Benjamin Franklin stopped going to church as a young man and about five weeks before he died expressed “some Doubts” as to whether Jesus is God.
So how did a lapsed Congregationalist and one of the least religious of the Founding Fathers end up picking the first Catholic bishop of America?
The unlikely event has roots in failed diplomacy — the fourth of the United States’ many attempts to convince Canada to join the country.
Franklin had probably never heard of Father John Carroll of Maryland when the Second Continental Congress picked both for a four-man delegation in February 1776 to try to persuade Canada to join the Thirteen Colonies’ revolt against Great Britain. (This was 10 months after the Revolutionary War began, four and a half months before the Declaration of Independence.)
As America’s most experienced politician, and the most famous American of the time, Franklin was the obvious choice. He had spent years in London representing four American colonies as their agent, and his scientific and literary achievements made him a household name.
Samuel Chase of Maryland, known for what two historians call his “violent and fearless opposition to British rule,” was chosen for his speaking ability and
