In that there were only four signers of the Declaration from Maryland, it would be hard for someone to represent quite precisely 8% of the population. I don't know that the Catholic population of Maryland at that time was that low. Today, it's a little less than a quarter of the population.
But Mr. Carroll wasn't a signer of the Declaration because of the colony's acceptance of an "influential" Catholic minority. LOL.
Charles Carroll's entry into the revolutionary politics of the day was done IN SPITE of the fact that he was disqualified from holding office in the colony of Maryland, and his subsequent success in revolutionary (and post-revolutionary) politics was a result of his own outstanding personal attributes, that OVERCAME the deep, anti-Catholic bigotry and hatred of Maryland Protestants.
“A colony whose government was rabidly anti-Catholic would surely not allow a Catholic to represent them in the Continental Congress - unless those who supported resistance and independence in the colony were precisely those colonists who were less bigoted against Catholics than the colony's general population.”
It was quite literally his own personal example that caused his fellow Marylanders to elect him IN SPITE of their deep anti-Catholic bigotry. It was because of his singular political and personal gifts that the citizens of the colony actually elected him to represent them, in violation of Maryland's Catholic-hating laws that were actually in force at the time of his election.
sitetest
That's my point - if MD had an 8% Catholic population, Catholics were radically overrepresented at the Continental Congress.
It was quite literally his own personal example that caused his fellow Marylanders to elect him IN SPITE of their deep anti-Catholic bigotry.
In other words, Carroll's personal conduct - and not any prejudices about his religion - were the deciding factor in his selection as one of the four representatives of MD to the Continental Congress.
So anti-Catholic bigotry was not the impetus or the motivation for the independence movement.
If it were, Carroll would never have been allowed anywhere near the Continental Congress.