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PATRIOT AND LEADER IN
THE CAUSE OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE


Charles Carroll
As America drew closer to declaring its independence from English rule, the Barrister became a leader in affairs of State. In 1774, he was a member of the Provincial Committee of Correspondence for Anne Arundel County. In 1775 he became a member of the Council of Safety. He was also a member of the Convention which assembled in Annapolis on December 7, 1775, and served on the committee which prepared, in 1776, the instructions for deputies representing Maryland in the Continental Congress. While serving as President of the Maryland Convention of Delegates in Annapolis, 1776, he was again elected a member of the Council of Safety. At this Convention, Governor Eden, the last Colonial Governor, was relieved of his office and requested to leave Maryland. It is indicative of the Barrister's high regard for people that Governor Eden was entertained by the Carrolls on the evening before he set sail for England.

The Barrister was a member of the Convention which met June 21, 1776, and voted for "declaring the United Colonies free and independent States". He presided over several conventions and was one of the seven distinguished patriots appointed to prepare a Declaration and Charter of Rights and form of government for the state of Maryland, adopted in 1776. In November 1776, he was elected to Congress in place of his young kinsman, Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Having declined the Chief Judgeship of the General Court of Maryland, he was elected to the first State Senate in 1777 and re-elected in 1781, and served until his death in 1783.
Carroll Coat of Arms
Charles Carroll, Barrister, died on March 22, 1783. His funeral services were held at Old St. Paul's Church in Baltimore. He is buried at St. Anne's Church, Annapolis, although in 1769 he had changed his membership from St. Anne's to Old St. Paul's in Baltimore.

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