On September 12, 1775, the citizens of Anne Arundel County and the city of Annapolis appointed a Committee of Observation for the town and county of which Carroll was a member. At this meeting, he was elected one of the deputies to represent the county in the State Convention for 1 year, and he was selected with six others to license suits in the county for the same period. The Colonial Convention on October 13 appointed Charles Carroll chairman of a committee of five to devise ways and means to promote the manufacture of saltpetre. On January 11, 1776, the Maryland Convention instructed the Maryland delegates to the Continental Congress to disavow all design in the colonies for independence. This position was strenuously opposed by Carroll, who at this time advocated independence (Hanley 152). On July 19, Carroll was appointed on the Board of War, which had charge of all the executive duties of the military department, subject to the direction of Congress. In the fall of 1777, the Board of War was enlarged and some of Washington's enemies were made members. Out of this new membership the Conway Cabal developed, the objects of which were defeated by Carroll, Morris, and Duer.
Charles Carroll was appointed one of two delegates from Annapolis to the Colonial Convention, which was to adopt a constitution for Maryland. Carroll was selected as one of the seven members to draw up a constitution. He was responsible for the distinctive part of the constitution, the method of choosing senators. The senate was to be composed of 15 members, who were to be selected...
In the fall of 1778, Carroll resigned his seat in Congress and returned to Maryland to become a member of its senate. He was placed on all its important committees. Carroll was re-elected to Congress in 1780, but promptly resigned from his seat. Carroll was in the Maryland Senate from 1787 to 1789, when the constitution was adopted, and became a leader of the Federalists. He was elected to the U.S. Senate from Maryland and took his seat in 1789 (McDermott 31).
Although favoring a centralized government he preferred to serve his state. At a Congressional session in 1792, he passed a law making it ineligible for a person to hold office in Congress and in a State legislature. Carroll subsequently resigned his seat in the United States Senate to retain his place in the Maryland Senate. In this capacity, he served the State of Maryland until 1801.
After the election of Jefferson to the presidency, Carroll viewed public events with anxiety and fear. He was out of sympathy with the prosecution of a second war with Great Britain. In later years, he became more hopeful of his nation's future. His last public act was the laying of the corner stone of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad on July 4, 1828. After the death of Adams and Jefferson on July 4, 1826, he was the only surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence (Lossing 69).
Works Cited
Hanley, T.O. Charles Carroll of Carrollton: The Making of a Revolutionary Gentleman. Catholic…
