arrival in the colony, and Lawrence sailed on a later ship because of this argument. Before he arrived in September 1692, two other men had been doing the work of the Secretary and taking the proceeds that accrued with the work. As Lawrence was attempting to recoup that money, Copley made a deal with the assembly to further weaken his opponent and to increase his own coffers. The assemblymen were interested in determining exactly which government officials received how much money, in order to prevent the sort of nepotism that had occurred in the proprietary government. Copley agreed to sign legislation to that effect. Authorized by that legislation, the assembly took some of the fees that had accrued to the Secretary and allowed the Governor to receive them instead. Copley, in turn, took other fees from the Secretary's office and gave them to Nehemiah Blakiston, one of the leaders of the Protestant Associators who now sat on the Governor's council, the upper house of the legislature. Lawrence became a rallying point for Marylanders who opposed Copley's rule and that of the Governor's council. They supporting him as he continued the power struggle in a fight over the appointments of county clerks. Meanwhile, the legislature and Governor continued the work of rebuilding colonial government following the rebellion. They rewrote the legal code of the colony, adopting many laws that had existed previously and passing new ones to address some of their grievances with the proprietary government and strengthen the institution of slavery. They also established the Church of England as the state religion of the colony, and passed laws restricting the practice of other religions. In the midst of these efforts, Copley, like many recent arrivals to the colony, suddenly took sick and died. His enemy Thomas Lawrence took over, one of a series of people who would briefly serve at the helm of the colony before the arrival of the new royally-appointed governor, Francis Nicholson. References 1648 births 1693 deaths English emigrants Colonial Governors of Maryland