The downfall of Charles I and the rise of the Common-
wealth were more serious events for the Maryland resi-
dents than for other colonists in America. But Oliver
Cromwell left Lord Baltimore in undisturbed charge of the
Province until 1652.

Emboldened by this, Governor William Stone attempted
to reduce the Puritan settlements at Providence on the
Severn (near present-day Annapolis) but came close to
losing his life by execution after a decisive victory for the
Puritans.

Growth and Expansion

The newcomers to other parts of the geographical charter
limits of the Province, Proprietary, or Palatinate (as it
was sometimes called) were not so bellicose as those in
Providence. Settlement soon went far afield from the old
Yoacomaco village. By the end of the seventeenth century
eleven counties had established themselves, each with its
court and complement of officials. The towns were few;
great estates abounded, whose river fronts were centers of
trade and traffic. The chief commerce was in tobacco,
which even substituted for currency during much of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Until customhouse
centers were set up (1683), there was nothing to challenge
the power of the landed gentry.

Gradually, what Indian troubles had existed were
smoothed out by treaties, such as the one of 1652 when
the Susquehannocks submitted under the "Liberty Tree"
(said to be the tulip poplar still to be seen on the St. John's
College campus in Annapolis). The Proprietors were always
a line of Calverts with the title "Lord Baltimore" until the
death of the sixth and last baron in 1771 when Henry
Harford, the natural son of Frederick Calvert, became the
seventh Proprietor. In the time of James II, who desired
to have all lands under the Crown, and again in the "Eng-
lish Revolution" (before William and Mary held the throne
securely), the Calverts had difficulties, but these were not
reflected in any disadvantage to the Province. Neither
Crown rule, 1689 to 1715, nor the establishment of the
Church of England as the "official" religion proved too
disturbing. If Puritanism waned, there was certainly room
made for the settlement of other dissenters, notably
Quakers. Several noteworthy developments in the Seven-
teenth Century were the establishment of a printing press—
William Nuthead's—the departure of the Governor and As-
sembly from St. Mary's to Annapolis, and the passage of
the "Act for the encouragement of Learning" (October 18,