拍品專文
Charles Carroll (1737-1832) was a renowned revolutionary leader and a signatory of the Declaration of Independance. A Catholic of Irish ancestry he was educated by the church and later at the College Louis le Grand in Paris. He also spent time in Bourges and then several years in London studying civil law. On his return to Maryland at the age of 28 he developed his land interest in Frederick County. His interest in politics grew, as did his prominence in the state. In 1776 he went with Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Chase to Canada to improve relations and to try and form a union between the colonies. He was later instrumental in the resolution to seperate Maryland from England at the Maryland Convention of 1776. He was elected to Congress in 1776 and signed the Declaration of Independence on 2 August 1776. He served in Congress until 1778. He also represented Maryland as a senator in the first Federal Congress of 1789, serving until his resignation in 1792. After his resignation from the Maryland Senate in 1800 he devoted himself to his huge estates of some 80,000 acres in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York. These estates and his extensive industrial and railroad interests meant that on his death he was the wealthiest citizen of the United States. He was also the oldest surviving signatory of the Declaration of Independence.