George Calvert, 1st Lord Baltimore in the Irish House of Lords, fresh from his failure further north with Newfoundland's Avalon colony, had in 1629 applied to King Charles for a new royal charter for what is to become the Province of Maryland.

Calvert's interest in creating a colony derived from his Catholicism and his desire for the creation of a haven for Catholics in the new world.

In addition, he was familiar with the fortunes that had been made in tobacco in Virginia, and hoped to recoup some of the financial losses he had sustained in his earlier colonial venture in Newfoundland.

George Calvert dies in April 1632, but a charter for "Maryland Colony" (in Latin, "Terra Maria") is granted to his son, Cæcilius Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore, on June 20, 1632.

The new colony is named in honor of Henrietta Maria, Queen Consort of Charles.

The specific name given in the charter is phrased "Terra Mariae, anglice, Maryland".

The English name is preferred over the Latin due in part to the undesired association of "Mariae" with the Spanish Jesuit Juan de Mariana.

Leonard, Cæcilius' younger brother, is put in charge of the expedition because Cæcilius does not want to go.

William Claiborne, an English Puritan surveyor and an early settler in Virginia, had in 1631 established a trading post on Kent Island in the Chesapeake Bay.

He has become a wealthy planter, a trader, and a major figure in the politics of the colony.

Following the formation of the province of Maryland, Claiborne has continued to recognize the island as part of his home colony of Virginia while Maryland’s proprietor Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, recognizes it as part of the English Province of Maryland, founded in 1632 as a Catholic colony.

Claiborne is a central figure in the disputes between the colonists of Maryland and of Virginia, partly because of his refusal to vacate the trading post on Kent Island, which in 1635 had provoked the first naval battles in North American waters.

An attorney for Cloberry and Company, who are concerned that the revenues they are receiving from fur trading has not recouped their original investment, arrive on Kent Island in autumn 1637.

The attorney takes possession of the island and bids Claiborne return to England, where Cloberry and Company file suit against him.

The attorney now invites Maryland to take over the island by force, which it does in December 1637.

The Puritans who had settled in Providence at Stone's invitation communicate to the commissioners on January 3, 1654, that they object to the oath of fidelity to Baltimore as a Roman Catholic.

William Stone had decreed on March 2, 1654, that although he is faithful to the Commonwealth, all writs should "run in the Proprietary's name as heretofore".

After Stone resigned as Governor under duress on July 20, the Commissioners had become de facto governors of the colony, and the first general assembly under their authority is held on October 20, 1654.

Roman Catholics and any other individuals who had borne arms against the Parliament cannot be members (effectively limiting the membership to Puritans), and among the fofrty-four Acts passed by this group is a repeal of the Toleration Act, only seven years after its passage.

In addition to repealing the Maryland Toleration Act with the assistance of Protestant assemblymen, Claiborne and Bennett pass a new law barring Catholics from openly practicing their religion.

The Golden Lyon, a merchant ship commanded by Captain Roger Heamans, arrives in Maryland on January 31, 1655, and Stone reports to the Captain that he is no longer Governor of Maryland.

At about this time, another ship, The Golden Fortune, arrives in the colony with a letter from Oliver Cromwell, by this time Lord Protector, addressed to Captain Stone, Governor of Maryland.

Using this as a form of recognition, Stone challenges the authority of the commissioners, seizes back the records of the colony, and musters his troops to deal with the Puritan settlers allied with them.

Recruiting from St. Mary's County, Stone recaptures the Assembly records located on the Patuxent River, and sails with a small fleet up the Chesapeake Bay north towards Providence.

Heamans is informed of a plot to kill the inhabitants of Providence, as well as to burn his ship and kill his crew and officers.

Following the removal of the women and children of Providence to The Golden Lion, a war council is convened, and appoints William Fuller of the Puritan settlers of Providence as its leader.

The council on March 23, 1655, issues a warrant to Heamans to serve as a counselor, with Heamans relating to Stone that he is bound to do so, ignoring his contrary orders.

Heamans on March 24 fires on sloops and boats heading toward his ship, forcing their retreat.

