Charles Carroll of Carrollton

thumb| Charles Carroll (September 19, 1737 – November 14, 1832), known as Charles Carroll of Carrollton or Charles Carroll III, was an American politician, planter, and signatory of the Declaration of Independence. He was the only Catholic signatory of the Declaration and the longest surviving, dying 56 years after its signing. Quotes Grateful to Almighty God for the blessings which, through Jesus Christ our Lord, he has conferred on my beloved country in her emancipation, and upon myself in permitting me, under circumstances of mercy, to live to the age of eighty-nine years, and to survive the fiftieth year of American independence, and certifying by my present signature my approbation of the Declaration of Independence, adopted by Congress on the Fourth of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six, which I originally subscribed on the second of August of the same year, and of which I am now the last surviving signer, I do hereby recommend to the present and future generations the principles of that important document, as the best earthly inheritance their ancestors could bequeath to them; and pray that the civil and religious liberties they have secured to my country may be perpetuated to the remotest posterity and extended to the whole family of man. Certificate attached to a copy of the Declaration of Independence presented to NYC (August, 1826), transcribed by Jospeh Gurn, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, 1737–1832 (New York: P. J. Kennedy & Sons, 1932), pp. 241–4 External links Category:1737 births Category:1832 deaths Category:People of the American Revolution Category:Catholics from the United States Category:Politicians from Maryland Category:Founding Fathers of the United States of America