Maryland Under the Commonwealth - A Chronicle of the Years 1649-1658 #261334

The year 1649 opens a distinct period in the history of the Province of Maryland. William Stone had come from the Eastern Shore of Virginia to be Governor, and with him, doubtless partly at his solicitation, came a number of settlers destined to bring a new religious and political influ ence into the Province. The legislature had just passed the famous toleration act, placing in permanent form what had been the policy of the Proprietary from the beginning of his colony. The coming of new settlers was shortly to lead to the formation of two new counties and to do away with the conditions existing when there were only two centres, St. Mary's and Kent Island. The fall of the monarchy in Eng land placed new influences in control there, which must be reckoned with, and the colonists, as always, were eagerly looking to the mother-country for countenance in their acts. A Protestant Governor in the Province had to satisfy a Roman Catholic Proprietary and a Puritan Commonwealth in England. Such were conditions when spring came in 1649.