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John Dickinson (November 13 /nowiki>Julian calendar November 2">Julian_calendar.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Julian calendar">/nowiki>Julian calendar November 2 1732Various sources indicate a birth date of November 8, 12 or 13, but his most recent biographer, Flower, offers November 2 without dispute. – February 14, 1808), a Founding Father of the United States, was an attorney and politician from Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware. Dickinson was known as the "Penman of the Revolution" for his twelve '' Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania'', published individually in 1767 and 1768, and he also wrote " The Liberty Song" in 1768. As a member of the
First Continental Congress The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from 12 of the 13 British colonies that became the United States. It met from September 5 to October 26, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after the British Navy ...
, where he signed the Continental Association, Dickinson drafted most of the 1774 Petition to the King, and then, as a member of the
Second Continental Congress The Second Continental Congress was a late-18th-century meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolutionary War. The Congress was creating a new country it first named "United Colonies" and in 1 ...
, he wrote the 1775
Olive Branch Petition The Olive Branch Petition was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775, and signed on July 8 in a final attempt to avoid war between Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies in America. The Congress had already authorized the i ...
. Both of these attempts to negotiate with King George III of Great Britain failed. Dickinson also reworked Thomas Jefferson's language to write the final draft of the 1775 Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms. While in Congress, Dickinson served on the committee that wrote the
Model Treaty The Model Treaty, or the Plan of 1776, was a template for commercial treaties that the United States planned to make with foreign powers during the American Revolution against Great Britain. It was drafted by the Continental Congress to secure eco ...
, a template for seeking alliances with foreign countries, but he opposed independence from Great Britain. He either abstained or was absent from the vote on the Declaration of Independence and refused to sign the document after its passage. Nevertheless, Dickinson wrote the first draft of the 1776–1777 Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union and served as a militia officer during the Revolution. He later was elected president of the
1786 Annapolis Convention The Annapolis Convention, formally titled as a Meeting of Commissioners to Remedy Defects of the Federal Government, was a national political convention held September 11–14, 1786 at Mann's Tavern in Annapolis, Maryland, in which twelve de ...
, which called for the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and as a delegate from Delaware, he signed the United States Constitution. One of the wealthiest men in the
British American colonies The British colonization of the Americas was the history of establishment of control, settlement, and colonization of the continents of the Americas by England, Scotland and, after 1707, Great Britain. Colonization efforts began in the late 1 ...
, Dickinson served as
president of Delaware The governor of Delaware (president of Delaware from 1776 to 1792) is the head of government of Delaware and the commander-in-chief of the U.S. state, state's Delaware National Guard, military forces. The Governor (United States), governor has a d ...
(1781–1783) and
president of Pennsylvania The governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the head of state and head of government of the U.S. state, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as well as commander-in-chief of the Commonwealth's military forces. The governor has a duty to enforc ...
(1782–1785). Upon Dickinson's death, president Jefferson referred to Dickinson as "(a)mong the first of the advocates for the rights of his country when assailed by Great Britain", calling him "one of the great worthies of the revolution." Together with his wife
Mary Norris Dickinson Mary "Polly" Norris Dickinson (July 17, 1740 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – July 23, 1803 in Wilmington, Delaware) was an early American land and estate owner and manager. She is known for her ownership of one of the largest libraries ...
, he is the namesake of
Dickinson College , mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning , established = , type = Private liberal arts college , endowment = $645.5 million (2022) , president = J ...
, as well as of
Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...
's
Dickinson School of Law Penn State Dickinson Law, formerly Dickinson School of Law, is a public law school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It is one of two separately accredited law schools of The Pennsylvania State University. According to Penn State Dickinson Law's 2019 ...
and University of Delaware's Dickinson Complex. John Dickinson High School was dedicated in his honor in 1959 as part of the public school system in northern Delaware.


