The Province of Maryland

Ok I really messed up on the previous tl that I made on this topic so I decided to make a new one. I'm going to focus more on the colonies rather than England and try to be less ASB.

One of the reasons Maryland stopped being a place of significance in early America was due to Religious reasons. Even though it was meant to be a safe haven for Catholics, the majority of settlers were Protestants. Had there been more religious unity and more settlers, Maryland could've become a very important part of North America.

An Englishman named George Calvert developed a deep interest in colonization of the new world. George, like several of the English royalty was a Catholic hiding his faith under pressure from English society so he envisioned a colony with religious freedom for Catholics. In 1620, while he was still serving in parliament, he was gifted a large piece of land in the mid-atlantic from King James, a supporter of Calvert(In OTL, he bought Newfoundland and he supposedly wanted a Catholic mission sent there). He recruits 276 settlers from the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England to colonize the area. Calvert planned to send around 1,000 settlers in the first year of colonization to ensure success. Among the first settlers are his sons Cecil and Leonard, both are still very young but will develop a sense of strong leadership. Calvert then recruits another 520 Catholics from south England And Wales to settle in the colony. The crown would be unaware that the colony is becoming a refuge for Catholics as George would not publicly convert until 1625.

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Land granted to George in the New World. It would be named Maryland, after Mary, the mother of Jesus (In OTL, it's still not completely figured out if they may have named it for Henrietta Marie, Queen consort of England and a Catholic) Some English protestants grow suspicious of the name as there are rumors circulating about George's Catholicism

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Arrival of the Settlers

The first settlers arrived at the new colony in 70 days and establish St. Mary's City on the mouth of the Potomac opening into the Chesapeake Bay. It's location made it ideal for trading and shipbuilding. The colony adopted the headright system to encourage immigration. The location is inhabited by the Yaocomico Indians whose chief converted to Catholicism and sold the land to the Europeans as he wanted them to be an ally. Many of the Yaocomico stay in the village, but some move out of the colony and join other tribes as they are weary of the new settlers.Their population would fall because of the introduction of European diseases which they have no immunity to, while the Europeans population would rise because of immigration and a very high birth rate. The settlers began farming and raised livestock imported from England.

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Arrival of the first colonists in Maryland

Population at the end of 1620
Europeans: 622 (some chose to return to England)
Native: 276
Mixed: 2

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Growth of Maryland

In 1621, George Calvert stepped down from his position in parliament to become the governor of Maryland. With him, he took 207 new settlers from Scotland and England. He also planned out for the immigration of 2,000 new settlers from the Netherlands and Northern Germany (mostly Catholic refugees, only 1247 would arrive from these countries by 1630). He admitted his Catholicism publicly before he left making the English people increasingly hateful of him. He also brought with him some tobacco from Virginia which would be the most important cash crop for a significantly long time. George would institute new rules for settlement with plans for entire communities of Catholics in majority Protestant areas to be moved to the colony. This is coupled with voluntary immigration of Catholics because of a booming tobacco trade. Corn, wheat, and barley would also be cultivated in large amounts and cattle, goats, and poultry would be imported to the colony for dairy, eggs, and meat. George also brought a regiment of English soldiers of 1250 to the colony to protect the settlement from Native attacks and also attacks from other colonies (religious differences). !7 horses were imported to form the first cavalry unity. Many clergy, missionaries, and nuns (around 2000) would arrive from 1620-1630 and convert many of the Natives. Some of the natives would live among Marylander society, but some missionaries are successful in converting entire tribes who ally with Maryland and spread their influence throughout the continent. Of course, there were diseases spread too, but far fewer were killed because the Catholics were generally more tolerant of them and saw them as people they could spread they'e faith to which led to less violence.

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Agriculture in St. Mary's City. Plantations were not very large for the poorer part of the populace.

Population in 1630
European: 5264
Native: 792 (successful missions increased the population greatly)
Mixed-Blood: 114 (troops generally intermarried with the Yaocomico)
Total: 6170

A large portion of the immigrants were part of the upper elite (at least 10% of the English elite was Catholic) who built large mansions. St. Mary's City grew to a city of 3,000 people. New settlements, forts, missions, and trading posts were built at Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Calvert (Calvert Peninsula), Cambridge, Easton, Baltimore (Named after George Calvert, Baron Baltimore), Salisbury, Oxen Hill and Annetown (Annapolis) and few Swedish forts were captured in New Sweden.

