Margaret Brent was an early American feminist. Born in Gloucester,
England, with her two brothers and a sister, she left England to settle (1638)
in St. Mary's City, Maryland., where she acquired an extensive estate. She was
the first woman in Maryland to hold land in her own right.
In 1647 the new Maryland colony was in crisis. Protestants had revolted
against the Catholic government and seized control of the colony. To preserve
Maryland as a refuge for Catholics and safeguard his family's interests,
Governor Leonard Calvert hired mercenary soldiers from Virginia. Lacking hard
currency to pay them, he pledged his estate and that of his brother, Lord
Baltimore, the proprietor of Maryland, as security for their wages. Shortly
after he died having made Margaret Brent executor of his estates. She also
acted as attorney (i.e., agent) for Lord Baltimore.
On January 21, 1648, Margaret Brent appeared before the Assembly and
demanded to be admitted with two votes, one for herself and one as Lord
Baltimore’s representative. This was the first recorded instance of a
woman in North America requesting the right to vote. The governor refused and
she departed, protesting the proceedings unless she could be present and vote.
The day after the Assembly refused her request to vote, Brent turned to
the only realistic option left to her which would allow her to pay the soldiers
and avoid a mutiny. This was the sale of Lord Baltimore’s only portable
possessions in Maryland. Without the Lord Baltimore’s permission or
knowledge, Brent began to sell his cattle in order to save Maryland. The
Maryland Assembly defended Margaret Brent’s actions to the Lord Baltimore
in a letter to him in 1649: “We do verily believe, that your estate was
better for the colony’s safety at that time in her hands than in any
man’s else. For the soldiers would never have treated any other with
civility and respect. She rather deserves favor and thanks from your Honor for
so much concurring to the public’s safety than to be justly liable to
bitter invectives.” In the Assembly’s view it was not only Margaret
Brent’s courage and diplomacy that enabled her to save the day but her
womanliness, which demanded and received civility.
However she never regained favour in Maryland and soon moved to Virginia
and founded a new community there.
