Charles Carroll (September 19, 1737 – November 14, 1832), known as Charles Carroll of Carrollton or Charles Carroll III, was an American politician, planter, and signatory of the Declaration of Independence. He was the only Catholic signatory of the Declaration as well as the last surviving and longest-lived, dying 56 years after its signing at the age of 95."Charles Carroll, of Carrollton," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. XXIV, 1899.
A Founding Father of the United States, Carroll was known contemporaneously as the "First Citizen" of the American colonies, a consequence of signing articles in the Maryland Gazette with that pen name. He served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and Confederation Congress. Carroll later served as the first United States Senator for Maryland. Of all of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Carroll was one of the wealthiest and most formally educated. A product of his 17-year Jesuit education in France, Carroll spoke five languages fluently.
Born in Annapolis, Maryland, Carroll inherited vast agricultural estates and was regarded as the wealthiest man in the American colonies when the American Revolution commenced in 1775. His personal fortune at this time was reputed to be 2,100,000 pounds sterling, the (US$375 million). In addition, Carroll presided over his manor in Maryland, a 10,000-acre estate, and claimed as his property approximately 300 slaves. Though barred from holding office in Maryland because of his religion, Carroll emerged as a leader of the state's movement for independence. He was a delegate to the Annapolis Convention and was selected as a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1776. He was part of an unsuccessful diplomatic mission, which also included Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Chase, that Congress sent to Quebec in hopes of winning the support of French Canadians.
Carroll served in the Maryland Senate from 1781 to 1800. He was elected as one of Maryland's inaugural representatives in the United States Senate but resigned his seat in 1792 after Maryland passed a law barring individuals from simultaneously serving in both state and federal office. After retiring from public service, he helped establish the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad by purchasing $40,000 of state-backed securities and serving on its first board of directors.
Ancestry
The Carroll family were descendants of the Ó Cearbhaill's, who were the rulers of the Irish petty kingdom of Éile in King's County, Ireland. Carroll's grandfather was Charles Carroll the Settler, an Irishman from Aghagurty who moved to London in 1685 and worked as a clerk for English nobleman Lord Powis before emigrating to Maryland in October 1688. After arriving in Maryland, he settled in the colonial capital of St. Mary's City with a commission as an attorney general from the colony's proprietor, Lord Baltimore.
Carroll's maternal ancestry was English, as his mother hailed from the Brooke family.
Carroll's father was Charles Carroll of Annapolis, who was born in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1702. Though he inherited the plantation of Doughoregan Manor from his father, as a Roman Catholic he was forbidden from participating in the political affairs of the colony.Hoffman, Ronald, Princes of Ireland, Planters of Maryland: A Carroll Saga, 1500–1782 Retrieved August 9, 2010
Early life
Carroll was born on September 19, 1737, in Annapolis, Maryland, the only child of Charles Carroll of Annapolis and his wife Elizabeth Brooke. He was born an illegitimate child, as his parents were not married at the time of his birth, for technical reasons to do with the inheritance of the Carroll family estates. They eventually married in 1757. The young Carroll was educated at a Jesuit preparatory school known as Bohemia Manor in Cecil County on Maryland's Eastern Shore. At age 11, he was sent to France, where he continued in Jesuit schools, first at the College of St. Omer in Northern France and later the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, graduating in 1755. He continued his studies in Europe and read law in London before returning to Annapolis in 1765.Maier, Pauline. The Old Revolutionaries (1980), />
Charles Carroll of Annapolis granted Carrollton Manor to his son, Charles Carroll of Carrollton. It is from this tract of land that he took his title "Charles Carroll of Carrollton." Like his father, Carroll was a Catholic and as a consequence was barred by Maryland statute from entering politics, practicing law and voting. This did not prevent him from becoming one of the wealthiest men in Maryland (or indeed anywhere in the Colonies),McClanahan, Brion T., p.199, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers. Retrieved November 2010. owning extensive agricultural estates, most notably the large manor at Doughoregan, Hockley Forge and Mill, and providing capital to finance new enterprises on the Western Shore.Andrews, Matthew Pageت, History of Maryland, p. 270, Doubleday Doran & Co, New York (1929)
American Revolution
Voice for independence Carroll was not initially interested in politics, and in any event Catholics had been barred from holding office in Maryland since the 1704 act seeking "to prevent the growth of Popery in this Province".Roark, Elisabeth Louise, p.78, Artists of colonial America Retrieved August 2012 But as the dispute between Great Britain and her American colonies intensified in the early 1770s, Carroll became a powerful voice for independence. In 1772, he engaged in a debate, conducted through anonymous newspaper letters, maintaining the right of the colonies to control their own taxation. Writing in the Maryland Gazette under the pseudonym "First Citizen," he also criticized the royal governor's proclamation that increased special fees paid by colonists to state officials and Protestant clergy. Opposing Carroll in these written debates, using the name "Antillon", was Daniel Dulany the Younger, a noted lawyer and Loyalist politician.Williamson, Claude, p.247, Great Catholics, Williamson Press (March 15, 2007). Retrieved November 2010.Warfield, J. D., p. 215, The Founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland. Retrieved November 2010. In these debates, Carroll argued that the government of Maryland had long been the monopoly of four families, the Ogles, the Taskers, the Bladens and the Dulanys, with Dulany taking the contrary view. Eventually word spread of the true identity of the two combatants, and Carroll's fame and notoriety began to grow.McClanahan, Brion T., p.203, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers. Retrieved November 2010. Dulany soon resorted to highly personal ad hominem attacks on "First Citizen", and Carroll responded, in statesmanlike fashion, with considerable restraint, arguing that when "Antillon" engaged in "virulent invective and illiberal abuse, we may fairly presume, that arguments are either wanting, or that ignorance or incapacity know not how to apply them". Following these written debates, Carroll became a leading opponent of British rule and served on various committees of correspondence.