Family history

Dickinson was born in ''Alabama'', his family's tobacco plantation near the village of Trappe in Talbot County,
Province of Maryland The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. state of Maryland ...
. He was the great-grandson of Walter Dickinson who emigrated from England to Virginia in 1654 and, having joined the
Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...
, came with several co-religionists to Talbot County on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay in 1659. There, with on the banks of the
Choptank River The Choptank River is a major tributary of the Chesapeake Bay and the largest river on the Delmarva Peninsula. Running for ,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed April 1, 20 ...
, Walter began a plantation, ''Croisadore'', meaning "cross of gold." Walter also bought on
St. Jones Neck St. Jones Neck is a geographic region of eastern central Kent County, Delaware, United States, with a rich prehistory and colonial history. Originally known just as Jones Neck, it is bounded on the west by the St. Jones River, on the north by Lit ...
in what became
Kent County, Delaware Kent County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Delaware. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851, making it the least populous county in Delaware. The county seat is Dover, the state capital of Delaware. It i ...
. ''Croisadore'' passed through Walter's son, William, to his grandson, Samuel, the father of John Dickinson. Each generation increased the landholdings so that Samuel inherited on five farms in three Maryland counties; over his lifetime he increased that to . He also bought the Kent County property from his cousin and expanded it to about , stretching along the
St. Jones River The St. Jones River is a river flowing to Delaware Bay in central Delaware in the United States. It is long and drains an area of on the Atlantic Coastal Plain. History The river is believed to have been named either for Robert Jones, an early ...
from
Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
to the Delaware Bay. There he began another plantation and called it Poplar Hall. These plantations were large, profitable agricultural enterprises worked by slave labor, until 1777 when John Dickinson freed the enslaved of Poplar Hall. Samuel Dickinson married Judith Troth (1689–1729) on April 11, 1710. They had nine children; William, Walter, Samuel, Elizabeth, Henry, Elizabeth "Betsy," Rebecca, and Rachel. The three eldest sons died of smallpox while in London seeking their education. Widowed, with two young children, Henry and Betsy, Samuel married Mary Cadwalader in 1731. She was the daughter of Martha Jones (granddaughter of Dr. Thomas Wynne) and the prominent Quaker John Cadwalader who was also the grandfather of General John Cadwalader of Philadelphia. Their sons, John, Thomas, and Philemon was born in the next few years. For three generations the Dickinson family had been members of the Third Haven Friends Meeting in Talbot County, and the Cadwaladers were members of the Meeting in Philadelphia. But in 1739, John Dickinson's half-sister, Betsy, was married in an Anglican church to Charles Goldsborough in what was called a "disorderly marriage" by the Meeting. The couple would be the grandparents of Maryland Governor Charles Goldsborough. Leaving ''Croisadore'' to elder son Henry Dickinson, Samuel moved to Poplar Hall, where he had already taken a leading role in the community as judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Kent County. The move also placed Mary nearer her Philadelphia relations. Poplar Hall was situated on an artificially straightened section of the St. Jones River. There was plenty of activity delivering the necessities and shipping the agricultural products produced. Much of this product was wheat that along with other wheat from the region, was milled into a "superfine" flour. Most people at this plantation were servants and slaves of the Dickinsons.


