Charles Carroll (barrister) - Revolutionary Years

Revolutionary Years

Carroll continued in the Assembly until it was prorogued at the beginning of the Revolution, and then met with other leaders in the Annapolis Convention and had important roles in all their sessions. He joined the Committee of Correspondence in 1774, and the Committee of Safety in 1775. He presided over several sessions of the Convention, which was the early revolutionary government in Maryland.

Charles was one of the committee of the convention that drafted the Declaration and Charter of Rights and form of government for the state of Maryland which served as Maryland's first new constitution after it was adopted on November 3, 1776. When the convention voted to expel the royal governor, Robert Eden, he delivered the message as the chairman of the Convention. Then, in an action typical of his style, he entertained the governor and his wife as house guests at Mount Clare until they sailed for England.

Later in November 1776, the Convention sent Carroll as a delegate to the Continental Congress to replace his cousin, Charles Carroll of Carrollton. He served in that Congress until February 15, 1777. He declined the position of Chief Justice in the new revolutionary government. But when he returned, he was elected to the first state Senate in 1777. Later he was re-elected and served in that office until his death, on March 23, 1783, at Mount Clare. His funeral was held at Old St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Baltimore. He was buried there but later his body was moved to St. Anne's Churchyard in Annapolis.