Skip to main content

Full text of "The life and times of John Dickinson, 1732-1808"

See other formats 


UC  NRLF 


II 


B   M  1.56  013 


LIBRARY 

UN!VER3»TV  OF 
CALIFORNIA 
gANTA    CRUZ 


|)ublitations 


OF   THE 


lisforical  fjomtg  of 


LIFE  AND  WRITINGS 


OF 


JOHN   DICKINSON. 

VOL.   I. 


MEMOIRS 


OF   THE 


HISTORICAL   SOCIETY 


OF 


PENNSYLVANIA. 


VOL.    XIII. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PUBLICATION    FUND    OF 

THE   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY   OF   PENNSYLVANIA, 

No.  1300  LOCUST  STREET. 

1891. 


"The  Trustees  of  the  Publication  Fund  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania" 
have  published  ten  volumes  of  Memoirs  of  the  Society,  viz. : 

Vol.  V.  The  History  of  Braddock's  Expedition. 

Vol.  VI.  Contributions  to  American  History. 

Vol.  VII.  Record  of  Upland  and  Denny's  Journal. 

Vol.  I.  Second  Edition,  with  Notes. 

Vol.  VIII.  Minutes  of  Defence  of  Philadelphia,  1814-1815. 

Vol    IX.  Correspondence  of  Penn  and  Logan,  Vol.  I. 

Vol.  X.  "  "  "         Vol.  2. 

Vol.  XI.  History  of  New  Sweden,  by  Israel  Acrelius. 

Vol.  XII.  Heckewelder's  History,  Manners,  and  Customs  of  the  Indian  Nations. 

Vol.  XIII.  Life  and  Writings  of  John  Dickinson,  Vol.  i. 

Besides  the  above,  the  Trustees  have  issued  fourteen  volumes  of  "  The  Pennsylvania 
Magazine  of  History  and  Biography,"  a  Quarterly  Journal,  devoted  to  American  His- 
tory, and  especially  that  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  investments  held  by  the  Trustees  of  the  Fund  now  amount  to  over  thirty-two 
thousand  dollars,  the  interest  of  which  is  applied  to  publishing.  By  the  payment  of 
twenty-five  dollars,  any  one  may  become  entitled  to  receive,  during  his  or  her  life,  all 
the  publications  issued  at  the  expense  of  the  Fund.  Libraries  so  subscribing  are 
entitled  to  receive  the  same  for  the  term  of  twenty  years. 

The  Society  desire  it  to  be  understood  that  they  are  not  answerable  for  any  opinions 
or  observations  that  may  appear  in  their  publications :  the  Editors  of  the  several 
works  being  alone  responsible  for  the  same. 

BRINTON  COXE,  •» 

AUBREY  H.  SMITH,  >  Trustees. 

CHARLES  HARE  HUTCHINSON,    ) 


THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES 


OF 


JOHN    DICKINSON 


173  2 I  808. 


"Whatever  harmonies  of  Law 

The  growing  world  assume, 
Thy  work  is  thine, — the  single  note 
From  that  deep  chord  which  Hampden  smote 
Will  vibrate  to  the  doom." 

TENNYSON  :  England  and  America  in  1782. 


PREPARED   AT  THE    REQUEST   OF  THE    HISTORICAL    SOCIETY 
OF    PENNSYLVANIA, 

BY 

CHARLES  J.  STILLE,  LL.D. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

THE  HISTORICAL   SOCIETY  OF   PENNSYLVANIA. 
1891. 


Copyright,  1891,  by  THE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 


The  Trustees  of  The  Publication  Fund  desire  it  to  be  understood  that  they  are 
not  answerable  for  the  opinions  or  observations  that  may  be  expressed  in  articles 
under  the  names  or  initials  of  the  contributors. 


PREFACE. 


THE  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania  proposes 
to  print  a  fuller  and  more  complete  edition  of  the  polit- 
ical writings  of  JOHN  DICKINSON  than  that  which  was 
published  under  his  own  supervision  in  Wilmington  in 
1 80 1.  That  edition  of  his  works  was  in  many  respects 
an  incomplete  one.  Many  of  the  important  State 
papers  of  which  he  was  the  author,  and  all  of  his 
letters,  which  in  many  respects  were  his  most  charac- 
teristic productions,  are  not  to  be  found  in  it.  It  is 
proposed  in  the  forthcoming  edition  to  supply  as  far  as 
possible  this  deficiency.  I  have  been  requested  by  the 
Society  to  prepare  a  memoir  of  Mr.  Dickinson  as  an 
introduction  to  this  new  edition  of  his  works. 

The  story  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  life  forms  an  important 
part  of  the  history  of  Pennsylvania.  From  the  year 
1760  until  his  term  of  office  as  President  of  the  Su- 
preme Executive  Council  expired,  in  1783,  Mr.  Dickin- 
son was  probably  the  most  conspicuous  person  in  the 
service  of  the  State.  So,  also,  from  the  meeting  of 
the  Stamp-Act  Congress,  in  1765,  until  his  death,  in 
1808,  Mr.  Dickinson  was  a  prominent  figure  in  our 
national  history.  He  was  the  first  to  advocate  re- 
sistance to  the  ministerial  plan  of  taxation  on  consti- 
tutional grounds.  For  more  than  a  year  after  the 

iii 


PREFACE. 


enforcement  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  according  to  Mr. 
Bancroft,  and  for  a  much  longer  period,  in  the  opinion 
of  his  contemporaries,  "  he  controlled  the  counsels  of 
the  country."  He  had  the  courage  to  maintain  that 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  inopportune,  and 
in  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  he  took  a  leading  part. 

The  record  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  services  is  not  to  be 
found  in  an  elaborate  biography  prepared  by  a  friendly 
hand.  Unlike  his  great  colleagues,  Franklin,  Jefferson, 
the  Adamses,  Jay,  Madison,  and  olher  worthies  of  the 
Revolution,  in  whose  correspondence  Mr.  Dickinson 
always  appears  as  a  man  of  commanding  influence 
when  he  advocated  any  system  of  national  policy,  the 
memory  of  the  illustrious  author  of  the  "  Farmer's 
Letters"  has  been  kept  alive  only  by  brief  sketches 
of  his  life  and  by  the  memorable  State  papers  which 
he  prepared  during  the  Revolution  at  the  request  of 
the  Continental  Congress. 

It  is  a  matter  of  regret,  not  to  say  of  reproach,  that 
no  one  has  hitherto  undertaken  fully  to  portray  the 
public  career  of  this  remarkable  man,  and  to  explain 
his  conduct  and  motives  by  reference  to  the  peculiar 
position  of  the  country,  and  especially  of  this  State, 
during  the  crisis  of  the  Revolution. 

In  undertaking  the  work  which  has  been  assigned  to 
me,  I  have  been  led  to  discuss  many  historical  questions 
which  may  appear  at  first  to  have  little  connection  with 
Mr.  Dickinson's  life  and  services.  But,  according  to 
the  plan  I  have  adopted,  it  was  essential  to  a  proper 
understanding  of  both  that  some  fair  account  of  his 
environment  should  be  given. 


PREFACE. 


For  a  long  time  the  papers  of  Mr.  Dickinson  were 
preserved  with  jealous  care  by  his  family.  But  during 
the  years  which  have  elapsed  since  his  death  many  have 
disappeared,  and  others  are  scattered  beyond  hope  of 
recovery.  Still,  documents  of  priceless  value  to  the 
historian  remain  among  them,  and  I  am  greatly  in- 
debted to  the  kindness  of  Miss  F.  A.  LOGAN,  one  of 
the  descendants  of  Mr.  Dickinson,  for  an  opportunity 
to  examine  the  large  collection  of  original  papers  in 
her  possession.  Indeed,  I  am  bound  to  say  that  if  any 
new  light  is  thrown  upon  Dickinson's  career  in  my 
book,  its  source  was  found  in  my  researches  among 
these  papers. 

I  desire  to  draw  special  attention  to  the  masterly 
argument  of  DR.  GEORGE  H.  MOORE,  late  librarian  of 
the  New  York  Historical  Society,  defending  Mr.  Dick- 
inson's claim  to  the  authorship  of  that  wonderful  State 
paper,  "The  Declaration  of  the  Causes  of  taking  up 
Arms,"  adopted  by  Congress  in  July,  1775,  against  that 
made  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Jefferson  by  Randolph,  Tucker, 
Randall,  Parton,  and  Bancroft.  By  Dr.  Moore's  kind 
permission  that  portion  of  his  paper  which  refers  es- 
pecially to  this  controversy  has  been  reprinted  in  the 
Appendix. 

I  am  under  great  obligations  to  THOMAS  McKEAN, 
ESQ.,  the  great-grandson  of  GOVERNOR  McKEAN,  and 
to  WILLIAM  M.  TILGHMAN,  ESQ.,  the  grandson  of  ED- 
WARD TILGHMAN,  for  placing  at  my  disposal  a  valua- 
ble portion  of  the  correspondence  of  their  ancestors 
during  the  Revolution.  My  thanks  are  also  due  to  MR. 
PAUL  LEICESTER  FORD,  to  whom  has  been  assigned  the 
editorial  supervision  and  collation  of  the  political  and 


PREFACE. 


miscellaneous  writings  of  Mr.  Dickinson  which  the 
Historical  Society  proposes  shortly  to  publish. 

I  must  also  express  my  thanks  to  my  friend  MR. 
F.  D.  STONE,  the  librarian  of  the  Historical  Society, 
for  his  constant  aid  during  the  progress  of  my  work. 
His  minute  and  accurate  knowledge  of  the  events  of 
Revolutionary  history  has  been  of  the  greatest  service 
to  me. 

January,  1891. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER     I.— (Pages  9-20.) 

MR.  DICKINSON'S  EARLY  YEARS.  PAGE 

The  Dickinson  Family .  9 

Its  Home  in  Maryland.         ..........  12 

Dickinson's  Education  ...........  14 

His  Study  of  the  Law 19 

CHAPTER     I  L—  (Pages  21-34.) 

HIS   LEGAL   TRAINING   IN   THE   TEMPLE. 

The  Inns  of  Court 22 

Nature  of  the  Instruction       ..........  23 

His  Fellow-Students 24 

Effect  of  his  Training  in  the  English  Common  Law      .         .         .         .         .  25 

American  Students  in  the  Inns  of  Court        .......  26 

Few  New  England  Students  there 26 

Results  in  New  England  of  a  Different  Legal  Education       .         .         .         .27 

The  Clergy,  and  not  the  Lawyers,  Rulers  there      ......  30 

The  Practice  of  the  Law  in  New  England 33 

CHAPTER     III.—  (/^.r  35-64.) 

PROPRIETARY   GOVERNMENT   IN   PENNSYLVANIA. 

Mr.  Dickinson  at  the  Bar      ..........  36 

His  Success  as  a  Lawyer 37 

He  enters  Public  Life 38 

Pennsylvania  Assembly         ..........  39 

Discontent  with  the  Proprietaries  .........  40 

Franklin  and  Dickinson        ..........  41 

Nature  of  the  Dispute 44 

Dickinson's  Argument  ...........  46 

Sketch  of  the  History  of  Pennsylvania  prior  to  1755      ....        46-52 

New  Causes  of  Dispute  with  the  Proprietaries       .....        53-56 

Galloway's  Resolutions          ..........  59 

Petition  to  the  King      ...........  60 

Speeches  of  Dickinson  and  Galloway 63 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    IV.— (Pages  ^-i  14.) 

THE    FORERUNNERS   OF   THE   REVOLUTION. 

PAGE 
Dickinson  and  the  "  Sugar  Act"    .........     66 

His  Views  concerning  the  "  Stamp  Act"        .....  -67 

Stamp  Act  Congress -72 

Stamp  Act  repealed 74 

The  Act  levying  Duties  on  Glass,  Paints,  and  Tea  passed  by  Parliament        .     79 

The  "  Farmer's  Letters" So 

The  Influence  of  these  Letters 81 

Argument  of  the  "  Farmer's  Letters" .84 

Obduracy  of  the  Ministry      . .     86 

The  Letters  teach  Constitutional  Resistance .90 

They  give  great  Offence  in  England      ........     93 

Circular  Letter  of  Massachusetts 94 

Troops  sent  to  Boston 96 

Dickinson's  Advice  no  longer  followed  in  Boston 98 

Samuel  Adams  and  Dickinson       .........   101 

Boston's  Message  to  Philadelphia          .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .105 

Dickinson's  Opinion     .         . .106 

Reed,  Thomson,  and  Mifflin  in  Consultation  with  Dickinson          .         .         .108 

Dr.  Smith's  Letter 108 

Pennsylvanian  Form  of  Resistance no 

Movement  in  Pennsylvania's  First  Convention .112 

Instructions  to  the  Assembly  drawn  by  Dickinson 112 

John  Adams  and  Popular  Government .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .   1 1 3 

CHAPTER     V.—  (Pages  115-200.) 
THE   CONTINENTAL   CONGRESS. 

The  Quaker  Sentiment  at  this  Time 115 

Pennsylvania  Assembly  elects  Delegates  to  Congress 117 

Sketch  of  the  Delegates 119 

Obstacles  to  Armed  Resistance .         .122 

Puritans  and  Quakers .124 

Want  of  Union  in  Pennsylvania    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .   1 28 

High  Character  of  the  Pennsylvania  Delegates     .         .         .         .         .         .130 

Their  Intercourse  with  those  from  New  England  .         .         .         .         .         .132 

First  Meeting  of  the  Continental  Congress     .         .         .         .         .         .         .134 

Different  Propositions    .         .         . 135 

Condition  of  Boston      .         . .138 

Dickinson's  Position .         .         .         .140 

First  Petition  to  the  King  and  other  Papers  drawn  up  by  him         .         .         .142 
Dickinson's  Opinion  of  Washington 148 


CONTENTS.  ix 


PAGE 

Pennsylvania  ratifies  the  Acts  of  Congress     .......  149 

The  Governor  suggests  a  Separate  Petition 150 

Pennsylvania  refuses  to  desert  the  other  Colonies 151 

Military  Force  raised    ...........  152 

The  "  Associators" 153~S^> 

Second  Petition  to  the  King 157 

Opposed  by  John  Adams        .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .158 

Declaration  of  the  Causes  of  taking  up  Arms         .         .         .         .         .         .161 

Active  Resistance  in  Pennsylvania  under  Dickinson's  Control  .  .  .163 
Nature  of  Allegiance  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .164 

The  Assembly  of  1775 — Their  Instructions 166 

Efforts  of  New  England  Delegates  to  destroy  the  Pennsylvania  Charter  .  170 
Congress  meets  in  January,  1776 — Massachusetts  Delegates  .  .  .  .172 
Dickinson  Colonel  of  First  Battalion  of  Associators  .  .  .  .  .  175 
Efforts  in  the  State  to  supersede  the  Assembly  and  the  Charter  .  .  177-83 

Resolutions  of  Congress  May  10-15 •         •         .178 

The  Calling  of  a  Convention — Usurpation  of  Power      .         .         .         .         .185 

Virginia  recommends  Independence      ........  187 

Instructions  of  Delegates  rescinded       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .188 

Assembly  left  without  a  Quorum    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .189 

Congress  still  trusts  Dickinson        .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .191 

He  opposes  the  Declaration  as  Inopportune  ......      193-96 

The  Consistency  of  his  Views       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .198 

CHAPTER     VI.—  (Pages  201-252.) 

MR.  DICKINSON'S  CAREER  AFTER  THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDE- 
PENDENCE. 

Mr.  Dickinson  in  Command  of  the  Philadelphia  Associators         .         .         .  200 
His  Conceptions  of  his  Duty  as  a  Soldier      .......  204 

His  Services  during  the  Campaign  in  Jersey  .......  205 

Not  re-elected  as  a  Delegate  to  Congress 206 

Member  of  the  First  Assembly  under  the  Constitution  of  1776      .         .         .  207 
Regards  this  Assembly  as  an  Illegal  Body     .......  208 

Proposes  that  a  New  Convention  shall  be  called     ......  209 

Dickinson  withdraws  from  the  Assembly        .......  209 

Letters  of  Charles  Thomson  and  Dr.  Rush  on  his  Withdrawal       .         .         .211 
Dickinson  retires  to  Delaware        .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .212 

Becomes  a  Private  in  the  Delaware  Militia    .         .         .         .         .         .         .213 

Services  at  the  Battle  of  the  Brandy  wine       .         .         .         .         .         .         .214 

Sent  as  a  Delegate  to  Congress  by  Delaware  in  1779     .         .         .         .         .217 

The  French  Alliance  and  Spanish  Mediation          .         .         .         .         .         .219 

Dickinson's  Address  to  the  States          ........   220 

Instructions  to  Commissioners  drafted  by  him        .         .         .         .         .         .221 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Elected  President  of  Delaware  in  1781          .......  222 

Elected  President  of  Pennsylvania  in  1782    .......  223 

Anarchical  Condition  of  the  State          .......      224-26 

Organization  of  the  Government  .........  228 

Dickinson  attacked  by  VALERIUS  .         ........  230 

Political  libels  in  those  days 232-35 

Charges  made  by  VALERIUS 236 

Mr.  Dickinson's  Character  and  Vindication 237-40 

Revolt  of  the  Troops  at  Lancaster 244 

Dickinson's  Account  of  the  Revolt 246 

The  Wyoming  Troubles — Dickinson's  Position      .                                          247-51 
Dickinson  as  an  Admiralty  Judge 252 


CHAPTER    V  II.—  (-fttf»  253-301.) 


HIS  SERVICES   IN  THE  CONVENTION  WHICH  FRAMED  THE  CONSTITUTION 
OF   THE   UNITED    STATES. 

Necessity  for  a  Revision  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation     ....  253 

Convention  at  Annapolis,  Dickinson  President       .         .         .         .         .         .  255 

Convention  meets  at  Philadelphia  in  May,  1787     ......  258 

Sketch  of  his  Work  in  that  Convention          ......      258-60 

Mode  of  electing  Senators    .         .         .....         .         .         .261 

Adopted  at  Mr.  Dickinson's  Suggestion         .......  263 

Other  Topics  discussed  by  him      .........  264 

Ratification  of  the  Constitution      .         .         .         .         .  .         .         .265 

Letters  of  "  Fabius"  —  First  Series         ........  266 

Contrasted  with  "  The  Federalist"          ........  268 

Dickinson's  Historical  Illustrations         .         .         .         .         .         .         .      270-72 

Explains  Theory  of  the  Power  of  the  Senate          ......  273 

Washington's  Opinion  of  the  Letters  of  "  Fabius"         .....  274 

Controversy  about  the  Meaning  of  the  Constitution  after  its  Adoption    .         .  276 
Dickinson  urged  as  a  Candidate  for  the  Senate  from  Delaware      .         .         .  278 
He  changes  his  Political  Views     .........  279 

Effect  of  the  French  Revolution    .........  280 

Different  Schools  of  Democrats     .........  282 

Jefferson's  Dread  of  Centralization        ......         .  284 

Letters  on  Federal  "  Delusions"    .........  286 

Correspondence  between  Jefferson  and  Dickinson  ......  288 

Jefferson's  Theory  of  Government         .         .....         .         .  289 

Cession  of  Louisiana    ......         .         .         .         .         .291 

Jay's  Treaty  .............  295 

Dickinson  and  Jefferson  contrasted         .         .         ......  298 

Dickinson  changes  his  Opinion  on  French  Affairs          .....  300 


CONTENTS.  xi 


CHAPTER    VIII.—  (P^ej  302-338.) 

MR.  DICKINSON   IN   PRIVATE   AND    DOMESTIC  LIFE. 

PAGE 

Summary  of  his  Career          ..........  303 

His  Domestic  Virtues 306 

Becomes  a  Visitor  at  Fairhill 308 

The  Norris  Family 308 

Isaac  Norris  the  Elder  and  Isaac  Norris  the  Younger    ....      309-10 

Fairhill  described  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .311 

Mr.  Dickinson  is  married  to  Miss  Mary  Norris       .         .         .         .         .         .316 

His  Modesty  and  other  Characteristics  .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .31? 

His  Benevolent  Undertakings — Dickinson  College         .....  326 

The  Great  Estates  of  the  Norris  Family  settled  in  the  Male  Line  by  Mr. 

Dickinson's  Wife       .         .         . .         -331 

His  Kindness  to  the  Family  of  Chief- Justice  Read  .....  333 
Portrait  of  Mr.  Dickinson  by  Mr.  Read  and  by  Mrs.  Logan  ....  335 
His  Death — Proceedings  in  Congress  and  Letter  of  the  President  thereon  .  336 
Horace  Binney  on  the  Attitude  of  Philadelphia  towards  her  Great  Men  .  338 


APPENDIX. 

I.  Stamp  Act  Resolutions 339 

II.  Charles  Thomson's  Statement      ........  340 

III.  The  Moravian  Indian  Converts  and  the  Quakers          ....  352 

IV.  Dr.  George  H.  Moore  on  the  Authorship  of  the  Declaration  of  the 

Causes  of  taking  up  Arms   ........  353 

V.  Mr.  Dickinson's  Vindication  .......  364 

VI.  Draft  of  Instructions  to  Commissioners   for  Negotiating  a  Treaty  of 

Peace 414 

VII.  VALERIUS  and  General  Armstrong 421 

VIII.  Draft  of  an  Act  for  the  Gradual  Abolition  of  Slavery  in  Delaware       .  424 


THE  LIFE  AND  TIMES 

OF 

JOHN     DICKINSON 


CHAPTER    I. 

• 

MR.  DICKINSON'S  EARLY  YEARS. 

THE  family  name  of  Dickinson  has  been  for  many 
generations  well  known  in  various  parts  of  the  country. 
Those  who  bear  it  in  the  Middle  and  Southern  States 
appear  to  recognize  as  their  common  ancestor  CHARLES 
DICKINSON,  who  died  in  London  in  1653.  He  left  three 
sons,  all  of  whom  were  Quakers,  who  came  to  Vir- 
ginia in  1654  to  escape  imprisonment  at  home  as  non- 
conformists. From  these  three  sons  are  descended 
the  Dickinson  families  who  are  found  throughout  the 
Southern  States  and  in  certain  parts  of  Pennsylvania. 

About  the  year  1 630  a  certain  Nathaniel  Dickinson 
arrived  in  Salem  in  Massachusetts,  and  a  few  years 
later  Philemon,  both  of  whom  are  said  to  have  suffered 
for  their  faith  (which  was  of  a  violent  type  of  Puritan- 
ism) at  the  hands  of  the  High  Commission.  Both  of 
them  are  supposed  to  have  been  related  to  the  Virginia 
Dickinsons,  although  the  connection  has  not  been  clearly 
traced.  They  were  the  founders  of  many  families  in 
Western  Massachusetts,  who,  like  their  Virginia  cousins, 
i  9 


THE  DICKINSON  FAMILY. 


were  the  ancestors  of  men  who  served  well  and  faith- 
fully the  church  and  state  in  their  day  and  generation. 
From  them  came  also,  among  others  of  distinction, 
such  men  as  Jonathan  Dickinson,  the  first  president 
of  the  college  at  Princeton,  and  Jonathan  Dickinson 
Sergeant,  a  lawyer  of  great  eminence,  attorney-general 
of  Pennsylvania  in  1778.  This  branch  of  the  Dickin- 
son family  were  Presbyterians,  as  the  Virginia  branch 
were  Quakers. 

There  is  a  legendary  account  of  the  renown  achieved 
by  the  English  ancestors  of  this  family  as  soldiers,  but 
we  need  not  concern  ourselves  with  it  here.  What  is, 
however,  well  settled  is  this,  that  for  many  generations 
before  the  Dickinsons  came  to  this  country  they  be- 
longed to  that  middle  class  of  English  society  jWho, 
whether  as  landholders  possessed  of  moderate  estates, 
or  as  men  engaged  in  London  in  trade,  grew  to  in- 
creasing importance  in  their  influence  upon  public  af- 
fairs after  the  Reformation.  Men  of  this  class,  it  need 
not  be  said,  have  had  more  to  do  with  shaping  the 
destinies  of  England  in  modern  times  than  any  other. 
When  their  principles  in  religion  or  in  politics  became 
too  advanced  to  permit  of  their  being  reduced  with 
safety  to  practice  in  their  own  country,  they  turned  to 
the  West  and  emigrated  to  America.  Once  here,  they 
fully  developed  their  opinions,  and  the  habits  and  tra- 
ditions of  those  who  formed  them  added  much  to  the 
force  and  strength  of  the  country  during  our  Colonial 
and  Revolutionary  era.  There  was  one  peculiarity  by 
which  almost  all  the  early  English  emigrants  were 
distinguished,  —  they  were  all  non-conformists.  They 
differed,  it  is  true,  like  the  different  branches  of  the 


THEIR  RELIGIOUS   CONVICTIONS.  « 

Dickinson  family,  in  their  forms  of  dissent.  One  was 
a  Quaker,  another  a  Puritan  or  an  Independent,  and 
a  third  a  Presbyterian.  Still,  they  all  present  types  of 
that  discontent  with  the  arbitrary  government  of  the 
Stuarts,  then  widely  prevailing,  which  was  felt  so  keenly 
by  many  enlightened  and  conscientious  Protestants  in 
England  during  the  seventeenth  century.  They  were 
all  evidently  (from  special  causes  of  various  kinds) 
frondeurs, — that  is,  were  so  dissatisfied  with  the  existing 
government  in  state  as  well  as  in  church,  and  so  hope- 
less of  changing  it,  that  they  preferred  to  build  up  new 
homes  in  America  to  remaining  under  certain  disabili- 
ties in  their  old  ones.  As  most  of  the  English  emi- 
grants of  those  days  belonged  to  families  in  comfortable 
worldly  circumstances,  we  can  form  some  idea  of  the 
strength  of  the  convictions  which  supported  them  in  the 
hazardous  enterprise  upon  which  they  embarked. 

These  convictions,  it  must  be  remembered,  formed 
not  only  the  basis  of  the  character  of  the  first  settlers, 
but  that  of  their  descendants  also,  and  by  tracing  the 
influence  of  heredity  we  can  readily  explain  much  in 
the  acts  of  those  descendants  in  all  the  Colonies  which 
it  would  be  otherwise  difficult  to  understand.  Perhaps 
in  these  inherited  tendencies  we  may  be  able  in  the 
story  of  Dickinson  to  perceive  that  although  the  family 
differed  widely  in  its  opinions,  one  part  advocating  a 
Quaker  theory  of  government  and  another  that  of  the 
Puritan  in  church  and  state,  yet  both  were  only  differ- 
ent methods  of  protesting  against  similar  abuses  of  ar- 
bitrary power.  There  was  a  Puritan  way,  and  a  Quaker 
way,  possibly  even  a  Presbyterian  way,  of  remedying 
evils  in  church  and  state,  and  of  these  different  ways 


12  DICKINSON'S  HOME   IN  MARYLAND. 

the  history  of  the  different  branches  of  this  Dickinson 
family  provides  us  with  typical  specimens. 

But  we  have  now  to  do  only  with  the  immediate 
family  of  John  Dickinson.  It  would  seem  that  the 
three  brothers  who  came  to  Virginia  in  1654  did  not 
remain  long  in  that  Colony.  Whether  they  found  the 
penalties  for  non-conformity  there  as  severe,  and  the 
consequent  liability  of  Quakers  to  suffer  for  celebrating 
their  worship  in  public  as  great,  as  in  England,  it  is  not 
easy  to  say.  It  is  ascertained,  however,  that  one  at 
least  of  the  brothers,  Walter,  the  immediate  ancestor 
of  John  Dickinson,  removed  in  1659  to  Talbot  County, 
on  the  eastern  shore  of  Maryland.  He  there  settled  a 
plantation  which  he  called  Crosia-dore.  The  family 
remained  Quakers  for  more  than  a  century,  leading 
the  life  of  Maryland  planters.  There  must  have  been 
something  peculiarly  attractive  to  its  owner  in  this 
beautiful  spot  on  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake,  for 
from  the  day  of  its  settlement  until  the  present  hour,  a 
period  of  over  two  centuries  and  a  half,  Crosia-dore  has 
always  been  the  home  of  the  same  Dickinson  family,  the 
present  owner  and  occupant  being  in  the  direct  line  of 
descent  from  the  original  proprietor.  That  any  family 
in  this  country  of  unrest  and  change  should  have  re- 
tained and  occupied  the  same  homestead  for  more  than 
two  hundred  and  forty  years  is  in  itself  so  unusual  as  to 
seem  almost  marvellous.  This  hereditary  attachment 
to  the  paternal  acres  and  the  fondness  of  the  family  for 
a  country  life  have  had  a  deep  significance  in  its  history. 
To  this  attachment  we  may  look  as  the  source  of  many 
characteristics  which  went  to  form  the  manly,  indepen- 
dent, and  self-reliant  qualities  by  which  so  many  of  the 


INFLUENCE    OF  LIFE  IN  THE    COUNTRY.       '3 

members  of  the  family,  and  especially  John  Dickinson 
himself,  were  particularly  distinguished.  It  has  been 
found  here,  as  everywhere  else,  that,  before  the  Revo- 
lution, educated  men  who  lived  in  the  country,  who  had 
the  care  of  family  landed  estates,  and  who  were  bred  as 
farmers,  were  more  conspicuous  in  what  may  be  called  the 
higher  public  life  of  the  time,  and  wielded  greater  influ- 
ence on  public  questions,  than  any  other  class  of  society. 
Residence  in  the  country  and  a  farmer's  life  have  been 
here,  as  in  England,  not  only  the  "  classic  diversion  of  a 
statesman's  care,"  but  the  nursery  also  of  unyielding 
devotion  to  one's  home  and  a  true  patriotism.  In  the 
Middle  and  Southern  States  particularly,  the  men  who 
prepared  the  country  for  the  great  Revolutionary  crisis 
were  those  who  had  the  education,  the  tastes,  and  the 
leisure  of  gentlemen-farmers.  Whatever  may  have 
been  their  public  career,  however  great  their  achieve- 
ments in  the  service  of  the  state,  they  always  gladly 
turned  from  the  excitement  and  turmoil  of  large  bodies 
of  contending  men  to  the  quiet  of  their  own  rural  homes. 
The  love  of  a  country  life,  with  the  opportunities  it  gave 
for  study  and  calm  reflection,  was  a  predominant  trait 
in  the  character  of  many  of  our  most  conspicuous  states- 
men of  the  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  era  whose  names 
will  readily  occur  to  all,  and  in  no  one  was  it  more 
marked  than  in  John  Dickinson  himself,  who  was  proud 
to  be  called  a  farmer,  and  to  whose  learned  leisure  we 
owe  the  best  exposition  ever  made  of  the  relations  of 
a  metropolis  to  its  colonies.  He  could  find  no  more 
appropriate  a  title  for  his  great  work  than  that  of 
"  Farmer's  Letters." 

At  Crosia-dore,  on  the  eighth  of  November,  1732, 


DICKINSON'S  EDUCATION. 


was  born  John  Dickinson.  He  was  the  second  son  of 
Samuel  Dickinson,  the  grandson  of  the  first  proprie- 
tor of  the  estate,  and  of  Mary  Cadwalader,  his  second 
wife,  sister  of  Dr.  Thomas  Cadwalader,  of  Philadelphia. 
Samuel  Dickinson  had  been  bred  to  the  law,  and  in  the 
year  1740  he  removed  from  Maryland  to  Delaware, 
where  he  had  purchased  a  large  estate  in  Kent  County, 
near  Dover.  Here,  shortly  afterwards,  he  was  appointed 
judge  of  the  county  court,  and  here  he  remained  during 
the  rest  of  his  useful  and  honorable  life.1  Probably 
one  of  the  motives  for  his  removal  from  Maryland  was 
his  desire  to  procure  for  his  children  the  advantages  of 
a  better  kind  of  education  than  could  be  had  in  that 
colony.  He  is  said  to  have  intended  at  one  time  to 
send  all  his  sons  to  England,  in  order  that  they  might 
receive  the  training  of  the  best  public  schools  there,  as 
was  then  the  practice  with  many  of  the  planters  in  the 
Southern  Colonies.  But,  having  lost  two  of  his  children 
by  the  small-pox,  he  decided  not  to  part  with  those  that 
remained,  but  to  seek  for  them  the  means  of  the  best 
liberal  education  which  the  Colonies  at  that  time  af- 
forded. To  do  so,  in  the  only  way  in  which  it  was  pos- 
sible in  the  condition  of  Colonial  society  at  that  period, 
it  was  necessary  that  his  boys  should  be  placed  under 
the  care  of  a  private  tutor,  who  should  possess  far 

1  He  died  in  1760.  It  is  curious  to  mark  the  hereditary  attachment 
of  this  family  to  the  land.  Samuel  Dickinson's  first  purchase  in 
Kent  County  was  made  in  1715,  and  embraced  a  tract  of  thirteen 
hundred  acres.  This  estate  was  added  to  by  his  descendants,  until 
a  few  years  ago  they  were  the  largest  land-owners  in  Kent  County, 
possessing  more  than  three  thousand  acres. — Scharf  s  "History  of 
Delaware"  p.  1079. 


COLLEGES  IN  COLONIAL    TIMES.  *5 

higher  attainments  than  are  now  required  of  such  a 
functionary.  In  the  early  Colonial  days  there  was  no 
general  system  for  the  training  of  those  who  sought  a 
liberal  education.  There  were,  it  is  true,  three  educa- 
tional establishments  called  colleges  to  be  found  on  the 
continent, — Harvard,  Yale,  and  William  and  Mary.  But 
in  all  three  the  course  of  studies  was  very  limited,  and 
in  the  first  two,  at  least,  it  was  designed  chiefly  for  the 
training  of  Congregational  clergymen.  Thus,  at  Har- 
vard, the  first  professor  of  that  college,  the  Hollis  Pro- 
fessor of  Divinity,  was  appointed  in  1721,  and  down 
to  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  only  two 
additional  professors  were  appointed,  a  professor  of 
mathematics  and  a  professor  of  Hebrew.  The  regular 
instruction  was  given  by  tutors.1  It  was  not  until  Dr. 
Smith  established  at  the  College  of  Philadelphia,  in  1 756, 
the  first  graded  course  of  studies  of  a  higher  kind  ever 
pursued  in  an  American  college,  that  a  young  man 
here  had  an  opportunity  of  laying  broad  and  deep  the 
foundations  of  a  liberal  culture,  such  as  he  would  have 
enjoyed  had  he  gone  abroad  for  that  purpose.  The 
great  want  of  the  time  in  those  days,  deeply  felt  by  all 
cultivated  men,  was  an  opportunity  to  give  to  their 
sons  a  good  scholastic  training.2 

xSee  Report  of  Overseers  of  Harvard  College,  1869. 

9  One  of  the  most  suggestive  passages  in  the  Memoir  of  Rev.  Henry 
M.  Muhlenberg  is  that  in  which  he  describes  the  necessity  which 
compelled  him  to  send  his  three  boys,  all  at  one  time,  to  receive  their 
education  in  Halle,  in  Germany.  He  could  find  no  institutions  here 
in  which  they  could  be  trained  as  he  himself  had  been  in  his  native 
country.  These  three  boys,  it  may  be  added,  did  credit  to  their 
German  education.  They  all  held  in  after-life  the  highest  public 
stations.  German  learning,  fidelity,  and  honesty  were  firmly  grafted 


1 6  SCHOOLS  IN  THE    COLONIES. 

