Why Is Charles Carroll Considered A Founding Father?

John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry and George Washington are all names that come to mind, when thinking about the founding fathers. The Catholic Declaration of Independence signer Charles Carroll, however, remains obscure when thinking of the founders of the United States. Carroll being less known does not make him less significant. Instead it cause questions to be raised as to what qualified him to be a founding father as well as what was his motivation.

Carroll was born on September 17, 1737 in Annapolis, Maryland to Charles Carroll of Annapolis and Elizabeth Brooke. Starting at Charles Carroll’s birth he faced adversity though, because he was born as an illegitimate child. His parents at the time were not married. This greatly

He did not attend the august gathering in Philadelphia though because of political problems in Maryland. He worried that his absence would encourage his political opponents to create mischief. Although he did not attend he would advocate for the Constitution in Maryland. Carroll’s personal contribution to the Constitution was that he inspired the creation and actual form of the U.S. Senate through his design (with state approval, of course) of the Maryland Senate. In Maryland as well as at the federal level, the Senate would serve as a form of aristocratic check on the executive as well as on the democracy. Carroll helped create a system of checks and balance that would still work hundreds of years

Upon his exit he entered the world of business. Carroll became one of the founders of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company and invested in the Bank of Maryland, the Bank of Baltimore and the First and Second Bank of the United States. He held many shares in canal, turnpike, bridge and water companies in the Washington-Baltimore regional area. He purchased $40,000 of state-backed securities to build the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, serving on its first board of directors. In 1822, the first sanctioned Catholic Church in Annapolis, St. Mary’s, was erected and built on the Carroll property. In 1826, Charles Carroll of Carrollton would be the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence with the deaths of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams on July 4th. His final public affair would be him laying the cornerstone for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on July 4,1828. The man who helped build America’s Government would die at the age of 96 on November