American Minute for June 20th:

    American Minute with Bill Federer
Maryland's Christian Founding:
What in the World Happened Since?
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On June 20, 1632, King Charles I of England granted a charter for the Colony of Maryland, named for his CATHOLIC wife, Queen Henrietta Maria, stating:

"Charles, by the Grace of God, of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith ...

Whereas our well beloved ... subject Cecilius Calvert, Baron of Baltimore, in our Kingdom of Ireland ... being animated with a laudable, and pious zeal for extending the CHRISTIAN RELIGION ...

hath humbly besought leave of us that he may transport, by his own ... expense, a numerous colony of the English Nation, to certain ... parts of America ... partly occupied by savages, having no knowledge of the Divine Being ...

With the increasing worship and RELIGION OF CHRIST within said region ... shall ... be built ... Churches, Chapels, and Places of Worship."

(Get the book THE ORIGINAL 13 - A Documentary History of Religion in America's First Thirteen States www.AmericanMinute.com)

The CATHOLIC Lord Baltimore Cecilius Calvert sent two ships, the Ark and the Dove, to settle the Colony of Maryland.

He gave instructions to his brother, Leonard Calvert, the Governor of the expedition, 1634:

"To preserve peace and unity amongst all the passengers ... treat the PROTESTANTS with as much mildness and favor as justice will require."

Buying land from the Indians, they founded the St. Mary's City, considered the birthplace of religious tolerance in the United States.

In 1649, they extended liberty to PROTESTANTS by issuing the Maryland Toleration Act, which stated:

"That no person ... within this province ... professing to believe in JESUS CHRIST shall ... from henceforth be any ways troubled or molested ... in respect of his or her religion."

Meanwhile, back in England, a Civil War broke out between PURITANS and ANGLICANS.

The PURITANS won and chopped off the head of ANGLICAN King Charles I in 1649.

At this time, an ANGLICAN named John Washington emigrated to Virginia.

His great-grandson was George Washington.

In 1650, when Virginia drove out anyone who was not an ANGLICAN, many PURITANS fled from Virginia to Maryland, founding the city of Annapolis.

On March 25, 1655, in what was considered "the last battle of the English Civil War," PURITANS took over the Colony of Maryland, and proceeded to pass laws against CATHOLICS, such as the Act Concerning Religion, October 20, 1654:

"That such as profess Faith in GOD by JESUS CHRIST, though differing in Judgment from from the Doctrine, Worship or Discipline ... should not be restrained but protected in the Profession of the Faith and Exercise of their Religion ... Provided such liberty was NOT EXTENDED TO POPERY ...

That none who profess and exercise the PAPISTIC, commonly known as the ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIGION, can be protected in this province."

PURITANS lost control of England.

Admiral William Penn helped bring Charles II back to England to restore the monarchy.

In 1658, Lord Baltimore was restored to being Maryland's Governor.

With the help of Admiral Penn, Charles II defeated the Dutch and gave the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam to his brother, James, the Duke of York, causing New Amsterdam to become New York.

Charles II also gave to the son of Admiral Penn the Colony of Pennsylvania.

When Charles II died in 1685, and his brother, the Duke of York, became King James II.

James II's daughter, Mary, married the Dutch leader William III, the Prince of Orange.

When it appeared that James II was going to make England CATHOLIC again, his supporters abandoned him.

ANGLICAN leaders in the British Parliament invited the Dutch leader William III, and his wife, Mary, to co-rule England as William and Mary.

James II fled to France.

Known as the "Glorious Revolution," this turn of events also confirmed the supremacy of the British Parliament over the Crown.

In Maryland, ANGLICANS took control of the colony, and CATHOLICS were again denied freedom of conscience, as stated in an Act to Prevent the Growth of Popery, September 30, 1704:

"That whatsoever POPISH Bishop, Priest or Jesuit, shall baptize any child ... other than such who have POPISH Parents or shall say Mass ... shall forfeit ... fifty pounds Sterling ... and shall also suffer six months imprisonment ...

And be it further enacted ... if any PAPIST ... shall keep school or take upon themselves the education ... or boarding of youth ... such persons ... shall upon conviction be transported out of this Province."

The wealthiest man in Maryland, Charles Carroll, Sr., of Annapolis, sailed to France in 1752, to meet with CATHOLIC King Louis XV to propose obtaining land in the Louisiana Territory in order to move Maryland CATHOLICS there, though this plan never materialized.

