The legal separation of the American colonies from Great Britain occurred on July 2, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention to the Declaration of Independence, a statement explaining this decision, which had been prepared by a committee with Thomas Jefferson as its principal author. Congress debated and revised the Declaration, finally approving it on July 4. A day earlier, John Adams had written to his wife Abigail:

The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.

Adams’ prediction was correct, but he was two days off! From the beginning, Americans celebrated independence on July 4, the date shown on the much-publicized Declaration of Independence, rather than on July 2, the date the resolution of independence was approved in a closed session of Congress. And the Declaration itself wasn’t signed until August 2, 1776.

When the Second Continental Congress met to sign the Declaration, they knew the stakes. Although we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence as the beginning of our country as an independent nation, there was no assurance that the declaration would succeed. If the fortunes of war had gone the other way and George Washington and his ill-equipped Continental Army had lost, this document would have been a death warrant for the fifty-six delegates who signed. By signing the Declaration of Independence, they had committed Treason against King George III and the British Empire. Signing one’s name was an act of courage.

One of those fifty-six delegates was a man named Charles Carroll, an influential Maryland landowner and the richest man to sign the Declaration. Had we lost the war, not only would he have lost all of his money, but he would have been killed by being hanged, drawn and quartered.

The next time you have a chance to look at a reproduction of this famous document, notice one thing: only one signer put his address on it. The story is that when Charles Carroll had his turn to sign the document on that hot August day in Philadelphia, he first signed Charles Carroll and then started back to his seat. The story goes that one of the other signers noticed that he had a common name, so he risked nothing in signing the document. At that, Carroll returned to the document, picked up the quill pen, and added “of Carrollton.”

The addition of the title of Carrollton was done by Carroll so that there could be no mistake as to which Charles Carroll had signed the Declaration of Independence. He took full responsibility for his action and left no escape in the event the Revolution failed. He told them who he was and where to find him. He displayed unwavering courage and belief in the American enterprise.

So who was this courageous man? What made him unique? Charles Carroll was the only Roman Catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence. He was educated by the Jesuits, and his cousin, John Carroll became a Jesuit and later the first Archbishop of Baltimore. Charles Carroll had seven children, and his final distinction was that he was the longest surviving signer, living until 1832, over a half a century after that fateful August day in 1776.

Many people in the United States tend to think of Catholics as having come late to the United States, due to the immigration of Irish and Italian Catholics over a hundred years later. But Charles Carroll was there at the beginning, when our nation was born.