Charles Carroll

Charles Carroll was a leader of the American Revolution and the only Roman Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence. He helped to draft the Maryland Constitution, was a member of the Committee of Correspondence, the State Council of Safety, and eventually became a United States Senator, where he helped to establish the Bill of Rights.

He attended the Jesuits’ College at St. Omar, France, and then a seminary in Rheims.

As a Catholic, he was opposed to support of the Anglican Church and wrote his views in a series of articles in the Maryland Gazette.

In a letter to John McHenry on November 4, 1800, Carroll wrote:

“Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime & pure, [and] which denounces against the wicked eternal misery, and [which] insured to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.”

And on his 89th birthday, he wrote:

“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.”