There  were,  it  is  true,  in  the  Middle  Colonies  a  few 
schools  where  instruction  of  a  more  thorough,  if  not  a 
more  comprehensive,  kind  could  be  had  than  is  common 
now.  These  schools  were  generally  in  the  charge  of 
Scotch-Irish  school-masters,  whose  success  in  imparting 
at  least  a  thorough  grammatical  knowledge  of  the  Latin 
language,  and  whose  proficiency  in  the  system  they 
practised  of  teaching  the  other  branches,  were  plainly 
discernible  in  the  career  of  many  men  who  became 
prominent  in  the  Revolution.  Such  was  the  school  at 
New  London,  in  Chester  County,  of  which  Dr.  Allison, 
the  famous  Latinist,  was  head-master,  where  George 
Read,  Benjamin  Rush,  Thomas  McKean,  Hugh  Wil- 
liamson, and  John  Ewing,  among  others,  were  educated. 
The  system  of  these  old-fashioned  school-masters  was 
undoubtedly  very  narrow,  so  far  as  the  mere  acquisition 
of  knowledge  was  concerned,  but  it  had  the  inestimable 
advantage  of  training  the  pupils  to  think  clearly  and 
logically  and  to  cultivate  their  judgment. 

When  we  reflect  how  much  importance  is  attached 
at  this  day  to  special  technical  learning,  it  is  hard  to 
understand  how  men  who  had  gained  so  little  of  this 
kind  of  knowledge  could  do  so  much  hard  and  fruit- 
ful work  as  they  did  in  their  generation.  Science, 
which  is  now  looked  upon  as  the  basis  of  all  real  and 
valuable  education,  was  then  not  taught  even  in  its 
elementary  branches ;  indeed,  applied  science  was  a 
term  then  entirely  unknown.  Men  were  then  trained 
to  think  and  to  reason,  and  the  mere  acquisition  of 
knowledge  was  hardly  regarded  as  an  object  of  liberal 

on  the  native  American  stock.     See  Dr.  Mann's  "Life  and  Times  of 
Muhlenberg,"  p.  399. 


MR.   DICKINSON'S   TUTOR. 


education.1  The  old  plan  had  its  advantages,  and 
perhaps  the  pendulum  now  swings  too  far  to  the  other 
side.  Be  that  as  it  may,  in  order  that  we  may  under- 
stand and  appreciate  the  mental  characteristics  of 
the  men  of  that  generation  we  must  understand  that 
they  all  passed  through  a  stereotyped  process  of  which 
the  ancient  languages  and  the  mathematics  formed  the 
basis.  It  is  true  that  the  days  are  now  past  when 
men  built  their  education  upon  the  humanities.  They 
were  justified  in  pursuing  the  classical  system,  because 
it  was  the  model  system  approved  by  the  teachings  of 
that  great  guide  —  Experience.  This  was  the  system 
which  from  the  days  of  the  Renaissance  had  been 
always  recognized  and  universally  adopted  as  the  true 
method  of  liberal  culture. 

The  father  of  John  Dickinson  had  no  choice,  there- 
fore, when  he  adopted  this  system  as  the  proper  one 
for  the  training  of  his  son,  and  he  had  hardly  more 
choice  in  those  early  days  when  he  confided  that  train- 
ing to  a  private  tutor.  His  choice  of  a  tutor,  although 
it  seemed  to  involve  a  good  deal  of  risk,  proved  in  the 
end  very  fortunate.  The  person  selected  was  William 
Killen,  a  young  Irishman,  who  had  come  to  Dover 
when  only  fifteen  years  old  and  had  been  received 
into  the  family  of  Mr.  Dickinson  as  a  homeless  stranger. 
Mr.  Killen  was  but  ten  years  older  than  his  son,  and 
under  the  direction  of  this  young  tutor  his  zeal  for 
learning  was  so  quickened  that  he  soon  acquired  not 
only  familiarity  with  the  language  of  the  classical 

1  It  is  observable  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  Letters,  written  about  the 
beginning  of  this  century,  that  he  complains  of  the  "  ignorance  of 
science  '  '  among  his  countrymen,  especially  in  New  England. 

2 


1 8  RESULTS    OF  HIS   TRAINING. 

authors,  but  also  a  thorough  knowledge  of  their  pecu- 
liarities of  style.  He  cultivated  that  style  as  a  model 
of  the  proper  mode  of  treating  a  subject,  and  the 
effect  of  this  training  is  observable  in  all  that  Mr. 
Dickinson  wrote  during  his  long  life.  Any  one  who 
is  at  all  familiar  with  his  writings  must  have  observed 
that  his  style  is  very  unlike  that  of  the  pretentious, 
"  Johnsonese,"  and  ore  rotundo  manner  of  writing  which 
was  fashionable  with  English  and  American  writers 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  It  is  remarkable,  as  we 
shall  see,  for  its  elegance,  simplicity,  directness,  and 
clearness,  qualities  which  were  not  conspicuous  among 
men  of  his  own  generation  who  wrote  in  the  English 
language. 

This  Mr.  Killen  must  have  been  a  man  of  rare 
merit,  for  while  he  inspired  the  genius  of  young  Dick- 
inson he  was  preparing  himself  to  take  an  active  part 
in  the  Revolutionary  crisis  in  Delaware.  After  his 
admission  to  the  bar,  Mr.  Killen  soon  acquired  a  large 
professional  practice,  and  in  due  time  he  became  Chief 
Justice  and  Chancellor  of  Delaware.  It  is  certainly 
not  a  little  remarkable  in  the  history  of  teaching  that, 
under  such  instruction  in  the  classics  as  was  given  by 
him,  Dickinson  should  not  only  have  early  imbibed  a 
love  of  classical  literature,  but  that  his  studies  should 
have  taught  him  that  comprehensiveness  of  view  and 
those  forms  of  expression  which  are  characteristics  of 
the  ancient  classical  authors.  If  there  be  any  truth  in 
the  saying  "Le  style,  cestThomme"  it  was  true  of  Dick- 
inson. It  would  be  difficult  to  over-estimate  the  power 
which  this  style,  derived  from  those  who  wrote  in  what 
is  erroneously  called  a  "dead  language,"  enabled  him 


THE  STUDY  OF  THE  LAW. 


to  exercise  in  the  political  controversies  in  which  he 
was  engaged. 

In  1750,  when  John  Dickinson  was  eighteen  years 
old,  his  mind  was  considered  sufficiently  mature  to 
begin  the  study  of  the  law.  He  was  entered  as  a  stu- 
dent in  the  office  of  John  Moland,  Esq.,  who  seems  to 
have  been  the  most  conspicuous  member  of  the  Phila- 
delphia bar  after  the  death  of  Andrew  Hamilton  in 
1741.  This  Mr.  Moland  had  been  bred  in  the  Temple, 
was  commissioned  as  the  king's  attorney  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  was  appointed  a  Provincial  Councillor  in 
1759.  The  bar  of  this  city  had  not  at  that  time  the 
reputation  for  learning  and  ability  which  it  afterwards 
acquired.  Secretary  Peters  in  one  of  his  letters  speaks 
with  scant  respect  of  the  lawyers  of  those  days,  "all 
of  whom,"  says  he,  "except  Francis  and  Moland,  are 
persons  of  no  knowledge,  and,  I  had  almost  said,  of 
no  principle." 

Mr.  Moland  seems  to  have  attracted  to  his  office 
many  pupils  who  afterwards  became  eminent.  Among 
Dickinson's  fellow-students  were  George  Read,  after- 
wards Chief  Justice  of  Delaware,  Samuel  Wharton, 
and  others,  all  of  whom  attained  a  high  position  in  the 
profession.  The  study  of  the  law,  like  the  study  of  most 
other  subjects,  has  greatly  changed  in  its  character 
since  the  time  of  Dickinson.  The  student  in  those 
days  was  not  seduced,  as  he  now  is,  by  the  luminous 
exposition  of  the  English  common  law  by  Blackstone, 
to  believe  that  he  is  about  to  pursue  an  exact  science. 
He  was  made  to  plunge  at  once  into  the  intricate 
mazes  of  the  common  law,  —  "  the  perfection  of  human 
reason,"  as  he  found  it  strangely  called,  —  and  to  find 


20  THE  STUDY  OF   THE   LAW. 

his  way  as  he  best  could  under  the  guidance  of  the 
venerable  Coke  and  the  Year-Books.  Such  a  plan  had 
at  least  an  advantage  for  those  who  were  not  dis- 
couraged by  formidable  obstacles  at  the  outset,  as  it 
undoubtedly  strengthened  and  disciplined  the  mind  in 
its  attempt  to  overcome  the  difficulties  which  attend  the 
effort  to  master  the  peculiarities  of  the  highly  artificial 
system  of  the  common  law.  What  was  the  history  of 
the  progress  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  studies  under  such  a 
training  we  cannot,  unfortunately,  tell ;  but  there  are 
reasons  to  believe,  from  what  we  know  of  his  future 
career,  that  he  then  laid  by  hard  work  the  foundation 
of  that  knowledge  of  the  common  law,  and  especially 
of  that  great  familiarity  with  English  history,  and  Eng- 
lish constitutional  law  as  it  affected  the  relations  of  the 
metropolis  with  the  Colonies,  by  which  he  was  distin- 
guished beyond  all  his  contemporaries.  We  think 
that  we  can  trace  to  these  early  studies  Mr.  Dickin- 
son's ideal  conception  of  political  liberty, — from  which 
in  all  his  controversies  he  never  wavered, — that  it  was 
a  liberty  guarded  and  controlled  by  law.  Mr.  Dick- 
inson was  a  great  favorite  with  his  fellow-students. 
His  letters  to  them  are  written  in  a  vein  of  pleasantry 
which  seems  somewhat  out  of  keeping  with  the  pre- 
cocious gravity  of  his  character. 


CHAPTER  II. 

HIS   LEGAL   TRAINING   IN   THE   TEMPLE. 

MR.  DICKINSON  prevailed  on  his  father  to  allow  him 
to  go  to  London  in  1753,  to  be  entered  there  as  a  stu- 
dent of  law  in  the  Middle  Temple.  At  that  time  it 
was  common  to  send  the  sons  of  wealthy  planters  in 
the  Southern  Colonies  who  were  designed  to  be  prac- 
titioners at  the  Colonial  bar,  or  to  take  part  in  public 
life,  to  one  of  the  Inns  of  Court,  in  order  that  they 
might  complete  their  legal  education.  It  was  sup- 
posed, of  course,  that  they  would  there  have  not  only 
opportunities  of  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  their  pro- 
fession which  they  could  not  find  in  America,  but  also 
that  their  association  with  strangers  and  with  young 
men  engaged  in  a  common  pursuit,  and  their  observa- 
tion of  a  totally  different  form  of  society  from  that 
which  was  to  be  found  in  their  native  country,  would 
broaden  their  views  upon  all  subjects,  and  render  them 
better  fitted  for  the  work  they  had  to  do  in  life. 

As  these  Inns  of  Court  trained  for  their  profession 
some  of  the  most  prominent  lawyers  of  the  country 
before  the  Revolution,  and  especially  as  these  young 
men  there  acquired  a  knowledge  of  those  principles 
of  the  English  common  law  which  governed  not  only 
their  legal  but  their  political  views  during  the  crisis  in 
which  they  were  destined  to  live  and  to  act,  a  few 
words  concerning  the  history  of  these  Inns,  and  the 

21 


22  THE  INNS   OF  COURT. 

character  of  the  instruction  given  there  to  the  pupils, 
may  not  be  out  of  place.  The  apology  for  such  a 
digression  from  the  narrative  must  be  found  in  the 
profound  conviction  that  the  destiny  of  our  country 
during  the  Revolution  was  much  affected  by  the  train- 
ing received  by  many  of  our  young  men  in  these  Inns 
of  Court. 

It  was  thought  expedient  by  Edward  I.,  the  English 
Justinian,  as  he  is  sometimes  called,  in  1278,  when  he 
desired  that  the  lawyers  in  his  courts  should  be  laymen, 
and  not  clerics  as  they  had  hitherto  been,  that  there 
should  be  a  certain  number  of  persons  chosen  who 
should  receive  instruction  exclusively  in  the  English 
common  law,  that  teachers  should  be  provided  for  them, 
and  a  proper  place  selected  for  that  purpose.  These 
students  were  to  be  lodged  in  houses  resembling  the 
colleges  of  an  English  university,  called  Inns  of  Court, 
and  a  regular  system  of  instruction  and  discipline  was 
organized,  to  which  all  intending  bnrristers  were  re- 
quired to  submit.  No  one  was  admitted  to  practise 
in  the  courts  of  the  king  unless  he  had  conformed  to 
these  rules.  The  officers  of  these  Inns  were  called 
benchers,  and  by  them  were  appointed  the  teachers  or 
readers  of  the  Inn,  whose  business  it  was  to  instruct  the 
law  students  in  the  principles  of  the  English  common 
and  statute  law  exclusively,  and  the  method  of  trying 
causes  in  the  English  courts.  The  Inns  in  which  they 
resided  took  the  name  of  the  knights  to  whom  they  had 
formerly  belonged.  Thus,  the  Inner  and  Middle  Temple 
formed  what  had  once  been  the  house  of  the  English 
Knights  Templar.  The  Temple  had  been,  after  the 
dissolution  of  the  order,  transferred  to  the  Knights 


NATURE    OF  THE  INSTRUCTION.  23 

Hospitallers,  and  at  last  confiscated  to  the  crown  in  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII.  These  and  other  houses,  part 
of  the  royal  domain,  were  then  conveyed  to  the  socie- 
ties of  lawyers  organized  by  Edward  I.  in  perpetuity,  in 
trust  for  the  reception  and  education  of  the  professors 
and  students  of  the  laws  of  the  realm.  No  one  was 
admitted  to  practise  in  the  king's  courts  unless  he  was 
presented  as  a  fitting  person,  after  having  undergone  a 
term  of  study  prescribed  by  two  benchers  of  one  of 
these  societies,  or  had  been  "called,"  as  is  the  English 
term,  by  one  of  them  to  the  bar. 

Such  is  a  sketch  of  the  constitution  of  the  earliest 
English  law-schools ;  and  they  remained  substantially 
the  same  when  they  were  resorted  to  by  American 
students  in  the  eighteenth  century.  Their  business  was 
to  teach  the  principles  and  the  practice  of  the  English 
common  law  exclusively. 

The  nstruction  given  in  these  Inns  of  Court  consisted 
in  what  was  technically  called*' bolting"  (a  strange  name 
for  an  intellectual  process),  in  "  mootings,"  and  in  at- 
tendance upon  the  lectures  given  by  the  readers  who 
were  members  of  the  Inns.  "  Bolting"  consisted  in 
conversational  arguments  upon  cases  put  to  the  student 
by  a  bencher,  and  two  barristers  sitting  as  his  judges 
in  private.  After  a  man  became  an  expert "  bolter"  he 
was  admitted  to  the  "mootings,"  which  were  public 
disputations  on  legal  questions  held  in  the  presence 
of  the  Fellows.  In  the  mean  time,  lectures  on  the 
English  statute  and  common  law  were  delivered. 
After  seven  years  of  this  sort  of  work  had  been  gone 
through,  and  a  successful  examination  had  been  passed, 
and  proof  had  been  made  that  a  certain  number  of 


24  ENGLISH  FELLOW-STUDENTS. 

dinners  had  been  duly  eaten  in  the  hall  of  the  society 
by  the  candidate,  he  was  presented  by  the  benchers  to 
the  judges  as  a  fit  person  to  be  admitted  to  the  bar. 

Such  were  the  Inns  of  Court.  They  were  resorted 
to  by  American  students,  not  only  because  there  alone 
could  any  systematic  instruction  in  the  English  law  be 
found,  but  also  because  in  them  they  were  brought  into 
close  contact  with  the  men  who  at  a  later  day,  as  lawyers 
and  as  statesmen,  would  become  conspicuous  as  leaders 
at  the  bar  and  as  members  of  Parliament.  Thus,  John 
Dickinson  had  for  his  fellow-students,  during  his  attend- 
ance at  the  Middle  Temple,  such  men  as  Lord  Thur- 
low,  afterwards  Lord  Chancellor  ;  Kenyon,  Chief  Justice 
of  the  King's  Bench ;  John  Hill,  afterwards  Earl  of 
Hillsborough ;  and  William  Cowper,  the  poet.  No 
doubt  the  men  who  were  trained  in  the  Temple  acquired 
at  home  after  their  return  a  certain  prestige  which 
helped  them  forward  in  their  professional  career. 

But  the  influence  of  a  course  of  study  of  two  or  three 
years'  duration  in  these  London  schools  and  residence 
in  England  had,  as  was  natural,  a  much  deeper  and 
more  abiding  effect  upon  the  character  of  these  young 
American  lawyers.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  they 
were  trained  there  exclusively  in  the  English  statute 
and  common  law.  Now,  the  English  code  is  based 
more  completely  on  historical  precedent  \  and  cus- 
tomary law,  and  less  upon  the  deductions  of  universal 
right  and  reason,  than  the  code  of  any  other  system 
of  public  law  in  Europe.  On  the  Continent  the  Roman 
law,  which  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  philosophical  con- 
ception of  what  ought  to  be  the  relations  of  men  in 
civil  society,  more  or  less  modified,  of  course,  in  each 


THE  ENGLISH  COMMON  LA  W.  25 

country  by  the  customary  law,  prevailed  everywhere. 
The  English,  insular  in  everything,  were  always  noted 
for  their  prejudices  against  the  introduction  into  their 
own  country  of  the  Roman  code.  Nolumus  leges  An- 
glicz  mutari  was  for  many  centuries  the  principle  which 
governed  the  English  Parliament  and  courts.  Indeed, 
the  establishment  by  royal  authority  in  the  thirteenth 
century  of  schools,  which  still  exist,  where  the  Eng- 
lish common  or  customary  law  should  be  exclusively 
studied,  is  the  best  proof  of  the  long  continuance  of  this 
practice.  This  prejudice  had  doubtless  been  intensified 
by  the  events  which  followed  the  Reformation,  and  the 
consequence  was  that  before  the  time  of  Mansfield, 
whose  broad  and  sagacious  views  of  the  law  as  a  sci- 
ence fused  many  of  the  principles  of  the  Roman  system 
into  the  hard  English  common  law,  students  like  Dick- 
inson and  his  fellow-countrymen  were  trained  exclu- 
sively in  the  solution  of  legal  questions  in  accordance 
with  English  methods,  and  their  conclusions  were  based 
wholly  upon  the  maxims  of  the  English  law.  To  reach 
these  conclusions  the  student  did  not  go  beyond  Eng- 
lish precedent  or  English  history.  It  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  these  conclusions  were  necessarily  founded 
on  a  narrow  basis ;  England  was  then  the  only  country 
in  Europe  in  which  the  liberty  of  the  subject  was  pro- 
tected by  the  guarantees  of  fundamental  law.  These 
young  men,  so  far  as  they  were  taught  anything  about 
the  liberty  of  the  subject,  were,  no  doubt,  told  that 
English  liberty  and  the  rights  of  English  subjects  in 
the  Colonies,  as  well  as  at  home,  were  built,  not,  as 
many  afterwards  contended,  on  some  vague  theory 
of  natural  rights,  but  upon  a  much  firmer  and  surer 


26  EFFECT  OF  THIS  LEGAL    TRAINING. 

foundation,  immemorial  custom,  which  formed  the  Eng- 
lish constitution.  That  constitution,  the  outgrowth  of 
Magna  Charta,  the  petition  of  right,  and  the  act  of  set- 
tlement, settled  clearly,  as  all  Englishmen  were  then 
taught,  the  nature  and  scope  of  the  rights  of  the  subject 
and  provided  a  sufficient  safeguard  for  their  protection. 
Hence  an  American  lawyer  bred  in  the  English  Inns 
of  Court  necessarily  imbibed  certain  ideas  with  refer- 
ence to  the  political  rights  and  duties  of  the  Colonists, 
which  became  ever  afterwards  the  unchangeable  creed 
of  his  professional  life. 

The  effect  of  this  peculiar  training  upon  a  large 
number  of  American  lawyers  who  afterwards  became 
prominent  in  their  profession  here  was  very  apparent 
in  the  controversies  which  subsequently  arose  between 
the  mother-country  and  the  Colonies  in  regard  to  their 
relations  to  each  other.  These  lawyers  formed  unde- 
niably for  twenty  years  before  the  Revolution  the  elite 
of  the  profession  in  the  Colonies  south  of  the  Hudson 
River,  and  their  opinions  on  the  questions  in  contro- 
versy (which  were  regarded  by  every  one  in  that  part 
of  the  country  as  peculiarly  legal  ones),  formed  by 
their  training  in  the  Temple,  directed  public  opinion  on 
the  subject,  at  least  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  dispute, 
wherever  they  were  known.  I  have  before  me  a  list 
of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  students,  Americans,  who 
were  admitted  to  the  different  Inns  of  Court  from 
1760  to  the  close  of  the  Revolution.  This  list  is  a 
curious  and  significant  one  when  we  arrange  these 
students  geographically:  South  Carolina  leads  in  num- 
ber, having  forty-seven  ;  Virginia  has  twenty-one ;  Mary- 
land, sixteen  ;  Pennsylvania,  eleven  ;  New  York,  five ;  and 


AMERICAN  STUDENTS  IN  THE    TEMPLE.        27 

each  of  the  other  States  one  or  two  only,  that  being  the 
whole  number  sent  from  New  England,  neither  of  them 
bearing  names  conspicuous  in  Revolutionary  history.1 
The  names  in  this  list  are  nearly  all  those  of  men  who 
took  a  great  part  in  the  Revolutionary  contest ;  most  of 
them  were  English  Constitutional  Whigs,  in  whom  that 
event  developed  almost  every  shade  of  political  opinion 
except  non-resistance,  yet  they  all  based  their  theories 
of  resistance  upon  the  English  law  and  English  tradi- 
tions which  they  had  been  taught  in  the  Temple.  We 
find  among  them,  for  instance,  the  names  of  Charles 
Cotesworth  Pinckney,  the  strongly  conservative  assertor 
of  American  liberty;  Edward  Rutledge,  who  opposed 
to  the  last  the  Declaration  of  Independence;  and 
along-side  of  these  Heyward,  Trapier,  and  Lynch,  who, 
if  they  agreed  about  nothing  else,  were  at  least  all 
Whigs,  American  as  well  as  English.  So  we  find  the 
two  Lees,  Richard  Henry  and  Arthur,  the  latter  more 
conspicuous  as  a  diplomatist,  perhaps,  during  the  Rev- 
olution than  useful  as  a  legislator.  From  Maryland 
we  have,  among  others,  the  most  eminent  lawyer  of  the 
province,  Daniel  Dulany,  the  author  of  a  theory  of 
legal  resistance,  founded  upon  the  distinction  between 
internal  and  external  taxation,  so  subtle  and  refined, 
and  yet  so  wide-spread  in  its  consequences,  that  it  was 

1  It  is  curious  to  observe  how  very  small  a  number  of  New  Eng- 
land physicians  as  well  as  of  lawyers  were  educated  in  Europe  during 
the  eighteenth  century.  It  appears  from  a  "List  of  the  Graduates 
in  Medicine  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,"  printed  by  Neill  & 
Co.,  1867,  that  of  sixty-three  Americans  who  received  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Medicine  in  that  university  between  1758  and  1788 
only  one  was  from  New  England. 


28  PENNSYLVANIA   STUDENTS. 

adopted  by  the  Earl  of  Chatham  in  defending  Amer- 
ican rights  in  the  House  of  Lords.  From  Pennsyl- 
vania we  find,  as  the  worthy  successors  of  Dickinson 
and  others  who  received  their  legal  education  in  these 
Inns  of  Court  between  the  years  1750  and  1760,  a 
class  of  men  whom  to  name  is  to  present  a  brilliant 
array  not  only  of  those  who  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
reputation  of  the  Philadelphia  bar  for  learning  and 
ability,  but  of  those  also  who  exerted  the  most  potent 
influence  in  building  up  our  political  system  during  the 
Revolutionary  era.  In  this  list  are  to  be  found  the 
names  of  Nicholas  Wain,  Jasper  Yeates,  Joseph  Reed, 
William  Hamilton,  the  three  Tilghmans  (Richard,  Ed- 
ward, and  William),  Thomas  McKean,  Jared  Ingersoll, 
Moses  Franks,  William  Rawle,  Benjamin  Chew,  and 
Peter  Markoe, — all  of  whom  are  well  known  to  have 
been  men  of  the  highest  professional  standing,  not 
only  in  the  province,  but  throughout  the  Colonies. 
These  men  differed  in  many  things,  but  in  one  they 
agreed,  and  that  was  that  the  dispute  with  Great  Brit- 
ain was  mainly  a  legal  question,  and  that  up  to  the 
period  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  it  might  be 
settled  as  other  legal  questions  were,  if  not  by  a  ju- 
dicial tribunal,  then  by  an  appeal  to  legal  principles 
recognized  in  common  by  both  mother-country  and 
the  Colonies  as  the  outgrowth  of  English  history  and 
traditions.  There  was  another  principle  held  in  com- 
mon by  all  these  men :  from  the  beginning  to  the  end 
they  all  maintained  their  resistance  to  the  ministerial 
measures  on  the  ground  that  these  acts  were  violations 
of  English,  not  of  natural,  law.  The  first  code  they 
had  thoroughly  studied  in  the  Temple  and  seen  its 


NATURE  OF  RESISTANCE  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.      29 


practical  working  in  England  and  in  their  own  coun- 
try; the  other  was  a  vague,  indistinct,  and  illimitable 
theory,  which  might  justify  any  measures  calculated  to 
rouse  the  passions  or  inflame  the  ambition  of  those 
who  supported  it  as  a  rule  of  action.  In  short,  the 
resistance  of  the  Central  Colonies,  led  by  these  Tem- 
plars, was  at  the  beginning  a  constitutional  resistance 
within  the  lines  of  the  English  law ;  that  of  their  oppo- 
nents was  a  revolutionary  resistance  at  all  times,  wholly 
discarding  the  injunctions  of  positive  law  when  not  in 
accord  with  their  aims,  and  resting  for  their  justification, 
very  much  as  the  French  did  in  the  Revolution  of  1 793, 
on  alleged  violations  of  what  they  were  pleased  to  call 
the  Rights  of  Man. 

The  full  influence  of  the  Temple  education  on  the 
lawyers  of  the  Central  Colonies  is  perhaps  most  clearly 
seen  when  it  is  contrasted  with  the  training  of  men  of 
the  same  profession  in  New  England.  We  must  re- 
member that  almost  no  students  from  this  part  of  the 
country  were  entered  at  the  Inns  of  Court  prior  to  the 
Revolution,  although  all  the  Colonies  were  governed 
mainly  by  the  same  English  common  law.  The  cause 
of  their  absence  is  obvious ;  and  to  the  different  train- 
ing of  the  New  England  lawyers,  and  to  their  rela- 
tively different  position  in  the  society  of  which  they 
formed  a  part,  are  to  be  ascribed  the  peculiar  views 
which  were  there  maintained  of  the  controversy  prior 
to  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

The  clergy  (that  is  to  say,  the  Congregational  minis- 
ters), and  not  the  lawyers,  were  the  leaders  of  public 
opinion  in  New  England.  The  system  which  prevailed 
there  under  "the  established  order,"  or  the  old  charter 


30  THE  POSITION  OF  THE    CLERGY. 

in  Massachusetts,  was  essentially  a  theocracy,  and  so  it 
remained,  although  somewhat  modified,  up  to  the  time 
of  the  Revolution.  In  the  midst  of  that  struggle,  in 
1 780,  the  clergy  was  strong  enough  to  secure  in  Mas- 
sachusetts by  the  Bill  of  Rights  of  the  new  constitu- 
tion, as  they  supposed,  forever,  the  establishment  of  a 
church  of  a  special  type,  each  town,  parish,  precinct, 
and  other  body  politic,  or  religious  society,  having  con- 
ferred upon  it  by  this  instrument  the  exclusive  right 
of  electing  its  public  teachers  and  contracting  with 
them  for  their  support  and  maintenance.  "  It  remains 
true,"  says  Brooks  Adams,  in  his  "  Emancipation  of 
Massachusetts,"  "  that  secular  liberalism  could  never 
have  produced  that  peculiarly  acrimonious  hostility  to 
Great  Britain  wherein  Massachusetts  stands  pre-emi- 
nent. .  .  .  Too  little  study  is  given  to  her  ecclesiastical 
history;  the  impulses  which  moulded  the  destiny  of 
Massachusetts  cannot  be  understood  unless  the  events 
which  stimulated  the  passions  of  her  clergy  are  kept  in 
view.  Hatred  to  the  Episcopal  (Church)  and  especially 
to  the  Prelatical  form  of  its  government  had  much  to 
do  with  rousing  the  passions  of  those  who  feared  that 
the  English  government  was  in  earnest  in  its  design 
of  appointing  bishops  for  New  England."  It  must  be 
remembered,  in  considering  the  course  taken  by  Massa- 
chusetts prior  to  the  Revolution,  that  the  clergy  of  that 
Colony  everywhere,  but  especially  in  the  small  towns, 
were  those  who  directed  the  course  of  the  movement. 
They  had,  of  course,  many  lay  helpers,  of  whom 
Samuel  Adams,  who  was  the  first  to  dream  of  inde- 
pendence, and  who  never  ceased,  in  season  and  out 
of  season,  to  work  for  it,  was  the  chief. 


THE    CLERGY  AND    THE  LAW.  3* 

How,  then,  did  the  New  England  Congregational 
clergy  stand  towards  the  English  common  and  parlia- 
mentary law,  the  violation  of  which  it  was  claimed  by  the 
leaders  in  the  other  Colonies  was  our  great  grievance  ? 
The  natural  course  of  opposition  to  the  acts  of  the 
ministry  would  have  been  to  convince  those  who  had 
the  control  of  the  government  either  that  they  were  ex- 
ceeding their  authority  or  that  their  acts  were  wholly 
unjustified  by  the  English  theory  of  Colonial  law  or  by 
the  precedents  and  practice  under  it.  But  they  dis- 
dained to  rest  their  case  upon  the  allegation  that  the 
acts  complained  of  were  mere  violations  of  positive 
written  law,  or  even  of  provisions  of  their  own  charters. 
There  seemed  to  be  always  a  lurking  feeling  that  al- 
though their  charters  were  violated,  yet,  after  all,  their 
rights  rested  upon  something  above  and  beyond  Eng- 
lish law ;  in  other  words,  that  they  possessed  certain 
natural  rights,  founded,  as  they  asserted,  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  what  was  called  natural  equity.  This  was  the 
favorite  thesis  of  the  Congregational  clergy,  and  it 
carried  the  people,  whose  leaders  they  were,  very  far 
beyond  the  ideas  of  resistance  which  prevailed  else- 
where. In  a  word,  they  were  jealous  from  the  begin- 
ning of  any  control  of  their  wishes  by  either  royal  or 
parliamentary  authority. 

Among  men  with  such  a  conception  of  government 
there  was  of  course  nothing  in  the  course  of  legal  educa- 
tion pursued  in  the  Inns  of  Court  with  special  reference 
to  the  common  and  the  statute  law  of  England  which 
would  recommend  itself  to  the  study  of  those  who  pro- 
posed to  become  lawyers  and  magistrates  in  the  com- 
monwealth. They  maintained,  it  is  true,  with  a  genuine 


32         THE    COMMON  LAW  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 

English  instinct,  a  certain  code  of  common  law,  but  it 
was  very  unlike  the  system  taught  in  the  Temple  and 
Lincoln's  Inn  and  the  code  of  practice  of  the  English 
courts.  Here  is  their  version,  for  instance,  of  some  of 
the  most  important  provisions  of  Magna  Charta:  "  No 
man's  life  shall  be  taken  away,  no  man's  honour  or  good 
name  shall  be  stayned,  no  man's  person  shall  be  ar- 
rested, restrayned,  banished,  dismembered,  or  any  ways 
punished,  unless  it  be  by  virtue  or  equitie  of  some  ex- 
presse  law  of  the  country  warranting  the  same ;  or,  in 
case  of  the  defect  of  the  law  in  any  particular  case,  by 
the  word  of  God ;  and  in  capital  cases,  or  in  cases  con- 
cerning dismemberment  or  banishment,  according  to 
that,  and  to  be  judged  by  the  General  Court."  This 
code  was  administered  at  first  by  a  judiciary  composed 
of  magistrates  who  were  not  required  to  be  trained  in 
any  knowledge  of  the  civil  law,  and  down  to  the  Revolu- 
tion the  commonwealth  suffered  from  the  pernicious  tra- 
dition "  that  the  civil  magistrate  needed  no  special  learn- 
ing to  perform  his  duty,  and  was  to  take  his  law  from 
those  who  expounded  the  word  of  God."  A  learned 
and  independent  bar  has  always  been  regarded  both  in 
England  and  in  those  States  which  have  adopted  the 
English  system  as  one  of  the  great  safeguards  of  the 
liberties  of  the  people;  but  in  Massachusetts,  under  the 
theocracy,  the  policy  of  the  clergy  had  been  to  suppress 
as  much  as  possible  the  study  of  the  law,  although  under 
the  new  charter  their  power  was  much  lessened.  Yet 
the  tradition  was  still  strong  enough  to  discourage  the 
acquisition  of  legal  knowledge.  There  was,  therefore, 
no  inducement  to  send  their  young  men  to  England, 
where  they  might  gain  a  competent  knowledge  of  it. 


THE  LA  W  AS  PR  A  CTISED  IN  NE  W  ENGLAND.      33 

From  the  judgment  of  the  courts  in  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut  there  was  an  appeal  to  the  legislature  in 
criminal  cases,  which,  in  violation  of  all  theories  of  the  dis- 
tribution of  powers,  modified  or  confirmed  or  made  null 
the  course  of  justice  by  requiring  it  to  conform  to  what  the 
members  of  the  legislature  were  pleased  to  call  "  natural 
equity."  The  result  of  all  this  was  a  total  ignorance  of, 
even  a  contempt  for,  the  law  as  a  science,  and  thus  the 
course  of  New  England  previous  to  the  Revolution 
was  far  from  showing  that  vindication  of  English  liberty 
when  it  was  assailed  by  the  ministry  on  the  ground  that 
the  act  was  in  violation  of  rights  guaranteed  by  charters 
and  positive  laws,  which  formed  the  ground  of  resistance 
in  other  parts  of  the  country.  The  most  extraordinary 
illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  the  provisions  of 
the  English  law  were  interpreted,  especially  as  to  the 
extent  of  the  obligations  of  the  Colonists  to  obey  them, 
is  found  in  the  declarations  of  James  Otis  in  his  early 
life,  and  of  John  Adams,  two  of  the  leading  members 
of  the  Boston  bar,  just  before  the  Revolution.  James 
Otis,  in  his  great  argument  on  "  Writs  of  Assistance," 
in  1761,  maintained  that  "an  act  of  Parliament  against 
the  constitution  (that  is,  against  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  English  law)  is  void  ;  that  an  act  against 
natural  equity  is  void  ;  that  if  an  act  of  Parliament 
should  be  made  in  the  very  words  of  this  petition  it 
would  be  void."  So  John  Adams,  among  many  other 
wonderful  deliverances  concerning  the  nature  of  polit- 
ical institutions,  did  not  hesitate  to  write  in  1776  to  Mr. 
Justice  Cushing,  "  You  have  my  hearty  concurrence  in 
telling  the  jury  the  nullity  of  the  act  of  Parliament.  I 
am  determined  to  die  of  that  opinion,  let  the  jus  gladii 

3 


34  SAMUEL  ADAMS  AS  A  LA  WYER. 

say  what  it  will."  So  the  letters  of  Samuel  Adams  are 
filled  with  these  strange  interpretations  of  the  law,  or 
rather  with  an  open  defiance  of  any  law  which  should 
interpose  to  check  his  ardent  efforts  for  independence. 
Such  doctrines  may  be  preached  from  the  pulpit,  or 
form  the  staple  of  the  rhetoric  which  is  powerful  at 
mass-meetings,  but  that  eminent  lawyers  should  avow 
them  in  courts  of  justice,  where  the  judges  are  sworn  to 
administer  the  law  and  not  "  natural  equity,"  would  seem 
to  show  that  those  who  advocated  them  had  not  been 
trained  in  the  English  law-schools,  in  the  Temple,  or  at 
Lincoln's  Inn.  It  is  a  thousand  pities  that  these  men 
had  not  in  their  youth  undergone  some  of  the  sobering 
training  and  discipline  which  were  provided  there  for 
students. 