Early life and family

Dickinson was educated at home by his parents and by recent immigrants employed for that purpose. Among them was the Presbyterian minister
Francis Alison Francis Alison (1705–1779) was a leading minister in the Synod of Philadelphia during The Old Side-New Side Controversy Biography Early life and education Alison was born in Donegal, Ireland and studied at the University of Glasgow. It appears h ...
, who later established New London Academy in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Most important was his tutor, William Killen, who became a lifelong friend and who later became Delaware's first chief justice and chancellor. Dickinson was precocious and energetic and in spite of his love of Poplar Hall and his family was drawn to Philadelphia. At 18, he began studying law under
John Moland John Moland (170030 December 1760) was born around 1700 in London. He studied law at the Inner Temple, where his name was recorded as John Morland and a note says that he was commissioned King's Attorney in Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, he pra ...
in Philadelphia. There he made friends with fellow students
George Read George Read may refer to: * George Reade (colonial governor) (1608–1671), politician, judge, and Acting Governor of Virginia Colony * George Read (American politician, born 1733) (1733–1798), lawyer, signer of Declaration of Independence and U ...
and
Samuel Wharton Samuel Wharton (May 3, 1732 – March 1800) was a merchant, land speculator, and politician from Dover in Kent County, Delaware. John Bayton, George Morgan, and George Croghan, deputy superintendent of Indian affairs, joined in a partne ...
, among others. By 1753, he went to London for three years of study at the Middle Temple. He spent those years studying the works of
Edward Coke Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sa ...
and Francis Bacon at the Inns of Court, following in the footsteps of his lifelong friend, Pennsylvania Attorney General
Benjamin Chew Benjamin Chew (November 19, 1722 – January 20, 1810) was a fifth-generation American, a Quaker-born legal scholar, a prominent and successful Philadelphia lawyer, slaveowner, head of the Pennsylvania Judiciary System under both Colony and Com ...
, and in 1757 was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar beginning his career as barrister and solicitor. In protest to the Townshend Acts, Dickinson published '' Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania''. First published in the '' Pennsylvania Chronicle'', Dickinson's letters were re-printed by numerous other newspapers and became one of the most influential American political documents prior to the American Revolution. Dickinson argued that Parliament had the right to regulate commerce but lacked the right to levy duties for revenue. Dickinson further warned that if the colonies acquiesced to the Townshend Acts, Parliament would lay further taxes on the colonies in the future. After publishing these letters, he was elected in 1768 to the American Philosophical Society as a member. On July 19, 1770, Dickinson married Mary Norris, known as Polly, a prominent and well educated thirty-year-old woman in Philadelphia with a substantial holding of real estate and personal property (including a 1,500 volume library, one of the largest in the colonies at the time) who had been operating her family's estate, Fair Hill, for several years by herself or with her sister. She was the daughter of wealthy Philadelphia Quaker and Speaker of the Pennsylvania General Assembly Isaac Norris and Sarah Logan, the daughter of James Logan. She was also cousin to the Quaker poet
Hannah Griffitts Hannah Griffitts (1727–1817) was an 18th-century American poet and Quaker who championed the resistance of American colonists to Britain during the run-up to the American Revolution. Early life Griffitts was born into a Quaker family in Philad ...
. Dickinson and Norris had five children, but only two survived to adulthood: Sarah Norris "Sally" Dickinson and Maria Mary Dickinson. Dickinson never formally joined the Quaker Meeting because, as he explained, he believed in the "lawfulness of defensive war". He and Norris were married in a civil ceremony. In Philadelphia, they lived at Fair Hill near Germantown, which they modernized through their combined wealth. Meanwhile, he built an elegant mansion on Chestnut Street but never lived there as it was confiscated and turned into a hospital during his 1776–77 absence in Delaware. It then became the residence of the French ambassador and still later the home of his brother, Philemon Dickinson. Fair Hill was burned by the British during the
Battle of Germantown The Battle of Germantown was a major engagement in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania, between the British Army led by Sir William Howe, and the American Con ...
. While in Philadelphia as
state president The State President of the Republic of South Africa ( af, Staatspresident) was the head of state of South Africa from 1961 to 1994. The office was established when the country became a republic on 31 May 1961, albeit, outside the Commonweal ...
, he lived at the confiscated mansion of
Joseph Galloway Joseph Galloway (1731August 29, 1803) was an American attorney and a leading political figure in the events immediately preceding the founding of the United States in the late 1700s. As a staunch opponent of American independence, he would bec ...
at Sixth and Market Streets, now established as the State Presidential Mansion. Dickinson lived at Poplar Hall for extended periods only in 1776–77 and 1781–82. In August 1781, it was sacked by Loyalists and was badly burned in 1804. This home is now owned by the state of Delaware and is open to the public. After his service as president of Pennsylvania, he returned to live in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1785 and built a mansion at the northwest corner of 8th and Market Streets.


Continental Congress

Dickinson was one of the delegates from Pennsylvania to the First Continental Congress in 1774 and the Second Continental Congress in 1775 and 1776. In support of the cause, he continued to contribute declarations in the name of the Congress. Dickinson wrote the Olive Branch Petition as the Second Continental Congress' last attempt for peace with Britain (King George III did not even read the petition). But through it all, agreeing with George Read and many others in Philadelphia and the Lower Counties, Dickinson's object was reconciliation, not independence and revolution. Dickinson prepared the first draft of the Articles of Confederation in 1776, after others had ratified the Declaration of Independence over his objection that it would lead to violence, and to follow through on his view that the Colonies would need a governing document to survive war against them. At the time he chaired the committee, charged with drafting the Articles, Dickinson was serving in the Continental Congress as a delegate from Pennsylvania. When the Continental Congress began the debate on the Declaration of Independence on July 1, 1776, Dickinson reiterated his opposition to declaring independence at that time. Dickinson believed that Congress should complete the Articles of Confederation and secure a foreign alliance before issuing a declaration. Dickinson also objected to violence as a means for resolving the dispute. He abstained or absented himself from the votes on July 2 that declared independence and absented himself again from voting on the wording of the formal declaration on July 4. Dickinson understood the implications of his refusal to vote stating, "My conduct this day, I expect will give the finishing blow to my once too great and, my integrity considered, now too diminished popularity." Dickinson refused to sign the declaration, and since a proposal had been brought forth and carried that stated "for our mutual security and protection" no man could remain in Congress without signing, Dickinson voluntarily left and joined the Pennsylvania militia.Wright, Robert K. and MacGregor, Jr., Morris J. "Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution." Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington, D.C. (1987), 82-84. John Adams, a fierce advocate for independence and Dickinson's adversary on the floor of Congress, remarked, "Mr. Dickinson's alacrity and spirit certainly become his character and sets a fine example." Dickinson is one of only two members of the First Continental Congress who actively took up arms during the war. In the Pennsylvania militia, known as the Associators, Dickinson was given the rank of brigadier general and led 10,000 soldiers to
Elizabeth, New Jersey Elizabeth is a city and the county seat of Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.New J ...
, to protect that area against British attack from
Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...
. But because of his unpopular opinion on independence, two junior officers were promoted above him.


