Successful Province of Maryland

United Kingdom

The English Civil War was narrowly avoided by the Stuarts and England remained peaceful for the most part. It has just just recently annexed Scotland and is in the process of a union with Ireland. Because of this, it changed it's name to the United Kingdom. Religion remained an important part of life in Great Britain but is divided between Anglican (80%) and Roman Catholics (20%). Because of rising tension between the churches, the new monarch, King Charles II passed the Religious Freedom Law through executive order as parliament disagreed on it. It granted both Catholics and Protestants the right to worship and not be persecuted. It was followed by the Catholic Emancipation Act which granted Catholics full citizenship and rights they normally wouldn't have. A clause was then added to the Religious Freedom Law that removed any state religion, turning the United Kingdom into a secular state. Charles II formally announced his Catholicism which was met by rejoice and anger. Some even claimed he was to restore Papacy to the isles and that he was the Antichrist. All this Anti-Catholicism would lead to the "Popish Plot", the most infamous anti-catholic plot of all which resulted in the Catholic Refugee Crisis and eventually the American Revolution.
 
Growth in Maryland

Maryland has been thriving under the rule of Cecilius. Along with Pennsylvania, and later joined by the rest of the colonies, enacted the Freedom of Religion Act to ensure equal rights to all in terms of religion. Some Marylander's were for it, while some were against as Maryland was overwhelmingly Catholic (over 95%) but no one cares about it that much to really protest. The economy has been thriving. Fur trade has become a growing industry, along with farming (Tobacco, corn, wheat, hay, indigo, rice, barley, tomatoes, apples). Immigration has been steady but has declined in the past years with the enactment of the emancipation laws. Troops were also sent in great numbers because of the border skirmishes.

Population in 1670
White:21667
Black:7145
Native American: 3015 (declined mostly because of assimilation into Europeans and Blacks)
Mixed Blood: 8456
Anglo-African: 4484
Total: 44767
St. Mary's City has a population of around 26,000 and continues to expand.
 
Popish Plot

It started as a fictitious conspiracy but evolved into a hysterical mess. The Popish Plot was concocted by Titus Oates and Israel Tonge that claimed that Catholics were plotting the assassination of all protestant members of parliament. A fake list of 100 Jesuit plotters was published. The outrageous claim gripped The United Kingdom which now includes Ireland. Some virulently anti- Catholics plan to lynch the Jesuits and others plan to burn churches. Effigies of popular Catholic figures are burnt and anti-Catholic riots take to the streets. Catholic clergy, royalty, and business owners are forced to flee (many are helped by protestants). King Charles is outraged at the riots and demands they stop but they only get stronger. The rioters begin to claim the Charles II is trying to get England to return to Catholicism. Charles believes that England is now a lost cause and flees to Maryland along with some political members. They claim St. Mary's City to be their government-in-exile. When James II returned from France, he was hailed as the new King, the people were unaware that he too was a Catholic. He enforced the emancipation laws and sent all those who didn't believe in them to jail, many were executed. Anti- Catholicism had died down nearly instantly, but the damage had already been done as over 200,000 people from the United Kingdom (mostly Catholics) flee to the New World. One very important reason anti-Catholicism died down was because of Ireland joining the Union as it made the United Kingdom nearly 40% Catholic.
 
Refugee Crisis

The mass immigration to the colonies results in a golden era for Maryland. Most of the immigrants are English, Scottish or Irish and most settle in St. Mary's City or newly claimed or settled lands. Baltimore grows from a vilage of just around a 1000 people to a city of nearly 10,000 people. The population of St. Mary's City numbers 70,000. Most of the new immigrants are unprepared for Maryland, however, they quickly adapt to the new lifestyle because of it's similarities to British culture.

Population 1690
White: 114312
Black: 12112
Native American: 3006
Mixed Race: 48643
Total: 178073
Maryland remained the 3rd most populous of the colony's as other colonies gained a lot of immigrants too.
Total (all the colonies): 488323
 
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Immigrants begin to board ships at a port in Wales.

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