John Dickinson

John Dickinson (1732-1808), American founding father, born in Talbot County, Maryland. He was admitted to the bar in 1757 and practiced law in Philadelphia. A leading opponent of taxation imposed on the colonies by the British Parliament, Dickinson formulated the declaration of rights and grievances at the Stamp Act Congress (1765). Two years later he published Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, in which he argued against the duties imposed by the Townshend Acts. Nonetheless, as a representative from Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress (1774-1776), Dickinson favored appeasing Great Britain and opposed any violent uprising; he did not sign the Declaration of Independence. He fought in the American Revolution, however, and afterward represented Delaware at the Constitutional Convention (1787). In a series of letters signed “Fabius,” he effectively urged the adoption of the U.S. Constitution, which he was instrumental in framing. It was largely due to his influence that Delaware and Pennsylvania were the first two states to ratify the document. He helped establish Dickinson College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1783, and served as the first president of the board of trustees. In addition to the Farmer's Letters, Dickinson's works include The Late Regulations Respecting the American Colonies (1765), Essay on the Constitutional Power of Great Britain over the American Colonies (1774), and the first draft of the Articles of Confederation (1776).