<P> The Maryland Toleration Act , also known as the Act Concerning Religion , was a law mandating religious tolerance for Trinitarian Christians . It was passed on April 21 , 1649 , by the assembly of the Maryland colony , in St. Mary 's City . It was the second law requiring religious tolerance in the British North American colonies and created one of the pioneer statutes passed by the legislative body of an organized colonial government to guarantee any degree of religious liberty . Specifically , the bill , now usually referred to as the Toleration Act , granted freedom of conscience to all Christians . ( The colony which became Rhode Island passed a series of laws , the first in 1636 , which prohibited religious persecution including against non-Trinitarians ; Rhode Island was also the first government to separate church and state . ) Historians argue that it helped inspire later legal protections for freedom of religion in the United States . The Calvert family , who founded Maryland partly as a refuge for English Catholics , sought enactment of the law to protect Catholic settlers and those of other religions that did not conform to the dominant Anglicanism of Britain and her colonies . </P>
<P> The Maryland Toleration Act , also known as the Act Concerning Religion , was a law mandating religious tolerance for Trinitarian Christians . It was passed on April 21 , 1649 , by the assembly of the Maryland colony , in St. Mary 's City . It was the second law requiring religious tolerance in the British North American colonies and created one of the pioneer statutes passed by the legislative body of an organized colonial government to guarantee any degree of religious liberty . Specifically , the bill , now usually referred to as the Toleration Act , granted freedom of conscience to all Christians . ( The colony which became Rhode Island passed a series of laws , the first in 1636 , which prohibited religious persecution including against non-Trinitarians ; Rhode Island was also the first government to separate church and state . ) Historians argue that it helped inspire later legal protections for freedom of religion in the United States . The Calvert family , who founded Maryland partly as a refuge for English Catholics , sought enactment of the law to protect Catholic settlers and those of other religions that did not conform to the dominant Anglicanism of Britain and her colonies . </P>
allowed maryland colonists to have freedom of religion
allowed maryland colonists to have freedom of religion
Maryland Toleration Act
Maryland Toleration Act