The province of Maryland began as a proprietary colony of the English Lord Baltimore, who wished to create a heaven for English Catholics in the new world at the time of the European wars of religion.
Maryland colony was an active participant in the events leading up to the American Revolution, and echoed events in New England by establishing committees of correspondence and hosting its own tea party similar to the one that took place in Boston.
In 1649, Maryland passed the Maryland Toleration Act, also known as the Act Concerning Religion, a law mandating religious tolerance for trinitarian Christians. It was the first law requiring religious tolerance in the North American Colonies .