This weekend as we celebrated Independence Day, I want to visit some thoughts of one of our founding fathers. In fact, he is the only Catholic to have signed the Declaration of Independence. He was also the last of the original signers to die in 1832. Charles Carroll’s thought, debated in Maryland newspapers, became a foundational point of the American revolution. He argued for freedom of conscience and a government in which the people were the foundation of the government. He went to Canada to urge the support of the French in the American Revolution. A close friend of Washington, his thought is woven into our founding principles. His cousin, Daniel, would be instrumental in the drafting of the Constitution especially in the areas of the Tenth Amendment. Charles received a French Jesuit education, and in his writing and thought the influence of this is clear. (Source Info from: charlescarrollhouse.org)
Here are a few quotes from our Catholic founding father that might stand even more relevant today than when he first wrote these words! Happy Fourth!
“Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure (and) which insures to the good eternal happiness, are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.”
Charles Carroll
“Grateful to Almighty God for the blessings which, through Jesus Christ Our Lord, He had conferred on my beloved country in her emancipation and on myself in permitting me, under circumstances of mercy, to live to the age of 89 years, and to survive the fiftieth year of independence, adopted by Congress on the 4th of July 1776…”
Charles Carroll