Maryland was a coastal colony and became a destination for settlers of various Christian faiths:

- Quakers,
- Scots and Scots-Irish Presbyterians,
- German Moravians,
- Mennonites and
- other Protestant dissenters.

When the Revolutionary War started, things changed.

The thirteen colonies in America, with their different denominations, realized they had to work together in order to defeat the ANGLICAN King George III.

One incident of working together came in 1775, when the Continental Army was camped at Harvard College, on the Cambridge Commons.

Soldiers from Connecticut had made plans for the annual Guy Fawkes procession, with its custom of burning the Pope in effigy, (and later wearing Guy Fawkes masks), in remembrance of how in 1605, the gunpowder plot of CATHOLICS to blow up the British Parliament was foiled.

When General Washington heard of the planned activity, he halted the event and expressed dismay at their lack of decency, as CATHOLICS were fighting together with them against the British.

At first, Maryland, resisted joining the Revolution, as almost every member of the ANGLICAN clergy supported King George III.

Helping to convince Maryland to join in the Revolution was Charles Carroll, son of the wealthiest landowner in Maryland.

He gave his support to independence, being the sole CATHOLIC to sign the Declaration.

Charles Carroll wrote to Rev. John Stanford, October, 9, 1827:

"To obtain religious as well as civil liberty I entered jealously into the Revolution, and observing the CHRISTIAN religion divided into many SECTS, I founded the hope that no one would be so predominant as to become the religion of the State.

That hope was thus early entertained because all of them joined in the same cause, with few exceptions of individuals."

During the Revolution's freezing winter at Valley Forge, a plot emerged in the Continental Congress to replace General George Washington with General Horatio Gates.

Charles Carroll was key in persuading them not to.

Charles Carroll's cousin, John Carroll, was the first CATHOLIC Bishop in America.

In 1776, Bishop John Carroll traveled with Charles Carroll, Samuel Chase and Ben Franklin to Canada in a failed attempt to persuade that country to join in the Revolution.

Bishop John Carroll founded Georgetown University.

Bishop Carroll wrote:

"Freedom and independence, acquired by...the mingled blood of PROTESTANT and CATHOLIC fellow-citizens, should be equally enjoyed by all."

President Washington wrote to Bishop John Carroll, March 1790:

"Your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part which you took in the accomplishment of their Revolution ...

May the members of your society in America, animated alone by the pure spirit of CHRISTIANITY ... enjoy every temporal and spiritual felicity."

At the time of the Revolution, the colonies were around 98 percent PROTESTANT, a little less that 1 percent CATHOLIC, and 1/10th of a percent JEWISH.

Catholics had only been allowed in three colonies: Maryland, Pennsylvania, and to a lesser degree New York.

Bishop John Carroll wrote to Rome in 1790:

"The thirteen provinces of North America rejected the yoke of England, they proclaimed, at the same time, freedom of conscience ...

Before this great event, the CATHOLIC faith had penetrated two provinces only, Maryland and Pennsylvania. In all the others the laws against CATHOLICS were in force ...

By the Declaration of Independence, every difficulty was removed: the CATHOLICS were placed on a level with their fellow-CHRISTIANS, and every political disqualification was done away."

Bishop John Carroll's brother was Daniel Carroll, who was one of two CATHOLICS to sign the U.S. Constitution, the other being Thomas Fitzsimons of Pennsylvania.

Daniel Carroll wanted to limit the power of the Federal Government and proposed in the Congressional debates that the phrase "or to the people" be added to the Tenth Amendment:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, OR TO THE PEOPLE."

Daniel Carroll provided the farm upon which the U.S. Capitol is built.

Daniel Carroll's nephew, Robert Brent, was the first mayor of Washington, D.C., being reappointed by Jefferson and Madison.

George Washington wrote to the Congregation of New Church in Baltimore, Maryland, January 27, 1793:

"Every person may here WORSHIP GOD according to the dictates of his own heart.

In this enlightened Age and in this land of equal liberty it is our boast that a man's religious tenets will not forfeit the protection of the laws."

In 1776, Maryland's original State Constitution generously granted religious freedom to PROTESTANTS and CATHOLICS:

"ARTICLE 33: That, as it is the duty of every man to worship God in such manner as he thinks most acceptable to him; all persons, professing the CHRISTIAN RELIGION, are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty;

wherefore no person ought by any law to be molested in his person or estate on account of his religious persuasion or profession, or for his religious practice ...

yet the Legislature may, in their discretion, lay a general and equal tax for the support of the CHRISTIAN RELIGION."

