He was not only the lone Catholic to do so, but being the richest man in the colonies, Carroll was putting his entire fortune on the line along with his life.
By Joseph Pronechen/National Catholic Register
Charles Carroll, an American patriot and the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence, lived two-plus centuries ago, but his legacy comes to life — and lasting importance — in a fascinating new book, Charles Carroll of Carrollton: American Revolutionary, by Father Charles P. Connor, a familiar face to the EWTN audience.
When it comes to showing where we were and where we need to get back to as a country, Carroll’s 200-year-old story becomes as contemporary as today.
This is an impeccably researched and fascinating biography that follows the faith and fortunes of Carroll. Recounting not only the history of Carroll, the book enlightens readers about the times in which this great patriot and Catholic lived and influenced.
Father Connor illuminates the “tremendous difficulties under which Catholics in both England and the American colonies had to operate … at that time” because of the “scores of pieces of anti-Catholic legislation.” They were all but excluded from political office. Then came Charles Carroll of Carrollton, known as such to distinguish him from his father and grandfather, both also named Charles Carroll.
When Carroll of Carrollton signed the Declaration of Independence, he was not only the lone Catholic to do so, but being the richest man in the colonies, he was putting his entire fortune on the line along with his life.
Something far greater weaves through the story and completes a vivid tapestry throughout: Carroll “clung tenaciously to the faith of his forebears his entire life.”
Jesuit-educational Carroll was sent abroad to study in Rheims, Paris and England. After “seventeen years of study, enculturation, and growth in his Catholic Faith, Charles Carroll arrived back in his native Maryland,” and his father gave his son the 10,000-acre “manor of Carrollton.” The book details the saga of the Carroll family and the colony as necessary to fully understand Carroll’s political and patriotic growth. And then there was his faith: “Perhaps a significant manifestation of his Catholic Faith came with his gift of land on the Manor for the erection of a church dedicated to St. Joseph, to this day located in Buckeystown.”
Following politics closely and very wise about the times, Carroll not only watched trouble brewing after the Stamp Act, but was invited into a public debate in the newspaper with a Protestant rival in which he proved himself “as witty, a man full of practical wisdom,” as detailed by Father Connor.
Friend of George Washington
Excerpts from Carroll’s writings and others illuminate his life and times. For instance, in 1766, he wrote to an acquaintance in England advising him to purchase lands in the colonies, as “the English Constitution seems hastening to its final period of dissolution, and the symptoms of a general decay are but too visible.” He added that things will likely change “in this province where liberty will maintain her empire, till a dissoluteness of morals, luxury and venality shall have prepared the degenerate sons of some future age, to prefer their own mean lucre, ye bribes, and the smiles of corruption and arbitrary ministers, to patriotism, to glory, and to ye publik weal — but that fatal time seems to be at a great distance — the present generation at least, and I hope many succeeding ones, in spite of a corrupt Parliament, will enjoy the blessings of ye sweets of liberty.”
The book illustrates how, being learned and wise, he was the unambiguous choice for fellow Marylanders as a leader in the colony and then as a delegate to the Continental Congress. He was the first Catholic to have a position on the national level.
The esteem for his character and qualifications led to his 1776 trip with Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase who was another Maryland delegate and signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Carroll’s cousin , Father John Carroll, who would become the first archbishop of Baltimore, to seek Canada’s help in the conflict with Great Britain — such a role led to Carroll’s seat in the United States Senate, for one, and could have led to even higher office.
As Father Connor explained, “Although it is almost inconceivable to think that a Catholic could be nominated for president on either party in 1792, let alone elected to the office, some historical conjecture has been put forth that with Hamilton’s support, Carroll could easily have been nominated and might well have defeated Jefferson in the general election.”
Most likely the first president would have backed him. When Carroll resigned from the Senate to take a seat in the Maryland Legislature, his friend George Washington “wrote deploring Mr. Carroll’s leaving Congress, saying, ‘His ideas generally concur with mine.’”
Faith First
This book underscores that although Carroll was a wise and honest politician, he was first a man of faith and a staunch Catholic. The author calls it “a long-established historical fact.” An excerpt from a letter in his early years of studies is only one of several prominent examples. “I observe my religious duties . . . & hope He will pardon my daily offenses. … I love Him[, ]tho ’far less than His infinite goodness deserves & I would wish to do.”
Outlined is his daily prayer routine, his lifelong vital concern “that his family’s Catholic heritage remain intact — not the easiest of tasks given the frequency of mixed marriages in colonial and revolutionary society,” and he “always supported the Church materially.” The book shares some details of his charitable works, all done with humility and without ostentation, in the spirit of what he wrote as a young man: “I trust in ye mercy of God not my own merits, which are none …”
Carroll never hid or downplayed his faith and always pointed out that Catholics contributed to the cause of independence.
Of the Catholic contributions during the American Revolution, the author states: “[I]t has been sometimes recalled but not often if ever printed that nearly if not quite 70 percent of the men who won the battle of Yorktown for our cause and practically ended the war with Great Britain were men professing the Roman Catholic religion. At first glance you wonder how this could be[,] knowing that the Catholics of the time formed but a small percent of the population. But you will recall that the army of Count Rochambeau of about 8,000 and the men in [French Admiral DeGrasse’s] fleet [of] some 2,000 were Catholic, while Washington’s army numbered some 10,000 of whom many were Irish, French and Colonial Catholics. So it is well within bounds to say that 70 percent of the force that captured Cornwallis was made up of Catholics.”
Later Years
On the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 1826, Carroll was one of four original signers still alive. Soon, he would be the last man standing, having outlived all the other signers by several years.
Even in those later years, the author gives readers many details about what Carroll was like, including that “he was a man who seemed to remain perpetually young.”
Readers will also glean what John Adams said of Carroll, what someone noticed when 92-year-old Carroll attended Mass in the Baltimore Basilica of the Assumption, and several other descriptions as the living legend reached his 96th year. These pages are quite revealing about the man and uplifting to read — always with a nod to faith.
As he wrote of his hope for the young nation in his elder years: “God grant that this religious liberty may be preserved in these States, to the end of time, and that all believing in the religion of Christ may practice the leading principle of charity, the basis of every virtue.”
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Charles Carroll of Carrollton: American Revolutionary By Father Charles P. Connor
EWTN Publishing, 2024
222 pages; $ 21.95
To order: EWTNRC.com or (800) 854-6316
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