George Calvert desired to find a home for his people, the Catholics. He had studied at Oxford University, and had been secretary to one of Queen Elizabeth's great statesmen. When James I became king, he made Calvert Baron of Baltimore.
Charles I gives Baltimore a part of Virginia
His successor, Charles I, was also Baltimore's friend, and when the latter asked the king for permission to found a colony of Catholics in America, Charles gave him the whole of what is now Maryland. He also declared that the colony should bear the name of Maryland in honor of his queen, Henrietta Maria.
All permitted to worship as they pleased
Lord Baltimore immediately began to gather a colony of emigrants. He welcomed Protestants as well as Catholics, for it was decided that in the colony of Maryland all Christians were to have the same rights. Very few nations in the world at that time permitted people to worship as they pleased.
Lord Baltimore died before the expedition was ready, and according to the custom of England, Cecil Calvert, his eldest son, fell heir to his estate and titles. The new Lord Baltimore sent more than three hundred persons in two ships, the Ark and the Dove. The long voyage had a happy ending; the immigrants reached the mouth of the Potomac in the springtime, when Maryland is at the height of its beauty (1634).
The Indians are friendly
Governor Calvert, in the Dove, sailed up the Potomac. He decided to locate his little village, which was to be called St. Mary's, on land occupied by the Indians. He paid for the land on which the wigwams and cornfields stood, and the Indians invited the settlers to live with them until their log cabins could be built. This good feeling lasted a long time, and these settlers escaped the savage wars from which many of the colonists suffered in the early days.
Annapolis founded
Many Puritans came into Maryland and settled a town afterwards named Annapolis. A number of interesting events took place there in the early days. Later the city became the home of the famous training school for the American navy, the United States Naval Academy.