Maryland's original 1776 Constitution continued:

"ARTICLE 55. That every person, appointed to any office ... shall ... take the following oath:

I ... do swear, that I do not hold myself bound in allegiance to the King of Great Britain, and that I will be faithful, and bear true allegiance to the State of Maryland; and shall also subscribe a declaration of his belief in the CHRISTIAN RELIGION."

In 1799, the Maryland Supreme Court stated in the case of Runkel v. Winemiller:

"Religion is of general and public concern, and on its support depend, in great measure, the peace and good order of government, the safety and happiness of the people.

By our form of government, the Christian religion is the established religion;

and all sects and denominations of Christians are placed upon the same equal footing, and are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty.

The principles of the Christian religion ... and its doctrines generally propagated ... (by) places of public worship and teachers and ministers, to explain the Scriptures to the people ...

Pastors, teachers and ministers, of every denomination of Christians, are equally entitled to the protection of the law ...

Every ... minister, of any sect or denomination of Christians, who has been wrongfully dispossessed of his pulpit, is ... to be restored."

In 1835, French political writer Gustave de Beaumont, a contemporary of Alexis de Tocqueville, wrote in, Marie ou L'Esclavage aux E'tas-Unis:

"In the United States, the law is never atheistic ...

All of the American constitutions proclaim freedom of conscience and the liberty and equality of all the confessions ...

Maryland's Constitution also declares that all of the faiths are free, and that no one is forced to contribute to the maintenance of a particular Church.

However, it gives the legislature the right to establish a general tax ... for the support of the CHRISTIAN RELIGION ...

Maryland Law declares that, to be admitted to public office, it is necessary to be a CHRISTIAN."

In 1851, Maryland's Constitution was amended to allow Jews to hold public office:

"ARTICLE 34. That no other test or qualification ought to be required ... than such oath of office as may be prescribed by this Constitution ... and a declaration of belief in the CHRISTIAN RELIGION;

and if the party shall profess to be a JEW, the declaration shall be of his belief in A FUTURE STATE OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS."

In 1864, Maryland's Constitution was amended to allow anyone who believed in God to hold office:

"ARTICLE 37. That no other test or qualification ought to be required ... than such oath of allegiance ... to this State and the United States ... and a declaration of belief in the CHRISTIAN RELIGION;

or in THE EXISTENCE OF GOD, and in A FUTURE STATE OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS."

In 1867, Maryland's Constitution stated:

"ARTICLE 37. That no religious test ought ever to be required ... other than a declaration of belief in THE EXISTENCE OF GOD."

In 2002, Maryland's Constitution stated:

"ARTICLE 37. That no religious test ought ever to be required ... other than a declaration of belief in THE EXISTENCE OF GOD."

In 1961, Roy Torcaso wanted to be a notary public in Maryland but he was denied as he refused to make "a declaration of belief in the existence of God," as required by Maryland's State Constitution, Article 37.

The case, Torcaso v Watkins (1961), went to the Supreme Court where Justice Hugo Black creatively used the 14th Amendment to usurp jurisdiction of religion away from the States.

He included a footnote which has since been cited authoritatively in subsequent cases, listing "ethical culture" and "secular humanism" as a religions:

"AMONG THE RELIGIONS in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture, SECULAR HUMANISM and others."

Supreme Court Justice Scalia wrote in Edwards v. Aguillard (1987):

"In Torcaso v. Watkins, 367 U.S. 488, 495, n. 11 (1961), we did indeed refer to 'SECULAR HUMANISM' as a 'religion.'"


(Get the book Endangered Speeches - How the ACLU, IRS & LBJ Threaten Extinction of Free Speech www.AmericanMinute.com)

After recognizing SECULAR HUMANISM as a religion, in order to not prefer one religion over another, the courts proceeded to expel God.

Thus, they effectively established SECULAR HUMANISM as the official national religion in violation of the First Amendment's prohibition that the Federal Government: "make no law respecting an establishment of religion "

In 1960, an atheist in Maryland named Madalyn Murray O'Hair sued the Baltimore City Public School System, (Murray v. Curlett), to have Bible reading taken out of public schools, using her 14 year old son, William J. Murray, III, as the plaintiff.

The case went to the Supreme Court where it was combined with the case of Abington Township v. Schempp.

Justice Potter Stewart wrote in the dissenting opinion of Abington Township v. Schempp, 1963:

"The state may not establish a 'religion of secularism' in the sense of affirmatively opposing or showing hostility to religion, thus 'preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe' ...

Refusal to permit religious exercises thus is seen, not as the realization of state neutrality, but rather as the establishment of a religion of secularism."

