Maryland Toleration Act

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Toleration Act
Part of English Civil War and Protestant Revolution of Maryland
A printed page titled "A Law of Maryland Concerning Religion"
A small broadside reprint of the Maryland Toleration Act
DateApril 21, 1649
LocationMaryland Colony
Also known asAct Concerning Religion
ParticipantsColonial Assembly of Maryland
OutcomeRepealed in October 1654

The Maryland Toleration Act, also known as the Act Concerning Religion, the first law in North America requiring

Anglicanism
of Britain and her colonies.

The Act allowed

Calverts regained control of Maryland, the Act was reinstated, before being repealed permanently in 1692 following the events of the Glorious Revolution, and the Protestant Revolution in Maryland. As the first law on religious tolerance in the British North America, it influenced related laws in other colonies and portions of it were echoed in the writing of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution
, which enshrined religious freedom in American law.

Cecil Calvert

A painting of Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore.

The

Puritan newcomers quickly came to outnumber the early Catholic settlers. Thus, by 1649 when the law was passed, the colonial assembly was dominated by Protestants, and the law was in effect an act of Protestant tolerance for Catholics, rather than the reverse.[3]

From Maryland's earliest days, Cecil Calvert had enjoined its colonists to leave religious rivalries behind. Along with giving instructions on the establishment and defense of the colony, he asked the men he appointed to lead it to ensure peace between Protestants and Catholics. He also asked the Catholics to practice their faith as privately as possible, so as not to disturb that peace.

Puritans whom Calvert had induced to establish Providence, now Annapolis, by guaranteeing their freedom of worship.[9] Partially to confirm the promises he made to them, Calvert wrote the Maryland Toleration Act and encouraged the colonial assembly to pass it. They did so on April 21, 1649.[8]

Description

The Maryland Toleration Act was an act of tolerance, allowing specific religious groups to practice their religion without being punished, but retaining the ability to revoke that right at any time. It also granted tolerance to only Christians who believed in the Trinity.[3] The law was very explicit in limiting its effects to Christians:[10]

... no person or persons ... professing to believe in Jesus Christ, shall from henceforth be anyways troubled, Molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his or her religion nor in the free exercise thereof within this Province ...

— Maryland Toleration Act, 1649

Settlers who blasphemed by denying the Trinity or the divinity of

Virgin Mary, the apostles, or the evangelists could be whipped, jailed, or fined. Otherwise, Trinitarian Christians' right to worship was protected. The law outlawed the use of "heretic" and other religious insults against them.[3]

The law was used in at least one attempt to prosecute a non-Christian. In 1658, a Jew named Jacob Lumbrozo was accused of blasphemy after saying that Jesus was not the son of God and that the miracles described in the New Testament were conjuring tricks. Lumbrozo did not deny having said such things but argued that he had only responded to questions asked of him.[11] He was held for trial, but the case was later dismissed, and he was given full citizenship as a condition of the restoration of Calvert's rule following the English Civil War.[12]

The law had its detractors, even among those groups protected by it. Puritans were concerned that the act and the proprietary government in general were royalist. They were also concerned that by swearing allegiance to Calvert, who was Catholic, they were being required to submit to the Pope, whom they considered to be the Antichrist. Some Anglicans also opposed the law, believing that the Church of England should be the colony's sole established church.[12]

Repeal and legacy

A man in a line drawing wearing armor, with long hair, a mustache, and a goatee
William Claiborne, who rescinded the Toleration Act when he took over the colony during the reign of Oliver Cromwell

In 1654, five years after its passage, the Act was repealed.

Richard Bennett, took control of the colonial government in St. Mary's City in 1652. In addition to repealing the Maryland Toleration Act with the assistance of Protestant assemblymen, Claiborne and Bennett passed a new law barring Catholics from openly practicing their religion.[13] Calvert regained control after making a deal with the colony's Protestants, and in 1657 the Act was again passed by the colonial assembly and remained in effect until 1692.[8]

Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688 in England, when the Catholic King James II of England was deposed and the Protestant William III ascended the throne, a rebellion of Maryland Puritan Protestants overthrew Calvert's rule. They quickly rescinded the Toleration Act and banned public practice of Catholicism, and it would never be reinstated under colonial rule. In fact, the colony established the Church of England as its official church in 1702 and explicitly barred Catholics from voting in 1718.[8] The Calvert family regained control over the colony in 1715, but only after Benedict Calvert converted to Protestantism. His political control remained tense enough that he did not risk an attempt to reinstate protections for Catholics.[14] It took until the era of the American Revolution for religious tolerance or freedom to again become the practice in Maryland.[8]

While the law did not secure religious freedom, and while it included severe limitations, it was nonetheless a significant milestone. It predates the

South Carolina, may have been influenced by its example.[3][11] According to historian Robert Brugger, "...the measure marked a notable departure from Old World oppression."[9] It was not until the passage of the signed First Amendment to the Constitution over a century later that religious freedom was enshrined as a fundamental guarantee,[3] but even that document echoes the Toleration Act in its use of the phrase, "free exercise thereof". Thus, despite its lack of a full guarantee of religious freedom or broad-based tolerance, the law is "a significant step forward in the struggle for religious liberty."[8]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Religious Toleration in Maryland - Introduction".
  2. ^ Brugger, p 5
  3. ^ a b c d e f Holmes, pp 20–22
  4. ^ Brugger, p 3
  5. ^ Brugger, p 7
  6. ^ Hanley, p 325
  7. ^ Maclear, pp 45–46
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Finkelman, p 675
  9. ^ a b Brugger, p 20
  10. ^ Toleration Act, paragraph 6
  11. ^ a b Underwood, pp 6–7
  12. ^ a b Brugger, p 22
  13. ^ Brugger, p 21
  14. ^ Hoffman, pp 79–80

References

External links

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