lics could not be enforced in Maryland. The province
could pass its own laws without any interference from
English authorities. Furthermore, while the proprietor
was permitted to build churches only if they were con-
secrated according to the ecclesiastical laws of England,
he was not required to do so. The way was open for
Catholics to support their own churches. Of course, the
proprietor could not expect to establish the Catholic
Church in Maryland with the privileges it had held
before the English reformation. Nor could he expect, or
even wish, to people his thousands of square miles en-
tirely with Catholics willing to emigrate. It was not reas-
onable to suppose that a Protestant kingdom would
allow an entirely Catholic colony to be established,
regardless of the charter's provisions. Lord Baltimore
needed Protestant settlers and his first published pro-
motion, A Declaration of the Lord Baltemore's Planta-
tion in Mary-land (1633), explicitly invited any inter-
ested person to apply.¹⁶ But devising the means whereby
Catholics and Protestants could share power took imag-
inative political talent.

   The solution Cecil Calvert adopted was based on one
that lay Catholics in England were beginning to con-
sider. They argued that since Catholicism would never
again be the established religion in England, Catholics
should see themselves as members of a sect, one among
many, and should work to free all dissenters from
penalties for not worshipping as Anglicans. The second
Lord Baltimore built upon these ideas. In his colony,
church and state were separate and religion was a pri-
vate affair. No one was to criticize anyone's Christian
beliefs or practices. Everyone otherwise qualified could
vote and hold office and participate fully in the society,
regardless of religion. Cecil Calvert and his advisers

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