U.S. District Court, Crockett v. Sorenson, W.D. Va,. 1983:

"The First Amendment was never intended to insulate our public institutions from any mention of God, the Bible or religion.

When such insulation occurs, another religion, such as SECULAR HUMANISM, is effectively established."

Of note is that in 1995, Madalyn Murray O'Hair was murdered, mutilated, and buried by the felons she had employed.

Her son, William J. Murray, III, became a renown Christian author and speaker. He founded the Religious Freedom Coalition to aid persecuted Christians in Islamic and Communist countries.

He wrote a best-selling book, My Life Without God (2012).

Subsequent to Abington Township (1963), American laws, decisions, and regulations became increasingly hostile to JUDEO-CHRISTIAN beliefs.

This culminated in the 2015 Obergefell vs. Hodges gay-marriage decision, which effectively criminalizes those holding the Biblical view of natural marriage; and the 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County decision, adding gay and transgendered workers to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, condemned the ruling as “preposterous� and betraying “breathtaking� arrogance.

“The position that the Court now adopts will threaten freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and personal privacy and safety. No one should think that the Court’s decision represents an unalloyed victory for individual liberty."

Justice Alito added:

"It is a matter of concern to many people who are reticent about disrobing or using toilet facilities in the presence of individuals whom they regard as members of the opposite sex. For some, this may simply be a question of modesty, but for others, there is more at stake.

For women who have been victimized by sexual assault or abuse, the experience of seeing an unclothed person with the anatomy of a male in a confined and sensitive location such as a bathroom or locker room can cause serious psychological harm.�

Alito explained how the decision may end women's athletics:

“The effect of the Court’s reasoning may be to force young women to compete against students who have a very significant biological advantage, including students who have the size and strength of a male but identify as female and students who are taking male hormones in order to transition from female to male.�

Biblical marriage is defined in the first book of the Bible, Genesis 2:23-24:

"The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called WOMAN, Because she was taken out of MAN.'

For this reason a MAN shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his WIFE; and they shall become one flesh."

Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding, and reaffirmed the Genesis definition of marriage in the Gospel of Mark (10:6-9)

"But from the beginning of creation, God made them MALE and FEMALE.

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh; so they are no longer two, but one flesh.

What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."

At the time of the country's founding, agendas promoting sex outside of marriage would have been considered "acts of licentiousness."

In the Proceedings of the Maryland State Convention to Frame a New Constitution at Annapolis, November 4, 1850, (p. 250), delegate Mr. Biser stated:

"The liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be construed as to excuse acts of licentiousness."

"Licentiousness" is defined as: unrestrained by morality, promiscuous, unprincipled in sexual matters, disregarding sexual restraints.

With many states now teaching the LGBTQ-transgendered sexual agenda in schools, one is reminded of Jesus' warning in Matthew 18:6 (NIV):

“If anyone causes one of these little ones — those who believe in me — to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."

Maryland has gone from its 1649 Toleration Act, where "no person ... professing to believe in JESUS CHRIST shall ... be any ways troubled or molested," to today's LGBTQ agenda, which is effectively a creative way to cut ties with the JUDEO-CHRISTIIAN past.

Government's advancement of this agenda through student indoctrination and redefinition of gender bathrooms is effectively an oppression of conscience for those holding the values of the founders.

George Washington wrote to a meeting of Quakers from MARYLAND, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey & Delaware, October of 1789:

"GOVERNMENT being ... instituted to PROTECT the persons and CONSCIENCES of men from oppression ...

the liberty enjoyed by the People of these States of WORSHIPING ALMIGHTY GOD agreeable to their CONSCIENCES is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their rights."
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(Maryland's transition on its views on religion are in William J. Federer's books: The Original 13: A Documentary History of Religion in America's First Thirteen States; and BACKFIRED-A Nation Founded for Religious Tolerance No Longer Tolerates the Religion of Its Founders www.AmericanMinute.com)