CHAPTER  III. 

PROPRIETARY    GOVERNMENT    IN    PENNSYLVANIA. 

THIS  account  of  the  different  legal  training  provided 
for  those  who  were  prominent  in  the  New  England 
political  life,  and  for  those  who  held  the  same  position 
in  the  other  Colonies  prior  to  the  Revolution,  has  been 
given  because  it  seemed  necessary  to  show  how  wide 
was  the  chasm  which  separated  them  when  the  crisis 
arrived.  They  acted  on  one  of  two  opposite  political 
theories,  each  of  which  was  the  outgrowth  of  their 
special  condition,  environment,  and  education.  In  these 
differences  of  training  we  have  the  key-note  to  their 
different  attitudes  during  the  early  part  of  the  war, 
and  especially  towards  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence. John  Dickinson  may  be  considered  the  type 
of  those  whose  horizon  was  always  bounded  by  the 
legal  aspects  of  the  situation.  Samuel  Adams,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  naturally  an  enthusiastic  revolutionist, 
for  whom  existing  laws,  if  they  interfered  with  the  adop- 
tion of  his  views  of  independence,  were  only  obstacles 
to  be  removed,  like  any  others,  without  scruple,  if  he 
had  the  power  to  do  so. 

Mr.  Dickinson  returned  to  Philadelphia  in  1757,  and 
at  once  entered  upon  the  practice  of  his  profession. 
No  young  lawyer  rises  into  notice  as  rapidly  as  he 
hopes  and  expects,  and  his  waiting  hours  are  apt  to  be 
given  to  pursuits  which  are  not  strictly  professional,  and 

35 


36  MR.   DICKINSON  AT  THE  BAR. 

which  are  sometimes  not  productive  of  good  fruits  in 
after-years.  But  Dickinson  was  not  a  mere  lawyer  in 
the  sense  that  he  adopted  the  calling  in  order  to  make 
a  livelihood.  He  was  a  man  of  statesmanlike  mind,  and, 
no  doubt,  ambitious  of  distinction  in  public  life.  He 
seems  to  have  spent  much  of  his  time  during  the  next 
few  years  in  the  study  of  English  constitutional  his- 
tory and  of  what  we  should  now  call  political  science. 
The  relations  of  the  mother-country  to  the  Colonies, 
and  indeed  the  theory  and  operation  of  the  Colonial 
system  generally,  were  then  looked  upon  as  subjects 
of  paramount  interest  and  importance  by  public  men 
in  all  the  Colonies,  and  they  naturally  engrossed  much 
of  Dickinson's  time  and  study.  His  earlier  writings, 
as  we  shall  see,  bear  testimony  not  merely  to  the  wide 
extent  of  his  reading,  but  to  his  capacity  of  applying 
the  principles  deduced  from  what  he  read  to  the  actual 
condition  of  the  Colonies  ;  but  work  like  this  was  soon 
abandoned  for  the  business  which  his  clients  brought 
him.  He  was,  no  doubt,  at  once  recognized  as  a  young 
man  of  brilliant  promise  at  the  bar,  and,  although  we 
know  very  little  of  his  progress  in  his  profession,  it  is 
plain  that  he  was  not  forced  to  wait  long  for  clients. 
We  find  in  the  first  volume  of  Dallas's  Reports  that 
there  are  three  cases  mentioned  which  Mr.  Dickinson 
argued  in  the  Supreme  Court  in  April  term,  1760. 
One  of  these  was  a  case  of  "  foreign  attachment,"  as 
it  is  technically  called;  the  second,  an  ejectment  case; 
and  the  third,  one  in  which  certain  points  of  practice 
in  the  criminal  law  were  discussed.  In  the  first  he  and 
Mr.  Galloway  were  opposed  by  the  two  leaders  of  the 
bar  at  that  time,  Messrs.  Moland  and  Chew, — the  first 


HIS  SUCCESS  AS  A   LAWYER.  37 


his  former  preceptor,  and  the  other  Chief  Justice  of  the 
Province  in  1772.  This  alone  is  sufficient  assurance 
that  in  five  years  he  had  acquired  a  recognized  high 
position  at  the  bar  in  the  judgment  of  his  professional 
brethren.  From  this  time  he  appears,  from  all  that  we 
can  learn,  to  have  risen  in  reputation  rapidly  and  to 
have  increased  his  business.  In  a  letter  to  George 
Read,  dated  October  i,  1762,  referring  to  the  profes- 
sional engagements  which  pressed  upon  him  at  that 
time,  he  says,  "  I  took  the  liberty  a  few  days  ago  to 
make  you  a  trouble,  by  asking  you  to  try  two  causes 
between  [parties  named  in  Delaware],  as  I  shall  be  pre- 
vented from  attending  by  several  cases  of  consequence 
in  our  Supreme  Court  to  be  tried  at  that  time."  Un- 
fortunately, none  of  his  forensic  arguments  have  come 
down  to  us ;  but  there  seems  little  doubt  that  upon  them 
was  founded  the  reputation  which  brought  him  early 
into  public  life.  William  Rawle  the  elder,  in  his  account 
of  the  early  bar,  speaking,  probably,  more  from  tradition 
than  from  actual  observation,  says  of  Dickinson  at  a 
much  later  date,  "  He  possessed  considerable  fluency, 
with  a  sweetness  of  tone  and  agreeable  modulation  of 
voice,  not  well  calculated,  however,  for  a  large  audience. 
His  law  knowledge  was  respectable,  although  not  re- 
markably extensive,  for  his  attention  was  directed  to 
historical  and  political  studies.  Wholly  engaged  in 
public  life,  he  left  the  bar  soon  after  the  commence- 
ment of  the  American  Revolution." 

In  October,  1760,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Assembly  of  the  "  lower  counties/'  as  the  State  of  Dela- 
ware was  then  called.  It  will  be  remembered  that,  up 
to  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  Delaware  had  the  same 


38  ENTERS  PUBLIC  LIFE. 

Governor  as  Pennsylvania,  but  a  different  Assembly, 
and  there  seems  to  have  been  to  a  much  later  period 
an  interchange  of  the  public  men  of  each  of  these 
States,  so  that  men  like  Dickinson  and  McKean  held 
office  in  both  at  different  times.  Dickinson's  reputa- 
tion had  evidently  preceded  him  in  Delaware,  for  on 
becoming  a  member  of  the  Assembly  he  was  elected 
Speaker  of  that  body. 

In  1762  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Assembly  from  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  He 
writes  to  George  Read  concerning  this  election  words 
which  formed,  we  may  be  quite  sure,  the  rule  of  his 
conduct  during  his  whole  political  life :  "  I  flatter 
myself  that  I  come  in  with  the  approval  of  all  good 
men.  I  confess,"  he  says,  avowing  his  ambition  for 
success  in  political  life,  "  that  I  should  like  to  make  an 
immense  bustle  in  the  world,  if  it  could  be  done  by 
virtuous  actions;  but,  as  there  is  no  probability  in  that, 
I  am  content  if  I  can  live  innocent  and  beloved  by 
those  I  love." 

When  Dickinson  became  a  member  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Assembly,  the  questions  which  occupied  the  public 
attention,  and  which  were  discussed  with  masterly  abil- 
ity by  Dickinson  on  the  one  side  and  Franklin  and 
Galloway  on  the  other,  were  fundamental,  involving 
the  fate  of  the  Proprietary  government  and  of  the 
charter  which  had  been  granted  to  William  Penn  by 
Charles  II.  The  interest  awakened  by  these  discus- 
sions was  not  of  that  limited  and  local  character  which 
ordinarily  attaches  to  measures  brought  before  a  pro- 
vincial legislature.  The  changes  in  the  government 
proposed  and  argued  upon  were  radical,  and  they 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA   ASSEMBLY.  39 

embraced  a  discussion  of  the  whole  theory  of  Colonial 
government,  and  especially  of  that  peculiar  phase  of 
it  called  Proprietary.1  The  disputants  on  such  a  ques- 
tion had  but  little  light  to  guide  them  from  the  expe- 
rience of  other  nations ;  for  the  form  of  government 
was  essentially,  at  least  so  far  as  it  was  possible  to 
administer  it  among  people  governed  by  the  principles 
of  English  law,  a  novel  one.  The  change  which  was 
demanded  by  popular  clamor  was  a  revolutionary  one, 
and  the  eagerness  with  which  it  was  urged  was  due  to 
the  misgovernment  of  the  Proprietaries,  and  especially 
of  their  deputies  or  governors,  who  were  sent  here 
with  the  most  minute  and  stringent  instructions  as 
to  the  manner  in  which  they  should  rule  the  Prov- 
ince. This  dispute  involved,  among  other  things, 
points  of  such  cardinal  importance  as  these :  the  right 
of  the  Assembly  to  grant  money  for  the  public  service 
on  its  own  terms  ;  its  claims  that  it  alone  should  dis- 
tribute the  public  burdens  by  imposing  taxes  on  such 
objects  as  it  deemed  best,  and  especially  its  right  to 
tax  all  the  Proprietary  estates  as  the  estates  of  pri- 
vate persons  were  taxed ;  its  right  to  decline  to  aid 
England  in  the  prosecution  of  her  foreign  wars,  in 

1  Mr.  Dickinson,  while  a  student  in  the  Temple,  had  been  present 
at  the  argument  before  the  Lords  of  Trade  in  February,  1756,  on  the 
petition  of  certain  inhabitants  of  Pennsylvania  praying  that  Quakers 
might  be  disqualified  from  sitting  as  members  of  the  Assembly.  His 
notes  of  the  arguments  of  Mr.  Yorke  (afterwards  Lord  Morden)  on  the 
one  side,  and  of  Mr.  Pratt  (afterwards  Lord  Camden)  and  Mr.  Henley 
on  the  other,  have  been  preserved,  and  show  how  deep  was  the  inter- 
est he  felt  in  these  questions  of  the  Proprietary  claims,  and  how  well 
fitted  he  was  to  discuss  them.  (See  "The  Attitude  of  the  Quakers 
in  the  Provincial  Wars,"  Pennsylvania  Magazine  for  October,  1886.) 


40  DISCONTENT  IN  THE  PROVINCE. 

which,  it  was  said,  the  Province,  as  such,  had  no  in- 
terest whatever ;  its  right  and  power  to  establish  a 
military  force  for  the  defence  of  the  Province,  com- 
posed of  volunteers,  instead  of  those  serving  under  a 
militia  law  which  made  the  service  compulsory;  its 
right  and  duty  to  treat  the  Indians  within  the  Province 
as  they  had  been  treated  by  William  Penn,  and  to 
defend  them  against  the  cruelty  and  rapacity  of  the 
Provincial  agents  who  sought  to  defraud  them  of  their 
lands.  These  were  not  new  questions  in  1762;  they 
had  been  most  earnestly  discussed  in  1755,  when  the 
people  of  Pennsylvania,  or  a  large  portion  of  them, 
tired  of  the  endless  quarrels  between  the  Assembly 
and  the  deputy  governor,  and  finding  in  these  quarrels 
the  cause  of  the  defencelessness  of  the  frontiers  and 
of  the  exposure  of  the  settlers  in  that  region  to  the 
incursions  of  the  French  and  their  allies  the  Indians, 
sent  a  petition  to  the  king  praying  that,  for  the  sake 
of  those  of  his  subjects  who  were  suffering,  no  Quaker 
should  be  hereafter  allowed  to  sit  in  the  Assembly.  It 
was  averred  (untruly,  as  it  afterwards  appeared)  that 
the  Quakers,  owing  to  their  conscientious  scruples 
about  declaring  war,  were  unwilling  to  take  any  meas- 
ures for  the  defence  of  the  Province  and  its  inhabitants. 
The  Quakers,  and  their  political  friends  the  Germans, 
had  been  attacked  with  the  utmost  virulence  in  1755 
by  the  Presbyterians  and  the  Church  people  for  their 
supposed  want  of  sympathy  with  the  western  settlers. 
The  quarrel  was  renewed,  if  possible  more  fiercely, 
and  under  nearly  the  same  conditions,  in  1762,  when 
Dickinson  entered  upon  public  life. 

These  were  subjects  which  Mr.  Dickinson,  from  his 


FRANKLIN  AND  DICKINSON. 


long  familiarity  with  the  course  of  English  law  and  tra- 
ditions, was  peculiarly  well  qualified  to  discuss,  and  he 
soon  became  a  recognized  authority  among  those  who 
sought  to  restrain  the  revolutionary  torrent  which  threat- 
ened to  overwhelm  the  Proprietary  government.  His 
chief  opponent  was  Dr.  Franklin,  who  found  in  this 
young  man  a  foeman  worthy  of  his  steel.  The  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  had  at  least 
the  advantage  of  hearing  these  fundamental  questions, 
upon  the  decision  of  which  so  much  depended,  argued 
by  the  two  greatest  political  philosophers  of  the  day, 
Franklin  and  Dickinson.  This  was  the  first  occasion 
on  which  these  redoubtable  antagonists  met  in  conflict, 
and  they  never  afterwards  encountered  each  other, 
strange  to  say,  in  the  discussion  of  political  questions 
except  as  champions  of  opposite  principles.  Each  was 
well  fitted  for  the  combat. 

Dickinson  was  in  one  sense  certainly  a  man  of  the 
world,  and  had  a  good  deal  of  experience  in  practical 
affairs ;  but,  after  all,  he  was  chiefly  a  student,  and  was 
most  familiar  with  human  nature  as  he  found  it  described 
in  the  books  and  writings  of  philosophers.  Franklin 
has  been  well  called  the  apostle  of  common  sense. 
No  man  observed  more  keenly  or  understood  better 
the  defects  and  the  prejudices  of  the  average  pro- 
vincial, as  well  as  the  limit  of  his  intelligence,  and  he 
appealed  to  no  sentiment  higher  than  that  to  which 
his  constituents  could  readily  respond.  While  he  must 
have  been  familiar  with  the  many  excellencies  of  the 
Proprietary  charter,  the  merits  of  which  had  indeed 
been  trumpeted  all  through  the  world,  and  in  favor  of 
the  continued  existence  of  which  seventy  years  of  unex- 


42  THE  PROPRIETARY  ESTATE. 

ampled  prosperity  pleaded,  yet,  when  he  wished  for  his 
own  reasons  to  destroy  it  forever,  he  knew  well  how  to 
take  the  best  means  of  accomplishing  his  object.1  He 
knew  how  to  paint  in  striking  colors,  although  in  a  style 
almost  transparent  from  its  simplicity,  the  selfish  policy 
of  the  Penn  family,  its  utter  meanness  in  refusing  to 
consent  that  its  enormous  estate  should  be  taxed  as 
other  estates  were,  its  bad  faith  in  dealing  with  the 
Indians,  and  its  cruel  neglect  of  those  of  the  inhabitants 
who  were  exposed  to  their  barbarities.  The  Penn 
family  he  always  represented  as  the  greatest  land- 
holders of  modern  times,  the  actual  area  of  their  prop- 
erty embracing  55,252  square  miles,  or  35,361,300 
acres.  This  overgrown  estate  was  managed  like  a 
large  farm,  with  little  regard,  after  the  death  of  the 
founder  of  the  Province,  for  the  welfare  and  interests 
of  those  who  had  been  induced  by  him  to  settle  here. 
The  policy  of  the  Proprietary  family  was  that  the  least 
possible  sum  should  be  spent  upon  the  improvement 
of  the  Province,  so  that  the  largest  possible  money 
return  might  be  received  from  the  investment.  In  short, 
Franklin  knew  well  how  to  catch  the  gale  of  popular 
favor  so  that  it  would  help  forward  any  scheme  which 
he  had  at  heart,  and  in  his  efforts  to  destroy  the 
Proprietary  government,  it  must  be  confessed,  he  was 
much  aided  by  the  pretensions  to  arbitrary  power  made 
by  the  Proprietary  family  itself  and  by  its  governors 
here. 

1  It  may  be  assumed  that  Dr.  Franklin  was  the  author  of  the 
"Historical  Review."  It  is  certainly  the  ablest  political  pamphlet, 
notwithstanding  its  defects  and  exaggerations,  published  with  respect 
to  the  Proprietary  controversy. 


DICKINSON'S  POSITION.  43 

Dickinson,  on  the  contrary,  from  the  very  beginning 
maintained  the  losing  side  of  this  controversy.  He 
saw,  as  clearly  as  any  one  else,  the  mistakes  made  by 
the  deputy  governors  by  their  system  of  thwarting  the 
wishes  of  the  inhabitants,  and  doing  nothing  to  en- 
courage them  in  the  great  work  in  which  they  were 
engaged  of  developing  the  heritage  of  the  Penns,  and 
refusing  to  a  large  portion  of  them  needed  protection 
while  they  were  thus  occupied.  The  question  was  not 
whether  the  existing  system  was  a  bad  one  (of  that 
there  could  be  no  doubt  whatever),  but  whether  the 
direct  royal  government  of  the  Province  which  it  was 
proposed  to  substitute  for  it  would  improve  the  condi- 
tion of  the  inhabitants.  Dickinson  was  always  an  in- 
tense conservative,  and  he  had  a  horror  of  any  changes 
brought  about  by  revolutionary  means.  The  defects  in 
the  Proprietary  government  were  very  familiar,  but  the 
law  and  history  of  the  case  and  the  dangers  of  ex- 
changing the  old  system  for  a  royal  government  were 
not  so  familiar,  and  he  took  the  unpopular  side  in  ex- 
posing these  dangers.  He  seems  to  have  been  abso- 
lutely independent  in  the  course  which  he  took  in  this 
controversy.  He  had  no  alliances  or  connections  with 
the  Proprietary  family,  or  with  those  who  by  force 
of  patronage  and  the  tenure  of  office  felt  obliged  to 
maintain  their  cause.  Like  the  honored  Speaker  of 
the  House  of  Assembly,  Isaac  Norris,  his  future  father- 
in-law,  much  as  he  deplored  the  misgovernment  of  the 
Penns,  he  could  not  think  that  the  true  remedy  was  to 
throw  themselves  on  the  tender  mercies  of  the  royal 
government.  For  some  reason  he  seems,  during  the 
discussion,  to  have  had  misgivings  concerning  the  in- 


44  SKETCH  OF  THE   DISPUTE. 

tentions  of  the  ministry  should  the  charter  be  surren- 
dered, and  we  shall  see  how  sagacious  was  his  foresight ; 
at  all  events,  he  took  the  course  which  for  the  time  was 
sure  to  make  him  unpopular  with  the  multitude.  It 
may  be  said,  in  passing,  that  Franklin  and  Dickinson 
each  possessed  a  powerful  weapon  in  controversy,  and 
that  was  their  clear,  simple,  and  faultless  English  style. 
Compared  with  any  other  writers  or  speakers  of  that 
day  on  this  continent,  we  find  none  who  wrote  with  the 
same  plainness,  directness,  and  elegance,  and  with  the 
same  logical  force,  as  these  two  great  men. 

It  is  important  for  the  understanding  of  this  contro- 
versy in  1764  that  we  should  recall  that  previous  period 
of  the  history  of  the  Province  in  which  disputes  arising 
from  the  same  cause  existed,  and  especially  the  troubles 
which  led  to  the  presentation  of  a  petition  by  the  As- 
sembly in  1755,  through  the  influence  of  Dr.  Franklin, 
to  the  king,  praying  that  he  would  forbid  thereafter  the 
election  of  Quakers  as  members  of  that  body.  The 
object  of  both  petitions  was  the  same  in  this,  that  they 
prayed  that  a  royal  government  should  be  substituted 
for  that  of  the  Proprietary  ;  but,  for  reasons  which  will 
subsequently  appear,  the  position  of  the  parties  was 
reversed  in  1764,  the  Quakers  generally  favoring  the 
petition  of  that  year,  while  they  had  of  course  been  op- 
posed to  that  of  1 755.  Many  persons,  and  especially  the 
powerful  body  of  Presbyterians  (who  acted  as  a  political 
party  throughout  the  Province),  had  urged,  in  1755,  that 
power  should  be  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Quaker 
Assembly,  principally  because  it  had  not  protected  their 
co-religionists  on  the  frontiers  ;  but  they  objected,  in 
1764,  to  a  surrender  of  the  charter,  lest  the  rights  and 


DICKINSON'S  ARGUMENT.  45 

privileges  of  their  body  might  be  curtailed  under  a 
royal  government. 

The  ability  and  skill  shown  by  Dickinson  in  arguing 
that,  manifold  as  were  the  abuses  from  which  the 
Province  suffered  under  the  rule  of  deputies  appointed 
by  the  Proprietor,  it  would  not  be  safe  to  risk  a  change 
in  the  hope  that  its  condition  would  be  improved  under 
a  royal  government,  made  a  great  impression  at  the  time 
both  on  his  friends  and  on  his  opponents.  His  view 
was  felt  to  be  the  statesmanlike  view,  even  if  it  were 
not  the  popular  one.  What  the  actual  grievances  then 
were,  and  what  privileges  the  people  were  asked  to  give 
up,  trusting  entirely  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the 
Board  of  Trade  for  a  change  for  the  better,  we  must 
now  consider  in  a  review  of  these  transactions.  Let 
us  try  to  get  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  condition 
of  the  Province  when  it  was  called  upon  in  1755  and  in 
1764  to  propose  revolutionary  changes  in  its  govern- 
ment, and  then  we  can  judge  of  the  soundness  of  the 
remedy  for  admitted  evils  proposed  by  Mr.  Dickinson. 

In  1739,  Andrew  Hamilton,  who  had  been  for  many 
years  Speaker  of  the  Assembly,  said  to  that  body  on  his 
retiring  from  office,  "  It  is  not  to  the  fertility  of  our  soil 
and  the  commodiousness  of  our  rivers  that  we  ought 
chiefly  to  attribute  the  great  progress  this  Province 
has  made  within  so  small  a  compass  of  years  in  improve- 
ments, wealth,  trade,  and  navigation,  and  the  extraordi- 
nary increase  of  people  who  have  been  drawn  from 
almost  every  country  of  Europe  ;  it  is  all  due  to  the 
excellency  of  our  constitution.  Our  foreign  trade  and 
shipping  are  free  from  all  imposts  except  those  small 
duties  payable  to  his  Majesty  by  the  statute  laws  of 


46  PROSPERITY  OF  THE   PROVINCE. 

Great  Britain.  The  taxes  are  inconsiderable,  for  the 
sole  power  of  raising  and  disposing  of  the  public  money 
is  lodged  in  the  Assembly.  Other  incidental  taxes  are 
assessed,  collected,  and  applied  by  persons  annually 
chosen  by  the  people  themselves.  ...  By  many  years' 
experience  we  find  that  an  equality  among  religious 
societies,  without  distinguishing  one  sect  with  greater 
privileges  than  another,  is  the  most  effectual  method  to 
discourage  hypocrisy,  promote  the  practice  of  the  moral 
virtues,  and  prevent  the  plagues  and  mischiefs  which 
always  attend  religious  squabbling.  This  is  our  consti- 
tution, and  this  constitution  was  framed  by  the  wisdom 
of  Mr.  Penn,"  etc. 

The  Province  of  Pennsylvania  in  1 740  had  about  one 
hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  The  population  was 
divided  into  three  distinct  groups, — the  Quakers,  in 
Philadelphia,  Chester,  and  Bucks  ;  the  Germans, — or 
Palatines,  as  they  were  called, — in  Lancaster,  Berks, 
and  Northampton  ;  and  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians, 
in  York  and  Cumberland.  The  country  west  of  the 
Susquehanna,  with  the  exception  of  the  last-named 
counties,  was  a  wilderness  occupied  by  Indians  for  some 
distance  beyond  the  Alleghanies,  where  it  was  bounded 
by  the  line  from  Erie  to  Pittsburg  which  was  being 
fortified  by  the  French.  Of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Province,  one-fourth  or  one-fifth  were  Quakers,  about 
one-half  Germans,  and  the  rest  emigrants  from  the 
north  of  Ireland.  The  influence  of  the  Quakers  was 
still  predominant,  although  the  large  emigration  from 
Europe  had  much  lessened  it  in  the  latter  years  of 
the  period  we  are  considering.  The  principal  business 
of  the  people  was  agricultural,  to  which  they  added  such 


PROVINCIAL   FINANCE.  47 

commerce  to  Europe  and  the  West  Indies  as  was  re- 
quired to  transport  thither  their  provisions.  During  this 
period,  notwithstanding  the  French  and  Indians  were  de- 
stroying the  lives  of  the  people  of  the  back  counties  and 
their  property,  the  material  prosperity  of  the  Province 
was  uninterrupted.  The  imports  and  the  shipping  had 
increased  twofold,  and  the  exports  threefold,  and  more 
than  twenty-five  thousand  Germans  alone  emigrated  to 
the  Province.  There  was  no  land-tax,  and  had  been 
none  for  nearly  forty  years.  The  expenses  of  govern- 
ment were  paid  by  an  excise  and  by  tavern  licenses. 
There  was  little  gold  or  silver  in  the  Province,  the 
greater  portion  having  been  drained  out  of  the  country 
to  pay  for  English  imports.  The  Assembly  was  in  the 
habit  of  meeting  extraordinary  emergencies  by  issuing 
paper  money, — that  is,  lending  the  credit  of  the  Prov- 
ince to  those  who  would  pay  a  good  interest  for  it  and 
give  ample  security  for  the  return  of  the  loan.  To  this 
policy  was  attributed  by  the  Provincials,  with  Dr.  Frank- 
lin at  their  head,  the  extraordinary  prosperity  of  the 
country,  which  was  thus  abundantly  supplied  with  a 
cheap  currency.  The  royal  government  and  the  Pro- 
prietaries were  no  friends  to  paper  money, — at  least  to 
that  issued  by  the  English  Colonies, — and  on  this  sub- 
ject there  was  a  constant  controversy  between  the  As- 
sembly of  the  Province  and  the  governors  appointed 
by  the  Penns.  To  irreconcilable  differences  on  this 
point,  and  not  to  religious  scruples,  is  no  doubt  to  be 
ascribed  much  of  the  embarrassment  of  the  English 
government  in  Pennsylvania  in  raising  men,  money, 
and  supplies  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war. 

The  Province  was  then  ruled  by  deputy  or  lieutenant 


48  CHARTER  PRIVILEGES. 

governors,  appointed  by  the  Penns  as  Proprietaries  and 
confirmed  by  the  king.  They  were  assisted  by  a  coun- 
cil which  had  no  legislative  power ;  that  was  exclusively 
vested  by  the  charter  in  the  Assembly,  which  exercised 
great  authority  by  virtue  of  that  instrument  and  claimed 
much  more, — a  pretension  which  was  strongly  opposed 
by  the  Penns  and  their  governors.  This  body  was 
granted,  by  the  amended  charter  of  1701,  power,  among 
other  things,  "  to  appoint  committees,  prepare  bills,  im- 
peach criminals,  and  redress  grievances,  with  all  other 
powers  and  privileges  of  an  Assembly,  according  to  the 
rights  of  free-born  subjects  of  England''  Under  these 
large  powers  the  Assembly  prior  to  1 740  had  secured 
two  important  concessions,  which  had  much  to  do  with 
the  question  of  its  motive  in  withholding  or  granting 
the  supplies  that  were  asked  for  by  the  Proprietaries 
and  the  Crown  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war.  These 
were,  first,  that  to  the  Assembly  belonged  exclusively 
the  right  not  merely  of  disposing  of  the  public  money, 
but  of  determining  the  means  and  method  by  which 
it  should  be  raised ;  and,  secondly,  that  the  decision  of 
the  lieutenant-governor  approving  or  disapproving  a 
bill  passed  by  the  Assembly  should  be  final,  and  not 
subject  to  reversal  by  the  Proprietary. 

After  1751  this  Assembly  was  composed  of  thirty-six 
members ;  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  it  most  truly 
represented  the  wealth  and  intelligence  of  the  Province. 
Of  this  number  twenty-six  members  represented  the 
home  counties  of  Philadelphia,  Chester,  and  Bucks ;  the 
other  ten  were  sent  by  the  Germans  and  the  Irish  of 
the  back  counties, — settlements  greater  in  population, 
but  not  possessed  to  so  great  a  degree  as  the  eastern 


POLICY  OF  THE  PROPRIETARIES.  49 

counties  of  those  elements  which,  according  to  the  theory 
that  then  prevailed,  were  entitled  to  representation. 

The  legislative  power  of  the  Assembly  was  subject  to 
two  important  restrictions  only, — viz. :  first,  that  the 
measures  adopted  by  it  should  receive  the  approval 
of  the  lieutenant-governor ;  and,  secondly,  that  to  the 
Privy  Council  in  England  was  reserved  the  power  to 
disallow  and  repeal  any  laws  enacted  by  the  Assembly 
within  five  years  after  their  passage.  Every  parliamen- 
tary expedient  for  which  there  was  any  precedent  was 
resorted  to  by  the  Assembly  to  maintain  its  power. 
Among  other  things,  it  insisted,  in  accordance  with  the 
practice  of  the  English  House  of  Commons,  that  its 
money-bills  should  be  accepted  by  the  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor without  amendment. 

The  Assembly  from  the  beginning  was  always  jealous 
of  the  authority  claimed  by  the  lieutenant-governor, 
and  during  these  sixteen  years  it  learned  to  distrust 
and  hate  the  Proprietary  administration.  It  seems, 
indeed,  that  for  a  body  of  Englishmen  bred  in  the  tra- 
ditions of  English  liberty  no  system  more  incapable 
of  working  smoothly  and  satisfactorily  could  well  have 
been  devised.  The  Proprietary  was  not  only  their 
governor,  but  he  was  the  absolute  owner  of  far  the 
larger  portion  of  the  soil  of  the  Province.  Hence  his 
public  duties,  so  far  as  they  concerned  the  wise  gov- 
ernment of  his  people,  were  constantly  coming  into 
collision  with  his  private  interests,  which  tempted  him 
to  govern  in  such  a  way  as  would  not  be  in  harmony 
with  the  welfare  of  the  people.  Thus,  the  governor 
objected  to  the  issuing  of  paper  money,  both  because 
he  supposed  that  in  the  end  it  would  ruin  the  Propri- 

4 


50  TAXATION  AND   PAPER   MONEY. 


etary's  private  interests  in  the  lands  of  the  Province, 
and  because  the  English  government  regarded  such 
a  currency  as  undesirable.  The  Assembly,  with  the 
people,  led  by  Dr.  Franklin,  on  the  other  hand  (rightly 
or  wrongly),  regarded  this  paper  money  as  the  panacea 
for  all  the  ills  from  which  a  trading  community  can 
suffer,  and  insisted  upon  issuing  it  whenever  called 
upon  to  vote  supplies.  Again,  the  private  interests 
of  the  Penns  led  them  to  oppose  taxation  of  their 
estates  (at  first  absolutely,  and  afterwards  in  a  modi- 
fied way)  ;  while  the  necessities  of  the  defence,  as 
well  as  impartial  equity,  required  that  all  the  estates 
in  the  Province  should  be  taxed  in  the  same  way,  so 
that  each  might  bear  its  due  share  of  the  general  bur- 
den. For  a  long  time,  too,  the  Penns  refused  to  pay 
a  proper  share  of  the  expenses  attending  Indian  treaties 
for  the  sale  of  land,  although  such  treaties  added  mil- 
lions of  acres  to  their  own  overgrown  estate,  besides,  of 
course,  making  more  valuable  that  which  they  already 
possessed. 

Prior  to  1755  the  controversy  between  the  gov- 
ernors (Hamilton  and  Morris)  and  the  Assembly  con- 
cerning, not  the  granting  of  supplies,  but  the  manner  of 
raising  them,  was  incessant.  Eight  times  during  these 
years  did  the  governor  demand  money  for  supplies  for 
military  operations  against  the  French  and  Indians, 
and  eight  times  did  the  Assembly  agree  to  grant  them 
for  the  king's  use,  provided  they  were  purchased  with 
money  raised  by  issuing  loans.  Eight  times  did  the 
governor,  in  accordance,  as  he  said,  with  his  instructions 
from  the  Proprietaries  and  the  Crown,  refuse  to  accept 
supplies  thus  offered,  although  he  was  forced,  in  one  or 


THE    QUAKERS  AND    WAR  MEASURES.  51 

two  cases,  to  agree  under  protest  to  the  bills.  In  the 
proceedings  during  these  years  there  is  certainly  noth- 
ing to  show  any  unwillingness  to  defend  the  Province, 
although  there  were  often  evasions  of  the  real  difficulty 
on  the  part  of  the  Assembly  which  make  some  of  its 
acts  appear  disingenuous  and  uncandid.  Still,  the  main 
point  that  the  Assembly,  on  the  whole,  was  in  earnest, 
not  only  in  defending  the  Province  but  in  maintaining 
English  supremacy  on  this  continent,  even  if  it  insisted 
upon  doing  it  in  its  own  way,  seems  established. 

It  is  no  doubt  true  that  the  Assembly,  composed  in 
large  part  of  Quakers,  had  conscientious  scruples  about 
declaring  and  maintaining  war,  but  these  scruples  had 
been  overcome  in  previous  wars  in  which  the  military 
aid  of  the  Province  had  been  invoked,  as  many  acts  of 
Assembly  testify.  In  this  particular  case  the  members 
supposed  that  their  consciences  would  be  quieted  and 
the  Province  defended  by  the  enactment  of  a  law  for  the 
enrolment  of  volunteers  rather  than  by  a  general  militia 
law.  Hence  the  Military  Bill  and  the  Supply  Bill,  which 
were  designed  to  be  substitutes  for  the  Militia  Bill  and 
the  bill  exempting  the  Proprietary  estates  from  the  tax- 
ation levied  on  others  recommended  by  the  Governor ; 
and  hence  their  enemies  asserted  that  the  Quakers 
were  unwilling  to  defend  the  Province,  and  therefore 
should  be  ineligible  as  members  of  the  Assembly. 

The  Military  Bill  was  entitled  an  act  "for  the  better 
ordering  and  regulating  such  as  are  willing  and  desirous 
of  being  united  for  military  purposes."  By  it  a  volun- 
teer force  was  raised,  thoroughly  organized,  and  made 
subject  to  military  discipline.  This  bill  was  called  a 
usurpation  of  the  rights  of  the  Crown.  The  Supply 


5 2  THE  ASSEMBLY  REBUKED. 

