Editing Maryland (section)

====Persecution of Catholics====
{{See also|Plundering Time}}
Maryland was founded to provide a haven for England's [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] minority.<ref name="washingtonpost.com">{{Cite news |last=Greenwell |first=Megan |author-link=Megan Greenwell |date=August 21, 2008 |title=Religious Freedom Byway Would Recognize Maryland's Historic Role |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081504104.html |access-date=May 3, 2014 |archive-date=February 17, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217132059/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081504104.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
Although Maryland was the most heavily Catholic of the English mainland colonies, the religion was still in the minority, consisting of less than 10% of the total population.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Slavery's Capitalism: A New History of American Economic Development|last=Wilder|first=Craig Steven|publisher=University of Pennsylvania|year=2016|isbn=978-0-8122-4841-8|editor-last=Beckert|editor-first=Seth|location=Philadelphia, PA|page=233|chapter=War and Priests: Catholic Colleges and Slavery in the Age of Revolution|editor-last2=Rockman|editor-first2=Seth}}</ref>

In 1642, several [[Puritans]] left [[Virginia]] for Maryland and founded the city of Providence, now called [[Annapolis, Maryland|Annapolis]], on the western shore of the upper [[Chesapeake Bay]].<ref>Taylor, Owen M., ''History of Annapolis'' (1872) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Vr9ib-I1WlIC p. 5]</ref> A dispute with traders from Virginia over [[Kent Island]] in the Chesapeake led to armed conflict. In 1644, [[William Claiborne]], a Puritan, seized Kent Island while his associate, the [[Roundheads|pro-Parliament]] Puritan [[Richard Ingle]], took over St. Mary's.<ref>Brenner, Robert. ''Merchants and Revolution'' London:Verso. 2003, {{ISBN|1-85984-333-6}}</ref> Both used religion as a tool to gain popular support. The two years from 1644 to 1646 when Claiborne and his Puritan associates held sway were known as "The Plundering Time". They captured Jesuit priests, imprisoned them, and then sent them back to England.

In 1646, [[Leonard Calvert]] returned with troops, recaptured St. Mary's City, and restored order. The House of Delegates passed the "Act concerning Religion" in 1649, granting religious liberty to all [[Trinitarianism|Trinitarian]] Christians.<ref name=iha/>

In 1650, the Puritans revolted against the proprietary government. "Protestants swept the Catholics out of the legislature{{spaces}}... and religious strife returned."<ref name=iha/> The Puritans set up a new government prohibiting both [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] and [[Church of England|Anglicanism]]. The Puritan revolutionary government persecuted Maryland Catholics during its reign, known as the "plundering time". Mobs burned down all the original Catholic churches of southern Maryland. The Puritan rule lasted until 1658, when the Calvert family and Lord Baltimore regained proprietary control and re-enacted the Toleration Act.

After England's [[Glorious Revolution]] in 1688, Maryland outlawed Catholicism. In 1704, the Maryland General Assembly prohibited Catholics from operating schools, limited the corporate ownership of property to hamper religious orders from expanding or supporting themselves, and encouraged the conversion of Catholic children.<ref name=":0" /> The celebration of the Catholic sacraments was also officially restricted. This state of affairs lasted until after the [[American Revolutionary War]] (1775–1783). Wealthy Catholic planters built chapels on their land to practice their religion in relative secrecy.

Into the 18th century, individual priests and lay leaders claimed Maryland farms belonging to the Jesuits as personal property and [[bequest|bequeathed]] them to evade the legal restrictions on religious organizations' owning property.<ref name=":0" />