Show Endnotes

Hide Endnotes

Maryland, Charter of. June 20, 1632, issued by King Charles I to Cecilius Calvert, Second Lord Baltimore. Ebenezer Hazard, Historical Collection: Consisting of State Papers & other Authentic Documents: Intended as Materials for an History of the United States of America (Philadelphia: T. Dobson, 1792), Vol. I, pp. 327-328. William McDonald, editor, Select Charters & Other Documents (NY: The Macmillan Co., 1899), pp. 53-54. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal & State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, & Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, & Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968), Vol. III, pp. 1677 ff. Henry Steele Commager, ed., Documents of American History, 2 vols. (NY: F.S. Crofts & Co., 1934; Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1948, 6 ed, 1958; Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 9 edition, 1973), Vol. I, p. 21. William McDonald, ed., Documentary Source Book of American History, 1606-1889 (NY: Macmillan Co., 1909), p. 32. Charles E. Rice, The Supreme Court & Public Prayer (NY: Fordham University Press, 1964), pp. 160-161. Richard L. Perry, ed., Sources of Our Liberties: Documentary Origins of Individual Liberties in the United States Constitution & Bill of Rights (Chicago: American Bar Foundation, 1978; NY: 1952), p. 105. Pat Robertson, America's Dates With Destiny (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986), pp. 31-32.


Catholic Church in the Thirteen Colonies
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The situation of the Catholic Church in the Thirteen Colonies was characterized by an extensive religious persecution originating from Protestant sects, which would barely allow religious toleration to Catholics living on American territory.
Contents

1 Origins of anti-Catholicism
2 Colonies
2.1 Virginia
2.2 Massachusetts
2.3 New Hampshire
2.4 Maryland
2.5 Connecticut
2.6 Rhode Island
2.7 Delaware
2.8 North Carolina
2.9 New York
2.10 New Jersey
2.11 South Carolina
2.12 Pennsylvania
2.13 Georgia
3 Examples of religious toleration
4 Few Catholics
5 Vicar Apostolic of the London District
6 See also
7 References

Origins of anti-Catholicism

American Anti-Catholicism has its origins in the Reformation. British colonists, who were predominantly Protestant, opposed not only the Catholic Church but also the Church of England, which they believed perpetuated some Catholic doctrine and practices, and for that reason deemed it to be insufficiently Reformed. Protestants discontented with the Church of England formed the earliest religious settlements in North America. Monsignor John Tracy Ellis wrote that a "universal anti-Catholic bias was brought to Jamestown in 1607 and vigorously cultivated in all the thirteen colonies from Massachusetts to Georgia."[1]

Some colonies supported an established church, which received tax support from the colonial legislature.[2]
Colonies
Virginia

Eighty-one years before the coming of the English to Jamestown in 1607, a settlement was made in Virginia by Spaniards from San Domingo, under the leadership of Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón. Accompanied by the Dominican Fathers Antonio de Montesinos and Antonio de Cervantes with Brother Peter de Estrada, the expedition set sail in three vessels from Puerto de la Plata, in June 1526. The severity of the winter, the rebellion of the settlers, and the hostility of the natives caused the abandonment of the settlement in the spring of 1527.[3]

In 1624 Virginia was made a crown colony. Because of the establishment of the English Church, hostility was shown to adherents of other beliefs and to Catholics in particular. Lord Baltimore attempted in vain to plant a Catholic colony in Virginia (1629–30). Stringent legislation was enacted against Catholics. In 1641 a decree declared that adherents of the pope were to be fined 1000 pounds of tobacco if they attempted to hold office.[4] The following year all priests were given five days within which to leave the colony.[5] In 1661 all persons were obliged to attend the Established services or pay a fine of £20. The governor issued orders to magistrates, sheriffs, constables, and people to be diligent in the apprehension and bringing to justice of all Catholic priests. The records of Norfolk County (1687) show Fathers Edmonds and Raymond arrested. In 1699 Catholics were deprived of their right of voting, and later a fine of 500 pounds of tobacco was imposed upon violators of the law. They were declared incompetent as witnesses in 1705, and in 1753 such incompetency was made to cover all cases.[3]
Massachusetts

Massachusetts was first settled by English religious dissenters. Quakers, Jews, and Catholics were not permitted in the colony. Catholics avoided Massachusetts during the colonial period after laws passed in 1647 and 1700 forbade Catholic priests to reside in the colony under pain of imprisonment and execution.[6] Because many of the British colonists, such as the Puritans and Congregationalists, were fleeing religious persecution by the Church of England, much of early American religious culture exhibited the anti-Catholic bias of these Protestant denominations.