Bill  (1755),  by  which  the  Proprietaries'  estates  were 
exempted  from  taxation  in  consideration  of  a  promised 
gift  from  them  of  five  thousand  pounds,  was  intended  to 
grant  the  money  necessary  for  the  pay  of  these  troops 
and  for  their  military  operations.  With  the  money 
and  men  supplied  by  these  two  bills  a  chain  of  forts 
and  block-houses  extending  from  the  river  Delaware 
along  the  Kitta tinny  Hills  to  the  Maryland  line  was 
erected.  They  were  situated  at  convenient  distances 
from  one  another  and  at  the  most  important  passes 
of  the  mountains,  and  were  garrisoned  with  companies, 
all  in  the  pay  of  the  Province,  composed  of  from  sev- 
enty-five to  twenty-five  men  each,  according  to  the  situ- 
ation and  importance  of  the  place.  In  other  words,  a 
complete  system  of  defence  was  at  last  established.  In 
the  face  of  such  acts  and  such  results  the  Board  of 
Trade  had  the  hardihood  to  declare  that  "  the  measures 
taken  by  the  Assembly  for  the  defence  of  the  Province 
were  improper,  inadequate,  and  ineffectual,  and  that 
there  was  no  cause  to  hope  for  other  measures  while 
the  majority  of  the  Assembly  consisted  of  persons  whose 
avowed  principles  were  against  military  services." 

Such  was  the  manner  in  which  these  efforts  of  the 
loyal  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  to  provide  against 
invasion  were  regarded  by  the  home  government  and 
the  Proprietaries.  The  answer  made  a  profound  im- 
pression upon  those  who  had  hitherto  supported  the 
pretensions  of  the  Penn  family,  and  brought  forth 
abundant  fruit  in  1764  and  in  the  Revolution. 

Such  is  an  outline  of  the  circumstances  which  led 
to  the  petition  of  1755  asking  that  the  Quakers  might 
be  disfranchised,  and  such  was  its  reception  by  the 


NEW  INDIAN  WAR.  53 

ministry.  It  remained  to  be  seen  whether  the  com- 
plaints of  1764  would  be  more  readily  listened  to. 
Notwithstanding  the  contempt  with  which  the  ministry 
treated  in  1756  the  Pennsylvania  method  of  raising 
soldiers  and  paying  them,  the  Assembly  in  1762,  then 
purged  of  its  non-fighting  element,  persisted  in  its  claim 
to  vote  its  own  money,  to  levy  taxes  upon  the  Propri- 
etary estates  at  the  same  rate  as  those  of  others,  and 
to  employ  an  armed  force  in  such  a  way  as  it  deemed 
best  for  the  defence  of  the  Province.  From  the  passive 
resistance  of  the  Assembly  to  the  demands  of  the  min- 
istry, and  the  impossibility  of  coercing  it  into  obedi- 
ence, it  is  clear  that  this  resistance  was  not  due  to  the 
Quakers  because  of  their  scruples  about  war,  but  to 
others,  because  they  thought  the  rights  secured  to 
them  by  their  charter  invaded.  Peace  was  made  with 
the  Delaware  Indians  in  1756,  the  seven  years'  war 
with  the  French  was  ended  on  this  continent  by  the 
conquest  of  Canada  in  1759,  and  it  was  hoped  that  no 
further  occasion  for  discussing  again  this  much  contro- 
verted question  would  arise. 

But  in  1763  a  new  Indian  war  broke  out  (that  of 
Pontiac),  in  which  the  tribes  between  the  Ohio  and  the 
Lakes  took  part,  and  Pennsylvania  was,  of  course,  called 
upon  to  raise  men  and  money  for  the  protection  of  its 
own  frontiers.  This  was  the  signal  for  the  renewal  of 
the  dispute  between  the  Assembly  and  the  Proprieta- 
ries in  regard  to  the  taxation  of  their  estates.  It  was 
supposed  that  a  compromise  had  been  agreed  upon 
between  them  and  Dr.  Franklin,  the  agent  of  the 
Province  in  London,  by  which  it  was  settled  that  the 
Proprietary  estates  (located  but  uncultivated)  should 


54  PONTIAC'S   WAR. 

not  be  assessed  more  highly  than  at  the  lowest  rate 
of  assessment  levied  on  the  uncultivated  lands  of  the 
inhabitants.  The  Assembly  in  November,  1 763,  passed 
an  appropriation  bill  with  such  a  proviso  in  it,  but  the 
governor  refused  to  approve  it,  on  the  ground  that 
his  interpretation  of  the  stipulation  agreed  upon  in 
London  was  that  the  assessment  of  the  lands  of  the 
Proprietaries  should  not  be  higher  than  the  lowest 
valuation  of  the  worst  lands  of  the  inhabitants. 

The  war  which  was  waged  by  the  Delawares  and 
Shawanees  was  perhaps  the  most  bloody  and  deso- 
lating of  any  Indian  war  in  which  the  Province  was 
ever  engaged.  It  began  in  the  summer  of  1763,  and 
the  Indians,  having  captured  all  the  posts  between 
Lake  Erie  and  Pittsburg,  swept  down  upon  the  coun- 
try between  the  latter  place  and  the  Susquehanna, 
attacking  in  small  parties  the  homes  of  the  settlers, 
and  destroying  all — men,  women,  and  children — who 
came  within  their  reach.  The  wretched  inhabitants, 
most  of  whom  were  Scotch-Irish  emigrants  or  their 
children,  complained  in  piteous  terms  to  the  Assembly 
of  the  want  of  protection.  They  did  not  blame  that 
body  for  manifesting  the  same  indifference  as  had  been 
shown  by  the  Assembly  to  the  outrages  from  which 
they  had  suffered  in  1755,  but  they  thought  that  a  cer- 
tain voluntary  body  called  "  the  Friendly  Association," 
composed  of  Quakers,  whose  object  it  was  to  protect 
the  Indians  from  the  fraud  and  rapacity  of  the  Propri- 
etary agents  in  their  land-purchases,  had  too  much  in- 
fluence with  the  legislature,  who  had  thus  been  induced 
to  take  too  lenient  a  view  of  the  outrages  from  which 
those  who  lived  on  the  frontiers  suffered.  Many  of 


THE  ASSEMBLY  RESISTS    THE    GOVERNOR.     55 

these  in  the  end  lost  patience,  and  some  time  after, 
burning  with  the  desire  of  vengeance,  took  the  law 
into  their  own  hands,  massacred  the  Indians  wherever 
they  could  find  them,  and  were  guilty  of  all  those  ex- 
cesses known  in  Pennsylvania  history  as  the  "  outrages 
of  the  Paxton  Boys." 

The  Supply  Bill  and  Military  Bill  of  November,  1763, 
formed  the  response  of  the  Assembly  to  these  appeals 
of  the  suffering  frontiersmen.  It  voted  with  great 
alacrity  fifty  thousand  pounds,  and  agreed  to  raise  one 
thousand  men,  the  quota  of  the  Province  as  fixed  by 
the  royal  authorities.  But  the  governor  (John  Penn) 
would  not  agree  that  the  tax-rate  upon  the  uncul- 
tivated lands  of  the  Proprietaries  should  be  higher  than 
the  lowest  rate  at  which  any  of  the  uncultivated  lands 
of  the  inhabitants  were  assessed.  There  was  no  time 
for  delay  amidst  the  horrors  of  an  Indian  war,  if  relief 
was  to  be  given  by  force  of  arms ;  and  yet  the  deputy 
governor  not  only  hesitated  but  actually  refused  at  last 
to  approve  a  measure  essential  to  the  security  of  a 
large  number  of  the  best  citizens  of  the  Province, 
lest  the  income  of  the  Proprietaries  should  for  the 
time  be  reduced.  It  is  impossible  to  find  any  satis- 
factory explanation  for  such  conduct  at  such  a  crisis. 
The  Assembly  was  more  humane,  and  could  not  per- 
severe in  its  resistance  to  the  act  of  the  governor  at 
so  fearful  a  price.  It  agreed  that  the  bill  should 
pass  with  the  provisions  insisted  upon  by  the  governor 
in  regard  to  taxation.  The  result  was  that  Colonel 
Bouquet  was  enabled  to  follow  up  the  triumphant 
results  of  the  battle  of  Bushy  Run,  and  that  the  In- 
dians were  at  last  compelled  to  leave  the  Province 


56  THE  ASSEMBLY  FORCED    TO    YIELD. 

to  which  their  fathers  had  welcomed  William  Penn. 
Having  in  vain  appealed  to  their  just  and  kind  treat- 
ment by  the  great  Onas,  as  they  called  him,  they  were 
driven  from  their  lands  by  his  successors,  and  were 
transformed  from  the  mild  Delawares  and  Shawanees 
into  the  fiercest  and  most  cruel  warriors  of  whom 
Colonial  history  makes  mention. 

The  victory  of  the  governor  over  the  Assembly  in 
forcing  it  to  give  way  at  this  crisis  cost  the  Propri- 
etaries dearly.  It  was,  indeed,  the  beginning  of  that 
discontent  with  their  government  which  would  undoubt- 
edly in  a  few  years  have  overthrown  it  had  not  the 
work  been  done  by  the  American  Revolution.  Their 
conduct  in  Pennsylvania  had  been  such  that  no  one 
justified  it,  least  of  all  the  Quakers,  who  had  hitherto 
been  its  main  supporters.  They  had  deeply  offended 
the  children  of  those  who  had  been  William  Penn's 
friends  and  companions,  and  who  continued  to  adhere 
to  those  maxims  of  government  of  which  he  had  been 
so  illustrious  an  exponent.  The  rapacity  which  the 
governor  had  shown  in  appropriating  the  lands  of 
the  Indians,  and  his  unwillingness  that  these  lands 
should  bear  a  due  share  of  the  burden  of  taxation,  had 
shocked  the  moral  sense  of  the  Quakers,  and  they  did 
not  hesitate  to  speak  plainly  of  these  iniquitous  pro- 
ceedings. With  the  Quakers  agreed  many  of  the  Ger- 
mans, especially  those  who  had  not  been  exposed  to  the 
incursions  of  the  savages ;  while  the  rest,  who  lived  in 
the  country  districts  and  saw  for  themselves  the  dan- 
gers of  an  Indian  war,  demanded,  of  course,  a  govern- 
ment which  would  protect  them.  But  those  who  were 
most  violent  in  denouncing  the  Proprietary  government 


DISLIKE    OF  DEPUTIES.  57 

because  its  deputy  here  would  not  consent  that  the  Prov- 
ince should  be  defended  in  the  way  proposed  by  the 
Assembly,  lest  the  family  income  of  the  Penns  should 
be  endangered,  were  the  Scotch-Irish  settlers  to  the 
west  of  the  Susquehanna  ;  although  the  Presbyterian 
clergy  among  them  were  apprehensive,  as  we  have  seen, 
of  danger  to  their  church  should  a  royal  government 
be  substituted  for  that  of  the  Proprietary.  In  vain  had 
they  appealed  to  the  government  for  protection  during 
many  years,  as  in  1755  and  in  1763;  in  vain  had  they 
begged  and  suffered  and  threatened.  Nothing  was  done, 
because  of  the  quarrels  between  the  Assembly  and  the 
governor,  each  trying  to  shift  the  blame  upon  the  other. 
At  last,  and  for  once  in  the  histbry  of  Pennsylvania, 
there  came  a  time  when  there  was  no  difference  of 
opinion  among  her  people ;  all  agreed  that  the  blame 
should  rest  upon  the  Proprietaries  and  their  agents. 
The  Quakers  were  no  longer  censured,  and  an  As- 
sembly of  which  they  formed  an  inconsiderable  portion 
as  compared  with  the  non-fighting  Quakers  of  the 
Assemblies  prior  to  1756  unanimously  adopted  twenty- 
six  resolutions,  prepared  by  Mr.  Galloway,  setting  forth 
the  nature  and  extent  of  the  grievances  which  they  had 
suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  Proprietaries. 

The  great  burden  of  complaint  seems  to  have  been 
the  government  of  a  deputy  without  whose  consent  no 
legislation  could  be  enacted,  who  was  bound  in  his  acts 
to  obey  the  instructions  of  the  Proprietaries  in  England, 
and  who  was  in  no  way  responsible  to  the  people  of  the 
Province  for  them.  This,  it  was  alleged,  had  been  the 
main  cause  of  the  unequal  taxation,  the  defenceless- 
ness  of  the  Province,  and  all  the  other  evils  from  which 


5*  GRIEVANCES   COMPLAINED    OF. 

it  was  suffering.  It  was  said  that  the  Assembly  had 
since  the  settlement  of  the  Province  paid  large  sums 
by  way  of  revenue  to  the  Proprietaries  and  for  the 
support  of  their  governors,  but  that  the  Proprietaries 
had  themselves  appropriated  for  their  private  use  all 
the  best  lands  as  soon  as  they  had  been  acquired  from 
the  Indians,  holding  them  for  a  high  market,  and  in  the 
mean  time  refusing  to  pay  taxes  on  them.  Thus  the 
resolutions  went  on,  heaping  complaint  upon  complaint 
of  the  Proprietary  system.  Much  of  this,  no  doubt,  was 
exaggeration,  but  it  shows  at  least  the  utter  discontent 
of  the  inhabitants  with  the  rule  to  which  they  were  sub- 
jected. The  conclusion  at  which  they  arrived  was  this  : 
"  That  the  sole  executive  powers  of  government  being 
in  the  hands  of  the  Proprietaries  (the  actual  owners  of 
the  larger  portion  of  the  soil),  together  with  the  exten- 
sive and  growing  influence  arising  from  their  vast  and 
daily  increasing  estate,  must  in  future  times,  according 
to  the  natural  course  of  human  affairs,  render  them  ab- 
solute, and  they  may  become  as  dangerous  to  the  pre- 
rogatives of  the  Crown  as  to  the  liberties  of  the  people." 

These  resolutions,  drawn  up  by  Galloway,  were,  as 
we  have  said,  unanimously  adopted,  and  it  was  under- 
stood when  the  Assembly  adjourned  that  it  would  meet 
again  in  fifty  days,  to  decide  upon  what  measures  it 
would  recommend  to  redress  the  long  list  of  grievances 
which  it  had  enumerated.  In  the  interval  there  was 
much  talk  of  an  address  to  the  king  asking  him  to  re- 
voke the  charter  and  to  take  the  Province  under  his  own 
royal  government,  always  reserving  to  the  inhabitants 
the  chartered  privileges  they  had  hitherto  enjoyed. 

When  the  Assembly  met,  in  May,  1764,  the  commit- 


GALLOWAY'S  RESOLUTIONS.  59 

tee  which  had  been  appointed  at  the  previous  session 
(consisting  of  Messrs.  Galloway,  Franklin,  Rodman, 
Pearson,  Douglas,  Montgomery,  and  Tool)  to  recom- 
mend what  course  ought  to  be  pursued  at  this  crisis, 
reported  that  a  petition  to  the  king  which  had  been 
prepared  by  Dr.  Franklin  should  be  adopted.  This 
petition  prayed  that  his  Majesty  "would  resume  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Province,  making  such  compensation  to 
the  Proprietaries  as  would  be  equitable,  and  permitting 
the  inhabitants  to  enjoy  under  the  new  government 
the  privileges  that  have  been  granted  to  them  by  and 
under  your  royal  predecessors."  This  petition  was  sup- 
ported by  others,  signed,  it  was  said,  by  more  than  three 
thousand  five  hundred  persons,  urging  the  king  to  grant 
the  prayer  of  the  Assembly.1  These  petitions  were 
signed  by  men  of  all  parties, — by  Quakers,  by  Germans, 
and  by  the  Scotch-Irish  settlers  on  the  frontiers.  The 
only  organized  resistance  to  the  movement  seems  to 
have  come  from  the  Presbyterians  of  Eastern  Pennsyl- 
vania. Some  of  the  more  prominent  ministers  sent  a 
circular  to  their  fellow-religionists  throughout  the  Prov- 
ince advising  them  to  cling  to  the  charter  and  to  sign 
petitions  asking  that  it  be  retained.  "It  is  not  safe," 
they  say,  "to  do  things  of  such  importance  rashly. 
Our  privileges  (as  Presbyterians)  by  this  change  may 
be  greatly  abridged,  and  cannot  be  enlarged.  Our 
charter"  (that  is,  the  privileges  secured  by  the  charter) 

1  It  has  often  been  said  that  there  was  no  opposition  shown 
to  this  measure  by  persons  opposed  to  a  change  of  government. 
But  a  large  number  of  petitions  asking  that  the  Proprietary  govern- 
ment should  be  retained  will  be  found  among  the  Penn  MSS.  in  the 
collection  of  the  Historical  Society. 


60  PETITION  TO    THE  KING. 

"  is  in  danger  by  such  a  change,  and  let  no  one  persuade 
you  to  the  contrary."  No  doubt  a  keen  sense  of  the 
position  occupied  by  the  Presbyterian  Church  under 
the  royal  governments  of  New  York  and  Virginia  had 
much  to  do  with  inspiring  these  sentiments. 

It  would  seem  that  Dickinson  was  not  present  when 
these  resolutions  were  adopted,  and  that  the  violent 
attack  which  he  made  on  the  proposed  petition  had 
hardly  been  anticipated.  On  the  24th  of  May  the 
debate  began  ;  and  in  reading  the  speeches  of  Dickin- 
son on  the  one  side,  and  of  Galloway  on  the  other,  of 
this  great  question,  involving  a  change  of  the  form  of 
government,  it  is  very  clear  that  we  shall  look  in  vain 
in  the  proceedings  of  any  deliberative  assembly  of  the 
present  day  for  so  masterly  a  discussion  of  a  subject  so 
fundamental  as  this  in  all  its  bearings.  Dickinson  began 
by  admitting  all  the  serious  evils  which  were  said  to  have 
resulted  from  the  administration  of  the  Proprietary  gov- 
ernment,— the  inequality  of  taxation,  the  anomalous 
position  of  the  governor,  the  evils  which  flowed  from 
the  obligation  of  the  deputy  to  obey  the  instructions  of 
the  Proprietaries  in  England  in  governing  the  Province. 
But  then  he  took  the  position  which  afterwards  proved 
so  damaging  to  his  reputation  when  it  was  proposed  to 
adopt  independence  as  a  remedy  for  admitted  evils. 
He  thought  he  foresaw  greater  evils  in  the  change  than 
those  from  which  the  Province  was  then  suffering.1  His 
sagacity,  founded  upon  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 

1  Consult  a  letter  from  Edward  Rutledge  to  Jay  (Correspondence 
of  Jay,  p.  67),  "A  plan  of  a  confederation  which  Dickinson  has 
drawn.  It  has  the  vice  of  all  his  productions  to  a  considerable 
degree, — I  mean  the  vice  si  refining  too  much" 


DICKINSON  OPPOSES   THE   PETITION.  61 


aims  of  the  British  ministry,  led  him  to  the  belief  that 
it  would  be  dangerous  to  place  any  confidence  in  them. 
His  love  of  country,  thus  enlightened,  made  him,  there- 
fore, shrink  from  trusting  such  a  remedy.  His  natural 
hesitation,  which  he  never  quite  overcame,  proved  in 
1776  to  be  weakness  ;  but  in  1764  it  turned  out  to  be 
the  very  highest  wisdom,  for  the  very  evils  which  he 
predicted  we  should  suffer  from  the  acts  of  the  ministry, 
could  it  get  control  here,  showed  themselves  soon  after 
in  the  arbitrary  measures  which  precipitated  the  Revo- 
lution. Dickinson  told  the  Assembly  that  the  only 
question  at  issue  was  one  of  remedy,  and  he  insisted 
that  this  was  neither  the  time  nor  the  way  by  which 
the  remedy  that  was  sought — that  is,  a  royal  govern- 
ment with  the  charter  privileges  reserved — could  be  ob- 
tained. He  warned  the  Assembly  that  hitherto  the  very 
worst  acts  of  the  Proprietaries  had  been  those  in  which 
they  had  been  most  strongly  supported  by  the  ministry  ; 
that  we  were  not  likely  to  be  treated  with  favor  when 
we  avowed  ourselves,  as  we  had  always  done,  opposed  to 
a  method  of  granting  supplies  approved  by  the  late  and 
the  present  king  ;  and  that  it  was  unreasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  we  should  be  received  on  our  terms  under  the 
king's  government  when  we  would  not  obey  the  king's 
commands.  No  one,  he  said,  wished  to  come  under  the 
direct  government  of  the  king  unless  his  privileges  were 
preserved.  He  spoke  of  the  danger  of  an  established 
church  and  of  a  standing  army,  of  the  exceptionally 
favorable  condition  in  which  we  had  been  placed  by 
our  charter,  and  of  the  folly  of  exposing  ourselves  to 
dangers  from  changes  which  we  could  not  foresee,  and 
which  would  render  insecure  those  priceless  privileges 


62  DICKINSON'S  SPEECH. 

that  had  made  Pennsylvania  what  she  was  in  the  eyes  of 
the  world.  Finally,  he  asserted  that  the  Assembly  had  no 
right,  by  any  law,  divine  or  human,  to  change  the  form 
of  government  without  the  formal  assent  of  the  people. 
In  short,  rather  than  be  a  revolutionist  he  had  become  a 
prophet  of  evil ;  but  all  through  it  is  clear  that  his  motive 
was  a  strong  love  of  country  and  fear  for  the  future.  He 
felt  intensely  the  evils  of  the  government  under  which 
he  lived  ;  but,  not  seeing  a  remedy,  he  felt  that  we  had 

better 

"  bear  those  ills  we  have 
Than  fly  to  others  that  we  know  not  of. ' ' 

After  all,  it  is  easier  to  destroy  than  to  build  up. 
This  speech  of  Dickinson's  has  always  appeared  to  me 
to  be  the  strongest  of  all  his  productions  :  it  seems 
impossible  to  escape  from  its  logic.  But  the  people  of 
the  Province  at  that  time  were  in  no  humor  to  be  con- 
vinced by  logic  that  they  might  change  for  the  worse. 
The  government  under  which  they  lived  denied  them 
protection,  as  they  thought,  and  they  were  suffering 
from  the  wild  panic  of  an  Indian  invasion.  The  petition 
was  adopted  by  the  Assembly,  only  four  members  of 
that  body  voting  against  it.  It  was  never  presented  to 
the  king,  no  favorable  occasion,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
Provincial  agents,  occurring  when  its  prayer  was  likely 
to  be  granted  with  the  "  charter  privileges  reserved." 
And  here  it  may  be  again  said  that  the  prophecies 
which  Dickinson  had  made  concerning  ministerial  inter- 
ference here,  in  case  opportunity  offered,  proved  true. 
Less  than  three  months  passed  before  George  Gren- 
ville  proposed  the  enactment  of  the  Stamp  Act,  and  in 
less  than  eighteen  months  a  congress  of  the  Colonies 


EFFECT  OF  THE  DEBATE  IN  ENGLAND.          63 

was  assembled  in  New  York  to  protest  against  that 
very  interference  which  Dickinson's  fears  had  antici- 
pated and  against  which  the  Assembly  of  the  Province 
had  so  strenuously  contended. 

This  debate,  although  it  made  no  converts  in  the  As- 
sembly, produced  a  profound  impression,  not  only  upon 
public  opinion  here,  but  also  upon  those  members  of 
the  Penn  family  in  England  who,  strong  in  ministerial 
support,  had  pursued  so  arbitrary  and  selfish  a  policy 
in  the  government  of  Pennsylvania.  They  discovered 
that  those  whom  they  had  hitherto  regarded  as  their 
strongest  partisans  did  not  hesitate  to  condemn  that 
policy,  although  they  might  not  be  willing  to  join  with 
Dr.  Franklin  and  Mr.  Galloway  in  encouraging  a  revo- 
lution in  order  to  overturn  the  Proprietary  government. 
They  became  more  moderate  in  their  pretensions  after 
this  display  of  the  strength  of  the  Colonists,  and  it  is  not 
unlikely  that,  if  the  claims  of  the  Proprietaries  in  the 
coming  struggle  had  not  been  identified  with  those  of 
the  ministry,  some  modus  vivendi,  at  least  for  the  time, 
might  have  been  found.  As  it  was,  a  blow  against  them 
was  a  blow  against  the  ministry,  although  the  majority 
of  the  Assembly  professed  itself  willing  to  trust  that 
very  ministry  with  forming  a  government  which  should 
be  satisfactory  to  Pennsylvania. 

In  those  days  the  public  was  not  admitted  to  listen 
to  the  debates,  and  of  course  there  were  no  reporters. 
From  the  printed  speeches  of  Dickinson  on  the  one 
side  and  of  Galloway  on  the  other  we  derive  all  our 
knowledge  of  the  discussion  ;  although  it  was  asserted 
at  the  time  that  the  printed  speeches  were  not  faithful 
transcripts  of  what  was  said.  It  is  well,  however,  to 


64  GALLOWAY'S  SPEECH. 

remember  that  there  was  once  a  period  during  which 
such  a  debate  could  take  place  in  the  legislature  of 
Pennsylvania.  Not  only  was  Dickinson's  speech  a 
masterly  one,  worthy  of  the  occasion,  but  also  that  of 
his  opponent,  Galloway,  to  judge  from  the  printed  copy, 
had  merit  of  the  highest  order.  He  said  everything 
that  could  be  properly  said  in  favor  of  the  experiment 
which  Dickinson  considered  so  hazardous,  and  said  it 
in  the  best  possible  style,  showing  a  familiarity  with 
the  question  in  all  its  bearings  which  serves  to  give 
one  a  very  good  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  attainments 
of  a  man  who  ranked  in  those  days  as  a  lawyer  of  the 
highest  class.  Galloway  had  at  least  the  advantage 
of  a  sympathetic  audience,  who  fully  believed  with  him 
that  any  change  in  the  system  of  government  must  be 
an  improvement  on  the  old  one.1  The  interest  which 
attaches  to  this  debate  in  history  is  increased  when 
we  are  told  that  the  preface  to  Dickinson's  speech 
was  written  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Smith  (the  Provost),  and 
that  to  Galloway's  by  Dr.  Franklin.  By  many  these 
prefaces  have  been  thought  quite  to  overshadow  the 
speeches  themselves.  However,  we  have  now  the 
opportunity  not  only  of  seeing  how  this  momentous 
occasion  impressed  the  most  conspicuous  men  in  the 
Province,  but  also  of  knowing  how  the  future  then  ap- 
peared to  the  sanguine  temperament  of  Dr.  Franklin, 
and  of  listening  to  the  lessons  of  past  experience  taught 
by  Dickinson. 

*  It  must  be  said  that  Dickinson  vehemently  denied  that  the  printed 
speech  of  Galloway  was  the  one  actually  delivered  by  him.  The  only 
public  men  against  whom  Dickinson  seems  to  have  entertained  a 
rancorous  feeling  were  Galloway  and  John  Adams. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FORERUNNERS   OF   THE   REVOLUTION. 

THE  desire  to  change  the  Proprietary  government 
was  so  strong  and  general  that  Dickinson,  for  a  time 
at  least,  became  so  unpopular  by  advocating  its  reten- 
tion that  he  lost  his  seat  in  the  Assembly,  and  did 
not  regain  it  until  1770.  Pending  the  result  of  the 
application  to  the  Crown  to  resume  the  government 
of  the  Province  there  was  comparative  quiet,  and  few 
subjects  of  importance,  at  least  of  those  which  involved 
our  relations  with  the  mother-country,  excited  public 
attention.  There  seemed  to  be  no  occasion  for  com- 
plaint amidst  the  rejoicings  which  followed  on  the  Peace 
of  1763.  English  colonists  here  fully  shared  the  glory, 
as  they  had  shared  the  labor  and  the  danger,  of  the 
achievements  which  had  made  their  country  mistress 
of  North  America  and  of  India  and  the  arbiter  of  the 
destinies  of  Europe.  This  year  of  jubilee  did  not  last 
long,  however,  and  it  became  necessary  to  decide  how 
the  money-cost  of  all  this  glory  was  to  be  paid.  The 
crisis  was  evidently  approaching  which  had  long  been 
foreseen  by  the  most  sagacious  men  in  the  Colonies, 
when  ministerial  interference  with  our  affairs  would 
take  the  shape  of  extorting  our  money  from  us  by 
imperial  authority  to  be  used  for  imperial  purposes;  in 
other  words,  of  raising  a  revenue  from  the  Colonies  by 
imposing  taxes  upon  them  by  act  of  Parliament. 

5  65 


66  DICKINSON  AND    THE  SUGAR  ACT. 

The  two  measures  by  which  this  policy  was  publicly 
avowed  were  the  Sugar  Bill  and  the  proposed  Stamp 
Act.  The  announcement  by  the  ministry  of  their  in- 
tention was  met  by  an  immediate  and  energetic  pro- 
test from  nearly  all  the  American  Colonies ;  and  John 
Dickinson,  whose  predictions  as  to  the  folly  of  trusting 
to  the  ministry  for  relief  had  been  fulfilled  only  too 
soon,  was  appealed  to  to  lead  the  opposition  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  arbitrary  taxation  which  underlay  these  two 
Acts  of  Parliament.  On  the  I4th  of  March,  1764,  there 
was  reported  to  the  House  of  Commons  an  act,  com- 
monly called  the  "Sugar  Act/'  extending  and  perpetu- 
ating the  English  Navigation  Acts.  By  it  Great  Britain 
was  made  the  storehouse  of  the  products  of  Asiatic,  as 
it  had  long  been  of  European,  countries.  This  act  in- 
creased the  duty  on  sugar,  and  made  various  regula- 
tions intended  to  protect  English  manufactures  sent  to 
the  Colonies ;  in  short,  its  object  was  to  give  a  monop- 
oly of  the  Colonial  commerce  and  production  to  the 
English  trading  classes,  adopting  an  ingenious  method 
of  forcing  the  Colonies  to  pay  tribute  to  the  metrop- 
olis by  making  it  the  only  market  in  which  they  could 
buy  commodities  the  productions  of  any  country  in  the 
world.  It  was  asserted  by  the  ministry  that  it  was 
just  that  the  revenue  derived  under  this  act  from  the 
Colonies  should  be  used  for  imperial  purposes.  The 
important  point  connected  with  the  proposed  law  was 
that  it  was  the  first  in  which  the  adoption  of  that  policy 
was  openly  avowed. 

At  the  same  time  that  the  Sugar  Act  was  passed 
(and  it  met  no  opposition  whatever),  the  House  of 
Commons  resolved  "  that  it  may  be  proper  to  charge 


THE  STAMP  ACT.  67 

certain  stamp  duties  in  the  Colonies."  Mr.  Grenville, 
however,  with  proper  caution,  postponed  any  legislation 
on  this  latter  proposition  until  it  could  be  ascertained 
how  it  would  be  regarded  in  this  country.  The  Colo- 
nial Assemblies  at  once  took  the  alarm  when  the  news 
reached  them  that  these  new  methods  of  taxation  had 
been  proposed,  and  protested  strongly  against  their 
adoption,  the  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  declaring  "  that, 
as  they  always  had,  so  they  always  should  think  it  their 
duty  to  grant  aid  to  the  Crown  according  to  their  abili- 
ties when  required  in  the  usual  constitutional  manner." 
At  this  time  Mr.  Dickinson,  free  from  the  anxieties 
and  responsibilities  of  public  life,  determined  to  inter- 
pose. Like  a  vigilant  sentinel,  he  saw,  what  many  of 
his  countrymen  failed  to  see,  the  danger  lurking  in  these 
two  acts,  and  the  fearful  results  that  would  follow  if  they 
should  be  allowed  to  be  enforced  without  opposition. 
As  the  "Stamp  Act"  was  not  yet  passed,  he  called  at- 
tention to  the  provisions  of  the  "  Sugar  Act,"  as  a 
method  of  taxing  us  by  act  of  Parliament.  He  printed 
a  pamphlet  in  1765  entitled  "The  Late  Regulations 
respecting  the  British  Colonies  on  the  Continent  of 
America  considered."  This  pamphlet  shows  him  to 
have  acquired  at  that  time  as  full  a  knowledge  of  the 
political  economy  of  that  day,  as  it  affected  the  rela- 
tions between  the  Colonies  and  the  mother-country,  as 
his  speech  on  the  proposed  change  of  government 
had  shown  familiarity  with  the  constitutional  and  legal 
principles  on  which  those  Colonial  relations  had  been 
built.  With  great  skill  he  set  himself  to  prove  to  his 
English  readers,  for  whom  his  pamphlet  was  specially 
intended,  that  the  metropolis  would  suffer  far  more  from 


68          DICKINSON'S  VIEWS    ON  THESE  ACTS. 

the  enforcement  of  the  new  regulations  established  by 
the  "Sugar  Act"  than  would  the  Colonies  themselves. 
He  pointed  out  that  the  only  way  by  which  money  could 
be  raised  in  the  Colonies  to  pay  for  English  manufac- 
tures was  by  encouraging  their  foreign  commerce.  The 
amount  which  they  owed  the  English  manufacturers  was 
large,  as  they  had  been  forced  to  buy  exclusively  from 
them,  and  the  Colonies  had  no  other  means  of  satisfy- 
ing the  debt.  Our  trade  with  Spain,  Portugal,  and  the 
foreign  plantations  in  the  West  Indies  had  hitherto 
enabled  us  to  pay  our  debts  to  England  in  a  certain 
roundabout  way.  Under  the  new  act  our  foreign  com- 
merce must  cease,  because  we  were  forbidden  to  send 
our  productions — flour,  fish,  timber,  etc. — where  they 
were  needed,  and  where  their  price  would  enable  us  to 
pay  our  debts  in  England,  the  mother-country  having 
little  need  of  our  staples.  Everything  that  we  produced 
that  Great  Britain  chose  to  take  must  be  sent  to  that 
kingdom  only,  although  a  higher  price  could  be  ob- 
tained for  certain  articles  elsewhere,  and  everything  we 
chose  to  import  from  Europe  must  first  be  shipped  to 
England  and  thence  reshipped  to  us.  Mr.  Dickinson's 
object  was  to  show,  what  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
very  difficult,  that,  as  all  the  profits  of  this  grinding 
monopoly  went  to  the  English  merchants  and  traders, 
it  was  extreme  folly  on  their  part  to  give  up  the  trade, 
and  that  we  had  submitted  in  this  country  quietly  to 
all  this  extortion  because  the  British  connection  seemed 
valuable  to  us,  as  our  trade  under  these  restrictions 
certainly  was  to  the  commercial  class  in  Great  Britain. 
Speaking  of  the  proposed  Stamp  Act,  Mr.  Dickinson 
scarcely  refers  in  this  pamphlet  to  the  objections  to 


SAME  SUBJECT  CONTINUED.  69 

which  its  enactment  subsequently  gave  rise,  but  con- 
fines himself  almost  wholly  to  the  discussion  of  its  eco- 
nomic effects.  He  insists,  curiously  enough,  that  such 
was  the  scarcity  of  silver  in  the  Colonies  at  that  time 
that  a  sufficiently  large  sum  of  that  metal  to  pay  for  the 
stamps  and  the  duties  levied  upon  the  articles  imported 
could  not  be  procured  here.  If  there  be  not  some 
strange  exaggeration  in  this  statement,  it  is  certainly  a 
most  striking  illustration  of  the  poverty  of  the  country 
in  this  form  of  currency  at  that  time.  Fortunately,  the 
Assembly  had  issued,  at  various  times,  paper  obliga- 
tions, which  in  a  certain  way  answered  the  purposes 
of  a  currency.  This  expedient  mitigated  to  some  ex- 
tent the  suffering  of  the  trading-classes  here  produced 
by  the  English  regulations,  and  at  the  same  time  en- 
abled the  people  to  purchase  an  increased  amount  of 
English  manufactures.  Mr.  Dickinson,  with  great  wis- 
dom, confines  himself  to  describing  the  injury  likely  to 
be  inflicted  upon  the  English  merchants  and  manufac- 
turers by  the  enforcement  of  this  act,  as  he  believed 
that  their  influence  alone  could  bring  about  its  repeal. 
In  regard  to  the  irritation  inseparable  from  its  enforce- 
ment here,  especially  the  strong  objections  to  the  pro- 
visions giving  jurisdiction  to  courts  of  admiralty  acting 
without  a  jury,  and  converting  the  men-of-war  on  this 
station  into  court-houses  and  naval  officers  into  judges 
for  the  trial  of  offences  created  by  it,  he  knew  perfectly 
well  that  the  British  public  cared  nothing,  and  there- 
fore he  was  silent  about  wrongs  which  we  considered 
grievous. 

