Margaret Brent
Title
Margaret Brent
Description
Catholics from Atlantic coast states can provide political stability with inclusive, calm, wise leadership. I’m talking about Margaret Brent.
Businesswoman, lawyer, and trusted agent of the governor of Maryland, she demanded the right to vote in 1648. Thread.
Margaret Brent arrived in Maryland four years after British settlers founded the colony. She came with the patronage of Lord Baltimore. As “Proprietor,” he presumed to grant Brent land that belonged to the Piscataway people. @nativelandnet
Few unmarried women owned their own land. Brent was a confidant of the governor, Lord Baltimore’s brother. On his deathbed he named her his executor. He left her quite a mess: a Protestant revolt against the colony’s Catholic leadership had recently ended, and a fragile truce depended on troops from Virginia.
Brent marshaled diplomacy, patience, and courage to keep the peace. She wrangled Lord Baltimore’s power of attorney, and used it to sell some of his cattle to pay the soldiers. That bought the new governor time, and apparently things settled down.
If you were a wealthy landowner and also attorney for Lord Baltimore, you’d probably think it your business to vote in the local assembly. So in January 1648, Margaret Brent logically demanded two votes: one for herself and one as Lord Baltimore’s proxy. The new governor, Thomas Greene, refused. Brent denounced the proceedings as invalid without her vote. The Archives of Maryland recount: “Mrs Brent protested against all proceedings in this present Assembly, unless she may be present and have vote as aforesaid.” (modern spellings)
Alas, Lord Baltimore didn’t appreciate her efforts on his behalf. Margaret’s brother had married Piscataway tribal leader Mary Kitomaquund, and the Lord suspected that the Brents were trying to build their own empire in collaboration with the tribe. He cut Margaret out going forward.
The Assembly hadn’t let Margaret vote, but they did defend her to Lord Baltimore, explaining she had saved the peace of the colony. “She rather deserved favour and thanks from your Honour,” not “all these bitter invectives you have been pleased to express against her.”
Margaret, her sister Mary, and their brother Giles left Maryland and moved to the Virginia side of the Chesapeake Bay. Land there belonged to several Algonquian tribes; the family acquired a lot of that land too. Margaret died in Virginia around 70 years old. She never married.
Margaret Brent is recognized as a founder of Maryland, or so say feminist historians. There are Margaret Brent elementary, middle, and high schools in Maryland and Virginia. #suffrage100
Businesswoman, lawyer, and trusted agent of the governor of Maryland, she demanded the right to vote in 1648. Thread.
Margaret Brent arrived in Maryland four years after British settlers founded the colony. She came with the patronage of Lord Baltimore. As “Proprietor,” he presumed to grant Brent land that belonged to the Piscataway people. @nativelandnet
Few unmarried women owned their own land. Brent was a confidant of the governor, Lord Baltimore’s brother. On his deathbed he named her his executor. He left her quite a mess: a Protestant revolt against the colony’s Catholic leadership had recently ended, and a fragile truce depended on troops from Virginia.
Brent marshaled diplomacy, patience, and courage to keep the peace. She wrangled Lord Baltimore’s power of attorney, and used it to sell some of his cattle to pay the soldiers. That bought the new governor time, and apparently things settled down.
If you were a wealthy landowner and also attorney for Lord Baltimore, you’d probably think it your business to vote in the local assembly. So in January 1648, Margaret Brent logically demanded two votes: one for herself and one as Lord Baltimore’s proxy. The new governor, Thomas Greene, refused. Brent denounced the proceedings as invalid without her vote. The Archives of Maryland recount: “Mrs Brent protested against all proceedings in this present Assembly, unless she may be present and have vote as aforesaid.” (modern spellings)
Alas, Lord Baltimore didn’t appreciate her efforts on his behalf. Margaret’s brother had married Piscataway tribal leader Mary Kitomaquund, and the Lord suspected that the Brents were trying to build their own empire in collaboration with the tribe. He cut Margaret out going forward.
The Assembly hadn’t let Margaret vote, but they did defend her to Lord Baltimore, explaining she had saved the peace of the colony. “She rather deserved favour and thanks from your Honour,” not “all these bitter invectives you have been pleased to express against her.”
Margaret, her sister Mary, and their brother Giles left Maryland and moved to the Virginia side of the Chesapeake Bay. Land there belonged to several Algonquian tribes; the family acquired a lot of that land too. Margaret died in Virginia around 70 years old. She never married.
Margaret Brent is recognized as a founder of Maryland, or so say feminist historians. There are Margaret Brent elementary, middle, and high schools in Maryland and Virginia. #suffrage100
Creator
Daily Suffragist
Source
Date
November 6, 2020
Files
Collection
Citation
Daily Suffragist, “Margaret Brent,” Daily Suffragist, accessed April 29, 2024, https://dailysuffragist.omeka.net/items/show/537.