Who was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence?

Charles Carroll of Carrollton was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Carroll was a Maryland delegate and one of the 56 people whose names appear on the engrossed Declaration. He was also the only Roman Catholic signer and the longest-lived signer. Carroll died in 1832 at the age of 95, more than five decades after the Declaration was adopted and signed.

His survival connected the revolutionary generation with the early United States. By the time he died, the country had adopted the Constitution, fought the War of 1812, and expanded far beyond the thirteen states that declared independence. His death marked the end of the lives of the original signers.

Charles Carroll is sometimes confused with John Carroll, his cousin and the first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States. He is also distinct from Charles Carroll of Annapolis, his father. The identifying phrase “of Carrollton” refers to the Maryland signer commemorated in accounts of the Declaration.