Fourth of July Week Catholic Edition -Catholic Patriot Charles Carroll

Time to look a tad at Catholic Contributions to our founding as we are about to celebrate the Fourth of July.

This nation and especially American Catholics are in debt to the Carroll Family.

Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832) was one of the bestknown of the Carrolls . As this piece Catholic Founding Fathers - The Carroll Family. which gives a great overview says in part:

Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832) was the most illustrious and best-known of the Carrolls. He was the only signer whose property — Carrollton — was mentioned in the Declaration of Independence. Carrollton was the 10,000-acre estate in Frederick County, Maryland, that Charles Carroll's father had given him on his return to America from his education in Europe.

At the time he signed the Declaration, it was against the law for a Catholic to hold public office or to vote. Although Maryland was founded by and for Catholics in 1634, in 1649 and, later, in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution placed severe restrictions on Catholics in England, the laws were changed in Maryland, and Catholicism was repressed.
Catholics could no longer hold office, exercise the franchise, educate their children in their faith, or worship in public. With the Declaration of Independence, all this bias and restriction ended. Charles Carroll first became known in colonial politics through his defense of freedom of conscience and his belief that the power to govern derived from the consent of the governed. He was a staunch supporter of Washington, and when the war was going badly at Valley Forge, he was instrumental in persuading the Revolution's Board of War not to replace Washington with

General Horatio Gates. Carroll supported the war with his own private funds; he was widely regarded as the wealthiest of all the colonists, with the most to lose were the fight for independence to fail. Carroll was greatly acclaimed in later life, and he outlived all the other signers of the Declaration

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The article goes on to mention Daniel Carroll and of course His cousin Bishop John Carroll the first Bishop of the United States!! I shall be doing a separate entry on him during the week.

For Louisiana readers it is of interest that the Parish of Carroll in Northeast Louisiana (now West Carroll and East Carroll Parishes are named in memory of Charles Carroll. How this came about is a pretty interesting tale. One of the early Catholic settlers of the region was befriended by the Carroll family when he was young. He then honored them by naming the Parish after Charles Carroll.

Wilki has a pretty good page on Charles Carroll here that has more detail about his life.

Zenit News had a excellent two part series of articles How Charles Carroll Influenced U.S. Founding Fathers (Part 1) and How Charles Carroll Influenced U.S. Founding Fathers (Part 2)

Both are good reads.

Avaiable for free from Google Books is The Life of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, 1737-1832, with his Cor- respondence and Public Papers. By KATE MASON ROWLAND. (New York: gp Putnam's Sons. 1898. ) I hope to spend time looking at parts of this tonight.

Of interest in this book is the section that has his famous LETTERS OF THE " FIRST CITIZEN" which he wrote in 1773 where he argued among other things Catholic Civil Rights.

The Letters of the First Citizen had a major impact we learn:

First Citizen is the name that Charles Carroll of Carrollton chose to sign a series of articles published by Ann Catherine Green in the Annapolis Maryland Gazette in 1773. They form a strong defense of an independent legislature and were among the earliest arguments for a new concept of government based upon traditional community rights and liberties that protected its citizens from arbitrary rule.

At the time, Carroll, as a Roman Catholic, could neither vote nor hold public office. With the publication of these articles, Carroll launched a career of public service that would not end until his death at the age of 95 in 1832. In addition to helping draft Maryland's first Constitution and signing the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Carroll served as President of the Maryland Senate, of which he was a member from 1777 to 1800, and as one of the first United States Senators from Maryland (1789-1792). To be a First Citizen is to be a dedicated and effective participant in the process of making government work for the benefit of all."
Although not yet fully articulated in the First Citizen letters, Carroll was beginning to ask all citizens to think about much needed changes in government, changes that would allow people like him "freedom of speech and thought," changes that would separate the powers of the Executive and the Legislature, and that would ensure that taxation could not be imposed by anyone not subject to the laws passed by the Legislature. Carroll was among the first people in the colonies to advance a new concept of government based on the advice and consent of the people. This led to one of the most creative experiments in defining self-government that the world has ever witnessed and which abides well with us still.

Despite all his contributions he knew he was mortal. What John Carroll view has his most import achievement? Well According to he Priest that was their to hear Carroll's last words (see page 370 in google book link above) we read the following:

" It was toward sundown in the month of November, and very cold weather. In a large room — his bed- room — a semicircle was formed before a large, open fire-place. The venerable old man was in a large easy-chair ; in the centre, before him, a table with blessed candles, tique silver bowl of holy water, and a crucifix ; by his side the priest, Rev. John E. Chaunce, President of St. Mary's College and afterwards Bishop of Natchez, — in his rich robes, about to offer him the last rites of the Holy Catholic Church.

On each side of his chair knelt a daughter and grandchildren, with some friends, making a complete semicircle ; and just in the rear, three or four old negro servants, all of the same faith, knelt in the most venerating manner. The whole assemblage made up a picture never to be forgotten. The ceremony proceeded. The old gentleman had been for a long time suffering from weak eyes, and could not endure the proximity of the lights immediately before him. His eyes were therefore kept closed, but he was so familiar with the forms of this solemn ceremony that he responded and acted as if he saw everything passing around.

At the moment of offering the Host he leaned forward without opening his eyes, yet responsive to the word of the administration of the holy offering. It was done with so much intelligence and grace, that no one could doubt for a moment how fully his soul was alive to the act."

The narration of Dr. Steuart then enters into the little details illustrating his piety, his unfailing courtesy. When pressed to take food after his long fast, " in the most gentle and intelligent manner he replied, ' Thank you, Doctor, not just now ; this ceremony is so deeply interesting to the Christian that it supplies all the wants of nature. I feel no desire for food.1 In a few moments more one of his granddaughters and the doctor lifted him from the chair and placed him in his bed. He said to them. ' Thank you ; that is nicely done.' "

When again urged to take some nourishment, he refused, and soon after fell into a doze. While sleeping, his position seemed to become uncomfortable, and the doctor lifting him to an easier one, he looked up and, seeing who it was, said, " Thank you, doctor." These were his last words. "

It was after midnight, the hour not exactly remembered, when the vital spark went out without a struggle, he breathing as calmly as if falling into a gentle sleep." ' Doubtless it was some time in this, his last illness, and he had been for weeks " declining from ossification of his heart and the debility of old age," that he gave utterance to the sentiments recorded by the Rev. Mr. Pise, and often quoted as the " last words " of Charles Carroll of Carrollton :

" I have lived to my ninety-sixth year ; I have enjoyed continued health, I have been blessed with great wealth, prosperity, and most of the good things which the world can bestow — public approbation, esteem, applause ; but what I now look back on with the greatest satisfaction to myself is, that I have practiced the duties of my religion."