Dickinson, John, 1732-1808

<ul><b>RACES</b>
<li> 10/06/1807 DE District At Large - Special Election Lost 48.31% (-3.39%)</li>
<li> 11/01/1800 DE - Electors Lost 10.34% (-12.64%)</li>
<li> 11/01/1796 DE - Electors Lost 11.49% (-10.34%)</li>
<li> 11/06/1781 President of Delaware Won 96.15% (+92.31%)</li>
<li> 12/31/1778 DE Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li> 12/31/1775 PA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li> 12/31/1774 PA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li> 09/01/1774 PA Continental Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
<li> 10/06/1765 Delegate to the Stamp Act Congress Won 100.00% (+100.00%)</li>
</ul>

DICKINSON, John, (Brother of Philemon Dickinson), a Delegate from Pennsylvania and from Delaware; born on his father's estate, ``Crosia-dore,'' near Trappe, Talbot County, Md., November 13, 1732; moved with his parents in 1740 to Dover, Del., where he studied under a private teacher; studied law in Philadelphia and at the Middle Temple in London; was admitted to the bar in 1757 and commenced practice in Philadelphia; member of the Assembly of ``Lower Counties,'' as the State of Delaware was then called, 1759-1761; member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, 1762-1765, 1771, 1774-1775, 1776; delegate to the Stamp Act Congress in 1765; Member from Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress 1774-1776 and from Delaware in 1779; colonel of Pennsylvania militia from 1775 to 1776; private in the Deleware militia in 1777; President of the State of Delaware in 1781; returned to Philadelphia and served as President of Pennsylvania 1782-1785; returned to Delaware; chairman of the Annapolis Convention in 1786; was a member of the Federal convention of 1787 which framed the Constitution and was one of the signers (by proxy) from Delaware; president of the Delaware constitutional convention in 1791-1792; died in Wilmington, New Castle County, Del., on February 14, 1808; interment in Wilmington Friends Meetinghouse Burial Ground.

<p>John Dickinson (November 13 [Julian calendar November 2] 1732 – February 14, 1808), a Founding Father of the United States, was a solicitor and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Delaware, known as the "Penman of the Revolution" for his twelve Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, published individually in 1767 and 1768. As a member of the First Continental Congress, where he was a signee to the Continental Association, Dickinson drafted most of the 1774 Petition to the King, and then, as a member of the Second Continental Congress, wrote the 1775 Olive Branch Petition. When these two attempts to negotiate with King George III of Great Britain failed, Dickinson reworked Thomas Jefferson's language and wrote the final draft of the 1775 Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms. When Congress then decided to seek independence from Great Britain, Dickinson served on the committee that wrote the Model Treaty and then wrote the first draft of the 1776–1777 Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. Dickinson later served as president of the 1786 Annapolis Convention, which called for the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Dickinson attended the convention as a delegate from Delaware.</p>

<p>He also wrote "The Liberty Song" in 1768, was a militia officer during the American Revolution, president of Delaware, president of Pennsylvania, and was among the wealthiest men in the British American colonies. Upon Dickinson's death, President Jefferson recognized him as being "Among the first of the advocates for the rights of his country when assailed by Great Britain whose 'name will be consecrated in history as one of the great worthies of the revolution.'"</p>

<p>Together with his wife, Mary Norris Dickinson, he is the namesake of Dickinson College (originally John and Mary's College), as well as of the Dickinson School of Law of Pennsylvania State University and the University of Delaware's Dickinson Complex. John Dickinson High School was opened/dedicated in 1959 as part of the public schools in northern Delaware.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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.</p>

<p>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 thc 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.</p>