History fascinates me. Whenever I’m watching a movie or TV show, I have my laptop on my lap with Wikipedia (or similar) open. So at the end of National Treasure, when Ben Gates (Cage) tells a completely uninterested Riley (Bartha) that the house that he just bought belonged to Charles Carroll…well, I had to look him up. Seems, that most of us have heard of his house; it’s the main campus of John Hopkins University (which is where the fictional Caroline Ryan studied).
…sorry, digressing is so much fun…
Anyway, Charles Carroll was the only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independance and the last surviving signer of the Declaration as well, outlasting Jefferson and Adams by six years. He was perhaps one of the most motivated men as well; under English law he was forbidden from participating in politics because he was a Catholic. Read more about him on Wikipedia.
