The LONE CATHOLIC REBEL in CONGRESS: Charles Carroll of Carrollton

By Sean M. Wright

During this Semiquincentennial — or 250th anniversary — of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, it is fitting to realize that only one Catholic was allowed to sign that crucial document. His activities both before and after that event were as momentous as any other of the Founding Fathers, but few remember his name. It’s worth revisiting his life story, however, as it contains important lessons about religious freedom and fortitude in the face of persecution. 

Hundreds of years earlier, Catholic missionaries had accompanied French, Spanish and Portuguese explorers to the New World. In the 1500s, the Catholic faith found a permanent home in the southern regions of what became the United States — in places such as St. Augustine, Florida. Not so in the midAtlantic colonies of New England and New Amsterdam, however. 

The Church of England dominated the religious landscape in some colonies, such as Virginia, while dissenting denominations such as Congregationalists and Presbyterians established themselves in others. All had laws, more-or-less enforced, barring Catholics from being educated, voting, holding office, practicing law, or engaging in public worship. Pennsylvania alone, founded by peace-loving Quakers, allowed Catholics to build chapels without hindrance.

In 1632, King Charles I granted a proprietary colony to George Calvert, the first Baron Baltimore, as a refuge for Catholic settlers. Called Maryland, it ostensibly honored Henrietta Maria, Charles’ queen consort. Purchasing land from the Yaocomico Indians, Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, established what became the colony’s first capital, St. Mary’s City, demonstrating that the colony was really named after the Blessed Mother. 

The Mass was openly celebrated for the first time in an English colony on the Feast of the Assumption, March 25, 1634, the day on which the ships The Ark and The Dove landed. It is annually celebrated by the state as Maryland Day. 

In 1689, the first Charles Carroll arrived from Ireland bearing a letter from Baron Baltimore appointing him Attorney General. In 1691, the English monarchs William and Mary removed the Calverts as proprietors of Maryland and stripped Carroll of his position. He was imprisoned for a time after refusing to renounce his faith. 

However, Carroll’s fortunes changed when he married the wealthy Mary Darnall in 1693 and cannily began acquiring land. By the time he died in 1720, he was considered Maryland’s wealthiest landowner. He welcomed Catholics to his home each Sunday for Mass following the enactment of a law in 1704 that banned public worship but allowed Mass in private.

Charles Carroll’s son Charles was born in 1702 and inherited and extended his father’s fortune, primarily by growing tobacco and raising thoroughbred horses. As a Catholic, he was forbidden from participating in Maryland politics, yet the second Charles, along with his wife Elizabeth, continued his father’s efforts to curb anti-Catholic hatred and promote the faith. 

A third Charles Carroll, named after his father and grandfather, was born in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1737. At age ten, he was sent to secretly study at Bohemia Manor, the clandestine Jesuit school in Maryland. His cousin, John Carroll, destined to become the first Archbishop of Baltimore, was a fellow student. Both completed their university studies with the Jesuits in Europe. Charles Carroll later wrote that he considered his Jesuit education “the most vital component of his spiritual life and successful civic career.” Having received a 10,000-acre estate called “Carrollton” from his father, he returned to Maryland to wed his cousin, Mary “Molly” Darnall, in 1768. They had seven children, only three of whom survived into adulthood. 

The Carrolls’ personal fortune at this time was some £2,100,000 sterling, equivalent to about $375,000,000 today. Charles and Mary welcomed such dignitaries as John Hancock, George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette into their home, Doughoregan Manor, and its grounds were the scenes for many social events, “humble feasts” and after-the-races dinners. 

Yet bitterness over George III’s policies grew. Carroll staunchly supported colonist demands that their rights be respected by the king, despite being the wealthiest man in the colonies and thus the man with the most to lose should there be any retaliation from London. In 1770, when the colony’s governor imposed a fee by proclamation, Carroll echoed the call for “no taxation without representation.” 

Beginning with a series of articles appearing in the Maryland Gazette, Charles Carroll of Carrollton gained a reputation as a thoughtful scholar and skillful debater, “embracing the principle that the people are the true foundation of government.” After being appointed to the Annapolis Committee of Correspondence and Council of Safety in 1774, Carroll was elected to the Second Maryland Convention, effectively ending the ban on Catholics serving in Maryland politics. 

In 1775, he was elected one of four Maryland delegates to the Second Continental Congress. Early in 1776, along with Samuel Chase, Benjamin Franklin and the now-Father John Carroll, he was sent to Canada on behalf of the colonies but failed to gain that country’s support in the growing conflict with Great Britain.

Carroll and Chase persuaded the Maryland Assembly to instruct them to vote in favor of independence. Although Independence Day is celebrated on July 4, Charles Carroll of Carrollton and many other delegates did not sign the Declaration of Independence until Aug. 2, 1776.

Charles took part in the formation of Maryland’s new government, helping write its first State Constitution and Declaration of Rights in 1776. He served in the Maryland Senate in 1777, being elected President of the Senate in 1783. 

Another of Charles’ cousins, Daniel Carroll, was active in Philadelphia, assisting in framing the United States Constitution, specifically authoring the 10th Amendment. With its ratification in 1789, Charles became one of Maryland’s first two senators in the new republic.

Through his efforts as city alderman and councilman, St. Mary’s, the first sanctioned Catholic Church in Annapolis, was erected on the Carroll property in 1822. He died on Nov. 14, 1832, the last surviving signer of that powerful document proclaiming liberty to all men “endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” 

World without end, Amen.

(Sean M. Wright, MA, award-winning journalist, Emmy nominee, and Master Catechist for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, is a parishioner at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Santa Clarita. He responds to comments sent him at Locksley69@aol.com)  

Photo of Charles Carroll of Carollton from wikimedia.com public domain, courtesy of https://history.house.gov/. Flag photo from iStock.