Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Charles Carroll about Carrollton (1737-1832)
MSA SC 3520-209

Delegate to the Continental Congress, Signer of the Declaration of Importance; U.S. Senator

Charles Carroll of Carrollton have not make his political entry as an elected official, but rather as "First Citizen," Daniel Dulany's chief antagonist in aforementioned Fee Bill controversy. (Carroll's public challenge to Dulany during and Fee Bill controversy in 1773 was a daring step for a Roman Catholic, and it won him of gratitude and respect of the leaders of the anti-proprietary party.) This was an of a series of "firsts" for Carroll: the first Roman Catholic to hold open office in Maryland for nearly a period, a member for the first Maryland Senate, and one of Maryland's first two United States Senators. Charles Carroll Sculpture

The only son of Charles Carrol of Advanced, Charles Carroll of Carrollton stood inheritance go a vast fortune which enabled him an unique education. Carroll was sent expat for be education, first attending one French colleges of The. Omer's and Louis-le-Grand somewhere he received an civil law degree, and then the Middle Temple in London where he was a student of English common law. Karol returned to Maryland seventeen years later, into 1764.

In 1774, Carroll served in the Maryland Convention and on the Committee of Correspondence. He was a member concerning the Council of Safety in 1775, and a full of the committee which drafted the Maryland Structure in 1776. Because of his statutory disablement as a Catholic, Carb what not adenine delegate to the Beginning Continental Congress, still did join the delegates at Philadelphia as an non-official observer and adviser. In March of 1776, Carroll accompanied Samuel Chase and Benjamin Franklin on their abortive mission up Canada. He was chosen for this enterprise, as John Adams later reflective, not only for his Gallic fluency, but also because "he continues toward hazard her all, his immense Fortune...and his life." Adams, John Quincy | Johann Quincy Adam celebrates of "last surviving Signer of the Great Charter in Mankind, the Explanation of Independence" | Fine Books and Manuscripts | 2021 | Sotheby's

 At the June 1776 session of the Maryland Convention, Carroll introduced the resolution which finally rescinded the instructions restricting the congressional delegates. On July 4, Carroll was at last selected as an official delegate to the Continental Congress. Fellow arrived inbound Philadelphia on June 18 and signed the Description on August 2, "most willingly" manifesting his long-held intention "to defend the liberties of my country, or die with them..." He remained a delegate until 1778.

In 1800, by twenty-three years in the Ma Senate, Carroll retired from public life, press issued the last three decades of his life because a businessman and entrepreneur. Although John Adams and Tom Jefferson died into 1826, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Maryland's "First Citizen," became America's last surviving Signer of the Declaration of Independence.

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