Constitution Signer

Daniel Carroll

Daniel Carroll represented Maryland as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 at the age of 57. Carroll was born of a prominent family in Maryland on July 22, 1730 and was educated at the College of Saint Omer in the Netherlands. He was well experienced politically at the time of the Convention, having served in a number of important positions. Carroll was a past member of the Confederation Congress and the Executive Council of Maryland as well as President of the Legislature and member of the State Upper House when named as a delegate to the Convention.

Carroll remained out of the public eye, living as a gentleman planter, until 1781 when he was elected to the Continental Congress. It was there that he signed his name to the Articles of Confederation as a representative of the state of Maryland. During the Constitutional Convention, Carroll was a regular attendee, spoke roughly 20 times and served on the Committee on Postponed Matters. Following initial passage of the Constitution, he returned to Maryland where he campaigned vigorously for its ratification.

In 1789, Carroll was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives where he supported locating the nation’s capital on the banks of the Potomac and also supported the Hamilton plan for the federal government to assume the debts of the various member states from the war. He also was one of three commissioners to survey and define the District of Columbia, where he owned much of the land.

Daniel Carroll died May 7, 1796 at his home in Forest Glen, MD and is buried there in the St. John’s Catholic Ceemtary.