In the early 1770s, Carroll appears to have embraced the idea that only war could break the impasse with Great Britain. According to legend, Carroll and Samuel Chase (who would also later sign the Declaration of Independence on Maryland's behalf) had the following exchange: Chase: "We have the better of our opponents; we have completely written them down." Carroll: "And do you think that writing will settle the question between us?" Chase: "To be sure, what else can we resort to?" Carroll: "The bayonet. Our arguments will only raise the feelings of the people to that pitch when open war will be looked to as the arbiter of the dispute."McClanahan, Brion T., p.204, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers. Retrieved November 2010.
Continental Congress Beginning with his election to Maryland's committee of correspondence in 1774, Carroll represented the colony in most of the pre-revolutionary groups. He became a member of Annapolis' first committee of safety, known as the "Annapolis Committee of Correspondence and Council Safety" in 1775. Carroll was a delegate to the Annapolis Convention, which functioned as Maryland's revolutionary government before the Declaration of Independence. In early 1776, the Congress sent him on a four-man diplomatic mission to the Province of Quebec, in order to seek assistance from French Canadians in the coming confrontation with Great Britain. Carroll was an excellent choice for such a mission, being fluent in French and a Catholic and therefore well suited to negotiations with the French-speaking Catholics of Quebec. He was joined in the commission by Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, and his cousin John Carroll. The commission did not accomplish its mission. Carroll was elected as a Maryland representative to the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, and remained a delegate until 1778. He arrived at the 2nd Continental Congress too late to vote in favor of the Declaration of Independence but was present to sign the official document that survives today. He signed the document in Philadelphia on August 2, 1776. After both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on July 4, 1826, Carroll became the last living signatory of the Declaration of Independence. His signature reads "Charles Carroll of Carrollton" to distinguish him from his father, "Charles Carroll of Annapolis," who was still living at that time, and several other Charles Carrolls in Maryland, such as Charles Carroll, Barrister, and his son Charles Carroll Jr., also known as "Charles Carroll of Homewood." He is usually referred to this way by historians. At the time, he was the richest man in America and had much to lose by identifying himself on the document. Throughout his term in the Second Continental Congress, he served on the board of war. Carroll also gave considerable financial support to the American Revolutionary War.
Post-revolution political career Carroll returned to Maryland in 1778 to assist in the formation of a state government. Carroll was re-elected to the Continental Congress in 1780, but he declined to take his seat. Instead, he accepted election to the Maryland Senate in 1781 and served there until 1800. In November 1779, the Maryland House of Delegates moved to pass a bill authorizing the confiscation of property from those who would not renounce their allegiance to England, without any right to a legal hearing or remedy. Carroll opposed this measure, questioning the motives of those who pressed for confiscation and arguing that the measure was unjust. However, such moves to confiscate Tory property had much popular support and eventually, in 1780, the measure passed.Andrews, Matthew Page, History of Maryland, p. 374, Doubleday Doran & Co, New York (1929)
When the United States government was created, the Maryland legislature elected him to the first session of the United States Senate. In 1792, Maryland passed a law that prohibited any man from serving in the state and national legislatures at the same time. Since Carroll was more interested in matters concerning his home state, he resigned from the U.S. Senate on November 30, 1792.
Attitude toward slavery