In 1629, George Calvert, 1st Lord Baltimore, driven by “the sacred duty of finding a refuge for his Roman Catholic brethren” (https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01-2.html), applies to Charles I for a royal charter to establish a colony south of Virginia. Despite the Christian refuge angle, Calvert sees this as an opportunity, through the tobacco trade, to recoup losses he acquired through his earlier colonial ventures. (https://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/ma01.asp)