And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality
can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to
the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar
structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that
national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious
principle. George Washington, Farewell Address Charles Carroll
of Carrollton, as he signed his name when he added his signature
to the Declaration of Independence, was the only Catholic signer
of the Declaration of Independence. When he died at the age of
95, he was the last of the Signers to depart this vale of tears.
The scion of perhaps the richest family in the colonies, Charles
Carroll was initially uninterested in politics and, in any case,
was debarred by his religion from participating in politics in
his native Maryland by his religion. However, in his thirties he
became a passionate advocate of American independence from Great
Britain and quickly became one of the chief leaders of the
Patriot cause in his