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CITIZENSHIP AND SUFFRAGE IN MARY1,AND.
No change seems to have been made in the Oath of Allegiance Until William
and Mary's time, when one was ordained, including an Oath of Abhorrence,
which bore hard on Roman. Catholics.'
An Oath of Fealty was exacted of Council.lors,= on February 3, 1643-4, lint
none seems to have been required from the settlers at large until tile
Assembly,
on March 3, 1647-8, passed an Act "touchinn an Oath of Fealty." '],'his Act
was not consented to, however, 3 and, on June 20, 1648, the Lord Proprietary
him.'
passed In "Act for taking an Oath of
I1`idellity to the Lord Proprietary." This is thought. by (Ten. Bradley 1'.
Johnson,' to be one of the sixteen Acts sent out by Lord Baltimore and
ordered
to be passed without change by the Assembly. It was to be taken by all per-
sons' "inhabiting or resydinge within this Province," under twin of
expulsion,
and differs from the former oath in some important I)articulars.7 Most of
the
chances in the wording of the oath can be traced to a desire to make it more
acceptable to the Puritans.' -
The taking of these oaths of Allegiance and Fidelity, in whatever form
administered, world seem to be all that was needed to make a British subject
a citizen of Maryland.
At the session of 1638-9, it was enacted that " The Inhabitants" of this
Province shall have all their rights and liberties, according to the Great
Charter of England , but the fuller Act " for the liberties of the people,"
which failed to pass, limited the privileges of English citizens to
Christians,"'
and excluded slaves.
The earlier settlers were mostly of British descent; bat others gradually
drifted into Maryland, attracted by the soil, the climate, or the religious
tolera-
(i) Council III, p. 60.
(2) Council I, p. 145. - -
(3) Assembly I, p. 2v0.
(4) It reads as follows: [I. A. B., do faithfully and truly acknowledge the
Right non'ble <'ecilius Lord Baron of
Baltimore, to be the true and Absolute Lord and Proprietary of this
Province and Country of Maryland and the Islands
thereunto belonging; and I do Swear that I will bear tree faith unto his
Lordshil:, and to his heirs, as to flee true and abso-
lute Lords and I roprietarysof the said Province and Islands thereunto
belonging.] and will not at any time, by words or
Action, in publick or in private, wittingly orwillingly, [to the best of my
understanding] any way |