The  year  during  which  it  was    proposed    that  the 
opinion  of  the  Colonists  concerning  the  policy  of  the 


?o         PARLIAMENTARY  CLAIMS   OF  TAXATION. 

proposed  Stamp  Act  should  be  taken  was  about  ex- 
piring when  the  ministry,  with  very  little  opposition  in 
the  House  of  Commons  and  none  whatever  in  the  House 
of  Lords,  but  in  the  face  of  the  vigorous  and  unanimous 
protest  of  the  Assemblies  of  the  Colonies,  enacted  that 
measure  into  a  law  on  the  2 ad  of  March,  1765.  As 
the  political  education  of  the  American  people  made 
great  progress  during  the  year  that  followed,  and  as 
John  Dickinson  was  one  of  their  chiefest  and  most 
trusted  leaders  and  teachers  at  that  time,  it  may  be 
useful  to  recall  some  of  the  stages  of  that  progress. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  that  period  in  our  history  when 
the  discussion  of  the  fundamental  principle  of  English 
liberty  on  this  continent,  the  right  of  the  English  Parlia- 
ment to  tax  the  Colonies  for  imperial  purposes,  was 
begun.  The  question,  of  course,  at  that  time  was  not 
the  amount  of  money  involved  in  our  loss  of  trade  or 
in  the  payment  for  stamps,  but  the  right  of  Parliament 
to  lay  a  burden  upon  us  for  such  purposes, — in  other 
words,  how  far  the  alleged  omnipotence  of  Parliament 
extended, — whether,  as  it  was  afterwards  said,  it  ex- 
tended to  all  cases  whatever. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  recall  the  excitement  which 
prevailed  throughout  the  Colonies  during  the  year  in 
which  we  were  threatened  with  the  enactment  of  the 
Stamp  Act.  In  striking  contrast  with  our  alarm  and 
indignation  was  the  absolute  indifference  which  was 
shown  in  London  in  regard  to  its  consequences.  This 
act,  which  is  now  recognized  by  English  historians  as 
having  been  the  most  important  and  far-reaching  in  its 
results  of  any  that,  was  ever  passed  by  Parliament,  ex- 
cited far  less  interest  in  England  than  the  controversy 


THE  STAMP  ACT  CONGRESS. 


between  John  Wilkes  and  the  Court,  which  was  then  at 
its  height.  Here  it  was  the  theme  of  multitudinous 
essays  in  the  newspapers  and  in  pamphlets,  the  writers 
all  agreeing  that  great  evils  would  result  from  its  enact- 
ment, while  each  had  a  different  theory  to  explain  how 
its  illegal  and  unconstitutional  provisions  were  to  be  re- 
sisted. The  discussions  concerning  the  Stamp  Act  were 
typical  of  the  differences  of  opinion,  if  not  of  the  dis- 
sensions, which  prevailed  among  us  more  or  less  during 
the  Revolution.  There  was  no  dispute  about  the  nature 
of  our  grievances,  but  there  was  a  constant  controversy 
as  to  the  best  methods  of  redressing  them.  Fortu- 
nately, as  a  means  of  relief,  the  Americans  took  a 
course  which  had  in  their  previous  history  proved,  it  is 
true,  unsatisfactory,  but  towards  which  they  now  turned 
instinctively,  as  they  have  done  ever  since  in  times  of 
supreme  danger.  They  determined  to  seek  the  counsel 
of  the  united  Colonies  and  to  abide  by  it.  The  prop- 
osition that  delegates  from  the  different  Colonies  should 
meet  and  consider  the  probable  effect  of  the  Sugar  Act 
and  the  Stamp  Act  on  the  Colonies  came  from  Massa- 
chusetts, and  it  was  soon  after  agreed  to  by  nine  of 
the  Colonial  Assemblies.  The  common  watchword  at 
that  time  was  the  denial  of  the  right  of  Parliament  to 
tax  America  for  imperial  purposes  ;  but  how  this  opin- 
ion was  to  be  enforced  in  the  face  of  the  well-known 
maxim  as  to  the  omnipotence  of  Parliament  was  a  prob- 
lem which  it  was  left  to  the  wisdom  of  the  united  Col- 
onies in  Congress  to  solve.  As  to  Pennsylvania,  her 
position,  as  shown  by  the  resolutions  adopted  by  her 
Assembly  when  accepting  the  invitation  to  be  present 
at  the  Congress,  was  somewhat  peculiar.  She  declared 


72  POSITION  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 

emphatically  that,  whatever  might  be  the  abstract  right 
of  Parliament  to  levy  taxes  upon  the  Colonies,  there 
was  no  justification,  so  far  as  she  was  concerned,  for 
its  exercise  at  the  present  juncture.  "This  Province," 
said  the  Assembly,  "  whenever  required  by  his  Majesty 
for  carrying  on  military  operations  for  the  defence  of 
America,  had  most  cheerfully  contributed  its  full  pro- 
portion of  men  and  money,  and  that  in  future,  whenever 
called  upon  in  a  constitutional  manner,  it  will  be  their 
duty  to  make  liberal  grants  of  men  and  money,  not 
only  for  the  defence  and  security  but  for  the  other 
public  service  of  the  British  American  Colonies." 

The  Congress  met  at  New  York  on  the  5th  of 
October,  1764,  nine  Colonies  being  represented.  Mr. 
Dickinson,  as  leader  of  the  opposition  to  the  Stamp 
Act  in  Pennsylvania,  and  as  the  man  above  all  others 
in  the  country  who  was  most  familiar  with  the  principle 
involved  therein,  was  one  of  the  delegates  from  this 
Province.  His  colleagues  were  Mr.  Joseph  Fox,  who 
was  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Assembly,  and  Messrs. 
Bryan  and  Morton. 

The  Stamp  Act  Congress  was  not  an  harmonious 
body,  and  its  meeting  took  place  at  a  time  when  the 
general  discontent  did  not  demand  immediate  active 
resistance  to  the  measures  of  the  ministry.  Unfortu- 
nately, as  with  the  meetings  of  all  the  representative 
Assemblies  which  were  held  prior  to  the  Revolution,  the 
people  were  excluded  from  its  deliberations :  hence  we 
know  little  or  nothing  of  the  discussions  which  took 
place,  or  of  the  views  held  by  the  different  members, 
except  so  far  as  they  may  be  gathered  from  the  meagre 
account  of  their  proceedings  which  they  saw  fit  to 


PROCEEDINGS   OF  THE    CONGRESS.  73 

publish.  From  this  source  we  learn  that  the  debate  on 
the  nature  of  the  resistance  to  be  offered  lasted  eleven 
days ;  that  it  was  at  times  very  violent ;  that  the 
presiding  officer  of  the  Congress  was  Mr.  Timothy 
Ruggles,  a  Tory  of  the  Tories,  who  refused  to  sign 
the  report  of  its  proceedings,  and  who  became  a  brig- 
adier-general in  the  armies  of  the  king  during  the 
Revolution.  Governor  Golden  of  New  York,  where 
the  Congress  met,  regarded  its  assemblage  as  illegal, 
and  he  avowed  his  determination  to  enforce  the  law, 
and  to  call  in  the  regiments  of  General  Gage,  then 
stationed  at  New  York,  if  necessary,  to  aid  him.  We 
learn,  further,  that  in  the  end  the  delegates  of  six 
Colonies  only  out  of  nine  were  willing  to  express 
their  approval  of  the  very  temperate  resolutions  which 
were  proposed.  It  was  clear  that  a  common  ground 
of  opposition  to  the  ministerial  measures  would  be 
found  with  difficulty.  The  fame  of  Mr.  Dickinson  as 
a  student  of  constitutional  history  had  evidently  reached 
the  Congress  :  he  soon  found  himself  a  leader  in  this 
the  earliest  of  our  national  Assemblies.  He  was  ap- 
pointed to  prepare  the  resolutions  which  should  set 
forth  the  opinions  of  the  Congress,  and  he  tried  hard 
to  solve  the  problem  which  confronted  them,  how  they 
could  escape  taxation  without  denying  the  omnipotence 
of  Parliament.1  By  the  eighth  resolution  it  was  asserted 
that  the  power  of  granting  supplies  to  the  Crown  in 
Great  Britain  belonged  solely  to  the  Commons,  because 
these  supplies  were  wholly  the  gifts  of  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people,  and  hence  it  involved  an  inconsist- 
ency on  the  part  of  the  English  Commons  to  give  to 
1  See  the  original  draft,  as  prepared  by  him,  Appendix  I. 


74          DICKINSON'S   THEORY  OF  TAXATION. 

his  Majesty  that  which  was  not  their  own, — namely,  the 
property  of  the  Colonists.  This  refined  and  subtle 
view  of  the  power  of  taxation  was  not  original  with 
Mr.  Dickinson  :  it  had  been  first  put  forward  by  Mr. 
Dulany  of  Maryland  some  years  before,  and  it  was 
thought  a  point  so  well  taken  by  some  of  our  friends 
in  England  that  it  was  afterwards  usecj  (as  we  have 
said)  by  Lord  Chatham  as  an  argument  in  his  great 
speech  in  the  House  of  Lords  denying  the  right  of 
England  to  tax  America.  This  seems  now  rather  a 
narrow  foundation  to  bear  the  weight  of  so  imposing 
a  claim  as  that  of  the  imperial  power  of  taxation; 
but  it  seems  to  have  been  adopted,  with  some  other 
doubtful  conclusions,  because  the  Congress  insisted 
upon  resting  their  case  alone  upon  the  fundamental 
rights  of  the  Colonists  guaranteed  by  English  law  and 
their  own  charters,  and  not  upon  any  theory  of  the 
natural  rights  of  man. 

Shortly  afterwards  the  Rockingham  ministry  came 
into  office,  and  the  Stamp  Act,  after  a  violent  struggle 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  was  repealed  on  the  226. 
of  February,  1766.  The  motive  of  this  action  was 
undoubtedly  the  absolute  impossibility  of  enforcing  its 
provisions,  rather  than  any  conviction  on  the  part  of 
the  House  of  Commons  of  its  impolicy  or  injustice. 

In  recalling  the  vast  services  which  Mr.  Dickinson 
rendered  to  the  country  by  his  opposition  to  the  Stamp 
Act,  there  is  one  peculiarity  of  his  conduct  which  should 
be  noticed,  for  it  was  characteristic  of  his  reverence  for 
law,  as  well  as  of  his  devotion  to  well-settled  principles 
of  English  liberty.  He  neither  joined  in  nor  approved 
of  the  noisy  and  revolutionary  proceedings  which  were 


DECLARATORY  CLAUSE.  75 

then  common  in  certain  parts  of  the  country  as  modes 
of  testifying  the  determination  of  the  people  that  the 
proposed  law  should  not  go  into  effect.  On  the  con- 
trary, when  it  was  proposed  at  a  meeting  of  the  bar 
of  Philadelphia  that  they  should  transact  their  business 
without  using  the  stamps  which  the  law  prescribed,  he 
denounced  the  proposition  as  unbecoming  in  such  per- 
sons and  even  revolutionary  in  its  example  and  tenden- 
cies. 

Accompanying  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  was  the 
famous  declaratory  resolve  which  it  had  been  necessary 
to  make  part  of  the  repealing  legislation  in  order  to 
secure  its  adoption  by  Parliament  and  save  the  pride 
of  the  ministry  while  yielding.  In  this  resolve  the  right 
of  Parliament  to  tax  the  Colonies  "in  all  cases  what- 
soever" was  asserted  in  emphatic  terms.  Little  heed 
was  given  either  in  England  or  in  this  country,  in  the 
midst  of  the  general  rejoicings  and  congratulations  with 
which  the  news  of  the  repeal  of  the  act  was  received, 
to  the  great  significance  of  this  declaratory  resolve.  It 
was  soon  found,  however,  that  this  reservation  of  the 
right  of  Parliament  to  tax  the  Colonies  for  imperial 
purposes  was  not  intended  to  be  mere  brutum  fulmen, 
but  was  to  be  used  when  a  more  convenient  season 
should  arrive  for  its  exercise.  For  the  present,  a  gen- 
eral outward  calm  and  tranquillity  prevailed,  although 
the  far-seeing  in  both  countries  were  husbanding  their 
resources  for  another  stage  of  the  controversy.  It 
seemed,  indeed,  that  all  the  petitions,  remonstrances, 
and  opposition  from  every  quarter  with  which  the  en- 
forcement of  the  Stamp  Act  had  been  met  had  not  en- 
lightened the  ministry  as  to  the  true  ground  of  our 


76      QUESTION  AS  TO  METHOD   OF  TAXATION. 

resistance.  It  was  evidently  supposed  that  the  objection 
on  the  part  of  the  Colonies  was  to  the  method  rather 
than  to  the  right  of  taxation.  Hence  the  Rockingham 
ministry,  which  had  repealed  the  Stamp  Act,  did  not 
hesitate  to  approve  the  scheme  of  Mr.  Charles  Town- 
shend,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  for  raising  a 
revenue  for  imperial  purposes,  and  principally  for  the 
support  of  the  royal  officers  in  America,  by  imposing 
duties  on  tea,  glass,  paints,  etc. 

The  controversy  about  the  Stamp  Act  brought  out  in 
striking  contrast  the  differences  of  opinion  not  merely 
as  to  the  nature  of  the  grievances  from  which  we  were 
suffering,  but  also  as  to  the  proper  measures  of  redress 
to  be  taken,  which  prevailed  in  New  England  and  in 
the  Middle  and  Southern  Colonies.  The  standard  of 
rightful  government  in  New  England,  as  we  have  so 
often  said,  was  its  conformity  with  what  was  called 
"  natural  equity/'  by  which  was  really  meant  a  system 
of  self-government  which  should  be  as  little  as  pos- 
sible under  the  control  of  the  English  Parliament. 
The  other  Colonies  at  that  time  professed  absolute 
respect  for  English  law  when  constitutionally  adminis- 
tered among  them.  They  felt  that  if  they  suffered  from 
unjust  and  oppressive  laws  they  should  not,  in  order 
to  obtain  relief,  precipitate  a  revolution,  but  should 
adopt,  in  the  beginning  at  least,  the  old  English  method 
of  petition  and  remonstrance,  not  asking  for  redress 
as  a  favor,  but  insisting  upon  it  as  a  right  under  the 
law,  and  should  persist  in  their  demands  until  no  re- 
source was  left  but  open  rebellion.  Their  attitude  in 
the  mean  time  should  be,  it  was  contended,  that  of 
Englishmen  in  all  similar  circumstances, — petitioners 


FOUNDATION  OF  THE  RIGHT  TO    TAX.         77 

in  arms.  They  looked  with  horror  upon  the  acts  of 
violence  committed  against  governors,  judges,  and  other 
dignitaries,  of  which  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  stim- 
ulated by  the  extraordinary  rhetoric  of  their  leaders,  had 
been  guilty. 

The  New  England  people,  or  rather  the  ministers 
and  politicians  their  leaders,  talked  much  in  the  Stamp- 
Act  Congress  about  the  speculative  political  ideas  of 
Sidney  and  of  Locke  as  forming  the  basis  of  their  right 
to  resist  arbitrary  government ;  the  delegates  from  the 
other  Colonies  followed  the  example  of  their  ancestors 
in  1628,  who  when  they  adopted  the  Petition  of  Right 
in  the  House  of  Commons  affirmed  with  the  great 
fathers  of  English  liberty  that  certain  great  principles 
of  government,  including  the  principle  which  in  certain 
aspects  was  the  most  important  of  all, — the  claim  to  be 
free  from  arbitrary  taxation, — formed  an  essential  part 
of  "  the  ancient  and  undoubted  rights  and  privileges  of 
the  people  of  this  realm."  The  first  party  claimed  to 
follow  the  light  of  nature  ;  the  other,  to  be  guided  by  the 
lamp  of  experience.  The  one  strove  to  throw  aside  all 
the  restraints  of  English  law  when  it  seemed  to  justify 
the  exercise  of  Parliamentary  government  over  the 
Colonies ;  the  other  sought  to  find  in  that  law  itself 
justification  for  the  resistance  which  was  made  to  the 
enforcement  of  arbitrary  acts.  The  one  saw  no  way  of 
effective  relief  save  in  a  radical  revolution  which  should 
bring  about  a  popular  form  of  government ;  the  other 
thought  it  a  duty  (in  which  opinion  it  was  supported  by 
all  the  English  political  traditions)  to  consider  rebellion, 
war,  and  revolution  as  the  ultima  ratio,  to  be  resorted 
to  only  when  all  other  remedies  for  the  evil  had  proved 


78        RESOLUTIONS  OF  STAMP  ACT  CONGRESS. 

unavailing.  The  party  of  law  and  order  and  of  a  legal 
resistance  founded  upon  a  reasonable  basis,  as  opposed 
to  that  which  claimed  that  Americans x  "  had  rights  ante- 
cedent to  all  earthly  government,  that  cannot  be  re- 
pealed or  restrained  by  human  law,  rights  derived  from 
the  great  Legislator  of  the  universe,"  prevailed  in  the 
Stamp  Act  Congress.  It  should  be  remembered  to  the 
perpetual  honor  of  John  Dickinson's  memory  that  if  he 
was  not  the  discoverer  of  the  principle  that  there  are 
bounds  even  to  the  alleged  omnipotence  of  an  English 
Parliament,  he  was  at  least  the  pioneer  in  applying 
that  discovery  to  our  own  relief,  by  insisting  that  grants 
to  the  Crown  by  the  Commons  were  gifts  of  their  own 
money,  over  which  they  had  absolute  control,  and  not 
the  product  of  a  compulsory  taxation  over  which  they 
had  none. 

The  English  ministry  was  probably  misled  by  the 
strong  emphasis  which  had  been  laid  here  during  the 
controversies  concerning  the  Stamp  Act  upon  the 
alleged  distinction  between  external  and  internal  taxa- 
tion. We  had  refused  to  submit  to  the  latter,  but 
admitted  that  the  former  might  be  binding  upon  the 
whole  empire  as  a  commercial  regulation.  In  form  the 
duties  levied  on  paints,  glass,  tea,  etc.,  were  undoubt- 
edly such  a  regulation;  but  it  was  at  once  contended 
here  that,  in  point  of  fact  and  of  principle,  this  was 
as  much  an  exercise  of  the  alleged  right  of  Parlia- 
mentary taxation  for  the  purpose  of  raising  a  revenue 
for  imperial  purposes  as  the  Stamp  Act  itself.  Al- 
though it  was  passed  by  the  opponents  of  the  Stamp 

1  John  Adams. 


NON-IMP  OR  TA  TION  A  GREEMENT.  79 

Act,  and  by  the  Rockingham  ministry,  who  professed  to 
be  our  friends,  the  act  met  at  once  with  opposition  here. 
Late  in  October,  1767,  it  was  denounced  by  a  public 
meeting  in  Boston,  which  suggested  a  non-importation 
agreement  as  the  best  means  of  rendering  its  opera- 
tions ineffective.  These  agreements  were  favorite  ex- 
pedients for  manifesting  political  discontent  in  those 
days,  but,  as  they  were  voluntary,  their  obligation  sat 
somewhat  loosely  upon  those  who  signed  them.  The 
truth  is,  that  those  who  were  most  decided  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  course  of  the  ministry  were  somewhat 
puzzled  as  to  the  plan  they  should  adopt  to  exhibit  the 
earnestness  of  their  discontent.  They  had  tried,  in  the 
case  of  the  Stamp  Act,  the  effect  of  a  Congress  of  the 
Colonies,  but  it  appeared  that  such  a  body  could  be  re- 
lied upon  only  to  express  the  united  opinion  of  America 
on  one  point, — namely,  that  grants  of  money  to  the 
Crown  were  gifts,  and  not  taxes  in  the  ordinary  sense, 
levied  by  general  legislation.  The  prospect  of  greater 
unity  in  another  Congress  was  not  very  promising :  so 
that  the  weak  expedient  of  a  voluntary  non-importa- 
tion agreement,  to  be  signed  in  all  the  Colonies,  was 
resorted  to. 

While  the  leaders  of  the  opposition  throughout  the 
country  were  doubtful  and  hesitating,  there  appeared 
in  the  Pennsylvania  Chronicle  for  the  2d  of  December, 
1767,  the  first  of  a  series  of  letters  on  the  political 
situation,  afterwards  known  as  the  "  Farmer's  Letters." 
The  first  letter  was  dated  on  the  7th  of  November,  the 
anniversary  of  the  day  upon  which  William  of  Orange 
had  landed  in  England,  a  day  of  ill  omen  to  those  who 
the  Colonists  contended  were  governing  them  in  the 


THE  FARMER'S  LETTERS. 


same  arbitrary  manner  as  that  in  which  James  II.  had 
governed  their  forefathers.  The  letters,  fourteen  in 
number,  followed  one  another  in  quick  succession,  and 
they  were  read  by  men  of  all  classes  and  opinions 
throughout  the  continent  as  no  other  work  of  a  political 
kind  had  been  thitherto  read  in  America.  It  was,  of 
course,  soon  known  that  John  Dickinson  was  their  au- 
thor, and  people  remembered  that  he  was  the  person 
who  had  formulated  what  was  a  genuine  Bill  of  Rights 
in  the  Stamp  Act  Congress.  The  more  these  letters 
were  read,  the  more  convinced  people  became  that  in 
the  comprehensive  survey  they  took  of  our  political  rela- 
tions with  the  mother-country,  especially  as  these  were 
x  affected  by  the  last  obnoxious  act  of  Parliament,  and  in 
the  plans  which  were  proposed  to  remedy  the  evil,  Mr. 
Dickinson  had  struck  the  true  key-note  of  the  opposi- 
tion to  the  ministerial  measures.  He  appeared  at  this 
crisis^  as  he  did  in  the  Stamp  Act  Congress,  as  the 
leader  and  guide  in  the  controversy.  From  this  time 
until  the  Declaration  of  Independence  the  Pennsyl- 
vania idea,  which  was  embodied  by  Mr.  Dickinson  in 
these  Farmer's  Letters,  "  controlled  the  destinies  of  the 
country;"  and  Mr.  Bancroft  only  does  justice  to  Mr. 
Dickinson's  position  when  he  recognizes  fully  his  com- 
manding influence  during  that  period.  We  may  say, 
with  pardonable  pride  (and  it  is  one  of  those  truths 
which  many  of  our  historians  have  managed  in  various 
ways  to  relegate  to  obscurity),  that,  as  the  leading  spirit 
in  the  Stamp  Act  Congress,  Dickinson  gave  form  and 
color  to  the  agitation  in  this  country  which  brought 
about  the  repeal  of  that  act,  and  that  the  arguments  by 
which  the  claim  of  the  ministry  to  tax  us  for  revenue 


INFLUENCE    OF  THESE  LETTERS.  81 

by  such  an  act  of  Parliament  as  that  levying  duties 
on  glass,  paints,  etc.  was  answered  in  the  "  Farmer's 
Letters"  first  convinced  the  whole  body  of  our  country- 
men, groping  blindly  for  a  cure  for  their  grievances,  that 
there  was  a  legal  remedy,  and  then  forced  the  ministry 
to  consent  in  a  measure  to  the  demand  for  a  repeal  of 
some  of  its  most  obnoxious  provisions.  It  is  worth  re- 
marking that  when  the  ministry  yielded  at  all  it  yielded 
to  argument,  and  not  to  the  boastful  threats  which  were 
so  common.  The  "  Farmer's  Letters"  gave  courage 
and  force  to  those  who  in  February  denounced  the  law 
in  Pennsylvania  ;  they  formed  the  mainspring  of  the 
movement  which  resulted  in  the  circular  letter  sent  by 
the  legislature  of  Massachusetts  on  the  lyth  of  that 
month  to  the  Assemblies  of  the  other  Colonies;  in 
short,  they  had  the  rare  good  fortune  not  only  of  con- 
vincing those  who  suffered  that  the  remedy  was  in  their 
own  hands,  but  also  of  persuading  those  who  had  the 
power  to  abandon,  or  at  least  to  modify,  their  arbitrary 
measures.  The  publication  of  these  letters  and  the  in- 
fluence they  had  in  preparing  the  minds  of  the  people 
for  the  approaching  crisis  form,  in  my  opinion,  a  most 
important  era  in  our  Revolutionary  history,  and  for  that 
reason  they  deserve  a  careful  examination  in  any  story 
of  Mr.  Dickinson's  life. 

In  these  letters  Mr.  Dickinson  appears  as  a  states- 
man, discussing  the  questions  in  controversy,  not  on 
speculative  grounds,  as  was  the  habit  of  many  writers  of 
that  day, — men  who  had  very  little  knowledge  of  and 
still  less  reverence  for  positive  law, — but  as  one  who 
firmly  believed  in  the  traditions  of  English  liberty,  and 
who  thought  that  English  law  rightly  interpreted  by 

6 


82  MR.  DICKINSON'S  POSITION. 

English  history  was  the  basis  of  the  freest  political 
condition  of  which  the  human  race  up  to  that  time  had 
shown  itself  capable.  He  points  out  specifically,  one 
by  one,  the  grievances  complained  of  as  violations  of 
law,  and  then  treats  of  the  remedy.  He  writes  not  as 
an  angry  controversialist,  but  as  a  judicious  counsellor 
and  guide,  free  from  the  slightest  heat  or  partisan 
excitement,  treating  the  subject  with  a  certain  calm 
dignity  and  self-composure  which  seem  to  suggest  that 
he  can  offer  a  remedy  for  the  evils  from  which  the 
people  around  him  are  suffering,  unknown  to  helpless 
and  self-seeking  politicians.  His  attitude  recalls  the 
picture  drawn  by  Virgil  as  he  compares  the  power  of 
a  great  orator  with  that  of  Neptune  subduing  the 
angry  waves : 

.  .   .   "  Quum  saepe  coorta  est 

Seditio,  saevitque  animis  ignobile  vulgus  ; 

lamque  faces  et  saxa  volant ;  furor  arma  ministrat ; 

Turn,  pietate  gravem  ac  meritis  si  forte  virum  quern 

Conspexere,  silent,  adrectisque  auribus  adstant ; 

Ille  regit  dictis  animos  et  pectora  mulcet. ' ' 

Mr.  Dickinson  begins  these  grave  essays  with  an  air 
of  simplicity  as  charming  as  it  is  calculated  to  attract 
the  attention  of  the  reader.  "  I  am  a  farmer,"  he  says, 
"  settled,  after  a  variety  of  fortunes,  near  the  banks  of 
the  river  Delaware,  in  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania.  I 
received  a  liberal  education,  and  have  been  engaged  in 
the  busy  scenes  of  life,  but  am  now  convinced  that  a 
man  may  be  as  happy  without  bustle  as  with  it.  Being 
generally  master  of  my  time,  I  spend  a  good  deal  of  it 
in  my  library,  which  I  think  the  most  valuable  part  of 
my  small  estate.  I  have  acquired,  I  believe,  a  greater 


HIS  ARGUMENT.  83 

knowledge  of  history  and  of  the  laws  and  constitution 
of  my  country  than  is  generally  attained  by  men  of  my 
class,"  etc.  He  then  explains  the  nature  of  the  contro- 
versy with  the  mother-country,  making  it  so  clear  that 
the  points  in  dispute  are  comprehensible  by  a  child. 
Mr.  Dickinson  always  possessed  the  rare  faculty  of 
so  stating  a  legal  proposition  in  ordinary  language  that 
his  conclusions  were  as  easily  understood  by  one  who 
was  ignorant  in  technical  matters  as  by  the  profes- 
sional reader.  The  manner  in  which  he  discusses  in 
these  letters  historically  the  nature  of  English  liberty 
secured  and  guarded  by  law,  and  the  extraordinary 
steps  which  had  been  taken  by  the  ministry  in  viola- 
tion of  the  spirit,  if  not  of  the  letter,  of  that  law,  by 
suspending  the  exercise  of  the  legislative  powers  of 
the  New  York  Assembly  because  it  had  declined  to 
vote  for  supplying  the  troops  quartered  there  with 
"  salt,  pepper,  and  vinegar,"  is  a  striking  illustration  of 
his  skill.  He  dwells  on  these  details  in  the  begin- 
ning simply  to  catch  the  attention  of  the  reader,  so 
as  to  point  out  the  lesson  which  all  these  "  Farmers' 
Letters"  sought  to  enforce.  It  was  this:  "If  an  As- 
sembly may  be  legally  deprived  in  such  a  case  of  the 
privilege  of  legislation,  why  may  it  not  with  equal 
reason  be  deprived  of  every  other  privilege?"  Thus 
the  case  of  the  New  York  Assembly,  although  it  seemed 
to  involve  only  so  trivial  a  matter  as  the  supply  of 
"salt,  pepper,  and  vinegar"  to  the  soldiers,  really  raised 
the  question  how  far  and  under  what  limitations  power 
existed  in  the  Colonies  to  legislate  concerning  their  in;^ 
ternal  affairs.  Passing  then  to  the  claim  of  taxation, 
he  does  not  attempt  to  show  that  Parliament  has  no 


84  THE  ARGUMENT  CONTINUED. 

right  to  tax  us  because  such  a  claim  is  against  the  law 
of  nature  or  of  "  natural  equity,"  a  doctrine  constantly 
preached  by  agitators,  clerical  and  lay,  in  New  Eng- 
land, but  he  maintains,  what  is  more  to  the  purpose,  by 
an  examination  of  the  English  statutes,  that  not  one  can 
be  found,  until  the  Stamp  Act  of  Mr.  Grenville,  by  which 
taxes  for  the  raising  of  an  imperial  revenue  from  the 
Colonies  are  levied.  He  insists  that  the  act  levying 
duties  on  paper,  glass,  paints,  etc.,  although  in  form 
for  the  regulation  of  trade,  is  in  point  of  fact  an  inge- 
nious contrivance  to  tax  the  people  here  for  imperial 
purposes.  "We  must  have,"  he  says,  "paper  and  glass 
and  tea,  and  we  must  by  existing  laws  import  them  from 
England  alone.  Once  admit  that  Great  Britain  may 
levy  duties  on  articles  of  necessity,  which  we  are  forced 
by  law  to  import  from  her,  under  the  plea  that  such  a 
proceeding  is  a  commercial  regulation,  then  she  will  not 
be  restrained  from  levying  what  duties  she  thinks  proper 
on  all  articles  which  she  prohibits  us  to  manufacture,  as 
well  as  those  required  for  daily  use,  which  we  must  take 
from  her."  As  to  our  method  of  asserting  our  rights, 
he  says,  with  an  elevation  of  sentiment  which  reminds 
one  of  Edmund  Burke  more  than  of  any  other  political 
writer,  "The  cause  of  liberty  is  a  cause  of  too  much 
dignity  to  be  sullied  by  turbulence  and  tumult.  It  ought 
to  be  maintained  in  a  manner  suitable  to  her  nature. 
Those  who  engage  in  it  should  breathe  a  sedate  yet 
fervent  spirit,  animating  them  to  actions  of  prudence, 
justice,  modesty,  bravery,  humanity,  and  magnanimity." 
He  shrinks,  evidently  with  terror,  from  speaking  of  what 
may  be  the  consequences  of  the  persistent  refusal  of 
England  to  change  her  oppressive  measures :  his  loyal 


THE    "ULTIMA   RATIO"    SUGGESTED.  85 

heart  evidently  looked  forward  to  the  possibility  of 
armed  resistance  very  much  as  we  may  suppose  an 
old  Roman  to  have  regarded  the  crime  of  parricide, 
the  very  thought  of  which  inspired  such  horror  in  the 
minds  of  the  ancients  that  it  was  not  considered  neces- 
sary to  forbid  its  commission  by  formal  law.  "If,"  he 
says,  "at  length  it  becomes  undoubted  that  an  invet- 
erate resolution  is  formed  to  annihilate  the  liberties  of 
the  governed,  English  history  affords  frequent  exam- 
ples of  resistance  by  force.  What  particular  circum- 
stances will  in  any  future  case  justify  such  resistance 
can  never  be  ascertained  until  they  happen.  Perhaps 
it  may  be  allowable  to,  say,  generally,  that  it  can  never 
be  justifiable  until  the  people  are  fully  convinced  that 
any  further  submission  will  be  destructive  to  their 
happiness." 

