On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress resolved

That a committee of three . . . (two of whom to be members of Congress) be appointed to proceed to Canada there to pursue such instructions as shall be given them by Congress.

The members chosen, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, Mr. S Chase, and Mr. Charles Carroll, of Carrollton.

Resolved, That Mr. Carroll be requested to prevail on Mr. John Carroll to accompany the committee to Canada, to assist them in such matters as they shall think useful.

Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Chase of Maryland were members of the Congress. Charles Carroll was not then a member but he was a prominent Patriot from Maryland and a Roman Catholic who spoke fluent French. His cousin John Carroll was a Catholic priest who would become the first Catholic bishop in the United States. The Congress added the Carrolls to the trip to Canada in the hope that they could appeal to the Catholic French-speaking inhabitants of Quebec. Charles Carroll would soon (coincidentally on July 4) be elected as one Maryland’s delegates to the Continental Congress and would sign the Declaration although he was not a member when it was approved by Congress.

Sources: Journals of the Continental Congress, Vol. IV https://archive.org/details/us_congress_continental/lljc004/page/150/mode/2up at; https://americanfounding.org/entries/second-continental-congress-february-15-1776/ at pp. 151-52