as well as at sea. " Thus began Maryland's oldest and finest tradition—
the tradition of freedom, of tolerance, of respect for the rights of others.
It was "unity and peace" that Cecilius Calvert sought, and in his wisdom
he knew the colonists could not remain united and at peace if they
quarreled about religion.

Freedom of conscience became a part of the thinking and habits of
these early Marylanders, and 15 years later the principle was embodied
in a statute, adopted by the freemen of the Colony in General Assembly
at St. Mary's City, then the capital of Maryland. This famous Act of
Religious Toleration, as it has come to be called, said that no man
should "be in any ways troubled, molested or discountenanced for or in
respect of his or her religion. " It went a step further to impose fines or
imprisonment upon anyone who should "in a reproachful manner or
way" disparage another's religion.

The purpose of the Act, it was written, was "to preserve mutual love
and amity amongst the inhabitants of the new province. " And thus, the
Act of Religious Toleration not only guaranteed freedom of worship and
freedom of conscience, but it proclaimed that a decent respect for one
another is the duty of free men and one of the bulwarks of a free state.

We know that this Act of 1949 was an initial step in the great move-
ment for religious freedom in the New World that culminated in the
adoption of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United
States which said, in part, that "Congress shall make no law respecting
an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. "

The principle enunciated by the second Lord Baltimore and the free-
men of St. Mary's City nearly a century and a half later became a
foundation stone in the Bill of Rights of our new Republic. It is echoed
in the preamble to our own Maryland Declaration of Rights, which
begins: "We, the people of the State of Maryland, grateful to almighty
God for our civil and religious liberty..., " and so on.

Cecilius Calvert and the men he brought to this "haven of peace"
which he called Mary Land set a course for a nation to follow toward
peace. His instruction to his brother Leonard, named as Governor, and
the two Commissioners who were to assist him in the enforcement of the
charter granted by Charles I, was, as we have seen, that they "be very
careful to preserve peace and unity" among the people of the province.
And the famous Act of Religious Toleration which he confirmed a few
years later called for the preservation of "mutual love and amity amongst
the inhabitants of Mary Land. "

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