He then orders an armed sloop to bar their escape by blocking Spa Creek, the inlet of the Severn to which Stone's forces had retreated.

After Fuller retrieves the only Commonwealth flag in the colony for use as his colors in battle, the forces meet on Horn Point on March 25, with Fuller's forces driving Stone's small force to the end of the peninsula.

The battle is over in less than a half hour, with seventeen of Stone's forces having been killed, including Thomas Hatton, secretary of the colony, and thirty-two wounded, including Stone.

Only two of Fuller's force are killed.

This is the first battle ever fought between American soldiers on American soil, is the only battle in America in which the flag of the Commonwealth of England is flown, and the first in which the Provincial flag of Maryland is flown.

Stone surrenders after he is promised mercy.

Following hostilities, however, the war council issues death sentences for Stone and nine others.

Four of the prisoners—William Eltonhead, Esq., Captain William Lewis, John Legatt, and John Pedro—are executed, but the remainder are saved when the women of Providence beg that their lives be spared.

Stone takes no further part in public affairs.

Josias Fendall had been one of Stone’s officers in the Battle of the Severn.

His services are rewarded by a grant of two thousand acres (eight square kilometers) of land and by appointment, July 10, 1656, as governor from Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore, 1st Lord Proprietary.

Before he could take any effective steps toward the organization of his government however, he had been arrested by the Puritans on August 15, and held to answer to the charge of being "Dangerous to the public peace".

He had been remanded to prison until the affairs of the Province could be settled by Oliver Cromwell.

However, Fendall had become weary of his confinement and is released, September 24, upon taking an oath that he will not interfere with the government.

The issue of the ongoing Claiborne grievance is finally settled by an agreement reached in 1657.

Lord Baltimore provides Claiborne amnesty for all of his offenses, Virginia lays aside any claim it has to Maryland territory, and Claiborne is indemnified with extensive land grants in Virginia for his loss of Kent Island.

Dr. Luke Barber, Senior, who had been Cromwell’s household physician, had been appointed to administer the provincial government of Maryland in absence of Fendall on his visit to England in 1657.

Fendall had returned on February 26, 1658, with an agreement from Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore.

This agreement states that the government is definitely restored to the proprietor, Governor Fendall, as well as a new commission curtailing his power as governor, with Philip Calvert, a younger brother of Cecilius, as advisor.

As a result of reading the Articles of Agreement from Lord Baltimore on March 23, Captain William Fuller and the other commissioners formally surrender the Provisional Government to Fendall.

The primarily Puritan assembly retains powers until April 27, 1658, when proprietorship is restored to Lord Baltimore, religious freedom is ensured, and an agreement of general amnesty is entered into.

Thus, in the end, Lord Baltimore not only retains his lands and powers, but is able to avoid the grisly fate of many of his contemporaries in England during this time.

Lieutenant-General Josias Fendall, the 4th Proprietary Governor of Maryland, is criticized by the colony’s Proprietor, Lord Baltimore, for negligence at courts and for contradicting court orders; he soon has a falling out with Lord Baltimore and leads a bloodless revolution in 1660 whereby he and Captain William Fuller reorganize Maryland's government to resemble that of the English Commonwealth.

This rebellion is instigated at a meeting of the Assembly, which takes place at the residence of Dr. Thomas Gerard I, Esq.

On the tenth day, the Lower House sends a message to the governor and council, that they intend to be the highest court without being depended upon by the Upper House.

Many compare this act to the time when the Commons of England abolished the House of Lords and made themselves alone the Parliament of the realm.

In addition, this means that they want to be independent of the Proprietor.

Two days of conferences result with the two bodies sitting as one.

Maryland has thus returned to a unicameral legislature of earlier times.

Fendall accepts these conditions and tenders to the Assembly his resignation, as Governor under Lord Baltimore; however, at the same time he accepts from the Assembly a new commission.

He attempts to set up in its place a commonwealth in which the supreme power would be vested in a House of Burgesses.

Over this body the governor is to preside; but the House, retaining its speaker, is to have the power to adjourn and dissolve.

Secretary Philip Calvert protests these proceedings and asks permission to leave.