Calvert arrived in Virginia with his second wife and
many of his settlers in early October 1629. He was not
warmly received by the Virginians, and soon returned to
England. There he pressed his suit for a new patent. He
first asked for a tract south of the James River, but this
area had already been granted. His opponents—an
alliance of Virginia planters, London tobacco mer-
chants, and former members of the now dissolved
Virginia Company—succeeded in thwarting any conces-
sion to Calvert. However, Charles I had married the
Catholic Henrietta Maria, sister of the king of France,
and was disposed to assist English Catholics, especially
his father's friend Lord Baltimore. In the end, Charles I
gave Lord Baltimore a grant in the northern Chesapeake
—present-day Maryland.⁸

The Maryland Charter: George Calvert's Legal Genius

   The patent, or charter, for this new colony was mod-
eled on the one Sir George Calvert had written for
Avalon, and this in turn had its roots in a long tradition
of plans for New World colonies. Such plans faced two
major problems. The first was that of any high-risk land
development project, then or now—how to attract in-
vestors and settlers. The second problem was tied to the
first—how to create social order, the foundation of
profitable enterprise, in a wilderness settlement thou-
sands of miles and many weeks away from England.
Plans familiar to George Calvert saw the solution in of-
fers of large land grants, political power, and special
titles of honor to induce men with capital and capacity
for leadership to settle in a new colony. These leaders
were expected to bring servants or tenants to develop the
land. By this means, the familiar hierarchy of English

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