Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/571

Mary Darnall, daughter of Col. Ilcnry Darnall, a young lady of beauty, fortune, and ancient family. Carroll found the public mind in a ferment over many fundamental principles of government and of civil liberty. In a province founded by Roman Catholics on the basis of religious toleration, the education of Catholics in their own schools had been prohibited by law, and Carroll himself had just returned from a foreign land, whither he had been driven by the intolerance of his home authori- ties to seek a liberal education. Not only were Roman Catholics under the ban of disfranchise- ment, but all persons of every faith and no faith were taxed to support the established church, which

was the church of England. The discussion as to the right of taxation for the support of religion soon extended from the legislature to the public press. Carroll, over the signature " The First Citi- zen," in a series of articles in the " Maryland Ga- zette," attacked the validity of the law imposing the tax. The church establishment was defend- ed by Daniel Dulany, leader of the colonial bar, whose ability and learning were so generally acknowledged that his opinions were quoted as authority on colonial law in Westminster hall, and are published to this day, as such, in the Marylanil law reports. In this discussion Carroll acquitted himself with siich ability that he received the thanks of public meetings all over the province, and at once became one of the " first citizens," In December, 1774, he was appointed one of the com- mittee of correspondence for the province, as one of the initial steps of the revolution in Maryland, and in 1775 was elected one of the council of safety. He was elected delegate to the revolution- ary convention from Anne Arundel co., which met at Annapolis, 7 Dec, 1775. In January, 1776, he was appointed by the Continental congress one of the commissioners to go to Canada and induce those colonies to unite with the rest in resistance to Great Britain. On 4 July, 1776, he, with Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson, William Paca, Samuel Chase, Thomas Stone, and Robert Alexander, was elected deputy from Maryland to the Continental congress. On 12 Jan., 1776, Mary- land had instructed her deputies in congress not to consent to a declaration of independence without the knowledge and approbation of the convention. Mainly owing to the zealous efforts of Carroll and his subsequent colleagues, the Maryland conven- tion, on 28 June, 1776, had rescinded this instruc- tion, and unanimously directed its representatives in congress to unite in declaring " the united colo- nies free and independent states," and on 6 July declared Maryland a free, sovereign, and independ- ent state. Armed with this authority, Carroll took his seat in congress at Philadelphia, 18 July, 1776, and on 2 Aug., 1776, with the rest of the dei)uties of the thirteen states, signed the Declaration of Independence. It is said that he affixed the addi- tion " of Carrollton " to his signature in order to distinguish him from his kinsman, Charles Carroll, barrister, and to assume the certain responsibility himself of his act. He was made a member of the board of war, and served in congress until 10 Nov., 1776. In December, 1776, he was chosen a mem- ber of the first senate of Maryland, in 1777 again sent to congress, serving on the committee that vis- ited Valley Forge to investigate complaints against Gen. Washington, and in 1788 elected the first sena- tor from the state of Maryland under the constitu- tion of the United States. He drew the short term of two years in the federal senate in 1791, and was again elected to the state senate, remaining there till 1801. In 1797 he was one of the commissioners to settle the boundary-line between Maryland and Virginia. On 23 April, 1827, he was elected one of the directors of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad company, and on 4 July, 1828, laid the founda- tion-stone of the beginning of that undertaking. His biographer, John H. B. Latrobe, writes to the senior editor of this Cyclopaedia: "After I had finished my work I took it to Mr. Carroll, whom I knew very well indeed, and read it to him, as he was seated in an arm-chair in his own room in his son-in-law's house in Baltimore. He listened with marked attention and without a comment until I had ceased to read, when, after a pause, he said: 'Why, Latrobe, you have made a much greater man of me than I ever thought I was ; and yet really you have said nothing in what you have written that is not true.' ... In my mind's eye I see Mr. Carroll now — a small, attenuated old man, with a prominent nose and somewhat receding chin, small eyes that sparkled when he was inter- ested in conversation. His head was small and his hair white, rather long and silky, while his face and forehead were seamed with wrinkles. But, old and feeble as he seemed to be, his manner and speech were those of a refined and courteous gen- tleman, and you saw at a glance whence came by inheritance the charm of manner that so emi- nently distinguished his son, Charles Carroll of Homewood, and his daughters, Mrs. Harper and Mrs. Caton." The accompanying view represents his spacious mansion, known as Carrollton, still owned and occupied by his descendants. — His son, Charles, married Harriet, daughter of Benjamin Chew, of Philadelphia, who, as well as her sister, Mrs. Philijjs, was a great favorite of Gen. Washington. In 1796, when Gilbert Stuart painted his portrait for Mrs. William Bingham,

she frequently accompanied the general to the artist's house, " as her conversation," said Washington, " will give to my countenance its most

agreeable expression." Her portrait, as Harriet Chew, was executed by Col. John Trumbull, who also painted portraits of her sister Sophia, Cornelia Schuyler, Julia Seymour, and many other celebrated beauties of that period. See Griswold's "Republican Court" (New York, 1879). — The granddaughters of Charles Car-