109
respective lands at Chives Creek. Years later Bishop
William Meade, a perhaps unusually straight-laced
Anglican, cited this contract as an example which
shows at how early a period that kind of dissipation
which proved so destructive to Virginia made its
appearance in the Northern Neck.
F
ENDALL
'
S
R
EBELLION
In February and March 1660 the Maryland
Assembly held secret and mysterious meetings first at
the house of Dr. Gerard and then at the house of his
son-in-law, Robert Slye. The end result was that the
House of Burgesses declared itself an autonomous
political body. In effect, the House of Burgesses made
the
first Declaration of Independence
in the American
colonies. Governor Fendall acquiesced to the demands
of the House.
In May 1860, Lord Baltimore sent instructions
to his brother, Governor Philip Calvert
…to deal harshly with Gerard, Fendall, Hatch
and Slye [et. al.]. They could be sentenced to