Video Meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor

Of Things Bookish (& Revolutionary)

I'm really liking this Charles Carroll of Carrollton (say five times fast). I'm glad Steven Riddle's envy was enough for me to pick it up again.

I'm superficial enough to like the little touches, like the Revolutionary era font. Phil Albinus writes "I hate to admit this but I am a font queen -- if the book is ugly, the font too small and the paper too bland, I usually give up." Now that's blogesty.*

The only Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence, Carroll saw as early as 1765 that America would eventually separate from the mother country, though of course he kept that under his Revolutionary era hat. Here's an excerpt explaining Carroll's response to a rogue named Dulaney, published under the name "First Citizen":

Carroll's fourth and last letter of July 1, 1773, expands on the brilliant analysis of his second letter. He anticipates Cardinal Newman's argument that, in the absence of correct theology, other intellectual disciplines begin to theologize. In this case, it is the common law that Dulany elevates into the realm of theological thruth. Carroll criticizes "the legal subtleties and metaphysical reasoning of my adversary." Rhetorically turning Dulany's anti-Catholicism against him, he asks Dulany to respond "without equivocation." It is Dulany, not Carroll, who would "make an excellent inquisitor."...Carroll uses the natural law as a lever to overturn the English constitution, which had been corrupt ever since the Reformation.

Carroll compared English law to a "Gothic ruin":

"Perfect symmetry, and correspondence of parts is wanting; in some places, the pile appears to be deficient in strength, in others the rude and unpolished taste of our Gothic ancestors is discoverable." For English chaos, Carrollton wishes to substitute the clarity of natural law...Insisting on the rule of law, and not the rule of men, Carroll looks ahead to written constitutionalism. Law must be concrete, and its "true spirit and original intent" should be honored.

One could wish certain U.S. Supreme Court justices felt the same. By the way, Carroll traveled everywhere with a foot tall crucifix which is now on display at a hall on the campus of John Hopkins University.

* - ['blogger' + 'honesty' = 'blogesty']