But  he  trusts  that  we  are  still  far  away  from  the  ultima 
ratio,  and  that  we  may  never  have  occasion  to  appeal 
to  it.  After  showing  in  the  most  striking  manner  the 
nature  of  our  wrongs,  the  letters  turn  gladly  to  the 
remedy  that  lies  open  to  us.  That  remedy  is  based 
upon  a  cultivation  of  the  spirit  of  conciliation  on  both 
sides,  and  Mr.  Dickinson  urges  again  and  again  upon 
his  English  readers  the  folly  of  their  policy,  by  showing 
them  the  value  of  the  American  Colonies  to  them,  and 
especially  how  the  trade  and  wealth  of  the  English 
merchants  are  bound  up  in  the  adoption  of  a  liberal 
policy  towards  us.  This  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
and  important  topics  discussed  in  these  letters,  and  the 
subject  is  treated  with  elaborate  skill,  leading  to  con- 
vincing conclusions  drawn  from  our  history.  It  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  prior  to  the  Revolution  an  im- 


86  OBDURACY  OF  THE  MINISTRY. 

pression  widely  prevailed  among  the  most  thoughtful 
of  our  own  people,  as  well  as  among  our  friends  in 
England,  that  if  the  English  people  could  be  made  to 
understand  the  frightful  losses  they  would  suffer  in 
case  of  a  war  in  which  we  should  be  fighting  for  our 
independence,  or  even  during  a  short  interruption  of 
the  trade  between  the  two  countries,  they  would  force 
the  government  to  yield  rather  than  run  the  risk  of  the 
consequences.  Such,  undoubtedly,  was  the  opinion 
of  Dickinson,  and  in  this  way  is  to  be  explained  his 
constant  advice  to  Englishmen  to  adopt  a  policy  of 
conciliation.  It  is  very  true  that  Dickinson  and  his 
friends  were  sadly  mistaken  and  disappointed  in  their 
hopes  and  calculations.  They  could  not  have  foreseen 
that  the  heart  of  George  III.  would  grow  harder  and 
more  obdurate  in  spite  of  the  appeals  of  those  who 
had  been  his  loyal  subjects  here,  and  who  desired  to 
remain  such  if  he  would  rule  them  as  they  had  been 
ruled  previous  to  the  Peace  of  1763,  They  could  not 
have  believed  that  the  pride  of  the  British  House 
of  Commons  would  prove  so  unyielding  that  neither 
threats  nor  a  spirit  of  conciliation  nor  an  appeal  to 
self-interest  could  move  it  to  redress  our  grievances. 
Still,  his  arguments  and  appeals  to  the  justice  of  the 
English  government,  conceived  in  a  lofty  spirit  of  con- 
ciliation, are  characteristic  of  the  man,  and  deserve  to 
be  remembered  as  an  expression  of  the  ardent  desire 
for  a  complete  reconciliation  which  prevailed  here  in 
1768.  This  feeling  was  so  general  that  even  Dr. 
Franklin  in  London,  who  had  had  so  many  proofs  of  the 
indifference  and  contempt  with  which  the  representa- 
tions of  the  Colonies  in  England  were  regarded,  shared 


THE  LETTERS  REPRINTED  IN  EUROPE.        87 

it.  He  thought  the  appeal  of  the  Farmer  to  English- 
men so  irresistible  that,  although  no  friend  of  Dickin- 
son's, he  arranged  that  these  letters  should  be  re- 
printed in  London.  He  seemed  to  think  that  their 
publication  there  might  enlighten  the  ignorance  of  the 
English  public  on  Colonial  affairs,  an  ignorance  which 
had  been  found  thus  far  invincible,  and  that  the  letters 
might  do  some  good,  even  if  they  merely  showed  errors 
and  prejudices  on  the  part  of  the  Americans  which 
might  be  corrected.  They  were  shortly  afterwards 
translated  into  French,  and  did  much  to  enlighten  the 
publicists  on  the  Continent  concerning  the  controversy. 
The  practical  value  of  the  Farmer's  Letters  consisted, 
therefore,  not  in  mere  denunciation  of  the  measures 
of  the  ministry,  as  was  the  case  with  so  much  that 
was  printed  at  the  time,  but  in  the  legal  and  peaceful 
methods  which  they  recommended  to  the  Colonists  in 
order  that  the  evils  from  which  they  suffered  might  be 
remedied.  It  was  not  enough  to  convince  our  own 
countrymen  that  our  quarrel  was  just,  but  it  was  neces- 
sary also  to  persuade  those  who  governed  us  in  Eng- 
land to  see  the  matter  in  the  same  light  as  we  did. 
To  do  so  it  would  have  been  quite  out  of  place  to 
make  use  of  an  a  priori  argument  to  prove  what  the 
relations  between  a  metropolis  and  her  colonies  ought 
to  be.  What  we  had  to  do  was  to  show  that  what 
we  contended  for  was  precisely  what  the  English  had 
always  recognized  as  our  true  and  normal  relation. 
"  Colonies,"  said  Dickinson,  in  absolute  conformity 
with  the  political  economy  of  the  time,  "  have  been 
settled  by  the  nations  of  Europe  (in  modern  times)  for 
the  purposes  of  trade.  These  purposes  were  to  be 


33  THE  ENGLISH  COLONIAL  SYSTEM. 

attained  by  the  colonies  sending  to  the  mother-country 
those  things  which  she  did  not  produce  herself,  and  by 
supplying  themselves  from  her  with  those  things  which 
they  wanted.  These  were  the  rational  objects  in  the 
commencement  of  our  Colonies."  He  finds  no  fault 
with  this  policy,  narrow  as  it  is,  and  he  strives  to  prove, 
by  extracts  from  the  works  of  all  the  writers  of  author- 
ity on  the  English  colonial  system,  that  such  is  the  ex- 
isting colonial  policy,  and  that  it  ought  to  be  the  theo- 
retically perfect  condition  of  the  relation.  Whatever, 
therefore,  is  destructive  of  the  trade  and  commerce 
thus  established  must  necessarily  be  injurious  to  the 
prosperity  of  the  metropolis.  He  does  not  hesitate  to 
maintain  that  the  present  wealth  and  importance  of 
England  are  due  to  her  colonies.  The  familiarity  which 
he  shows  with  the  subject  he  is  discussing  seems  very 
remarkable,  and  is  in  striking  contrast  with  that  of  most 
of  the  Colonial  writers  of  the  time.  He  draws  the 
attention  of  his  English  readers  to  the  abuse  of  certain 
unquestioned  prerogatives  of  the  Crown  as  having 
proved  in  the  history  of  their  own  country  acts  of 
unmitigated  tyranny,  such  as  the  power  of  the  Crown 
to  create  peers,  and  the  power  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons to  force  the  other  branches  of  the  legislature  to 
adopt  their  grant  of  supplies  without  amendment;  and 
he  uses  these  illustrations  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
vincing Englishmen  how  easy  it  is  to  turn  what  might 
be  legal  as  a  trade  regulation  into  an  act  which  might 
be  wholly  illegal  as  a  mode  of  raising  revenue.  With 
that  firm  grasp  of  the  underlying  principle  of  a  ques- 
tion which  was  a  distinguishing  characteristic  of  his 
intelligence,  he  sees  in  the  apparent  insignificance  of 


GENERAL   DRIFT  OF  THE  LETTERS.  89 

the  impost,  so  far  as  future  dangers  are  concerned,  the 
most  alarming  feature  of  the  law.  He  regards  this  as 
the  most  enticing  bait  of  the  trap  into  which  we  are 
asked  deliberately  to  walk.  He  warns  his  countrymen 
against  it.  "  For  who  are  a  free  people  ?"  he  asks. 
"  Not  those  over  whom  government  is  reasonably  and 
equitably  exercised,  but  those  who  live  under  a  govern- 
ment so  constitutionally  checked  and  controlled  that 
proper  provision  is  made  against  its  ever  being  other- 
wise exercised."  Has  there  ever  been  a  clearer  defi- 
nition of  constitutional  rule?  He  insists  that  "  no  free 
people  ever  existed  or  can  exist  without  keeping  (to  use 
a  common  but  a  strong  expression)  the  purse-strings  in 
their  own  hands.  Where  this  is  the  case  they  have  a 
constitutional  check  upon  the  administration,  which  may 
thereby  be  brought  into  order  without  violence." 

Such  is  an  imperfect  sketch  of  the  great  work  of  John 
Dickinson, — the  famous  "  Farmer's  Letters,"  which  con- 
tain more  practical  and  applied  political  philosophy  than 
is  to  be  found  in  many  elaborate  treatises.  To  most 
Americans  they  became,  until  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
a  genuine  political  text-book,  and  their  maxims  were 
received  with  absolute  confidence.  Like  the  writing's 

o 

of  Burke,  of  which  these  letters  constantly  remind  us, 
they  form  a  great  storehouse  of  political  wisdom  from 
which  all  those  who  would  vindicate  the  American  Revo- 
lution on  the  ground  of  its  conformity  with  the  maxims 
of  the  English  law  must  draw  their  arguments  and  il- 
lustrations. They  teach  us  that  under  that  law  there 
was  such  a  thing  as  constitutional  resistance,  and  tell  us 
how  and  when  that  resistance  was  to  be  made.  They 
are  as  far  removed  from  recommending  submission  to 


9°         TEACH   CONSTITUTIONAL   RESISTANCE. 

wrong  as  the  wildest  harangues  of  the  New  England 
zealots,  or  as  the  sober  Petition  of  Right  which  the 
loyal  subjects  of  Charles  I.  presented  to  him  in  1628. 
Their  object  was  not  to  provide  a  specific  remedy  for 
the  injuries  complained  of  by  the  adoption  of  the  act 
levying  duties  on  glass,  paints,  etc.,  other  than  the  non- 
importation and  non-exportation  agreement,  which  it 
was  seen  must  prove  in  the  long  run  ineffective,  but  to 
cultivate  a  habit  of  constitutional  resistance  to  oppres- 
sive acts  of  Parliament  by  pointing  out  exactly  what 
our  rights  were  and  what  measures  of  redress  were 
open  to  us.  The  conviction  of  the  Farmer  was  that 
such  an  attitude  persistently  maintained,  according  to 
all  the  precedents  of  English  history,  would  accomplish 
the  object  he  had  in  view. 

The  fame  of  Mr.  Dickinson  as  the  author  of  these 
letters  soon  became  widely  spread,  not  only  on  this 
continent  but  in  Europe,  and,  what  is  more  to  the  pur- 
pose, his  conclusions  were  generally  adopted  by  his 
countrymen.  The  letters  were  read  as  they  appeared, 
at  intervals,  with  the  utmost  eagerness  by  that  large 
number  of  intelligent  persons  throughout  the  Colonies 
who  were  profoundly  anxious  about  the  result  of  the 
controversy  concerning  the  ministerial  measures,  and 
they  doubtless  gave  the  main  impulse  to  the  movement 
which,  beginning  with  the  circular  letter  of  Massachu- 
setts in  February,  1768,  gained  strength  every  year 
until  it  found  full  expression  in  the  first  Continental 
Congress  of  1 774.  There  was  a  peculiarity  about  these 
letters  which  added  much  to  their  popularity,  and  that 
was  their  opportuneness.  They  crystallized  opposition 


SETTLE  THE  NATURE  OF  THE  RESISTANCE.       91 

and  made  the  discontented  agree  upon  a  common  rem- 
edy. For  a  time  all  threats  of  armed  resistance  looking 
towards  a  project  of  independence  ceased.  Even  men 
of  the  most  advanced  opinions  thought  it  expedient 
to  try  the  Farmer's  way  before  moving  forward  in 
their  own.  The  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  at  the 
very  time  that  it  was  protesting  against  the  acts  of  the 
ministry,  did  not  hesitate  to  write  to  Lord  Hillsborough, 
the  Secretary  for  the  Colonies  in  1 768,  that  they  "would 
not  take  independency  if  offered  to  them."  The  prob- 
ability is  that  the  ministry  was  lulled  into  a  sense  of 
fancied  security  by  these  avowals  and  others  like  them 
expressed  in  the  different  Colonies,  and  that  it  sup- 
posed, from  the  very  moderate  language  used,  that  there 
would  be  no  forcible  resistance.  Not  only  did  people 
both  in  this  country  and  in  England  do  justice  to  the 
statesmanlike  view  of  the  position  which  Dickinson  had 
taken  in  these  letters,  but  there  seemed  also  a  general 
agreement  that  he  had  adopted  the  right  method  in 
stating  our  grievances  and  insisting  that  no  Englishman 
could  deny  the  lawfulness  of  the  opposition  which  he 
had  recommended.  Our  friends  in  England,  whose  aid 
he  had  always  invoked,  regarded  with  peculiar  satisfac- 
tion the  conciliatory  tone  which  he  had  adopted,  so  dif- 
ferent in  its  spirit  from  that  of  the  ordinary  threats, 
protests,  and  resolutions  by  which  the  British  public 
had  been  appealed  to.  So  general  was  the  approval 
of  his  course,  that  at  a  town  meeting  held  in  Boston 
on  the  2ist  of  March,  1768,  it  was  voted  "that  the 
thanks  of  the  town  be  given  to  the  ingenious  author 
of  a  course  of  letters,  published  at  Philadelphia  and  in 
this  place,  signed  'A  FARMER,'  wherein  the  rights  of 


92  THANKS    OF  THE   TOWN   OF  BOSTON. 


the  American  subjects  are  clearly  stated  and  fully  vindi- 
cated ;  and  Dr.  Benjamin  Church,  John  Hancock,  Sam- 
uel Adams,  Dr.  Joseph  Warren,  and  John  Rowe  are 
appointed  members  of  a  committee  to  prepare  and  pub- 
lish such  a  letter  of  thanks."  These  letters  were  con- 
sidered "very  wild"  by  Lord  Hillsborough ;  says  Mr. 
Bancroft,  "  Many  called  them  treasonable  and  seditious, 
yet  Edmund  Burke  approved  their  principle.  Trans- 
lated into  French,  they  were  much  read  in  Parisian 
salons  ;  their  author  was  compared  with  Cicero ;  Vol- 
taire joined  the  praise  of  the  farmer  of  Pennsylvania  and 
that  of  the  Russians  who  aspired  to  liberate  Greece."  x 

xAt  home  Dickinson  was  the  recipient  of  all  the  public  honors 
which  his  grateful  countrymen  could  bestow  upon  him.  He  was 
made  Doctor  of  Laws  by  the  College  of  New  Jersey  at  Princeton, 
and  in  his  diploma  he  was  called  by  a  title  of  which  he  was  always 
very  proud, — "The  Pennsylvania  Farmer."  He  was  made  a  mem- 
ber of  "  Fort  St.  David's  Company,"  now  "  the  State  in  Schuylkill," 
the  oldest  of  all  our  social  organizations,  in  a  way  peculiarly  gratify- 
ing to  his  feelings.  On  May  12,  1768,  fourteen  gentlemen,  members 
of  the  Society  of  Fort  St.  David's,  waited  upon  John  Dickinson,  and 
presented  an  address  (from  which  the  following  extracts  are  taken) 
enclosed  in  a  box  of  heart  of  oak.  "  We,  members  of  the  '  Governor 
and  Company  of  Fort  St.  David's,'  who  are  indebted  to  you  for  your 
most  excellent  and  generous  vindication  of  liberties  dearer  to  iis  than 
our  lives,  beg  leave  to  render  our  heartiest  thanks,  and  to  admit  you 
as  a  member  of  this  Society."  Among  other  things,  they  say,  "You 
have  penetrated  to  the  foundations  of  the  Constitution,  have  poured 
the  clearest  light  on  the  most  important  points,  hitherto  involved  in 
darkness  bewildering  even  the  learned,  and  have  established  with 
amazing  force  and  plainness  of  argument  the  true  distinctions  and 
grand  principles  that  will  fully  instruct  ages  yet  unborn  what  rights 
> belong  to  them  and  the  best  method  of  defending  them."  It  was 
pleasant  for  Mr.  Dickinson  to  feel  that  he  had  made  the  mysteries  of 
constitutional  law  plain  to  these  patriotic  fishermen  and  lovers  of 


GIVES  GREAT  OFFENCE  IN  ENGLAND.          93 

The  immediate  outcome  of  the  "Farmer's  Letters," 
as  we  have  said,  was  the  stricter  observance  of  the 
non-importation  and  non-exportation  agreement  which 
they  recommended,  and  renewed  petitions  to  the  min- 
istry for  the  repeal  of  the  acts  levying  duties.  On 
the  2Oth  of  February,  before  the  course  which  was 
to  be  pursued  by  the  other  Colonies  was  known,  the 
Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  instructed  its  agents  in 
London  to  co-operate  with  those  of  the  other  Colonies 
there  in  asking  for  the  repeal  of  these  acts.  The  legis- 
lature of  Massachusetts  went  still  further:  it  not  only 
petitioned  the  ministry  for  the  repeal,  but  sent  a  cir- 
cular letter  to  the  other  Colonies  denouncing  those  laws 
as  inequitable,  and  especially  complaining  of  the  dis- 
position proposed  to  be  made  of  the  taxes  levied  by 
them.  This  circular  gave  great  offence  in  England: 
the  governors  of  the  different  Colonies  were  com- 
manded by  Lord  Hillsborough  to  use  "  their  utmost 
influence  to  defeat  this  flagitious  attempt  to  disturb 
the  public  peace,"  etc.  If  such  an  appeal  should  prove 
vain,  then  the  governors  were  commanded  to  prorogue 
or  dissolve  the  Assemblies.  This  order  of  Lord  Hilis- 
borough's  was  sent,  among  others,  to  the  governor  of 
Pennsylvania ;  but  the  patriots  in  the  Assembly  did  not 
fail  to  remind  his  lordship  "  that  by  their  charter  and 
laws  they  had  a  right  to  sit  on  their  own  adjournments, 
and  that  the  governor  had  no  constitutional  right  to 
prorogue  or  dissolve  them,  and  that  it  was  their  un- 
doubted right  to  correspond  with  the  representatives 
of  the  freemen  of  any  of  his  Majesty's  Colonies  in 

good  cheer,  although  his  modesty  shrank  from  the  extravagant  terms 
in  which  their  approval  was  expressed. 


94          CIRCULAR  LETTER    OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 

America  relative  to  grievances  which  might  affect  the 
general  welfare  of  the  Colonies."  Two  things  are  to 
be  remarked  concerning  this  spirited  answer  of  the 
Assembly :  first,  the  stupid  ignorance  of  the  English 
authorities  as  to  the  actual  conditions  of  the  govern- 
ment of  one  of  the  principal  Colonies ;  and,  secondly, 
the  vast  superiority  of  Penn's  charter  to  the  charters 
of  the  other  Colonies,  consisting  in  the  power  which 
the  Assembly  possessed  to  assert  popular  rights  with- 
out any  fear  of  punishment.  This  was  a  peculiarity 
of  the  utmost  value,  and  much  insisted  upon,  as  we 
shall  see,  when  a  certain  party  in  the  Province,  urging 
the  abolition  of  the  charter,  spoke  of  it  as  oligarchical 
or  even  despotic  in  its  character.  Meantime,  the  agita- 
tion was  kept  up  in  Pennsylvania.  In  April,  1/68,  a 
great  meeting  was  held  in  Philadelphia,  in  which  Mr. 
Dickinson  explained  very  clearly  the  political  condition 
and  advocated  with  great  force  the  adoption  of  the 
non-importation  and  non-exportation  agreement.  This 
agreement  was  at  once  signed  by  all  the  large  im- 
porters and  merchants  here  and  in  all  the  principal 
towns  of  the  continent.  In  May  the  Pennsylvania 
Assembly  adopted  a  petition  to  the  king,  which  was 
drawn  up  by  no  less  a  person  than  Chief  Justice  Allen 
(who  held  his  office  by  royal  authority),  and  it  bears 
many  marks  of  the  collaboration  of  Dickinson,  who 
was  not  at  that  time  a  member  of  the  Assembly.  The 
petition  is  remarkable  for  the  force  with  which  it  insists 
that  recent  legislation  had  made  an  unfavorable  discrim- 
ination in  favor  of  the  other  subjects  of  the  empire  as 
compared  with  the  American  Colonists  ;  but  it  avoids 
any  reference  to  the  inexpediency  of  the  revenue  act, 


THE  MINISTRY  AND  THE  CIRCULAR  LETTER.     95 


lest  it  should  appear  for  a  moment  that  its  constitution- 
ality was  admitted.  By  such  painstaking  care  and  labor 
was  the  work  of  our  fathers  in  building  up  our  liberties 
on  a  sure  foundation  done.  And  it  should  never  be 
forgotten  that  the  master-workmen  in  this  great  enter- 
prise, whether  we  have  been  since  taught  to  call  them 
Whio-s  or  Tories,  patriots  or  loyalists,  proved  them- 
selves worthy  of  upholding  those  traditions  of  English 
liberty  in  which  they  had  been  nurtured.  They  all 
stood  in  those  days  in  the  same  rank, — Chew,  Gallo- 
way, Allen  and  his  sons,  the  Tilghmans,  Edward  Ship- 
pen,  and  George  Ross,  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  Dick- 
inson, Reed,  Clymer,  Franklin,  and  McKean. 

The  feeling  towards  England  during  the  summer  of 
1768  was  intensely  hostile,  and  in  that  country  people 
became  more  and  more  convinced  that  the  only  way 
of  stopping  the  complaints  of  the  disaffected  was  to 
send  a  fleet  to  reduce  the  people  of  Boston,  at  least, 
to  reason.  The  ministry  seems  to  have  laid  particular 
stress  upon  the  refusal  by  the  Massachusetts  legislature 
to  rescind  the  circular  letter  which  it  had  addressed  to 
the  different  Colonies.  That  refusal  was  the  signal  for 
the  outburst  of  the  long-pent-up  anger  of  the  ministry, 
and  the  legislature  was  forthwith  dissolved.  Feeling 
itself  strongly  supported  by  public  opinion  at  home, 
and  quite  sure  of  its  ability  to  master  the  situation  by 
a  display  of  force,  the  ministry  determined  to  carry  out 
its  policy  at  all  risks.  The  non-importation  and  non- 
exportation  agreement  not  having  proved  as  effective 
in  certain  parts  of  the  country  as  had  been  hoped, 
owing  to  the  selfishness  or  disaffection  of  many,  the 
Colonists  paid,  amidst  much  grumbling,  the  duties  on 


96  TROOPS  SENT  TO  BOSTON. 

glass,  paper,  paints,  and  tea,  because  they  were  articles 
of  prime  necessity.  The  government  at  home  had  no 
better  term  with  which  to  qualify  the  discontent  which 
prevailed  than  "the  insolence  of  the  town  of  Boston." 
A  vessel  of  war  was  ordered  to  Boston  harbor  to  pro- 
tect the  custom-house  officers;  two  regiments  under 
General  Gage  were  sent  thither  (a  force  afterwards 
largely  increased)  to  preserve  order;  threats  of  changing 
the  charter  were  made,  and  it  was  proposed  to  remove 
to  England  for  trial  those  persons  who  were  charged 
with  certain  offences  against  the  Crown. 

Thus  there  was  a  perpetual  irritation  kept  up  be- 
tween the  representatives  of  the  English  government 
in  Boston  and  the  townspeople.  Nothing,  of  course, 
could  be  more  offensive  to  a  population  bred  in  habits 
of  law  and  order  on  all  subjects  other  than  those 
which  were  political,  than  to  find  their  town  in  what 
is  called  in  modern  phrase  "a  state  of  siege."  It  was 
galling  beyond  measure  to  these  sons  of  the  Puritans 
to  discover  that  they  were  guarded  by  soldiers  on 
land,  and  that  their  trade  was  watched  by  armed  ves- 
sels in  the  bay.  Their  leaders  had  been  taught  by 
woful  experience  that  resistance,  unless  they  could 
unite  the  force  of  the  continent  for  that  purpose, 
would  be  idle.  They  refrained,  therefore,  from  any 
overt  act  of  opposition,  but  the  bitterness  and  dis- 
content grew  stronger  every  day.  At  last  (in  July, 
1769)  that  portion  of  this  hotly-contested  act  which 
imposed  import  duties  on  paper,  glass,  and  paints 
was  repealed  by  Parliament,  leaving  in  force  only  that 
which  levied  a  tax  on  tea,  which  was  reduced  to  three- 
pence a  pound.  The  object  was  simply  to  maintain 


THE  PORT  CLOSED.  97 

the  principle  of  taxation,  and  this  was  the  least  tan- 
talizing and  vexatious  way  of  doing  it  that  could  be 
found.  The  details  of  the  shipment  of  the  tea  by  the 
East  India  Company  to  Boston,  and  its  destruction 
there,  are  familiar,  and  it  is  therefore  not  necessary  to 
repeat  them.1 

In  consequence  of  this  act,  Parliament,  with  the  gen- 
eral approval  of  the  English  public,  directed  that  the 
port  of  Boston  should  be  closed,  that  the  town  should 
be  declared  in  a  state  of  rebellion,  and  that  an  in- 
creased military  force  should  be  stationed  there.  Not 
a  whisper  of  conciliation  came  from  England  at  this 
time:  the  object  of  these  measures  was  not  compen- 
sation to  the  East  India  Company,  but  the  punishment 
of  Boston  for  what  was  then  commonly  called  "  its  in- 
solence in  permitting  the  destruction  of  the  tea." 

In  the  mean  time  there  was  comparative  quiet  in  the 
other  Colonies,  and  in  many  of  them,  doubtless,  it  was 
felt  that  the  condition  of  Boston  was  largely  due  to  un- 
lawful acts  which  she  ought  to  have  prevented.  Men 
elsewhere,  as  was  natural,  preferred  to  consider  their 

1  The  fact  that  Philadelphia  was  the  first  city  on  the  continent 
which  adopted  measures  to  prevent  the  landing  of  the  tea  is  not 
so  well  known.  On  the  i8th  of  October,  1773,  a  meeting  of  the 
citizens  was  held  in  the  State- House  yard  (Dr.  Thomas  Cadwalader 
presiding),  when  resolutions  were  adopted  announcing  the  determi- 
nation of  the  citizens  that  the  tea  which  had  been  sent  to  this  port 
should  not  be  landed.  The  meeting  in  Boston  for  the  same  purpose 
was  held  on  November  5,  1773,  when  the  resolutions  adopted  by  the 
Philadelphia  meeting  were  approved  almost  in  the  same  words,  the 
chairman  of  the  Boston  meeting,  John  Hancock,  saying  that  they 
fully  expressed  the  opinion  prevailing  there.  (See  Pennsylvania 
Mercury  of  October  i,  1791,  and  Frothingham's  "Rise  of  the 
Republic.") 


98        DICKINSON  AGAIN  IN  THE  ASSEMBLY. 

own  position  in  the  quarrel,  to  point  to  their  own  ex- 
ample, and  to  decide  for  themselves  what  should  be 
their  attitude  in  those  evil  days  which  all  felt  were  fast 
coming  on  them. 

There  was  a  sincere  and  deep-felt  sympathy  here  with 
the  people  of  Boston  in  the  sufferings  which  they  were 
called  upon  to  endure  in  consequence  of  the  destruction 
of  the  tea,  an  act  which,  strange  to  say,  was  regarded 
in  Massachusetts  as  almost  heroic,  while  the  people 
here  not  merely  condemned  it  as  unlawful,  to  speak 
mildly,  but  insisted  that  compensation  should  be  made 
to  the  East  India  Company  for  its  loss. 

Mr.  Dickinson  became  again  a  member  of  the  As- 
sembly in  1 77 1,  and  on  the  5th  of  March  of  that  year 
he  drafted,  at  the  request  of  the  Assembly,  a  Petition 
to  the  King,  which  was  unanimously  adopted.  This 
petition  complained  that,  while  many  of  the  acts  re- 
cently passed  for  the  sole  purpose  of  raising  a  revenue 
had  been  repealed,  the  duties  on  tea  were  still  retained, 
adding,  "  we  have  reason  to  fear,  forming  a  precedent 
for  repeating  such  taxation  hereafter."  The  petition, 
which  is  in  the  tone  of  the  most  loyal  devotion  to  the 
Crown,  asks  that  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  may  be 
restored  to  the  condition  they  were  in  before  1 763. 

Mr.  Dickinson  may  have  suffered  from  the  unpopu- 
larity which  clung  to  him  in  consequence  of  his  support 
of  the  Proprietary  charter  in  1764.  But  he  was  not 
lost  sight  of  in  time  of  need.  It  is  very  clear  from  the 
result  that  these  years  were  given  by  him  to  a  continued 
study  of  the  relations  of  the  Colonies  with  the  metropo- 
lis. The  first  fruit  of  these  studies  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  "  Farmer's  Letters,"  the  most  accurate  and 


BECOMES   UNPOPULAR  IN  NEW  ENGLAND.       99 

satisfactory  statement  of  those  relations  which  had  been 
made  public.  These  letters  brought  him  at  once  into 
the  foremost  rank  of  controversialists,  and  soon  forced 
his  recognition  on  all  sides  throughout  the  continent  as 
the  leader  in  the  coming  struggle.  It  is  true  that  no 
change  of  circumstances  could  induce  him  to  modify  the 
great  principles  which  he  had  held  in  the  quarrel  as  he 
had  stated  them  in  the  "  Farmer's  Letters."  Hence  his 
influence  with  certain  advanced  patriots  in  New  England 
became  impaired.  Those  who  had  been  loudest  in  his 
praises  in  that  part  of  the  country,  and  who  had  fol- 
lowed his  teaching  when  they  called  him  the  "  illustrious 
farmer,"  not  only  forsook  him  as  time  went  on  and 
they  found  that  he  did  not  approve  of  their  course,  but 
denounced  him  because  he  would  not  plunge  into 
revolutionary  current  with  them.  They  did  not  con- 
sider that  the  change  was  with  them  and  not  with 'him. 
The  truth  is,  the  people  of  Massachusetts,  and  espe- 
cially of  Boston,  were  so  indignant  and  so  excited  by 
the  scenes  of  wretchedness  and  ruin  daily  before  their 
eyes  that  they  lost  all  control  of  themselves,  and  spoke 
with  contempt  of  any  sympathy  expressed  for  them 
which  did  not  promise  material  aid  for  their  support. 
Mr.  Dickinson,  in  a  private  letter  to  one  of  his  former 
admirers  in  Boston  just  after  the  destruction  of  the  tea, 
had  ventured  to  doubt  whether  that  act  was  a  wise  one. 
Whereupon  Mr.  Quincy  (for  it  was  he  who  was  Dick- 
inson's correspondent)  replied  (August  20,  1774),  "I 
say,  if  a  Colony  thus  insulted,  galled  from  without  and 
vexed  within,  should  seem  to  advance  and  break  the  line 
of  opposition,  ought  it  to  incur  the  heavy  censure  of 
betraying  the  common  cause  ?"  Dickinson  replies  not 


ioo        HIS  ADVICE  NO   LONGER  FOLLOWED. 

merely  with  courtesy,  but  in  the  kindest  possible  spirit : 
"  I  trembled  lest  something  might  have  happened  which 
/  could  not  only  forgive  but  applaud,  but  which  might 
have  been  eagerly  and  basely  seized  upon  by  others  as 
a  pretence  for  deserting  them.  This  was  the  sense  of 
men  in  Philadelphia  the  most  devoted  to  the  people 
of  Boston,  and  under  this  apprehension  we  agreed 
to  make  use  of  the  strongest  expressions.  I  wrote  in 
agonies  of  mind  for  my  brethren  in  Boston."  So  much 
for  Quincy.  Samuel  Adams,  John  Adams,  and  Gerry 
expressed  similar  opinions  at  this  crisis.  They  had 
been  unwilling,  or  perhaps  unable,  to  take  the  advice 
or  follow  the  example  of  Dickinson.  When  trouble 
came  upon  them  in  consequence,  they  appealed  to  him 
again  for  counsel,  but  found  him  unwilling  to  change 
the  well-settled  opinions  of  his  life  and  to  advise  the 
people  of  Pennsylvania  to  aid  those  who  were  en- 
gaged in  violent  resistance  to  the  execution  of  acts  of 
Parliament.  The  truth  is,  the  people  of  Boston  were 
fast  drifting  into  a  revolution.  If  they  were  not  con- 
scious of  it,  the  vast  majority  of  the  people  of  the  other 
Colonies  saw  it  plainly,  and,  as  they  were  then  united  for 
a  redress  of  grievances,  they  could  not  seek  that  redress 
by  force  until  the  usual  orderly  and  peaceful  means 
of  obtaining  it,  by  a  common  effort,  had  utterly  failed. 
Such,  at  least,  was  John  Dickinson's  doctrine,  and  he 
was  never  forgiven  by  the  New  England  zealots  because 
he  refused  to  follow  them  in  their  blind  fury.  From 
that  day  he  was  no  longer  to  them  the  "illustrious 
farmer,"  but  u  timid,"  "  apathetic,"  "  deficient  in  energy," 
etc.  He  became  the  point  of  attack  of  these  men 
during  the  Revolution,  and  he  has  become  to  the  New 


SAMUEL  ADAMS  AND  DICKINSON. 

England  historians  ever  since  the  type  of  a  weak, 
doubting,  and  undecided  trimmer.  The  following  ex- 
tracts from  Mr.  Wells's  "  Life  of  Samuel  Adams"  will 
explain  how  such  opinions  came  to  be  held : 

"From  the  time  that  the  celebrated  John  Dickinson  commenced 
writing  his  'Farmer's  Letters/  in  the  fall  of  1767,  Mr.  Adams  had 
felt  his  heart  warm  towards  him  with  the  sympathy  of  one  great 
mind  appreciating  another  through  his  works,  without  a  personal 
acquaintance.  He  was  so  pleased  with  the  purity  of  style  and  devoted 
patriotism  of  those  writings  that  he  repeatedly  quoted  them  in  his 
own  essays,  as  if  anxious  that  the  New  England  people  should  not 
miss  their  benign  influence,  and  he  often  held  them  up  to  his  fel- 
low-citizens as  worthy  of  their  frequent  consideration.  No  man 
south  of  Massachusetts  had  done  so  much  in  the  press  as  Dickinson 
to  support  the  popular  cause.  Latterly,  however,  his  writings  had 
grown  less  frequent,  and  Adams,  solicitous  that  the  subject  of  Parlia- 
mentary supremacy  which  had  been  raised  in  Massachusetts  should 
also  be  discussed  in  the  other  Provinces,  now  wrote  to  Dickinson  for 
the  double  purpose  of  engaging  his  powerful  pen  on  that  point,  and 
to  establish  a  somewhat  more  familiar  relationship  between  them  than 
that  of  merely  hearing  each  other  mentioned  by  mutual  friends. 
There  was  a  wide  difference  between  the  two  men:  both  were 
ardently  devoted  to  American  liberty;  each  was  recognized  as  the 
ablest  writer  in  his  section  of  the  continent,  and  each  commanded 
public  respect  by  his  unaffected  piety  and  love  of  justice.  But  while 
the  most  cherished  wish  of  Adams  was  the  total  independence  of 
his  country,  Dickinson,  who  for  some  time  influenced  Pennsylvania 
through  the  general  admiration  of  his  character,  shrunk  from  such 
a  thought,  and  longed  for  nothing  more  than  conciliation.  Adams 
was  acquainted  with  poverty  and  the  humble  in  life,  and  had  reached 
eminence  among  his  townsmen  by  mingling  with  public  affairs  and 
personally  leading  in  political  measures.  Dickinson,  surrounded  by 
wealth,  and  enjoying  leisure  to  cultivate  his  scholarly  tastes,  was 
without  physical  vigor,  loved  repose  and  retirement,  and  was  fearful 
of  precipitancy  in  the  measures  of  the  New  Englanders. 

"The  one,  with  his  inflexible  will  and  ceaseless  energy,  never  lost 
sight  of  his  purpose,  and  yet  constantly  tempered  his  zeal  with  a 


102  THEIR    CORRESPONDENCE. 

sagacious  appreciation  of  the  character  of  the  people  and  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  time;  the  other,  with  an  organization  not  more 
sensitive  than  that  of  Adams,  had  nothing  decisive  in  his  composi- 
tion, and  lacked  the  power  which  constitutes  a  leader.  Yet  the  two 
men  had,  each  in  his  own  particular  sphere,  exceeded  all  others  in 
creating  public  opinion.  Adams  saw  that  if  he  could  induce  Dick- 
inson to  commence  writing  on  the  subject  of  the  late  controversy, 
the  name  of  the  author  would  command  general  attention,  and  Dick- 
inson would  stand  committed  to  the  position  taken  by  the  Massachu- 
setts legislature,  thus  leading  the  way  to  the  adoption  of  the  same 
doctrine  by  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly.  The  correspondence,  which 
has  been  preserved,  is  as  follows  : 

"BOSTON,  March  27,  1773. 

"  SIR, — I  take  the  liberty  of  enclosing  an  oration  delivered  by  Dr. 
Benjamin  Church  on  the  anniversary  of  the  5th  of  March,  1770, 
which  I  beg  the  favor  of  you  to  accept. 

