Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Signer of the Declaration of Independence

American Catholic History

Noelle & Tom Crowe

History, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Education

5 • 724 Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2025

⏱️ 16 minutes

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Summary

Charles Carroll of Carrollton was the wealthiest man in the American colonies at the time of the Revolution. He was the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence, and after a long and distinguished career in public service, he was the last of the signers to die. Despite laws outlawing Catholics from holding public office in the Maryland colony he was elected as a delegate to the Continental Congress. He later served as a U.S. Senator from Maryland, and helped to write the Constitution for the new State of Maryland. He served on the board of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and laid the cornerstone for its construction.

Transcript

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0:00.0	American Catholic History is brought to you by the StarQuest Production Network and is made possible by our many generous patrons.
0:08.3	If you'd like to support the podcast, please visit sqpn.com slash give.
0:18.7	Hello, and welcome to American Catholic history.
0:21.8	If you like our podcast, help others find it by sharing the episode and giving us a five-star rating wherever you get your podcast.
0:29.1	I'm Newell Heister Crowe.
0:30.4	And I'm Tom Crow.
0:31.4	Today we're talking about the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence, Charles Carroll of Carrollton. He's not one of the
0:39.4	more well-known of the founding fathers, but he's certainly one of the most important. Right. Normally
0:44.9	when we think about the founding fathers, we think George Washington, Ben Franklin, Thomas
0:49.1	Jefferson, John Hancock, James Madison, Patrick Henry, and a handful of others. But Charles
0:54.0	Carroll doesn't jump to mind in the same way, and a handful of others. But Charles Carroll doesn't
0:54.7	jump to mind in the same way, and that's odd considering his contributions and a few circumstances
1:00.1	about his life. For one, he was, by all accounts, the wealthiest man in the colonies at the time
1:05.7	of the revolution, and for another, he was the last of those whom we consider founding fathers to die. He was 95 years old
1:14.0	when he finally passed away in 1832. But one big thing against him, he was Catholic when the
1:20.9	laws of the land were against Catholics. So let's start telling his story. His father was also Charles Carroll, as was his grandfather.
1:29.9	As was his son.
1:31.0	And this caused confusion.
1:32.8	So all four of them are identified by something added to their name.
1:35.8	So since the first Charles Carroll was the one who came over from Ireland in 1659, he is known as Charles Carroll, the settler.
1:43.9	Then his son was born and raised and lived his life in Annapolis. So he is known as Charles Carroll, the settler. Then his son was born and raised and lived his life
1:46.2	in Annapolis, so he is known as Charles Carroll of Annapolis. Then the Charles Carroll of our discussion
	...

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