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With George in power, the colony thrives and becomes a center of importance among the 13 colonies. Settlers all over Protestant Europe (where many face persecution) are recruited to settle in the colonies. Tobacco production soars and the economy strengthens with nearly 50,000 pounds of tobacco produced every years, and a large amount of other crops for food for the colony. Because of this, St. Mary's City becomes an important center for trade. In 1635, George dies of natural causes and the position of Baron Baltimore to his firstborn son, Cecil. Cecil, though not as influential as his father, is a strong governor. He issues a monopoly over tobacco and authorizes the settlement of the Delmarva Peninsula. Maryland gets into a small border skirmish with Virginia resulting the border to be placed on the Potomac River with Maryland gaining everything East and Virginia gaining everything West. Hundreds of religious clergy and religious leaders emigrate to the colony leading to the construction to more churches and schools. Immigration to the colony greatly increased, below are the numbers of immigrants to the colony from 1630-1640:
England: 793
Ireland: 577
Netherlands: 341
Scotland: 271
Northern Germany: 201
Nordic Countries: 98
Other: 35
Total: 2,316

Population 1640:
Europeans:8144
Native:944
Mixed-blood: 588
Total: 9,676

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St. Mary's City on 1634

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Clergy and Religious Orders in Maryland

Hundreds of clergy and religious orders would emigrate in large numbers to Maryland because of unfriendly conditions for them in England and other majority Protestant areas. This would lead to a more Catholic churches, schools and missions built in the colony. The literacy rate would skyrocket from around 10% to 50%. The missions lead to more native converts and more interracial marriages and children (some illegitimate) being born in the colony. Some Jesuits even introduce apple tress, potatoes and melons to the colony leading to a great variation of farming in the colony. Some Protestants would begin emigrating in small numbers because of the huge success of the colony, most would settle on the Eastern Shore and begin harvesting clams, crabs, oysters, bass, perch, and other fish to provide food for the colony and to import to Europe. However, Protestants would make up only around 10% of the colony's population, still leaving them as a minority.

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Settlers in front of a church constructed by the Jesuits in St. Mary's City

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Maryland in the 1640's

Maryland would continue to increase in importance and influence throughout the 1640's. Cecil and his wife Anne Arundell would have nine children and they would become an influential family almost treated as royalty (which many settlers in Maryland were). The monopoly over tobacco trade would be removed because of Virginia's thriving tobacco industry, but tobacco along with other crops were produced in large numbers. Immigrants would pour into the colony, arriving in either St. Mary's City, Baltimore (quickly gaining importance), Calvert, Georgetown, Annetown (named after Cecil's wife), and into other towns on the Delmarva peninsula. Troops would also be sent to the colony (around 700, mostly Catholic as they were selected by recruiters hired by the state assembly) to protect from the increasing attacks from other colonies which England greatly opposes as it's a financial drain. New Sweden was completely captured, but was almost completely autonomous and still was connected to Sweden and it wouldn't be very important until the skirmish between Maryland and Pennsylvania (mostly because England didn't want to pay as much to defend the colony from native attacks and attacks from other colonies, so there wasn't that many settlers in that area). Many indentured servants would be brought over to the colony including 12 Africans.

Population in 1650:
White: 12,006 (also increased by assimilation of natives and people of mixed race)
Natives: 588 (assimilated into mixed-bloods and whites due to new racial laws)
Mixed-blood: 722
African: 15
Total: 13,431

Below is a painting of St. Mary's City in 1650 showing a large increase in density
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Maryland in the 1650's

Immigration to Maryland greatly decreased as Anti Catholicism declined throughout Europe. Many of the new immigrants were Protestant (around half) leading to more religious diversity and most of these new immigrants settled on the Eastern Shore. To ensure religious freedom, Cecil passes the Maryland Toleration Act which was one of the first acts of religious freedom in the colonies. The act would spark violence with Virginia, which was staunchly Protestant. St. Mary's City was now full of houses, churches, plantations, schools, marketplaces, ports, and government buildings. Colonization of the Patuxent River began as an attempt to increase tobacco production accompanied with the rapid overpopulation of other major cities on the bay such as Baltimore.
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Maryland Toleration Act passed in 1649 to ensure religious freedom

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The Issue Over Slavery

Africans came to the colony in small numbers before 1657 mostly as indentured servants, but with the rapid increase in agriculture (mostly tobacco), the government is forced to rethink slavery. Many were against the idea of enslaving their brethren including Cecil, but others argue that slavery will increase tobacco production, help the economy, and help convert "heathens".
In 1657, Cecil and the rest of the Maryland assembly decide on larger quotas of immigration from Africa (around 1,000 to 2,000 but not to outnumber European immigration) but they would be indentured servants, not slaves. The first shipments would arrive from West Africa and the Algarves with smaller numbers from Kongo and North Africa.

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Marketplace scene in Eastern Maryland, the increase in indentured servitude resulted in a spike of trade and increased the economy

Population in 1660
Europeans: 16,099
Natives: 245
Black: 1,412
Mixed Native and European: 1704
Mixed European and Black: 101
Total: 19,561

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