Near the close of the reign of Charles I (d. 1649), the forced emigration of the Irish brought many to Massachusetts. However, their number is hard to estimate because the law obliged all Irishmen in certain towns of Ireland to take English surnames—the names of some small town, of a color, of a particular trade or office, or of a certain art or craft.[7]
New Hampshire

Abenaki natives, converted by Jesuit missionaries from Quebec, were the first Catholics of New Hampshire.[8] Originally settled by Anglicans, in 1641 New Hampshire came under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts.[9]

Few Catholics appear among the early settlers, as they were banned by the charter of the Plymouth Council, which excluded from New England all who had not taken the Oath of Supremacy. Catholics were denied the right of freemen under the Royal Commission of 1679, which required the Oath of Supremacy, and this was endorsed by the General Assembly held at Portsmouth the following year; and in 1696 a test oath was imposed on the people under pain of fine or imprisonment. The proscription of Catholics continued under the state constitution even after the adoption of the federal constitution.[9]
Maryland

Catholicism was introduced to the English colonies in 1634 with the founding of the Province of Maryland by Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, based on a charter granted to his father George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore.[10] The first settlers were accompanied by two Jesuit missionaries travelling as gentlemen adventurers.[4]

However, the 1646 defeat of the Royalists in the English Civil War led to stringent laws against Catholic education and the extradition of known Jesuits from the colony, including Andrew White, and the destruction of their school at Calverton Manor.[11] During the greater part of the Maryland colonial period, Jesuits continued to conduct Catholic schools clandestinely from their manor house in Newtowne St. Francis Xavier Church and Newtown Manor House Historic District.

After Virginia established Anglicanism as mandatory in the colony, many Puritans migrated from Virginia to Maryland.[4] The government gave them land for a settlement called Providence (now called Annapolis). In 1650, the Puritans revolted against the proprietary government and set up a new government that outlawed both Catholicism and Anglicanism. In March 1655, the 2nd Lord Baltimore sent an army under Governor William Stone to put down this revolt. Near Annapolis, his Catholic army was decisively defeated by a Puritan army in what was to be known as the "Battle of the Severn". The Puritan revolt lasted until 1658, when the Calvert family regained control and re-enacted the Toleration Act.
Connecticut

The first English settlement was established on the Connecticut River at Windsor by traders from the Plymouth Colony in 1633. In the same year the Dutch from New Amsterdam had sailed up the river and erected a trading house and fort where the city of Hartford now stands, a few miles below Windsor. The Dutch soon after withdrew, leaving the English to establish the first permanent settlements within the boundaries of Connecticut. In 1664 the New Haven Colony, then comprising the various settlements along the coast, was forced to unite with those in the Connecticut valley, thus forming one commonwealth thereafter known as Connecticut. The vast majority of the population remained distinctively English of Puritan origin. Congregationalism was the established religion supported by public taxation.[12]
Rhode Island

The earliest settlers in Rhode Island were led by Roger Williams and other refugees from Massachusetts. Rhode Island was the first colony to declare freedom of religion for all faiths, including all denominations of Christianity, in 1636. In 1739 there were thirty-three churches in the colony; twelve Baptist, ten Quaker, six Congregational or Presbyterian, and five Episcopalian. It is said that in 1680 there was not one Catholic in the colony, and for a long period their number must have been small.[13]
Delaware

The area of Delaware was first settled by Swedish colonists under the leadership of Peter Minuit, former governor of New Amsterdam. In 1655 the Swedish settlements surrendered to the Dutch, who in 1664 surrendered to the English. From its earliest settlement, at no time did religious intolerance ever appear in the government of the Swedish colony which grew into the State of Delaware.[14]

Prior to 1772 no definite records are obtainable regarding any regularly established Catholic church in the present State of Delaware. The Catholics in the State prior to the latter part of the eighteenth century were very few in number. In 1730 Cornelius Hallahan, an Irish Catholic settled in Mill Creek Hundred in New Castle Country on an estate called by him Cuba Rock, near the present location of Mount Cuba, Delaware. The first Catholic services in the State were probably held at his house. The Apoquiniminck Mission, in the lower part of New Castle Country, was established before 1750 by Jesuits from St. Xavier's Mission in Cecil County, Maryland. In a 1748 report from the Episcopal Mission at Dover (Kent Country) to the clergymen of the Pennsylvania province, it is stated that the "Quakers and Roman Catholics were long accustomed to bury their dead at their own plantations." Again in 1751 a like report from the Dover Mission states: "There are about five or six families of Papists, who are attended once a month from Maryland with a priest." In January 1772, Father Matthew Sittensperger, a Jesuit known under the name of Manners, purchased a farm in Mill Creek Hundred which was known as Coffee Run, and here a log chapel called St. Mary's and a residence were erected. Father Sittensperger was succeeded by the Rev. Stephen Faure who, with other Frenchmen, was driven from St. Domingo by slave uprisings and settled at Wilmington.[14]

In 1785 Delaware was one of the four states (the others being Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia) where Catholics were not virtually under civil disabilities.[14]
North Carolina