Return to Poplar Hall

Dickinson resigned his commission in December 1776 and went to stay at Poplar Hall in Kent County. While there he learned that his home on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia had been confiscated and converted into a hospital. He stayed at Poplar Hall for more than two years. The Delaware General Assembly tried to appoint him as their delegate to the Continental Congress in 1777, but he refused. In August 1777, he served as a private with the Kent County militia at Middletown, Delaware under General Caesar Rodney to help delay General William Howe's march to Philadelphia. In October 1777, Dickinson's friend Thomas McKean appointed him brigadier general of the
Delaware Militia Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
, but again Dickinson declined the appointment. Shortly afterwards he learned that the British had burned down his and his wife's Fair Hill property during the Battle of Germantown. These years were not without accomplishment however. In 1777, Dickinson, Delaware's wealthiest farmer and largest slaveholder,Gregg II, Gary L. and Hall, Mark David. "America's Forgotten Founders." University of Louisville (2008), 97. decided to free his slaves. While Kent County was not a large slave-holding area, like farther south in Virginia, and even though Dickinson had only 37 slaves, this was an action of some considerable courage. Undoubtedly, the strongly abolitionist Quaker influences around them had their effect, and the action was all the easier because his farm had moved away from tobacco to less labor-intensive crops like wheat and barley. Dickinson was the only Founding Father to free his slaves in the period between 1776 and 1786. Benjamin Franklin had freed his slaves by 1770.


President of Delaware

On January 18, 1779, Dickinson was appointed to be a delegate for Delaware to the Continental Congress. During this term he signed the Articles of Confederation, having in 1776 authored their first draft while serving in the Continental Congress as a delegate from Pennsylvania. In August 1781, while still a delegate in Philadelphia, he learned that Poplar Hall had been severely damaged by a Loyalist raid. Dickinson returned to the property to investigate the damage and once again stayed for several months. While there, in October 1781, Dickinson was elected to represent Kent County in the State Senate, and shortly afterwards the Delaware General Assembly elected him the president of Delaware. The General Assembly's vote was nearly unanimous, the only dissenting vote having been cast by Dickinson himself. Dickinson took office on November 13, 1781, and served until November 7, 1782. Beginning his term with a "Proclamation against Vice and Immorality," he sought ways to bring an end to the disorder of the days of the Revolution. It was a popular position and enhanced his reputation both in Delaware and Pennsylvania. Dickinson then successfully challenged the Delaware General Assembly to address lagging militia enlistments and to properly fund the state's assessment to the Confederation government. And recognizing the delicate negotiations then underway to end the American Revolution, Dickinson secured the Assembly's continued endorsement of the French alliance, with no agreement on a separate peace treaty with Great Britain. However, as before, the lure of Pennsylvania politics was too great. On October 10, 1782, Dickinson was elected to the
Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania The Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was the collective directorial executive branch of the Pennsylvanian state government between 1777 and 1790. It was headed by a president and a vice president (analogous to a gov ...
. On November 7, 1782, a joint ballot by the Council and the
Pennsylvania General Assembly The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times (1682–1776), the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania ...
elected him as president of the council and thereby president of Pennsylvania. But he did not actually resign as president of Delaware. Even though Pennsylvania and Delaware had shared the same governor until very recently, attitudes had changed, and many in Delaware were upset at seemingly being cast aside so readily, particularly after the Philadelphia newspapers began criticizing the state for allowing the practice of multiple and non resident office holding. Dickinson's constitutional successor, John Cook, was considered too weak in his support of the Revolution, and it was not until January 12, 1783, when Cook called for a new election to choose a replacement, that Dickinson formally resigned.


President of Pennsylvania

When the American Revolution began, Dickinson fairly represented the center of Pennsylvania politics. The old
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