Lionel Copley

[2] He was the first official royal governor appointed by the British crown after the colony was removed from the proprietary control of the Calvert family during the Glorious Revolution.

Having felt that their rights were abused by a strong executive power prior to the rebellion, they sought ways to prevent a similar situation under royal control.

They appointed their own clerk, a man named John Lewellin, and created a number of standing committees designed to ensure the continuity and power of the assembly.

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.

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.