"The  proceedings  of  our  General  Assembly  at  our  last  session  you 
may  perhaps  have  seen  in  the  newspapers.  Our  governor  in  a  man- 
ner forced  the  Assembly  to  express  their  sentiments  of  so  delicate 
though  important  a  subject  as  the  supreme  authority  of  the  Par- 
liament of  Great  Britain  over  the  Colonies.  The  silence  of  the  other 
Assemblies,  of  late,  upon  any  subject  that  concerns  the  joint  interest 
of  the  Colonies,  rendered  it  somewhat  difficult  to  determine  what  to 
say  with  propriety.  As  the  sense  of  the  Colonies  might  possibly  be 
drawn  from  what  might  be  advanced  by  this  Province,  you  will  con- 
ceive that  the  Assembly  would  have  chosen  to  be  silent  till  the  senti- 
ments of  at  least  gentlemen  of  eminence  out  of  this  Province  could 
be  known ;  at  the  same  time  that  silence  would  have  been  construed 
as  the  acknowledgment  of  the  governor's  principles  and  a  submission 
to  the  fatal  effect  of  them.  What  will  be  the  consequences  of.  this 
controversy  time  must  determine.  If  the  governor  entered  into  it 
of  his  own  notion,  as  I  am  apt  to  believe  he  did,  he  may  not  have 
the  approbation  of  the  ministry  for  counteracting  what  appears  to 
me  to  have  been  for  two  years  past  their  favorite  design,  to  keep  the 
Americans  quiet  and  to  lull  them  into  security. 

"  Could  your  health  or  leisure  admit  of  it,  a  publication  of  your  sen- 
timents on  this  and  other  matters  of  the  most  interesting  importance 
would  be  of  substantial  advantage  to  your  country.  Your  candor 


DIVERGENCE    OF  THEIR   VIEWS. 


will  excuse  the  freedom  I  take  in  this  repeated  request  ;  an  individual 
has  some  right,  in  behalf  of  the  public,  still  to  urge  the  assistance  of 
those  who  have  been  heretofore  themselves  its  ablest  advocates. 

"  I  shall  take  it  a  favor  if  you  will  present  the  other  enclosed  oration 
to  Mr.  Reed,  whom  I  once  had  the  pleasure  of  conversing  with  in 
this  place,  and  to  whom  I  would  have  written  by  this  unexpected 
opportunity,  but  am  prevented  by  the  hurry  of  the  bearer. 

"I  am,  sir,  with  sincere  regard,  your  most  humble  servant, 

"  SAMUEL  ADAMS. 

"  JOHN  DICKINSON,  ESQ.,  Philadelphia. 

"  Upon  what  other  occasion  they  had  corresponded  is  not  known, 
unless  he  refers  by  this  '  repeated  request'  to  the  vote  of  thanks  which 
Boston,  in  April,  1  768,  had  sent  to  the  author  of  the   '  Farmer's 
Letters'  by  the  hand  of  Samuel  Adams. 
"  Dickinson  immediately  replied  : 

"  FAIRHILL,  NEAR  PHILADELPHIA, 
April  10,  1773. 

"  DEAR  SIR,  —  I  return  you  my  hearty  thanks  for  your  favor  of 
the  27th  of  March,  which  has  just  come  to  my  hands,  and  for  the 
enclosed  oration. 

"  I  have  seen  with  the  sincerest  pleasure  the  proceedings  you  men- 
tion. They  are  greatly  approved,  even  by  those  who,  by  a  strange 
combination  of  events,  are  affected  with  a  political  lethargy.  The 
firmness,  temper,  and  wisdom  of  your  Assembly  are  acknowledged 
to  do  them  honor.  May  the  same  zeal,  united  with  the  same  knowl- 
edge, still  govern  the  conduct  of  your  truly  respectable  Province,  till 
time  shall  ripen  the  period  for  asserting  more  successfully  the  liberties 
of  these  Colonies,  that  thereby  they  may  be  kept  on  the  watch  to 
seize  the  happy  opportunity  when  it  offers. 

"  My  heart  is  devoted  with  the  most  ardent  affection  to  the  interests 
of  my  countrymen.  I  join  in  their  opposition  to  the  encroachments 
of  Great  Britain  from  two  motives,  —  a  love  of  liberty  and  a  love 
of  peace,  —  for  I  am  convinced  in  my  own  mind  that  no  solid,  per- 
manent tranquillity  will  be  established  in  America  until  they  attain 
1  pladdam  stib  libertate  quiet  em.  * 

"But,  sir,  though  these  are  my  sentiments,  I  must  beg  you  will 
please  to  excuse  me  from  enlarging  on  them  in  any  publication. 

"I  never  had  that  idea  of  my  abilities  or  learning  to  suppose  that 


104  MR.   ADAMS  AND    THE    QUAKERS. 

anything  that  I  could  offer  to  my  countrymen  could  merit  their  atten- 
tion after  the  same  subject  had  been  discussed  by  another  person.  I 
never  took  up  my  pen  as  a  volunteer,  but  always  as  a  man  pressed  into 
the  service  of  my  country  by  a  sense  of  my  duty  to  her ;  and  though 
for  a  little  while  I  may  have  endeavored  to  maintain  a  post,  yet  it 
has  only  been  till  a  better  soldier  could  come  more  completely  armed 
to  defend  it. 

"The  cause  is  in  excellent  hands.  May  Heaven  prosper  their 
worthy  efforts.  .  .  . 

"I  am,  sir,  with  the  strictest  esteem, 

"  Your  very  humble  servant, 

"  JOHN  DICKINSON. 
"  SAMUEL  ADAMS,  ESQ." 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  services  of  Mr.  Samuel 
Adams  as  a  revolutionary  leader,  it  is  very  clear  that 
he  lacked  one  quality  which  is  usually  reckoned  essen- 
tial in  a  person  claiming  such  a  position, — a  spirit  of 
moderation  and  conciliation.  Not  understanding  Mr. 
Dickinson's  temperament,  he  assumed  to  dictate  to  him 
the  course  he  should  pursue.  When  we  consider  their 
relative  positions  at  the  time,  such  an  attempt  appears 
presumptuous  enough.  With  what  calm  and  perfect 
dignity  Dickinson  rebuked  this  pretension  is  very  ob- 
servable in  this  letter.  The  truth  is,  no  one  out  of  New 
England  could  submit  to  the  arrogance  of  a  man  who, 
at  a  time  when  it  was  necessary  to  conciliate  all  parties 
so  that  independence  might  be  achieved,  did  not  hes- 
itate to  call  the  Quakers  of  Pennsylvania,  who  bore 
their  burdens  without  appealing  to  any  one  for  aid, 
in  a  pamphlet  addressed  to  them,  "pigeon-hearted 
wretches''  and  "puling  pusillanimous  cowards." 

Under  these  circumstances  an  appeal  was  made  by 
Boston,  not  for  sympathy  only,  but  for  material  aid  and 


BOSTON'S  MESSAGE    TO  PHILADELPHIA.       105 

co-operation,  in  measures  which  would  involve  the  good 
people  of  Pennsylvania  in  what  they  were  old-fashioned 
enough  to  think  the  guilt  of  rebellion.  On  the  iQth 
of  May,  1774,  Mr.  Paul  Revere  arrived  in  Philadelphia 
as  a  messenger  from  Boston,  the  bearer  of  letters  from 
Messrs.  Samuel  Adams,  John  Hancock,  and  Thomas 
Gushing  to  Messrs.  Reed  and  Miffliri,  in  which  the 
sympathy  and  co-operation  of  this  city  and  Province 
were  invoked  to  protect  them  against  the  effect  of 
ministerial  vengeance.  The  private  letters  which  he 
brought  were  even  more  emphatic  and  alarming  in 
their  tone.  The  writers  assured  their  correspondents 
in  Philadelphia  that,  unless  that  city  joined  them  in  their 
action,  Boston  was  in  no  condition  to  make  any  oppo- 
sition, and  declared  that  their  conduct  in  this  crisis 
depended  upon  that  of  Philadelphia.1  These  corre- 
spondents, feeling  that  the  opinion  and  counsel  of  Mr. 
Dickinson  in  this  exigency  would  be  most  valuable,  and 
that  his  presence  at  the  public  meeting  which  it  was 
proposed  to  hold  was  essential  if  any  active  proceed- 
ings against  the  ministerial  tyranny  were  to  be  adopted, 
determined  to  visit  him  at  his  country  residence,  Fair- 
hill.  These  gentlemen  were  all  intimate  personal  friends 
of  Dickinson,  and  no  greater  proof  could  be  given  of 
the  extraordinary  power  which  he  then  wielded  than 
that  they  should  all  have  instinctively  turned  to  him  to 
solve  the  question  of  the  fate  of  a  continent. 

On  their  arrival  at  Fairhill  they  tried  hard  to  induce 
him  to  be  present  at  the  meeting  which  had  been  con- 
vened to  consider  the  Boston  message,  and  to  say  a 
few  words  in  order  to  encourage  the  people  there  to 
1  See  the  statement  of  Charles  Thomson,  Appendix  II. 


106  DICKINSON  OPPOSES  VIOLENCE. 

persevere  in  the  course  they  had  seen  fit  to  adopt. 
Dickinson  was  evidently  fully  conscious  of  the  re- 
sponsibility of  the  position  which  he  occupied,  but  de- 
clined, as  he  had  done  before,  to  say  anything  which 
might  seem  like  approval  of  their  violent  measures, 
although  he  expressed  deep  sympathy  with  them  in  the 
trouble  in  which  they  had  become  involved.  Nothing 
could  induce  him  to  go  further, — not  even  "  the  gener- 
ous circulation  of  the  convivial  glass/'  which  Mr.  Reed 
tells  us  was  tried,  as  a  "  conversational  aperient/'  The 
wine  failing  to  make  him  more  "  animated,  communica- 
tive, and  adventurous,"  flattery  was  next  tried,  and  he 
was  told  that  it  was  owing  to  the  "  Farmer's  Letters" 
and  his  example  that  there  was  a  present  disposition 
to  oppose  the  tyranny  of  Parliament.  Dickinson  re- 
mained immovable.  He  could  not  be  brought  to  ap- 
prove the  Boston  measures,  because  their  violence  had 
destroyed  all  hopes  of  the  success  of  his  favorite  policy 
of  conciliation.  He  was  equally  opposed  to  submission 
and  to  resistance  by  force,  at  least  for  the  present.  He 
preferred  to  wait  until  the  people  should  show  that 
they  had  well  weighed  the  consequences  of  resistance 
and  were  in  some  measure  prepared  (which  so  far  they 
had  not  shown)  to  abide  by  them.  With  these  views 
he  at  last  consented  to  attend  the  meeting  at  the  City 
Tavern  on  the  2Oth  of  May.  He  made  a  short  speech, 
in  which  he  confined  himself  to  expressions  of  sympathy 
for  the  people  of  Boston,  and  to  advising  a  request  to 
the  governor  to  convene  the  Assembly  of  the  Province 
to  take  into  consideration  the  grave  condition  of  public 
affairs. 

An  answer  of  a  friendly  kind  was  at  once  drawn  up 


EDWARD    TILGHMAN'S  ACCOUNT.  ™7 

by  Dr.  Smith  (the  Provost  of  the  college)  to  the  Boston 
letter,  Mr.  Dickinson  not  being  present.  The  people 
there  were  told  that  while  it  was  felt  that  Boston  was 
suffering  in  the  common  cause,  yet  it  was  the  opinion 
of  the  Philadelphia  meeting  that  if  this  unhappy  con- 
troversy could  be  ended  by  paying  the  East  India 
Company  compensation  for  the  tea  which  had  been 
destroyed,  it  would  be  advisable  to  take  that  course. 

As  this  meeting  had  important  consequences,  it  may 
be  well  to  give  an  account  of  it  sent  by  an  eye-witness 
— Edward  Tilghman — to  his  father  in  Maryland,  in  a 
letter  dated  May  26,  1774.  Mr.  Tilghman  was  the  son 
of  the  Hon.  Edward  Tilghman,  of  Wye,  in  Maryland  ; 
the  nephew  of  Matthew  Tilghman,  who  was  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Maryland  Convention,  and  of  James  Tilgh- 
man, the  secretary  of  the  Province  and  councillor ;  the 
cousin  of  Colonel  Tench  Tilghman,  the  favorite  aide-de- 
camp of  Washington,  and  of  Judge  William  Tilghman, 
for  many  years  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Pennsylvania.  He  himself  was  in  .1776  a  private  sol- 
dier in  one  of  the  regiments  of  the  Philadelphia  Asso- 
ciators,  and  afterwards  brigade-major  to  Lord  Stirling 
at  the  battle  of  Long  Island.  He  became  in  after-life 
the  most  distinguished  lawyer  of  his  day,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  late  Horace  Binney. 

"  In  regard  to  the  meeting  at  the  City  Tavern,  Mr. 
Reed,  a  rising  lawyer  who  came  among  us  from  New 
Jersey,  made  a  motion  to  address  the  governor  to  call 
the  Assembly,  that  we  might  show  our  inclination  to 
take  every  legal  step  in  order  to  obtain  redress  of  our 
grievances.  He  was  seconded  by  Mr.  Dickinson.  It 
is  agreed  on  all  hands  that  he  spoke  with  great  cool- 


DR.   SMITH'S  LETTER. 


ness,  calmness,  moderation,  and  good  sense.  Charles 
Thomson,  as  well  as  Reed,  was  more  violent.  He 
spoke  till  he  fainted,  and  then  went  at  it  again.  They 
were  opposed  by  Alexander  Wilcocks  and  by  Dr. 
Smith,  but  upon  a  division  the  motion  was  carried  by  a 
vast  majority.  The  sense  of  the  people  is  evidently  in 
favor  of  the  measure.  The  governor  was  quiet  in  the 
tea  affair.  He  did  not  attempt  a  landing  of  the  tea,  or 
give  the  ministry  any  intelligence  in  the  matter.  For 
this  he  has  received  an  exceedingly  severe  letter  from 
Lord  Dartmouth,  a  letter,  I  am  informed,  pressing  him 
so  closely  that  it  was  very  difficult  to  answer.  Govern- 
ment is  watching  every  opportunity  of  taking  away  our 
charters.  Those  with  whom  I  have  talked  are  for  pay- 
ing for  the  tea,  protesting  that  they  do  it  because  they 
cannot  help  it,  and  for  entering  into  the  most  firm  and 
decent  association  against  consuming  articles  that  have 
paid  the  duty." 

The  letter  of  Dr.  Smith's  on  behalf  of  the  Philadel- 
phia meeting,  showing  so  little  of  the  kind  of  sympathy 
which  had  been  expected  in  Boston,  is  said  by  John 
Adams  to  have  been  "  coldly  received"  there.  One  im- 
mediate consequence  was  apparent.  John  Dickinson, 
who  had  not  been  consulted  about  the  letter,  but  whose 
sentiments  it  certainly  did  express,  had  long  been  al- 
most as  much  of  a  popular  idol  in  Boston  as  he  was 
in  Philadelphia,  but  he  soon  ceased  to  have  any  wor- 
shippers. Samuel  Adams  alone  pleaded  the  cause  of 
his  old  friend.  With  a  manliness  which  did  not  always 
characterize  him,  he  insisted,  "After  all,  the  Farmer 
is  right  :  at  the  present  crisis  submission  or  resist- 
ance would  prove  equally  ruinous  to  the  cause."  But 


BOSTON  OPINION  AND  DICKINSON.  i°9 

apparently  he  stood  alone.  Dickinson  was  dethroned 
from  the  conspicuous  shrine  he  had  occupied  in  the 
temple  of  the  Sons  of  Liberty,  and  his  name  has  been 
rescued  from  forgetfulness  in  that  part  of  the  country 
only  by  the  bitter  taunts  which  the  recollection  of 
his  counsel  to  "pay  for  the  tea"  has  forced  the  New 
England  writers  to  cast  upon  his  memory.1 

The  Philadelphia  committee,  whose  letter  had  fallen  so 
far  below  the  expectation  of  the  people  of  Boston,  were 
not  inactive  in  taking  such  measures  as  they  thought 
the  condition  of  the  country  required.  During  the 
summer  of  1774  the  population  of  the  city,  with  John 
Dickinson  at  their  head,  were  engaged  in  organizing 
resistance,  should  such  resistance  become  necessary. 

x  The  different  course  pursued  in  Philadelphia  and  in  Boston  on 
the  arrival  of  the  tea-ships  furnishes  a  strong  illustration  of  the  dif- 
ference in  the  two  communities.  The  agents  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany and  consignees  of  the  tea  in  Philadelphia  were  Messrs.  Thomas 
and  Isaac  Wharton,  Quakers,  be  it  remembered,  but  good  patriots  in 
their  opposition  to  the  Tea  Act.  This  is  the  account  they  give  to 
their  correspondents  concerning  the  attempt  to  land  the  tea  here, 
under  the  date  of  December  27,  1773:  "At  ten  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  the  27th,  a  very  numerous  meeting  of  the  inhabitants 
determined  that  the  tea  should  not  be  landed,  and  allowed  Captain 
Ayres  till  next  day  to  furnish  himself  with  provisions,  etc.,  on  condi- 
tion that  his  ship  should  depart  from  her  then  situation  and  proceed 
down  the  river,  some  of  the  committee  going  down  to  the  ship  with 
Captain  Ayres,  in  order  to  see  the  first  step  performed,  which  being 
effected,  he  returned  to  the  city.  T.  and  I.  W.  with  I.  B.  offered  to 
advance  Captain  Ayres  such  a  sum  of  money  as  he  should  need.  .  .  . 
Thou  wilt  observe  that  as  the  ship  was  not  entered  in  our  port,  no 
part  of  the  cargo  was  unloaded,  either  the  property  of  the  Honorable 
East  India  Company  or  that  of  any  private  person,  and,  as  I  find  that 
my  brother  Samuel  (in  London)  had  caused  a  chariot  to  be  shipped 
on  board,  it  naturally  returns  with  the  other  goods,"  etc. 


no     PENNSYLVANIAN  FORM  OF  RESISTANCE. 


News  having  arrived  in  the  beginning  of  June  of  the 
passage  of  two  additional  acts  of  Parliament  intended 
still  further  to  harass  the  people  of  Boston,  a  public 
meeting  was  held  in  the  State-House  yard  (eight 
thousand  persons  are  said  to  have  been  present)  on 
the  2Oth  of  that  month,  presided  over  by  Thomas  Wil- 
ling and  John  Dickinson.  The  meeting  took  some  bold 
steps,  which  became  very  important  in  the  progress 
of  the  controversy.  It  not  only  declared  the  Boston 
Port  Bill  unconstitutional  (that  is,  in  excess  of  the 
ordinary  legislative  power  of  Parliament),  but  created 
a  Committee  of  Correspondence  with  practical  functions 
of  great  importance.  This  committee  was  to  corre- 
spond and  consult  not  merely  with  like  committees  in 
the  other  Colonies,  but  also  with  similar  committees  to 
be  appointed  in  each  county  of  this  Province.  These 
committees  were  to  send  delegates  (conferees,  as  they 
were  called)  to  a  meeting  to  be  held  in  Philadelphia  on 
the  1 5th  of  July.  These  conferees  met  on  the  day  ap- 
pointed, and,  considering  themselves  as  the  true  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  of  Pennsylvania,  although  very 
irregularly  chosen  and  without  the  shadow  of  any  legal 
authority,  undertook  not  merely  to  instruct  the  legal 
Assembly,  which  was  to  meet  in  August,  that  they 
should  choose  delegates  to  the  Continental  Congress, 
but  also  to  express  what  they  supposed  to  be  the  opin- 
ion of  the  people  of  Pennsylvania,  in  the  shape  of  in- 
structions to  these  delegates  on  the  momentous  ques- 
tions of  the  hour.  In  short,  we  must  consider  this 
Conference  simply  as  a  revolutionary  body  forced  by 
an  overruling  necessity  in  the  opinion  of  its  members, 
who  were  among  the  most  conspicuous  and  patriotic 


INSTRUCTIONS    TO   THE  ASSEMBLY.  i" 

men  of  the  time  in  the  Province,  to  adopt  an  extra- 
legal  course.  The  chairman  of  this  Committee  of  Cor- 
respondence in  Philadelphia  was  John  Dickinson  ;  and 
when  the  Conference  met,  he,  on  behalf  of  that  commit- 
tee, presented  three  papers  indicating  the  course  which 
should  be  pursued  at  the  crisis.  These  were  unani- 
mously adopted  by  the  Conference,  and  they  are  spoken 
of  by  Ramsay,  the  historian,  as  the  most  "  clear,  pre- 
cise, and  determinate  of  any  which  had  been  presented 
during  the  controversy."  The  first  was  a  series  of 
resolutions  embodying  the  principles  upon  which  we 
rested  our  claims  for  redress  ;  the  second  was  a  code  of 
instructions  *  to  the  delegates  who  were  to  be  chosen 
by  the  Assembly  to  represent  the  Province  in  the  Con- 
tinental Congress;  and  the  third  was  an  exhaustive 
treatise  or  essay  upon  the  constitutional  power  of  Great 
Britain  to  tax  the  Colonies,  illustrating  and  enforcing 

1  In  regard  to  the  instructions  given  by  the  Assembly  to  the 
delegates  to  the  Congress  there  has  been  some  confusion.  Mr.  Gal- 
loway, in  his  examination  before  the  House  of  Commons,  told  the 
committee  that  he  drew  up  his  own  instructions.  It  is  true  that  as 
Speaker  of  the  Assembly  he  sent  to  each  of  the  delegates  a  notice  of 
his  election,  but  he  told  them  also  that  such  would  be  the  diversity 
of  subjects  in  Congress  that  no  specific  instructions  could  be  given, 
except  that  the  union  of  the  Crown  and  the  Colonies  was  to  be 
maintained.  The  real  and  binding  instructions  (so  far  as  any  instruc- 
tions could  be  binding)  had  been  prepared  by  Mr.  Dickinson  at  the 
request  of  the  Conference  of  July  15.  They  were  very  elaborate,  both 
as  to  the  election  of  the  delegates  and  as  to  their  duties,  and  they 
were  adopted  by  this  extra-legal  body  because  it  was  felt  that  an  As- 
sembly so  completely  under  the  control  of  a  man  of  the  well-known 
royalist  sentiments  of  Mr.  Galloway  could  not  be  trusted  either  to 
elect  such  delegates  to  the  Continental  Congress  or  to  give  them 
instructions  such  as  the  public  sentiment  of  the  time  demanded. 


H2        CHARACTERISTICS   OF  THESE  PAPERS. 

the  doctrine  of  the  resolutions  and  the  instructions  to 
the  delegates. 

There  is  not  a  word  in  these  three  masterly  state 
papers  justifying  our  resistance  on  any  other  ground 
than  that  the  conduct  of  the  ministry  was  a  gross  viola- 
tion of  English  law  and  of  our  charters.  The  truth  is, 
they  were  simply  the  embodiment  of  the  views  which 
Dickinson,  with  the  vast  majority  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  Colonies,  had  held  from  the  beginning.  His 
course  was  in  strict  accordance  with  the  precedents 
of  English  history.  He  looked  to  the  past  for  his  justi- 
fication ;  the  statesmen  of  New  England  trusted  to  the 
future  more  than  he  did,  and  their  actions  were  guided 
rather  by  faith  than  by  experience.  In  other  words, 
Dickinson's  method  of  conducting  a  revolution  in  these 
Colonies  was  formed,  as  were  most  of  his  political 
ideas,  from  English  example  and  tradition, — from  move- 
ments such  as  those  embodied  in  the  Petition  of  Right 
of  1628,  in  the  Declaration  and  the  Act  of  Settlement 
of  1688,  and  in  the  revolt  of  the  Netherlands  against 
the  illegal  acts  of  the  King  of  Spain.  In  New  England, 
and  in  Massachusetts  particularly,  the  leaders  antici- 
pated in  a  certain  degree  the  course  of  events  in  the 
early  history  of  the  French  Revolution.  Their  object 
seems  to  have  been  to  reduce  certain  abstract  princi- 
ples of  right  and  justice  to  the  government  of  man  in 
civil  society,  without  regard  to  those  historical  tradi- 
tions which  are  the  real  basis  of  what  is  permanent 
and  valuable  in  any  system.  John  Adams,  in  a  letter 
which  he  wrote  to  Governor  McKean,  July  6,  1815,  just 
before  the  final  downfall  of  Napoleon,  expresses  the 
views  which  he  then  entertained  on  this  subject,  and 


JOHN  ADAMS  AND  POPULAR  GOVERNMENT.     i*3 

there  is  reason  to  believe  that  they  are  practically  the 
same  as  those  which  he  and  his  partisans  held  when  the 
first  Continental  Congress  met,  in  1774.  "The  present 
question,"  he  says,  "  before  the  human  race,  that  great 
democratical  tribunal,  is  whether  the  jus  divinum  is 
in  men,  or  in  magistrates  ;  in  human  nature,  or  in  in- 
stituted offices  ;  in  human  understanding,  or  in  holy 
oil;  in  good  sense  and  sound  morality,  or  in  crowns, 
sceptres,  crosses,  and  Episcopal  and  Presbyterian  ordi- 
nation." Unfortunately,  these  are  questions  not  to  be 
settled  by  any  debating  society,  large  or  small,  by  what- 
ever name  it  may  be  called.  It  happened,  strangely 
enough,  that  they  had  been  settled  in  Europe  for  long 
years  by  the  only  method  which  history  recognizes  as 
capable  in  the  last  resort  of  controlling  man's  action, 
and  that  is  force.  The  battle  of  Waterloo,  which  oc- 
curred three  weeks  before  this  letter  was  written,  but 
the  news  of  which  had  not  reached  the  venerable  sage 
who  wrote  it,  and  which  decided  the  fate  of  Europe 
for  generations,  was  the  answer  given  to  a  faith  which 
maintained  that  human  governments  are  the  outgrowth 
of  man's  choice,  rather  than  of  his  history,  over  which 
he  has  no  control. 

The  resolutions  adopted  by  this  Conference,  the  in- 
structions of  the  delegates  to  the  Congress  who  were 
to  be  chosen  by  the  Assembly,  and  the  essay  upon  the 
power  of  taxation,  form  parts  of  a  general  political  sys- 
tem first  formulated  by  John  Dickinson,  and  adhered  to 
by  him  and  his  followers  of  the  historical  school  up  to 
the  time  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  They 
present  in  the  clearest  manner  an  outline  of  the  case 
of  the  Colonies  in  accordance  with  the  theories  of  that 

8 


"4    DICKINSON  AND   THE  HISTORICAL  SCHOOL. 

school,  as  they  no  doubt  embodied  the  nearly  unani- 
mous opinion  of  the  country  outside  of  New  England 
on  this  subject.  The  theory  of  government  on  which 
they  were  based  was  deliberately  and  finally  rejected 
when  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  adopted. 
How  it  happened  that  such  a  theory  became  wholly 
discredited  in  the  course  of  events  is  a  subject  of  in- 
quiry full  of  historical  interest,  and  one  which  well 
deserves  the  careful  scrutiny  of  those  who  would  trace 
the  progress  of  the  American  Revolution. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    CONTINENTAL    CONGRESS. 

THE  summer  of  1774  seems  to  have  been  an  era  in 
government-making.  It  is  curious  to  observe  how  this 
tendency  appears  in  the  correspondence  of  prominent 
men  of  the  time  which  has  not  been  printed.  It  seems 
that  the  scheme  which  was  first  proposed  by  Dickinson 
to  his  fellow-members  of  the  Provincial  Committee  of 
Correspondence  was  vigorously  debated  in  the  private 
meetings  of  the  committee,  at  which,  in  order  to  ob- 
tain an  expression  of  opinion  which  could  be  depended 
upon,  the  representatives  of  six  of  the  religious  denom- 
inations of  the  city  were  invited  to  be  present.  The 
original  draft  was  doubtless  much  modified  to  meet 
the  views  of  these  persons,  but  exactly  in  what  re- 
spect it  is  not  easy  to  say.  We  find  in  the  letter- 
book  of  Thomas  Wharton,  a  prominent  Quaker,  one 
of  the  principal  merchants  of  the  city,  and  agent  here, 
as  has  been  said,  for  the  East  India  Company,  a  letter 
dated  July  5,  1774,  written  by  him  to  Thomas  Walpole, 
in  which  he  says,  "  Hence  thou  seest  the  probability 
of  an  American  Union  taking  place  ;  and  I  dare  say 
thou  wilt  join  with  me  in  believing  that  it  would  be 
happy  could  our  parent  State  assist  us  in  thus  estab- 
lishing a  constitutional  union  between  her  and  us  ; 
she  to  appoint  a  supreme  magistrate  to  reside  on  the 
continent,  who,  with  a  fixed  number  taken  from  each 


I  T 


n6       VIEWS  OF  THE   QUAKERS  AT  THIS  TIME. 

House  of  Assembly,  should  form  an  upper  legislature 
to  control  the  general  affairs  of  the  continent.  The 
intention  of  this  Congress  is  to  endeavor  to  form  a 
constitutional  plan  for  the  government  of  America, 
dutifully  to  petition  and  remonstrate,  and,  if  possible, 
to  point  out  such  heads  that  we  may  unite  with  the 
mother-country  upon  a  constitutional  union." 

These  were  the  views  of  a  man  who  was  an  ultra- 
conservative  of  the  time,  and  substantially  they  are  the 
same  as  those  embodied  in  the  scheme  afterwards 
proposed  by  Galloway.  Wharton  was  one  of  the 
Quakers  who  some  years  later  were  exiled  to  Vir- 
ginia because  their  presence  at  their  homes  was  con- 
sidered dangerous  to  the  patriot  cause  on  the  near 
approach  of  the  British  army  to  the  city  after  the 
battle  of  Brandywine  ;  and  yet  we  find  him  not  only 
advocating  a  certain  form  of  union  between  the  Col- 
onies and  Great  Britain  which  would  establish  a  very 
different  relation  from  any  that  had  previously  existed 
between  them,  but  actually  supposing  that  the  English 
government  could  be  induced  to  approve  of  such  a 
scheme.  The  feeling  then  was  that  a  closer  and  not 
a  looser  union  was  the  true  remedy  for  the  evils  from 
which  we  suffered. 

At  last  the  Conference  adopted  the  papers  as  we  now 
find  them  in  print.  They  were  transmitted  to  the  As- 
sembly of  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania,  which  met  on 
the  22d  of  August,  and  there  was  evidently  some  appre- 
hension as  to  the  course  which  would  be  pursued  by 
that  body  in  regard  to  them.  These  fears,  however, 
proved  unfounded  :  the  resolutions  and  instructions 
were  unanimously  approved  by  the  Assembly,  and  on 


THE  PENNSYLVANIA  ASSEMBLY  MEETS.         Ir7 

the  same  day  the  following  members  were  elected  to 
represent  Pennsylvania  in  the  Continental  Congress, 
— viz.,  Messrs.  Galloway,  the  Speaker,  Rhoads,  Mifflin, 
Humphreys,  Morton,  George  Ross,  and  Edward  Biddle. 
These  men  were  all  well  known  in  the  Province,  and 
had  served  it  faithfully  for  many  years. 

Mr.  Galloway,  the  Speaker  of  the  House  and  the 
head  of  the  delegation,  was  looked  upon  at  that  time 
as  the  great  champion  of  popular  rights.  He  had 
acquired  this  reputation  from  the  active  part  he  had 
taken  in  1764  in  the  controversy  with  the  Proprieta- 
ries, having  drawn  up  the  twenty-six  resolutions  in 
which  the  Assembly  asserted  that  the  Proprietary  gov- 
ernment had  outlived  its  usefulness  and  prayed  the 
king  to  resume  his  direct  government  over  the  Prov- 
ince. His  activity  at  that  time  had  endeared  him  to 
the  country  members,  most  of  whom  were  under  his 
control.  The  speech  which  he  claimed  to  have  deliv- 
ered in  the  Assembly  in  support  of  this  petition  was 
said  by  Mr.  Dickinson  not  to  have  been  the  one  really 
made  by  him,  and  thus  a  quarrel  was  excited  between 
him  and  Galloway  which  produced  a  permanent  es- 
trangement at  a  time  when  their  co-operation  would 
have  been  of  great  importance  to  the  public  service. 
Galloway  is  said  to  have  been  ambitious  of  repre- 
senting the  Assembly  in  the  House  of  Commons,  or 
in  the  Grand  Council  for  which  he  had  schemed,  and 
to  have  forsaken  the  American  cause  when  he  found 
how  vain  were  his  hopes.  He  was  a  most  brilliant 
lawyer, — at  the  head  of  the  bar,  indeed, — and  few  of 
the  loyalists  lost  more  than  he  did  by  taking  the  royal 
side  ;  he  himself  estimated  his  losses  at  forty  thousand 


n8       ELECTS  DELEGATES  TO   THE   CONGRESS. 

pounds.  During  the  first  session  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  however,  few  men  went  further  than  he  in 
supporting  the  American  claims,  and  in  the  absence  of 
Dickinson  (who  had  not  been  chosen  a  delegate  because 
he  was  not  a  member  of  the  Assembly)  he  wielded  a 
great  influence  over  the  Pennsylvania  deputation. 

Mr.  Samuel  Rhoads  was  also  a  Quaker,  known  for 
his  wealth  and  his  public  spirit.  He  had  been  in  public 
life  since  1741  as  a  member  of  the  City  Councils  and 
of  the  Assembly,  and  as  one  of  the  negotiators  of  the 
famous  treaty  with  the  Indians  at  Lancaster.  He  was 
chosen  mayor  of  the  city  while  he  was  a  member  of 
the  Continental  Congress,  and  thereupon  resigned  his 
seat.  He  had  been  active  in  advocating  the  popular 
cause,  so  far  as  a  Quaker  could  then  go  towards  that 
end,  but  became  a  little  timid  as  he  considered  some 
of  the  proceedings  of  Congress.  He  was  a  warm 
friend  of  Franklin,  and  was  associated  with  him  in  the 
management  of  the  Hospital,  the  Philosophical  Society, 
and  the  Library. 

Thomas  Mifflin  seems  to  have  been  the  only  one 
of  the  delegates  who  occupied  from  the  beginning  the 
place  familiar  to  us  in  the  history  of  all  revolutions, — 
that  of  the  "  volunteer  for  the  war."  He  was  compara- 
tively a  young  man  at  this  time,  but  he  had  been  long  a 
member  of  the  Assembly,  and  had  been  one  of  the  most 
active  of  the  opponents  of  the  Proprietaries  in  1764. 
He  had  the  advantages  of  birth,  wealthy  connections, 
and  education,  and  when  the  war  broke  out  he  was  one 
of  the  first  to  offer  his  services.  He  was  a  major  of  one 
of  the  regiments  at  the  siege  of  Boston,  and  showed 
such  capacity  in  bringing  his  men  into  a  state  of  disci- 


SKETCH  OF  THE  DELEGATES.  "9 

pline  and  efficiency  that  he  attracted  the  attention  of 
General  Washington.  He  was  shortly  afterwards  made 
brigadier-general,  and  subsequently  quartermaster-gen- 
eral. He  was  a  man  of  the  most  determined  and 
demonstrative  patriotism,  and  when  the  recruiting  fell 
off  in  Pennsylvania  he  made  excursions  through  the 
State,  making  speeches  in  the  principal  towns,  and  suc- 
ceeded by  his  appeals  to  the  patriotism  of  the  people 
in  increasing  considerably  the  numbers  of  the  army 
at  important  crises.  He  was,  unfortunately,  associ- 
ated with  Generals  Gates  and  Conway  in  the  famous 
Conway  Cabal,  and  his  reputation  has  suffered  in  his- 
tory from  his  efforts  to  supersede  Washington.  But 
his  energy  and  ability  during  the  war  seem  to  have 
condoned  his  errors  in  the  eyes  of  his  contemporaries. 
He  was  elected  a  delegate  to  Congress  in  1783,  and 
was  president  of  that  body  when  General  Washington 
surrendered  his  commission  at  Annapolis ;  he  was  also 
a  delegate  to  the  convention  which  framed  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States,  President  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  Governor  under  the  Constitution  of  1 790.  Appar- 
ently he  took  little  part  in  the  debates  of  the  first  Con- 
gress, but,  when  he  did  speak,  he  was  always  in  favor 
of  the  most  energetic  measures.  He  was  the  first  of 
the  "  new  men"  in  Pennsylvania  who  occupied  a  con- 
spicuous position. 

