Aristocrat. Catholic. Patriot. Founder. Before his death in 1832,
Charles Carroll of Carrollton--the last living signer of the Declaration
of Independence--was widely regarded as one of the most important
Founders. Today, Carroll's signal contributions to the American Founding
are overlooked, but the fascinating new biography American Cicero
rescues Carroll from unjust neglect.
Drawing on his considerable study of Carroll's published and unpublished
writings, historian Bradley J. Birzer masterfully captures a man of
supreme intellect, imagination, integrity, and accomplishment. Born a
bastard, Carroll nonetheless became the best educated (and wealthiest)
Founder. The Marylander's insight, Birzer shows, allowed him to
recognize the necessity of independence from Great Britain well before
most other Founders. Indeed, Carroll's analysis of the situation in the
colonies in the run-up to the Revolution was original and brilliant--yet
almost all historians have ignored it. Reflecting his classical and
liberal education, the man who would be called "The Last of the Romans"
advocated a proper understanding of the American Revolution as deeply
rooted in the Western tradition. Carroll even left his mark on the U.S.
Constitution despite not assuming his elected position to the
Constitutional Convention: by inspiring the creation of the U.S. Senate.
American Cicero ably demonstrates how Carroll's Catholicism was
integral to his thought. Oppressed because of his faith--Maryland was
the most anti-Catholic of the original thirteen colonies--Carroll became
the only Roman Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence and
helped legitimize Catholicism in the young American republic.
What's more, Birzer brilliantly reassesses the most controversial
aspects of Charles Carroll: his aristocratic position and his critiques
of democracy. As Birzer shows, Carroll's fears of extreme democracy had
ancient and noble roots, and his arguments about the dangers of
democracy influenced Alexis de Tocqueville's magisterial work Democracy
in America.
American Cicero reveals why Founders such as John Adams assumed that
Charles Carroll would one day be considered among the greats--and also
why history has largely forgotten him.
