Date of Award

Summer 2008

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

Committee Director

Jane T. Merritt

Committee Member

Michael Carhart

Committee Member

Maura Hametz

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.H47 P87 2008

Abstract

In the years 1650 to 1658 the Maryland colony faced severe political instability as a result of the conflict between Proprietor Cecilius Calvert and the Puritan population settled in Ann Arundel County. The roots of the conflict were found in the colony's royal charter, which conferred the Catholic proprietor with extensive powers of government. The Puritan population found this concentration of authority in the hands of a Catholic government intolerable and appealed to the English Commonwealth to void Baltimore's colonial charter. Instead Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell allowed the charter to stand, and in doing so ratified the differences in conditions between the colony and the homeland that allowed Catholics to exercise legal authority in Maryland. The Puritan population interpreted this difference in conditions to equate with an inferior political status but accepted the decision of the English authorities and negotiated a settlement with Lord Baltimore. However, the dispute revealed deeply rooted tensions in the English ideology of colonialism that foreshadowed later disputes over the political status of colonial subjects and ultimately led to the American War of Independence.

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DOI

10.25777/jng5-rs25

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