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Which Founding Father was Catholic?

By Joshua Mercer 

 

Summer is the perfect time for many to catch up on some great reading. For history buffs, you could hardly do better than American Cicero, a new biography on Charles Carroll written by Dr. Bradley Birzer. I spoke with Dr. Birzer recently about his book. 

Charles Carroll is relatively unknown among American Catholics, yet he was the only Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence. Why don't Catholics know about this Catholic Founding Father? 

Thanks, Josh, very much for interviewing me, especially about a subject as important as Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Certainly, in his own time, Carroll was well known. John Adams even believed he would be remembered as one of the great founders, one of the greatest men of his day. Given that Adams had men such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson in mind, this is not faint praise. At the time, the Carrolls (Charles and his cousin John the first Roman Catholic bishop in America) were also regarded as the two great leaders of Roman Catholics in America. 

But, I think Roman Catholics are as susceptible to memory loss as any other American. So, as with most Americans, American Catholics have unfortunately forgotten their history. A couple of excellent books on Catholic history in America exist – I think immediately of John McGreevy’s American Catholicism. 

Maryland started out as a Catholic colony. But by Charles Carroll’s lifetime, it had become anti-Catholic. How did this happen? 

One could argue without exaggeration that Maryland was the most religiously tolerant place in the entire world after the passage of the Toleration Act of 1649. In 1689, after the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the removal of King James from the throne in England, Protestants in Maryland in a coup d’état took over the government and overturned the Toleration Act. From 1689 until the American Revolution, anti-Catholic laws multiplied. Throughout much of the eighteenth century, Catholics in Maryland could not testify in a court, appear to represent one’s self in court, serve in the law, vote, serve in any political or governmental office, worship freely and publicly, raise their children “in a Catholic fashion,” or hold property without fear of confiscation by the whim of the government. For better or worse, these laws were enforced only as the leaders of Maryland chose to enforce them. Sometimes, they enforced them rigorously. At other times, they ignored the laws. 

Part of our melting pot belief about America seems to encourage the notion that each major religion within Christianity had its own colony. Textbooks very simply identify Maryland as the “Catholic colony,” and the story stops there. Sadly, this gives us a false impression, as of course the story changes course radically in 1689 when the tolerant government was overthrown. At that point, Marylanders identified citizenship with membership in the Church of England. Catholics, Protestants believed and argued, could not be citizens, and their loyalty was to the Seat of Peter and not to the English throne. 

So when Charles Carroll decided to become active in politics, he couldn’t even use his real name. Tell us about that. 

1773 proved a key year not only for Carroll but for Maryland as well. And the year is nothing less than astounding. At the beginning of the year, a prominent Marylander, Daniel Dulany, wrote a mock dialogue for the Maryland Gazette (the main Maryland newspaper). In the dialogue, a wise and prudent “Second Citizen,” a supporter of the governor and the status quo, debates a witless “First Citizen,” a defender of the reformation of the Maryland government along republican (and what was called “Whiggish”) lines. The debate is so one sided as to appear nothing less than absurd. Carroll, to the surprise of Dulany, wrote a response, publishing it under the name of “First Citizen.” Each side elaborated on his views over the next six months. The debate riveted all of Maryland, and the letters were read throughout the colonies, earning Carroll a strong reputation as a Whig and a patriot. 

But after a while it wasn’t much of a secret that Charles Carroll was “First Citizen.” 

Without question, Josh. While anti-Catholicism continued, to be sure, Carroll almost single-handedly proved to the Maryland population that a Catholic could be a good citizen, an intelligent citizen and a defender of liberty.  

Your book is called American Cicero. Why do you think this is apt title for Charles Carroll?

Throughout the entirety of Charles Carroll’s life, he regarded Cicero as one of his two closest friends.  His other close friend was his father. Carroll believed himself to be in constant conversation with Cicero because of Cicero’s works, which Carroll considered the second greatest set of writings in history, bested only by the Bible. In this, Carroll – in his life, his mind, and his soul – almost perfectly blended the humane with the Christian, forming a solid Christian Humanism and offering a serious Christian Humanism to the first fifty years of American history and culture. 

One can see Cicero’s influence on Carroll in the American’s defense of the republic and traditional republicanism, in his understanding of liberty and order, and in his very humane perception of the world. 

Did other Founding Fathers hold Carroll in high esteem, or was he considered an outcast because of his Catholicism?

Both. The Founders, as far as I know, greatly respected Carroll. Adams called him one of the best of his generation; Washington considered him a friend and a vital political ally; Jefferson sought him out for financial advice; Madison turned to him and the Maryland Senate Carroll created as the model for the U.S. Senate; and Hamilton thought he might be the best successor to Washington as president. Regardless, it’s very difficult to find unadulterated praise of Carroll. For, no matter what Carroll’s virtues, the other Founders always had to add “... for a Papist” when describing him. 

In addition to buying your book, what other ways can Catholics promote the life of this great Catholic American patriot? 

Oh, I like this suggestion, Josh! Thanks.  

The best way to honor Carroll, at least from my perspective, would be to honor what he believed in. Catholics should be taking the lead in a revival of the liberal arts, republican theory and constitutional reform, and ideas of order and liberty. Our Church, after all, not only sanctified the pagan world and the classical learning of antiquity, but it also reached out to the pagan cultures of the world, baptizing them, bringing them into a universal understanding of the humane and just.  

Personally, I’m a huge fan of English Roman Catholicism. After all, English Roman Catholics include King Alfred, Thomas a Becket, John of Salisbury, Thomas More, John Fisher, Cardinal Newman, G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Christopher Dawson. Throw in Evelyn Waugh and Alec Guinness and the many figures Joseph Pearce has so brilliantly written about in Literary Converts, and the jaw simply drops. And why not? It seems to be a perfect combination – the Catholic traditions of education and justice mixed with the humanism, common law rights and constitutionalism of the English. For Carroll, the American Revolution reformed, purified and returned the inherited English constitution and liberties to first principles.  This was our inheritance and this is our greatness. It’s a beautiful burden to carry to the modern and post-modern world. 

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The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Headline Bistro or the Knights of Columbus.