Charles Carroll
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- Born:
- Sept. 19, 1737, Annapolis, Md. [U.S.]
- Political Affiliation:
- Federalist Party
Charles Carroll (born Sept. 19, 1737, Annapolis, Md. [U.S.]—died Nov. 14, 1832, Baltimore, Md., U.S.) was an American patriot leader, the longest- surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the only Roman Catholic to sign that document.
Until 1765 Carroll attended Jesuit colleges in Maryland and France and studied law in France and England. Before and during the American Revolution, he served on committees of correspondence and in the Continental Congress (1776–78), where he was an important member of the Board of War. In 1776, with Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, and his cousin, the Rev. John Carroll, he was sent to Canada in a fruitless effort to persuade Canadians to join the cause of the 13 colonies. He was elected again to the Continental Congress in 1780, but he decided not to serve.
Carroll was a state senator in Maryland (1777–1800) and concurrently a U.S. senator (1789–92). He retired from the latter position when Maryland passed a law forbidding members of the state senate to serve in the U.S. Congress. When political parties were formed in the United States, Carroll became a Federalist. After leaving the state senate, he lived a fairly quiet life, though he did participate in the forming of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company.