He was the only Catholic signatory of the Declaration and the longest surviving, dying 56 years after its signing. Considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States , [ 4 ] Carroll was known contemporaneously as the "First Citizen" of the American colonies, a consequence of signing articles in the Maryland Gazette with that pen name. Carroll later served as the first United States Senator for Maryland. Of all of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Carroll was one of the wealthiest and most formally educated.
A product of his year Jesuit education in France, Carroll spoke five languages fluently. Born in Annapolis, Maryland , Carroll inherited vast agricultural estates and was regarded as the wealthiest man in the American colonies when the American Revolution commenced in In addition, Carroll presided over his manor in Maryland, a 10,acre estate, and claimed as his property approximately slaves. Though barred from holding office in Maryland because of his religion, Carroll emerged as a leader of the state's movement for independence.
He was a delegate to the Annapolis Convention and was selected as a delegate to the Continental Congress in He was part of an unsuccessful diplomatic mission, which also included Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Chase , that Congress sent to Quebec in hopes of winning the support of French Canadians. Carroll served in the Maryland Senate from to Mary's City with a commission as an attorney general from the colony's proprietor , Lord Baltimore.
Carroll's maternal ancestry was English, as his mother hailed from the Brooke family. Though he inherited the plantation of Doughoregan Manor from his father, as a Roman Catholic he was forbidden from participating in the political affairs of the colony.
They eventually married in He continued his studies in Europe and read law in London before returning to Annapolis in It is from this tract of land that he took his title "Charles Carroll of Carrollton.
