisms of Catholic Jesuits as they were with those of Puritans or Anabaptists. Compare Maryland, a Catholic colony with a huge antipathy towards Puritans, with Massachusetts, a Puritan Colony, and its strong antipathy and intolerance for Catholics. It is almost impossible to imagine a union of the American colonies without a 1st Amendment.

With martial law came the authority to seize ALL guns in the colony for the emergency. This was not to disarm the general populace. It reflected the fact that there were relatively few colonists who owned guns as they were very expensive. The Governor could take those that existed and use them to defend against the rebels or whatever. There were more gun owners in the Revolution but still a minority. Even after the War of 1812 only 30% of Americans were armed, and that shortly decreased to 10% as there was no real culture of gun ownership in early America. This would come around the Civil War.

In times of crises in America is has been suggested that people should carry official identification papers and documents. These proposals have always usually been resoundingly rejected and perceived as “un-American.” It was associated with Nazi Germany during WWII. However early Maryland had such a law, the purpose of which was to discourage runaway slaves. Anyone without papers was “picked up” and held as a runaway.

Miscegenation was very common between Blacks and whites throughout American history. Even though it was a taboo subject in “polite society” white women marrying or cohabiting with Negro men was so common in Colonial America that the State of Maryland had to pass a law making the children slaves to further discourage the white women. This violated the long held tradition that the slave status of children followed the status of the mothers. The law backfired as Maryland colonists encouraged their white female indentured servants to interbreed with Black slaves so that the children would also become their property as slaves as even slave children were very valuable. The law was then repealed after only 20 years.

By the beginning of the 21st Century, some Republicans had perfected the art of naming legislation completely contrary to its intent and effect in order to make opposition to it more difficult for opponents in the legislature. But nothing they ever did came close to the audacity of naming this legislation, The Toleration Act, as it was about the most intolerant legislation ever passed in America. Exactly what the motivation of the legislative drafters was is not known. One theory is that as a Catholic Colony, perhaps they really thought that they were being tolerant as they would not execute Protestants except Unitarians. In any event is was a low point in American history and was one of the examples that was before the Founding Fathers when they added the First Amendment to the Constitution. See {624142} for the text.

This was the date that Lord Baltimore, founder of Maryland, adopted the family coat of arms with the motto, which was an Italian proverb, used by Pope Clement VII in the 16th century. This is the only State Seal which adopted and Italian phrase. Maryland was founded as a Catholic colony and the many of the Roman Catholics of Europe spoke Italian. Other translations have been given as “Strong deeds, gentle words”, but we have given the literal translation of the time.

In contrast to Massachusetts with had passed a law in 1641 banning slavery (Quote 643567), Maryland 22 years later became to first state to pass a law to formally recognize and allow Negro slavery.