Charles
Carroll of Carrollton
Far thinking and hard working was Maryland's CarrolL
To get freedom from Britain, life and fortune in peril.
Of Irish descent, Charles Carroll was born at his father's townhouse, Carroll Mansion of Annapolis. When he was only eight years old, his father took him to France to be a student in the Jesuit College at St. Omer's for six years until attending another Jesuit seminary of learning at Rheims. Then he entered college, graduated at age 17 to begin the study of law at Bourges
Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure...are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.
To James McHenry on November 4, 1800
by Ole Erekson, Engraver, c1876, Library of Congress
Carroll was an early advocate for armed resistance with the object of separation from Great Britain. "In 1773 Carroll became a champion of the patriots through his newspaper attacks on the Proprietary Governor. The latter was opposing reforms in officers' fees and stipends for Anglican clergy that the lower house of the legislature had proposed... ... In 1776 he and his cousin John, a priest--chosen because of their religion and knowledge of French--traveled to Canada with Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Chase on a congressionally appointed committee that sought but failed to obtain a union of Canada with the colonies... " Robert G. Ferris (editor), Signers of the Declaration: Historic Places Commemorating the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, published by the United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service: Washington, D.C. (revised edition 1975), page 43-45.
A statement attributed to him in signing the Declaration of Independence is that he "had in view not only our independence of England but the toleration of all sects professing the Christian religion and
On the mercy of my Redeemer I rely for salvation and on His merits, not on the works I have done in obedience to His precepts.
Charles Carroll
In later life, he attributed his longevity to: "due exercise of body and mind . . . going to bed at nine o'clock and rising by five o'clock in the morning, followed by a cold bath, a brisk horseback ride, and prayers or mass--all of this before breakfast." http://uncpress.unc.edu/chapters/hoffman_princes.html He died as the last survivor of the signers of the Declaration in 1832, aged 95. Ronald Hoffman; Princes of Ireland, Planters of Maryland: A Carroll Saga, 1500-1782; 2000, University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 0-8078-2556-5; (2002, paperback, ISBN 0-8078-5347-X).
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
Charles Carroll was Roman Catholic, the only Roman Catholic signer. Ian Dorion, "Table of the Religious Affiliations of American Founders," 1997. Ronald Hoffman; Princes of Ireland, Planters of Maryland: A Carroll Saga, 1500-1782; 2000, University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 0-8078-2556-5; (2002, paperback, ISBN 0-8078-5347-X).
"Being persuaded that there can be but one true religion taught by Christ, and that the R C is that religion, I conceive it to be my duty to have my grandchildren brought up in it. I feel no ill will or illiberal prejudices against the sectarians which have abandoned that faith; if their lives be conformable to the duties and morals prescribed by the Gospel, I have the charity to hope and believe they will be rewarded with eternal happiness, though they may entertain erroneous doctrines in point of faith; the great number in every religion not having the leisure or means to investigate the truth of the doctrines they have been taught, must rest their religious faith on their instructors, and therefore the great body of the people may conscientiously believe that they hold the true faith; but they who, from liberal education, from understanding, from books, not written by one party only, and from leisure, have the means of examining into the truth of the doctrines they have been taught as orthodox, are in my opinion bound to make the examination, nor suffer early instructions and impressions or habits or prejudices to operate against the conviction of what is right. Upon conviction only a change of religion is desirable; on a concern so seriously interesting to all of us no worldly motives should sway our conduct." letter to Harriet Chew Carroll, 29 August 1816 (Harriet was daughter-in-law to Charles Carroll)
"Piety is the only solid foundation of happiness even in this life; Louisa was, and I hope is still pious; let her strive to continue so; let her not depart from that religion in which she was brought up; its principles and its practices will enable her to discharge the duties of the married state, to combat and overcome the temptations to which a life of, perhaps, too much dissipation will be liable; a perpetual round of company, cards, concerts, balls, plays and operas are all incompatible with the spirit and letter of the Gospel; a mind distracted and engrossed by such frivolities cannot think seriously of heaven, or fulfill those duties which only can merit heaven." from letter to Betsy Caton, 22 May 1817 (Betsy and Louisa were granddaughters to Charles Carroll)
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA- Charles Carroll of Carrollton
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