William Joseph (governor)

[1][2] By the time Joseph arrived in Maryland, religious conflict in England had reached a peak during the events of the Glorious Revolution, in which the Catholic King James II was overthrown and replaced with the Protestant William of Orange.

[1] In 1689, Maryland Puritans, by now a substantial majority in the colony, revolted against the proprietary government, in part because of the apparent preferment of Catholics like Joseph and Deputy Governor Colonel Henry Darnall to official positions of power.

[5] Darnall later wrote: "Wee being in this condition and no hope left of quieting the people thus enraged, to prevent effusion of blood, capitulated and surrendered."

[4] Although John Coode and his followers later claimed that the rebellion had been a peaceful one, they were accused, among other crimes, of plundering the estates of those who supported the proprietary regime and embezzling the colony's revenue.

Coode and his followers claimed that in addition to the religious concerns that underlay the rebellion, the previous regime had not adequately provided for the poor in the colony and had instead burdened them with high taxation.

[7] In addition to replacing Joseph, the new colonial leaders were eventually successful in having proprietary control removed from the Calvert family and in barring Catholics from voting, bearing arms, or serving on juries.