The leading opponent of John Adams in the debate upon the Declaration of
Independence was John Dickinson, of Delaware--an honest, able, patriotic, but
timid statesman. He was born in Maryland, in December, 1732, and educated in
Delaware, to which province his parents removed soon after his birth.
He read law in Philadelphia, and resided three years in the
Temple, London. After his return to America, he practiced law with success in
Philadelphia. He was soon elected to the legislature of Pennsylvania, in which
his superior qualifications as a speaker and a man of business gave him
considerable influence. The attempts of the mother country upon the liberties of
the colonies early awakened his attention. His first elaborate publication
against the new policy of the British cabinet was printed at Philadelphia, in
1765, and entitled, The late Regulations respecting the British Colonies on the
Continent of America considered. In that year he was deputed, by Pennsylvania,
to attend the first Congress, held at New York, and prepared the draft of the
bold resolutions of that Congress. In 1766 he published a spirited address on
the same questions, to a committee of correspondence in Barbadoes. He next
issued in Philadelphia, in 1767, his celebrated Farmer's Letters to the
Inhabitants of the British Colonies--a production which had a great influence in
enlightening the American people on the subject of their rights, and preparing
them for resistance. They were reprinted in London, with a preface by Doctor
Franklin, and published in French, at Paris.
In 1774, Mr. Dickinson wrote the resolves of the committee of
Pennsylvania, and their instructions to their representatives. These
instructions formed a profound and extensive essay on the constitutional power
of Great Britain over the colonies in America, and in that shape they were
published by the committee. While in Congress, he wrote the Address to the
Inhabitants of Quebec; the first Petition to the King; the Address to the
Armies; the second Petition to the King, and the Address to the several States;
all among the ablest state-papers of the time. As an orator, he had few
superiors in that body. He penned the famous Declaration of the United Colonies
of North America, (July 6, 1775;) but he opposed the declaration of
independence, believing that compromise was still practicable, and that his
countrymen were not yet ripe for a complete separation from Great Britain. This
rendered him for a time so unpopular, that he withdrew from the public councils,
and did not recover his seat in Congress until about two years afterward. He
then returned, earnest in the cause of independence. His zeal was shown in the
ardent address of Congress to the several States, of May, 1779, which he wrote
and reported.
Mr. Dickinson was afterward president of the States of
Pennsylvania and Delaware, successively; and, in the beginning of 1788, being
alarmed by the hesitation of some States to ratify the constitution proposed by
the federal convention the year before, he published, for the purpose of
promoting its adoption, nine very able letters, under the signature of Fabius.
This signature he again used in fourteen letters, published in 1797, the object
of which was to produce a favorable feeling in the United States toward France,
whose revolution he believed to be then at an end. Before the period last
mentioned, he had withdrawn to private life, at Wilmington, in the State of
Delaware, where he died, February 14, 1808. His retirement was spent in literary
studies, in charitable offices and the exercise of an elegant hospitality. His
conversation and manners were very attractive; his countenance and person,
uncommonly fine. His public services were eminent: his writings have been justly
described as copious, forcible and correct; sometimes eloquently rhetorical and
vehement, and generally rich in historical references and classical quotations.
The patriotism of Mr. Dickinson was of that manly nature which
does not permit the statesman to sanction a measure simply because it chances to
be popular, but holds him to what seems to tend to the best interests of the
country.