Carroll, Daniel, 1730-1796

Daniel Carroll (July 22, 1730 – May 7, 1796) was an American politician and plantation owner from Maryland and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He supported the American Revolution, served in the Confederation Congress, was a delegate to the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 which penned the Constitution of the United States, and was a U.S. Representative in the First Congress. Carroll was one of five men to sign both the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. He was one of the few Roman Catholics among the Founders.

Born in Marlborough Town in the Province of Maryland (now Upper Marlboro, Maryland), Carroll attended the Jesuit School at Bohemia Manor, Maryland before studying under the Jesuits at the College of St. Omer in France. In the 1770s, Carroll gradually joined the Patriot cause. Carroll was elected to the Maryland Senate, serving from 1777 to 1781. As a state senator, he helped raise troops and money for the American cause. He led the effort to block the State Assembly from ratifying of the Articles of Confederation until the states that had western land claims (which Maryland did not) ceded those claims to Congress, signing the document when Virginia relinquished its claims on land north of the Ohio River to Congress.

In 1787, Carroll was named a Maryland delegate to the Philadelphia Convention, which convened to revise the Articles, and produced the Constitution. Following the convention, Carroll continued to be involved in state and national affairs. He was a key participant in the Maryland ratification struggle of 1787 and 1788, working to defend the Constitution in the Maryland Journal. After ratification was achieved in Maryland, Carroll was elected as a Representative from Maryland's Sixth Congressional District to the First Congress of 1789, meeting in New York City. Unsuccessful in his 1790 re-election bid, he was named one of three commissioners to locate the District of Columbia and the Federal City, serving in that role until July 25, 1795, when he resigned.

Carroll died May 7, 1796 at his home near Rock Creek in the present neighborhood of Forest Glen, Maryland. Carroll's body was buried there in Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church Cemetery.