The year was 1776; the Colonist and British were pitted in a battle of determining the status of a rebellious colony, and generally what freedom means. Many were afraid, many were thrilled, and many saw a chance for the birth of freedom and a home of the free. Individuals like Charles Carroll saw the opening of the door for a land that could be the representation of a democracy that many Greeks reveled over centuries before, and believed that he could be one that can inhibit the America that we know today despite his practice of Roman Catholicism in an extremely Protestant colony. Charles Carroll would become the political activist and democrat from his beginnings in early colonial Maryland under his father, Charles Carroll of Annapolis. Early in Carroll’s life, Carroll of Annapolis sent his son to St. Omers School in France in which he became well versed in French language, literature, and philosophy. It…show more content… Carroll’s devout Catholicism prevented him from becoming an attorney in Maryland; however, this discrimination led him to become a politician – to be an agent of change and be a public servant. After his admission into the political arena, he began to make his ideology of religious freedom against the bigotry of anti-Catholic laws. He also promoted ideas of independence of the colonies from Britain which resulted widespread though his debates on the Maryland Gazette under the fitting pseudonym: “First Citizen.” His political ideas helped ignite the flame of independence and encourage revolution even though he was perceived as a “Papist” and against Protestants. His strong American patriotism and committed beliefs against the English were seen when he commented to have a Maryland version of the Boston Tea Party quoting to “Set fire to the vessel and burn her, with her cargo, to the water’s