In 1663 Charles II, of Catholic sympathies, granted to Sir George Carteret and seven others a stretch of land on the Atlantic coast, lying between Virginia and Florida. The grantees were created "absolute lords proprietors" of the province of Carolina, with full powers to make and execute such laws as they deemed proper. In 1674 the population was about four thousand. After 1729 Carolina became a royal province, the king having purchased from the proprietors seven-eighths of their domain. Under the lords proprietors, there was much religious discrimination and even persecution; but there was little under the Crown except as to holding office. The disqualification for office involved in denying the truth of the Protestant religion remained in the Constitution until the Convention of 1835.[15]
New York

The Dutch Colony of the seventeenth century was officially intolerantly Protestant but was in practice tolerant and fair to people of other faiths who dwelt within New Netherland. When the English took the province from the Dutch in 1664, they granted full religious toleration to the other forms of Protestantism, and preserved the property rights of the Dutch Reformed Church, while recognizing its discipline. The General Assembly of the province held in 1682 under the famous Governor Thomas Dongan, an Irish Catholic nobleman, adopted the Charter of Liberties, which proclaimed religious liberty to all Christians, although this charter did not receive formal royal sanction. In 1688 the Stuart Revolution in England reversed this policy of liberality, and the Province of New York immediately followed the example of the mother-country in intolerance and legal persecution of the Catholic Church and its adherents. In 1697, although the Anglican Church was never formally established in the Province of New York, Trinity Church was founded in the City of New York by royal charter and received many civil privileges and munificent grants of land. The Dutch Reformed Churches continued, however, to enjoy their property and the protection of their rights undisturbed by the new Anglican foundation, the inhabitants of Dutch blood being then largely in the ascendant. This condition continued many years, for when the Revolution occurred in 1776 the majority of the inhabitants of the Province of New York were not of English descent.[16]

The political conditions at home, and also the long contest between England and France for the control of North America, resulted in the enactment by the provincial legislature from time to time of proscriptive laws against the Catholics. Catholic priests and teachers were ordered to keep away from the province or, if they by any chance came there, to depart at once. Severe penalties were provided for disobedience to these laws extending to long imprisonment. In the disturbances and panic of the Slave Insurrection of 1741 schoolmaster John Ury was tried and executed for his alleged role in the uprising.[16]
New Jersey

New Jersey was founded as a proprietary colony by grant to Lord John Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, who attracted settlers not only from England but from Scotland, New England, and particularly from Long Island and Connecticut. These planters were largely Calvinists from Presbyterian and Congregational communities, and occupied mainly land in Newark, Elizabeth, and upon the north shore of Monmouth County. The Calvinists brought with them into East Jersey their distinctive views upon religious and civil matters. East Jersey resembled New England in civil government; West Jersey resembled Virginia.[17]

The comparative liberality of the proprietary rule of Berkeley and Carteret, especially in religious matters, attracted some Catholic settlers to New Jersey. As early as 1672 Fathers Harvey and Gage visited both Woodbridge and Elizabethtown (then the capital of New Jersey) for the purpose of ministering to the Catholics in those places. Robert Vanquellen, a native of Caen, France, and a Catholic, lived at Woodbridge, and was surveyor general of that section of New Jersey in 1669 and 1670. Catholics were, however, regarded with some suspicion, and considerable bigotry at times manifested itself. A Catholic by the name of William Douglass, when elected a representative from Bergen County, was excluded from the General Assembly of 1668 because of his religious convictions. In 1691 the New York Assembly passed the first anti-Catholic enactment, which was followed by laws strongly opposed to Catholics and their beliefs both in New York and New Jersey. Lord Cornbury, when appointed governor in 1701, was instructed by Queen Anne to permit liberty of conscience to all persons except "papists".[17]
South Carolina

In 1670 the foundation of South Carolina was laid in a settlement on the Ashley River and a governor was appointed. In 1673 Charleston was fixed as the permanent site for the settlement, a number of Dutch immigrants from New York having arrived the year before. The colony was further augmented by Presbyterian Scotch-Irish in 1683, but the most important addition was the coming of the French Huguenots upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, who settled on the Cooper River, and were later admitted to the political rights of the colony. In 1697 religious liberty was accorded to all "except Papists". An attempt was made in 1704 to exclude Dissenters from the Assembly, but the law was annulled by Queen Anne. The Crown assumed control in 1721.[18]
Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania was established in 1681 by a grant of 40,000 square miles to William Penn for services rendered to the crown by his father, Admiral Penn. Penn, a devout member of the Society of Friends, was impelled by desire to provide a safe home for persecuted Quakers. Penn was far in advance of his time in his views of the capacity of mankind for democratic government, and equally so in his broad-minded toleration of differences of religious belief. Penn's Quaker beliefs helped an attitude of toleration toward all Christian denominations spread among the population of Pennsylvania and into the colony's laws. The first Constitution of Pennsylvania adopted by the freeholders established religious liberty, but was not accepted by the Privy Council. The Frame of Government of 1701 guaranteed liberty of conscience to all who confessed and acknowledged "one Almighty God", and made eligible for office all who believed in "Jesus Christ the Savior of the World."[19]
Georgia

