By
Chelsea
Welcome to Maryland!!!!! I researched this colony to learn more about it. In this report you will learn about what was happening in this area early in our history.
In England in the 1600’s and the 1700’s, people of different
religions did not get along very well. Catholics as well as people who
practiced other kinds of religions could be jailed or even killed for that
matter.
A rich Englishman named Sir George Calvert wanted to create a place
where people would be free to practice whatever religion they wanted to
practice.
Sir George Calvert died before the boat was able to get to Maryland.
Colonists sailed across the ocean and landed in Maryland on the day of
March 25,1634. Only twenty-five of
the two hundred colonists in Maryland were rich and found it easy to pay the
bills that they got from the bank. Some
of the people had to pay their way by paying smaller amounts over a long period
of time.
The people in what became Maryland faced many different sicknesses.
There was no doctor in the
colony so if the people in Maryland got sick, there was no one who could help
them get better and they died. Some people in Maryland got hungry and
starved to death. Bugs that carried sicknesses came to Maryland and started to
evolve in the Maryland swamps. Life
was hard.
There was a lot of work to do on the farms to grow crops to eat.
Maryland’s main business was farming. There were pigs, cows, chickens, and all
sorts of other animals. For every child, man, or woman, each individual would get
about fifty to one hundred acres of land.
Lords used to grow tobacco plants and sell the tobacco for a lot of
money. Lords got big huge plantations. Some lords paid for the acres of land
from the money they got from selling their tobacco plant leaves.
Slavery was illegal. In
1639, people started to buy African people. The African people were sold to the
lords in Maryland. Sometimes the lords in Maryland just bought the African
people when they were in Africa. They wanted these slaves to work the tobacco
fields.
In 1649, the lawmakers passed the Act of Toleration. This was a law that made it possible for all different kinds of religions to live in peace and work together. If you go to the St. Mary's Living History Museum in Maryland, you can visit reconstructed wood homes, workshops, and inns.
I had no idea about what they did in Maryland in the early days. I was surprised about how Sir George Calvert died before he was able to see the new land that he had planned to make into a place for all religions. I think that if he were there, he would have been proud. He made it happen even if he wasn't there. The people there made it happen.
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Last Updated: 03/21/06