James Oglethorpe, who had followed up a brilliant military career as aide-de-camp to Prince Eugene by a still more brilliant parliamentary career, had conceived the plan of settling a colony in the New World with worthy, though unfortunate and economically unproductive, inmates of the wretched English prisons. According to the colony's by-laws, freedom of worship was to be granted to all prospective colonists "except papists".[20] In royal colonies such as Georgia, citizens were expected to belong to the Anglican Church.[2]
Examples of religious toleration

Rhode Island, under the leadership of Roger Williams allowed freedom of religion for all faiths upon its founding. Maryland was an example of religious toleration in a fairly intolerant age. The Act of Toleration, issued in 1649, was one of the first laws that explicitly defined tolerance of varieties of religion.[2] It has been considered a precursor to the First Amendment.
Few Catholics

In 1700 Maryland recorded fewer than 3,000 Catholics out of a population of 34,000 (around 9% of the population). In 1757, Pennsylvania recorded fewer than 1,400 Catholics out of a population of about 200,000. In 1790, when the newly founded United States (formerly the Thirteen Colonies) counted almost four million people in the first national census, there were fewer than 65,000 Catholics (about 1.6% of the population). John Carroll, first Catholic bishop assigned to the United States, in 1785 estimated the number of Catholics at 25,000; 15,800 in Maryland, 7,000 in Pennsylvania and 1,500 in New York. There were only 25 priests.
Vicar Apostolic of the London District

Until the end of the Continental Congress or Congress of the Confederation in 1789, Catholics were under a titular bishop of the Catholic Church in England and Wales or Vicar Apostolic of the London District whose jurisdiction included the Catholics of British (English speaking) possessions in America. The last British Catholic bishops to oversee the Catholics of the newly formed United States were Richard Challoner, 1758–81, and James Robert Talbot, 1781-90. Talbot was succeeded by the American, John Carroll, who became the first American-born bishop.


See also

iconCatholicism portal iconChristianity portal History portal flagUnited States portal

Catholic Church in French Louisiana
Catholic Church in the United States
Catholic schools in the United States
Catholic social activism in the United States
Catholicism and American politics
Ecclesiastical property in the United States
History of Roman Catholicism in the United States
National Museum of Catholic Art and History

References

Ellis, John Tracy (1956). American Catholicism.
"ABA Division for Public Education: Students in Action: Debating Church-State Relations and Related Free-Speech Issues: Established Churches in Colonial Times". www.americanbar.org. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
"CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: of the w Virginia". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
"The Catholic church in colonial days : the thirteen colonies, the Ottawa and Illinois country, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, 1521-1763". archive.org. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
"Pre-Revolutionary America · American Catholic History Resources · American Catholic History Classroom". cuomeka.wrlc.org. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
"Massachusetts, Catholic Church in". 2003-01-01. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04.
"CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Massachusetts". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
Broderick,F.L., Paradis, W.H., Staub, C.S., "New Hampshire, Catholic Church in", New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2003
"CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: New Hampshire". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
Fitzpatrick, Edward A. (January 1936). "Miniatures of Georgetown, 1634 to 1934". The Journal of Higher Education. 7 (1): 56–57. doi:10.2307/1974310. JSTOR 1974310.
Nevils, William Coleman (1934). Miniatures of Georgetown: Tercentennial Causeries. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. pp. 1–25. OCLC 8224468.
"CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Connecticut". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
"CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Rhode Island". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
"CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Delaware". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
"CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: North Carolina". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
"CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: State of New York". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
"CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: New Jersey". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
"CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: South Carolina". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2017-07-07.
"CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Pennsylvania". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2017-07-07.

"CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Georgia". www.newadvent.org. Retrieved 2017-07-07.

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Roman Catholicism in North America
Categories:

History of Catholicism in the United StatesHistory of the Thirteen ColoniesAnti-Catholicism in the United States

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