Messrs.  Biddle  and  Ross  were  lawyers  of  high  repu- 
tation in  the  interior  of  the  State,  the  first  residing  at 
Reading  and  the  other  at  Lancaster.  They  were  both 
men  at  this  time  of  conservative  views,  and  they  had 
great  influence  with  their  country  constituencies,  each 
having  been  conspicuous  for  his  opposition  to  the  minis- 


120  THE  SAME    CONTINUED. 

try.  Mr.  Biddle  is  spoken  of  by  a  contemporary  as  a 
man  of  "  ready  elocution,  sound  principles,  and  correct 
judgment,"  and  Mr.  Ross  became  a  judge,  with  a  high 
reputation  for  learning  and  integrity,  in  1779. 

Messrs.  Humphreys  and  Morton  were  country  gen- 
tlemen, or  rather  of  the  better  class  of  farmers,  living 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city.  They  had  both  long 
been  members  of  the  Assembly,  were  familiar  with  the 
political  questions  of  the  time,  and,  although  they  took 
opposite  sides  in  the  quarrel,  were  recognized  by  all  as 
sincere  patriots. 

It  may  be  well  to  say  here  that  the  Pennsylvania 
deputation  to  the  Congress  was  a  good  deal  changed  by 
the  time  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  adopted, 
and  these  changes  serve  as  indications  of  the  change  of 
party  feeling  during  the  interval.  Galloway  was  the 
first  to  retire,  he,  in  January,  1775,  making  the  state 
of  his  health  an  excuse  for  declining  a  service  which 
to  him  appeared  every  day  more  hazardous.  Rhoads 
found  it  convenient,  as  has  been  said,  to  give  up  Con- 
gressional honors  when  he  was  elected  mayor  of  the 
city.  Dr.  Franklin  was  chosen  at  once  as  a  delegate 
upon  his  return  from  Europe,  in  May,  1775.  Mifflin's 
services  were  required  in  the  camp  before  Boston. 
George  Ross  resigned  his  seat.  In  November,  1775, 
the  following  additional  delegates  were  elected  to  fill 
these  vacancies :  Robert  Morris,  Thomas  Willing,  An- 
drew Allen,  and  James  Wilson. 

In  looking  over  these  names,  those  who  are  familiar 
with  the  history  of  Pennsylvania  need  not  be  told  that 
the  delegates  elected  in  1775  represented  a  much  more 
conservative  side  of  the  question  at  issue  than  those 


DICKINSON  ONE   OF  THE  DELEGATES.         I2* 

chosen  in  1774.  As  the  time  drew  nigh  when  indepen- 
dence became  probable,  two  of  these  delegates,  not 
thinking  the  time  ripe  for  such  an  event,  hesitated  to  take 
the  irrevocable  step  of  declaring  independence,  simply 
because  it  did  not  seem  opportune  in  their  opinion.  In 
consequence,  Messrs.  Biddle  and  Andrew  Allen  retired 
from  Congress  in  the  spring  of  1776.  Mr.  Dickinson, 
it  should  be  said,  was  elected  a  member  of  the  As- 
sembly early  in  October  to  fill  a  vacancy,  and  on  the 
1 7th  of  that  month  was  chosen  by  that  body  as  an 
additional  delegate  to  the  Congress  of  1774.  The  rest 
constituted  the  very  flower  of  the  moneyed  and  intellec- 
tual aristocracy  of  the  Province,  and  upon  them  rested 
the  responsibility  of  giving  or  withholding  their  assent  to 
that  document  which  may  be  said  in  a  very  important 
sense  to  have  created  a  new  world, — the  Declaration 
of  Independence. 

Before  considering  the  work  of  the  Continental  Con- 
gress which  brought  us  safely  through  the  Revolutionary 
war,  and  especially  the  policy  which  led  to  the  early 
adoption  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  we  must 
look  at  some  of  the  formidable  obstacles  which  stood 
in  the  way  of  success.  It  is  perhaps  not  too  much 
to  say  that  when  resistance  was  first  spoken  of,  up 
to  at  least  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  no  sentiment  could 
have  been  more  abhorrent  to  the  mass  of  the  people 
than  that  which  the  Declaration  afterwards  embodied. 
Even  a  suggestion  that  the  dissolution  of  our  connec- 
tion with  the  British  Empire  would  in  any  event  be 
desirable  would  have  been  looked  upon  as  monstrous. 
Outside  all  mere  political  considerations  there  were 
feelings,  the  force  of  which  we  can  now  understand 


122         OBSTACLES    TO  ARMED  RESISTANCE. 

but  little,  which  were  then  universal  and  all-powerful. 
There  was  the  sentiment  of  loyalty,  for  instance,  to  the 
king  and  the  constitution,  a  sentiment  which,  notwith- 
standing the  shocks  it  had  received  in  this  country,  was 
an  ever-active  principle,  and  had  grown  stronger  and 
stronger  every  year  in  the  inherited  traits  of  the  Eng- 
lish character ;  there  was,  besides,  that  passionate  love 
of  country,  inflamed  just  then  by  pride  at  the  recent 
conquests  of  England  on  both  continents  ;  there  was,  in 
addition  to  all,  that  indefinable  but  strong  feeling  of 
race  which  gloried  in  belonging  to  the  foremost  nation 
of  modern  times.  All  these  things  may  seem  insignifi- 
cant as  moulding  the  opinions  of  men,  yet  they  have 
been  among  the  most  potent  agencies  as  stimulants  to 
heroic  action  in  all  ages,  and  with  people  of  English 
blood  especially.  In  difficult  times  Englishmen  have 
never  forgotten  the  days  of  their  proud  history,  and 
they  were  not  likely  to  do  so  in  the  days  of  Clive,  of 
Wolfe,  and  of  the  elder  Pitt.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that 
sentiments  the  outgrowth  of  conditions  such  as  these 
were  far  more  deep-seated  among  the  Colonists  pre- 
vious to  the  outbreak  of  the  war  than  the  spirit  of 
rebellion.  The  Colonies,  besides,  had  then  none  of 
those  intimate  relations  with  one  another  which  now, 
quite  as  much  as  the  law  itself,  give  us  union  and  force 
in  what  we  undertake.  The  mass  of  the  population 
was,  of  course,  British  by  birth  or  descent,  but  it  was, 
in  some  of  the  Colonies  at  least,  as  in  Pennsylvania, 
composed  of  different  races,  holding  very  different 
opinions  in  religion  and  government.  Thus,  in  this 
Province,  induced  by  the  mildness  of  Penn's  govern- 
ment, all  nations  had  given  one  another  rendezvous. 


WANT  OF  UNION.  123 

We  had  here  English  mixed  up  with  Irish  and  Ger- 
mans, Quakers  with  Presbyterians,  and  members  of 
the  various  pietistic  German  sects  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  all  enjoying  what  was  promised  them  in  Massa- 
chusetts,— sub  libertate  quietem.  So  in  New  York  the 
antagonism  between  the  mass  of  the  population  and 
the  great  landholders,  between  the  Dutch  and  Scotch 
Presbyterians  and  the  Church  people,  was  felt  more  or 
less  during  the  whole  war,  as  it  had  been  throughout 
the  history  of  the  Colony.  In  Virginia  the  Dissenters, 
as  they  were  called,  were  ardent  supporters  of  a  revo- 
lution one  of  the  results  of  which  would  be  the  sup- 
pression of  their  greatest  practical  grievance,  the  estab- 
lished Church  of  the  Colony.  In  short,  look  where  we 
will  throughout  the  Colonies  before  the  commence- 
ment of  hostilities,  we  find  discontent  arising  from  a 
variety  of  causes,  but  no  common  ground  of  resistance. 
Indeed,  this  want  of  union  in  political  and  religious 
ideas  had  always  been  a  characteristic  feature  of  the 
history  of  the  Colonies,  and  had  made  it  very  difficult 
to  enforce  any  common  policy. 

The  Colonies  were  also  separated  by  differing  habits, 
customs,  tastes,  and  opinions,  and  all  sorts  of  petty 
jealousies  of  one  another  and  of  the  Crown.  Many 
of  these  obstacles  seemed  insuperable,  and  it  is  well 
known  that  the  British  government  was  perfectly  con- 
vinced that  the  Colonies  would  be  helpless  owing  to 
these  differences.  These  obstacles,  as  we  have  already 
hinted,  seemed  to  all  at  that  time  to  have  their  origin  in 
differences  which  were  fundamental  and  inalterable  in  the 
condition  and  the  characteristics  of  the  people  inhabit- 
ing different  sections  of  the  country.  The  Puritan  and 


'24  PURITANS  AND    QUAKERS. 

the  Quaker,  for  instance,  were  not  only  persons  of  dif- 
ferent temper,  and  of  totally  opposite  views  concerning 
the  lawfulness  of  war,  but  they  had  radically  different 
ideas  as  to  the  nature  of  government  and  the  character 
and  extent  of  the  obligation  which  was  imposed  upon 
them  by  their  allegiance  to  the  Crown.  The  Puritan, 
although  he  was  nominally  the  subject  of  a  monarchy, 
had  been  in  point  of  fact,  certainly  ever  since  he  had 
come  to  New  England,  and  probably  long  before,  es- 
sentially a  republican,  always  holding  fast,  in  spite  of 
kings  and  charters  and  mandamuses,  to  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  republicanism,  that  of  self-govern- 
ment. He  was  an  Independent  in  religion,  which 
implies  that  he  insisted  upon  a  system  of  self-govern- 
ment in  his  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  in  his  civil  relations. 
Moreover,  he  felt  in  its  acutest  form  that  jealousy  of 
power  which  has  always  been  characteristic  of  the 
Englishman  in  history  when  any  attempt  from  any 
quarter  has  been  made  to  assert  arbitrary  principles 
of  government.  He  was  not  disposed  to  wait  and  see 
whether  any  overt  acts  would  follow  the  avowal  of  such 
principles,  and  especially  he  did  not  stop  to  consider 
whether  he  himself  was  likely  to  suffer  from  such  acts 
or  the  principles  upon  which  they  were  based.  Obsla 
principiis  was  his  motto. 

The  Quakers,  on  the  contrary,  were  essentially  a  law- 
abiding  people,  patient  and  long-suffering,  and  not 
prone  to  anticipate  evil.  None  had  suffered  more  than 
they  in  history  from  the  abuse  of  power,  but  their 
religion  and  their  experience  alike  taught  them  that 
passive  resistance  to  wrong,  as  they  manifested  it,  was 
alike  their  duty  and  their  best  policy.  They  believed 


PECULIAR  POSITION  OF  THE    QUAKERS.      125 

literally  that  all  things  come  to  those  who  wait.  They 
were,  therefore,  not  restless  nor  noisy  nor  quarrelsome, 
and  believed  fully  that  the  force  of  time  and  the  influ- 
ence of  reason  would  bring  about  a  redress  of  the 
grievances  from  which  they  had  suffered.  They  had 
maintained  their  existence  and  their  peculiar  doctrines 
under  all  forms  of  tyranny  and  without  relying  upon 
the  arm  of  flesh  for  support.  The  very  first  principle 
of  the  Quakers,  indeed,  was  a  loyal  submission  to  the 
government  under  which  they  lived,  so  long  as  it  did 
not  openly  infringe  their  civil  and  ecclesiastical  rights. 
With  this  sentiment  was  joined  another  equally  strong 
and  powerful  as  a  guide  to  their  conduct,  and  that  was 
a  profound  conviction  of  the  value  of  liberty  of  con- 
science, for  the  security  of  which  they  had  contended 
in  their  own  way  from  the  beginning.  To  maintain 
this  freedom  of  conscience  they  were  ready  to  make 
any  sacrifice,  and  hitherto  these  sacrifices  had  produced 
abundant  fruit.  Still,  with  this  love  of  liberty,  civil  and 
religious,  fully  as  strong /-as  that  of  the  Puritan,  the 
Quaker  was  never  clamorous  in  asserting  his  rights. 
He  was  long-suffering,  and  persistent  in  his  opinions, 
but  kept  his  temper  even  when  he  was  threatened  with 
immediate  and  irreparable  injury.  There  was,  indeed, 
a  point  (as  shown  in  the  history  of  the  Province)  when 
he  could  resist.  When  he  found,  for  instance,  that  the 
Proprietaries  in  Pennsylvania  were  unwilling  that  their 
lands  should  be  taxed  in  the  same  manner  as  those  of 
other  people,  he  persisted  for  years,  and  as  long  as 
there  was  any  hope  of  accomplishing  his  object,  in 
a  constitutional  opposition  to  such  a  pretension  ;  and 
finally  he  did  not  hesitate,  as  a  last  remedy  against  this 


126  HOW  FAR    OPPOSED   TO    WAR. 

flagrant  injustice,  to  petition  the  king  to  revoke  that 
charter  which  had  been  granted  to  William  Penn  and 
which  had  hitherto  been  priceless  to  him  as  a  testimony 
of  the  king's  government  to  the  confidence  felt  in  the 
Quakers,  and  under  which  the  Province  had  enjoyed 
such  wonderful  prosperity.  So  when  the  governors 
under  the  Proprietaries  insisted  that  the  Quakers  should 
render  compulsory  military  service,  they  could  never  be 
induced  to  violate  their  principles  by  serving  as  soldiers, 
but  they  never  hesitated,  justifying  themselves  by  some 
strange  casuistry,  to  vote  money  to  provide  for  the 
defence  of  the  Province.  They  would  not  declare  war 
against  the  Delawares  and  Shawanees,  feeling  that  these 
Indians  had  been  goaded  on  to  the  outrages  they  com- 
mitted on  the  frontiers  by  the  injustice  and  rapacity  of 
the  agents  of  the  Proprietary  government,  but  they  did 
not  hesitate  to  defend  with  arms  in  their  hands  the 
Moravian  Indian  converts  who  had  taken  refuge  in 
Philadelphia  from  the  fury  of  the  Paxton  Boys.1  In 
short,  Pennsylvania  for  the  practical  purposes  of  gov- 
ernment— that  is,  for  the  protection  of  all  its  subjects 
— was  in  a  very  disturbed  condition  from  the  beginning 
of  the  French  War,  in  1/55,  to  the  end  of  Ponttac's  War, 
in  1766.  The  discussions  about  the  revocation  of  the 
charter,  the  constant  complaints  that  the  representation 
in  the  Assembly  was  unequal,  and  the  cruel  sufferings 
which  had  been  undergone  by  the  settlers  on  the  lands 
west  of  the  Susquehanna  at  the  hands  of  the  Indians, 
— all  these  evils,  which  were  charged  upon  the  party 
that  was  dominant  when  the  Revolution  began,  seemed 

1  See  Appendix  III. 


UNION  IN  NEW  ENGLAND. 


to  render  any  united  action  among  the  people,  for  any 
purpose,  wholly  impracticable. 

In  New  England  no  such  dissensions  existed.  The 
force  of  the  people  there  was  immeasurably  increased 
by  the  common  recognition  of  the  traditions  of  Eng- 
lish liberty  as  a  precious  inheritance.  With  the  blood 
of  the  Puritans  they  had  preserved  in  full  activity 
those  political  ideas  which  had  led  their  forefathers 
to  withstand  so  manfully  the  tyranny  of  Strafford  and 
of  Laud.  It  is  a  fact  of  immense  importance,  in 
estimating  the  force  of  the  various  Colonies  in  the 
war  of  independence,  that  in  New  England  there  was 
practically  a  unity  of  sentiment  not  only  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  grievances,  but  also  as  to  the  best  method 
of  redressing  them.  As  for  the  Germans  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, living  in  the  interior,  engaged  chiefly  in  farming, 
and  kept  by  their  ignorance  of  the  language  of  the 
country  from  any  very  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
alleged  wrongs  of  which  their  fellow-subjects  com- 
plained, or  of  the  wisdom  of  the  measures  proposed  to 
remedy  them,  their  influence  in  the  Province  was  not  to 
be  measured  by  their  numbers.  They  suffered  nothing 
from  Stamp  Acts  or  Smuggling  Acts  or  Boston  Port 
Bills,  and  they  could  not  understand  the  earnestness 
with  which  the  claim  to  impose  taxation  upon  English- 
men was  opposed,  for  in  such  matters  they  had  neither 
knowledge  nor  experience.  Their  predominant  feeling, 
if  we  are  to  regard  the  great  patriarch  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  this  country,  the  Rev.  Henry  Muhlenberg,  as 
their  representative,  was  gratitude  to  the  Quakers  and 
their  government,  by  which  so  many  of  the  blessings 
of  liberty  and  peace  unknown  in  their  Fatherland  had 


128  UNANIMITY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 

been  secured  to  them.  Of  course,  such  was  their  atti- 
tude only  before  the  outbreak  of  hostilities ;  for  after 
the  war  broke  out  no  portion  of  the  population  was 
more  ready  to  defend  its  homes  or  took  up  arms  more 
willingly  in  support  of  the  American  cause. 

It  would  be,  however,  very  unfair  to  judge  of  the 
character  of  the  opposition  in  Pennsylvania  to  the 
ministerial  tyranny  from  the  cautious  and  conserva- 
tive attitude  of  the  Quakers  alone.  Long  before  any 
one  dreamed  of  war  as  the  ultima  ratio,  all  classes  of 
people  in  every  provincial  party  here,  Quakers  as  well 
as  Presbyterians,  Germans,  and  Church-of-England 
people,  had  joined  together  in  protesting  against  what 
all  conceived  to  be  acts  of  arbitrary  power.  The 
measures  of  opposition  which  they  adopted  at  that 
critical  time  were  similar  to  those  agreed  upon  in  the 
other  Colonies.  Thus,  all  classes  in  Pennsylvania,  re- 
sistants  and  non-resistants  alike,  under  the  guidance 
of  men  who  afterwards  became  conspicuous  both  as 
loyalists  and  as  patriots,  remonstrated  with  one  accord 
against  the  Stamp  Act  and  the  Tea  Act,  the  Boston 
Port  Bill  and  the  other  measures  intended  to  punish 
the  town  of  Boston  ;  they  all  signed  the  non-importa- 
tion and  non-exportation  agreements  ;  they  all  peti- 
tioned the  Crown  that  the  right  of  self-government 
should  be  guaranteed ;  they  declared  their  determi- 
nation to  maintain  the  fundamental  rights  of  the  Col- 
onists ;  they  warned  the  ministry  that  armed  resistance 
would  be  made  to  further  encroachments  ;  they  did  not 
hesitate  to  vote  for  raising  men  and  money  for  the 
defence  of  the  Province  after  the  battle  of  Lexington  ; 
and  yet,  with  all  this,  they  never  ceased  to  hope  that 


GROUNDS   OF  THAT  UNANIMITY.  129 

some  peaceful  settlement  of  the  dispute  might  be  made 
and  that  no  separation  from  the  mother-country  would 
take  place.  It  is  easy  to  say  now  that  they  were  mis- 
taken in  believing  that  England  would  at  last  consent 
to  govern  them  as  she  had  done  previous  to  1 763  ; 
but  the  man  who  maintained  the  opposite  theory  in 
1776  would  have  argued  against  the  force  of  every 
precedent  in  English  history.  At  any  rate,  the  course 
that  was  taken  by  the  dominant  party  in  Pennsylvania 
was  not  settled  by  the  power  of  the  non-resistant 
Quakers,  and  still  less  by  the  force  of  an  irresistible 
popular  clamor :  it  was  deliberately  taken  under  the 
guidance  of  thoroughly  enlightened  and  patriotic  men, 
whose  studies  and  training  had  led  them  to  discover  in 
English  history  how  and  why  their  race  had  resisted 
oppression. 

Nothing  contributed  more  to  produce  confusion  in 
the  counsels  of  the  leaders  in  the  beginning  of  the 
Revolution  than  the  different  character  and  political 
training  of  the  delegates  from  different  sections  of 
the  country.  It  is,  indeed,  hard  to  conceive  how  the 
national  cause  could  have  been  successfully  promoted  at 
all,  when  the  men  who  were  its  champions  were  affected 
by  so  totally  different  an  environment  and  had  such 
opposite  notions  of  the  remedy.  The  line  was  drawn 
so  distinctly  between  the  parties  that  no  compromise 
seemed  possible,  and  the  only  question  was  which 
should  have  exclusive  control  of  the  destiny  of  the 
country.  Strange  to  say,  everything  seemed  to  com- 
bine to  keep  apart  those  who  professed  to  have  the 
same  object  in  view.  Before  the  Massachusetts  dele- 
gates to  the  Congress  of  1774  reached  Philadelphia, 

9 


130  CHARACTER    OF  THE  DELEGATES. 


it  was  the  habit  of  those  opposed  to  the  popular  cause, 
both  here  and  in  Boston,  to  speak  of  them  as  needy 
adventurers  or  lawyers  seeking  for  notoriety,  or  as 
persons  whose  reputation  and  fortune  had  become 
compromised  by  attempts  to  defraud  the  customs' 
revenue.  Whatever  truth  there  may  have  been  in 
these  stories,  they  had,  as  we  shall  see,  their  effect  so 
far  as  the  influence  of  these  gentlemen  in  Congress 
was  concerned.  But  in  Pennsylvania,  however  luke- 
warm some  may  have  thought  the  patriotism  of  her 
delegates,  no  one  before  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence was  adopted  supposed  for  a  moment  that  private 
interest  or  personal  ambition  was  a  motive  which  led 
any  one  of  them  to  espouse  the  popular  cause.  They 
were  all  men  whose  position,  reputation,  and  fortune 
were  firmly  established  at  the  outset  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  in  these  respects  they  had  everything  to  lose 
by  becoming  popular  leaders  at  such  a  crisis.  John 
Dickinson,  at  their  head,  was  at  this  time,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  man  of  mature  years,  of  as  high  a  rank  as 
could  then  be  reached  by  a  Colonist,  of  large  fortune, 
and  of  a  professional  reputation  that  made  his  name 
known  throughout  the  continent.  His  private  inter- 
est, selfishly  considered,  was  to  support  the  ministry, 
and  we  cannot  doubt  that  his  influence  on  that  side 
would  have  been  purchased  by  the  highest  rewards 
which  the  royal  government  had  to  bestow.  In  that 
path  only,  as  it  then  appeared  to  a  man  like  Galloway, 
was  the  prospect  of  promotion  and  advancement ;  but 
the  earnestness  and  depth  of  Dickinson's  convictions 
concerning  the  ministerial  pretensions  were  such  that 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  obey  the  dictates  of  his  con- 


DIFFERENT  RACES  IN  PENNSYLVANIA.       *3i 

science,  to  sacrifice  even  his  loyalty  to  his  king  (which 
in  him  had  been  a  sentiment  of  intense  earnestness), 
and  to  abandon  his  friends  who  differed  *from  him, 
many  of  whom  had  given  him  their  warmest  sympathy 
and  support  from  his  early  manhood. 

If  further  justification  of  the  course  persistently  pur- 
sued by  Pennsylvania  and  the  leaders  here  is  needed, 
it  is  to  be  found  in  the  peculiar  position  of  the  Prov- 
ince during  the  ten  years  preceding  the  Revolution. 
The  population  here,  although  greater  than  that  of  any 
other  of  the  Colonies  except  Virginia,  was,  as  we  have 
seen,  of  a  composite  order :  one-third  were  said  by  Dr. 
Franklin  to  have  been  English  Quakers,  one-third  to 
have  been  Germans,  and  the  other  third  to  have  been 
made  up  of  a  variety  of  races,  chief  among  which  were 
the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians.  This  difference  in  races 
and  religion  was,  as  we  have  shown,  the  first  great  ob- 
stacle to  unity  of  political  action.  There  had  been  a 
bitter  contest,  prolonged  through  many  years,  between 
the  friends  and  the  opponents  of  the  Proprietary  gov- 
ernment ;  on  each  side  of  this  question  were  arrayed 
the  most  prominent  public  men  of  the  Province.  The 
Quakers  as  a  body  had  forsaken  the  Proprietary  party, 
and,  although  they  returned  to  the  support  of  the  char- 
ter when  they  discovered  what  sort  of  constitution  the 
popular  party  proposed  to  substitute  for  it,  yet  they 
soon  became  divided  on  other  grounds.  The  Scotch- 
Irish  Presbyterians,  as  was  to  be  expected,  were  most 
ardent  in  their  opposition  to  the  ministry,  for  they  re- 
membered only  too  well  the  tyranny  from  which  their 
ancestors  had  suffered  in  their  native  country,  which 
had  destroyed  the  woollen  industry  in  Ireland,  and  the 


i32     RECEPTION  OF  NEW  ENGLAND  DELEGATES. 

shocking1  attempt  which  was  made  to  disqualify  them 
from  holding  there  any  office  unless  they  had  sub- 
scribed the*  religious  test  of  that  day.  They  had  here, 
as  inhabitants  of  the  frontier  settlements,  a  peculiar 
grievance,  a  long-standing  quarrel  with  the  Quakers, 
who  controlled  the  Assembly,  and  who,  they  alleged, 
had  refused,  in  consequence  of  religious  scruples,  to 
protect  them  from  the  attacks  of  the  French  and  In- 
dians :  hence  the  sympathy  between  these  two  sections 
of  the  population  was  not  remarkably  warm  or  active. 

The  New  England  delegates  found  on  their  arrival 
in  Philadelphia,  in  September,  1774,  that  the  rumors 
which  they  had  heard  that  the  people  in  this  part  of 
the  country  did  not  favor  independence  were  well 
founded.  Not  only  did  the  Quakers  seem  cold,  but 
others  also  conspicuous  in  public  life,  Yet  they  were 
politely  received  by  all.  Those  who  then  composed 
what  was  called  the  society  of  the  place  formed,  it 
must  not  be  forgotten,  an  array  of  men  distinguished 
in  public  and  private  life  such  as  could  be  found  at 
that  time  nowhere  else  on  the  continent.  Among  the 
more  prominent  of  these  were  the  Pennsylvania  mem- 
bers of  the  Congress,  Messrs.  Dickinson,  Wilson,  Mor- 
ris, Willing,  and  Humphreys, — the  first,  as  we  have 
said,  with  a  reputation  as  a  statesman  already  conti- 
nental, the  second  probably  the  most  eminent  jurist  of 
his  day,  and  the  third,  with  his  partner,  Thomas  Willing, 
a  member  of  one  of  the  largest  mercantile  firms  in 
America  at  a  time  when  the  term  "  merchant  prince"  had 
a  significance  which  it  has  now  lost.  Besides,  among 
the  prominent  lawyers  were  the  Chief  Justice,  Chew, 
Edward  Tilghman,  William  and  Andrew  Allen,  McKean, 


SOCIETY  IN  PHILADELPHIA.  *33 

Reed,  and  Galloway, — all  bred  in  the  Temple,  and  all 
having  imbibed  there  the  traditional  English  view  of 
the  public  questions  at  that  v  time  under  'discussion. 
There  were,  too,  eminent  physicians  and  men  of  learn- 
ing who  added  to  the  social  attractions  of  the  place : 
Morgan,  Rush,  and  Shippen,  father  and  son,  who  had 
founded  the  first  medical  school  on  this  continent, 
which  even  then  gave  promise  of  its  future  renown  ; 
Provost  Smith,  regarded  by  his  contemporaries  as  a 
prodigy  of  learning,  and  spoken  of  even  by  John 
Adams  as  "  very  able  ;"  Rittenhouse,  the  greatest  nat- 
ural philosopher  of  the  time,  according  to  Jefferson  ; 
and  Vice-Provost  Allison,  regarded  by  President  Stiles 
of  Yale  College  as  the  best  classical  scholar  of  his  day 
in  this  country.  These  men  all  discussed  the  burning 
questions  of  the  hour  in  a  large  and  comprehensive 
spirit ;  and  doubtless  the  society  of  such  men,  rein- 
forced as  it  then  was  by  that  of  the  delegates  from  the 
other  Colonies,  must  have  taught  the  New  England 
delegates  many  things  which  they  needed  to  know,  if 
harmony  of  sentiment  throughout  the  country  was  to 
be  reached.  The  impression  produced  on  the  minds 
of  the  delegates  by  their  intercourse  with  the  enlight- 
ened men  they  met  at  Philadelphia  was  not,  if  we  are 
to  judge  by  their  correspondence  and  their  diaries,  a 
very  favorable  one.  They  were  quick  enough  to  see 
that  their  political  opinions  were  associated  in  the 
minds  of  those  they  met  not  merely  with  the  pre- 
tensions of  a  narrow  and  levelling  Puritanism,  but 
also  with  the  encouragement  of  lawless  and  disorderly 
acts.  The  Committees  of  Safety,  the  "Sons  of  Lib- 
erty," the  caucus,  and  various  other  devices  which  New 


MEETING    OF  THE    CONGRESS. 


England  had  invented  for  rousing  and  organizing  the 
passions  of  the  multitude,  although  shortly  to  be  intro- 
duced here,  were  then  regarded  by  the  sober,  conser- 
vative, and  law-abiding  people  of  this  part  of  the  coun- 
try as  forms  of  mob  violence,  and  as  such  these  political 
manifestations  were  extremely  distasteful  to  them.  The 
truth  is,  our  people  had  not  then  been  educated  in  rev- 
olutionary methods,  and,  Quakers  as  they  were,  they 
could  not  appreciate  the  value  of  that  "  higher  law" 
which  was  invoked  as  their  guide. 

The  Continental  Congress  met  at  the  Carpenters' 
Hall  in  Philadelphia  on  the  5th  of  September,  1774, 
fifty-five  delegates  being  present,  representing  twelve 
Colonies,  —  Georgia  having  sent  none.  In  a  body  so 
loosely  jointed  together  the  first  condition  of  strength 
and  vigor  was  the  vital  union  of  all  its  parts.  In  this 
respect  there  was  much  left  to  be  desired,  as  became 
more  and  more  apparent  during  its  sessions.  In  one 
thing  only  all  were  agreed,  and  that  was  that  they  were 
all  suffering  from  an  intolerable  common  grievance. 
But  as  to  the  best  mode  of  securing  redress,  opinions 
vibrated  between  the  scheme  of  Galloway  (which,  far 
from  being  original,  had  been  long  known  and  advo- 
cated by  many  of  the  most  prominent  Quakers),  which 
looked  to  a  closer  union  with  Great  Britain  under  new 
conditions,  and  that  of  absolute  independence,  which 
was  the  theory  of  Samuel  Adams  and  his  friends.  Be- 
tween these  two  extremes  there  were  many  schemes 
to  secure  a  return  to  harmony  strongly  urged  by  their 
authors,  the  discussion  of  which  served  only  to  create 
confusion  and  dissension  in  the  Congress.  This,  of 
course,  was  in  addition  to  the  disturbing  causes  to 


DIVERSE    OPINIONS  AND  INTERESTS.         *35 

which  we  have  referred  arising  from  differences  of 
race,  habits,  and  interests,  and  environment  generally. 
A  strong  test  of  the  patriotism  of  the  delegates  was 
found  in  the  willingness  of  each  to  subordinate  for 
the  moment  his  favorite  theories  to  the  plan  which 
would  gain  the  common  consent  and  could  be  pre- 
sented to  the  world  as  a  united  expression  not  only  of 
the  discontent  of  the  Colonies  but  of  the  appropriate 
remedy.  On  the  whole,  the  delegates  bore  this  test 
pretty  well,  and  the  result  of  their  united  deliberations 
is  expressed  in  some  of  the  noblest  state  papers  in  the 
English  language.  As  Daniel  Webster  said  of  them, 
speaking  to  young  men,  "  If  you  want  to  love  your 
country,  master  the  contents  of  these  immortal  papers, 
and  become  imbued  with  their  sentiments."  In  the  in- 
terest of  harmony  in  the  Congress,  unity  of  expression, 
if  not  of  sentiment,  was  regarded  as  absolutely  essential 
to  any  hope  of  redress.  The  delegates  from  Massa- 
chusetts, who,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  came  here  with 
an  intense  desire  for  independence  in  their  hearts,  were 
warned  not  to  allow  their  wish  to  pass  their  lips.  Be- 
fore their  arrival  they  were  told  by  men  of  their  own 
party  here,  such  as  Mifflin,  Bayard,  and  Rush,  that  if 
they  talked  of  independence  in  the  Congress  they 
would  destroy  their  influence.  Whatever  they  may 
have  thought,  they  were  wise  enough  to  keep  their 
thoughts  concealed.  Every  precaution  was  taken,  by 
closing  the  doors  of  the  hall  and  pledging  the  mem- 
bers to  secrecy,  lest  the  public  should  suspect  that 
there  was  any  want  of  harmony  in  the  deliberations 
of  the  delegates. 

The  advice  given  to  Mr.  Adams  and  his  colleagues 


GALLOWAY'S  PROPOSAL. 


on  their  arrival  does  not  seem  to  have  been  thrown 
away.  "  We  have,"  he  writes  to  William  Tudor  about 
this  time,  "  numberless  prejudices  to  remove  here.  We 
have  been  obliged  to  act  with  great  delicacy  and  cau- 
tion. We  have  been  obliged  to  keep  ourselves  out  of 
sight,  and  to  feel  pulses  and  to  sound  depths;  to  in- 
sinuate our  sentiments,  designs,  and  desires  by  means 
of  other  persons,  sometimes  of  one  Province,  and  some- 
times of  another."  The  other  extreme  party,  that  of 
Mr.  Galloway,  was  not  so  prudent.  Notwithstanding 
all  that  has  been  said  to  Galloway's  discredit,  there  is  no 
evidence  that  he  was  at  this  time  a  hypocrite  and  villain, 
as  it  has  been  customary  to  represent  him.  He  called 
himself  a  Whig,  and  he  was  strongly  opposed  to  the 
ministry  but  thoroughly  loyal  to  the  Crown.  He 
thought,  with  many  of  the  best  people  in  the  Middle 
and  Southern  Colonies,  that  what  was  most  needed 
was  a  closer,  not  a  looser,  union  with  Great  Britain. 
He  therefore  proposed  a  scheme  which  provided  for  the 
appointment  of  a  President-General,  as  he  called  him, 
who  should  be  appointed  by  the  English  government, 
and  who  should  be  assisted  by  a  council  made  up  of  a 
certain  number  of  persons  chosen  by  the  Assembly  of 
each  Colony.  Certainly  there  was  nothing  treasonable 
or  unpatriotic  in  this  proposition,  and  although  it  re- 
ceived, according  to  Mr.  Adams  and  to  Mr.  Galloway 
(in  his  examination  before  a  committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons),  the  votes  of  five  out  of  twelve  Colonies, 
the  proceedings  concerning  it  were  expunged  from  the 
journal  as  if  they  had  never  taken  place.  The  only 
party  in  this  famous  Congress  which  acted  openly  and 
honestly  was  the  Whig  or  Constitutional  party,  led  by 


MEASURES  ADOPTED  BY  CONGRESS.          *37 

Mr.  Dickinson.  It  knew  exactly  what  it  wanted,  the 
repeal  of  the  laws  violating  the  rights  of  the  Colonies 
since  the  treaty  of  1 763,  and  it  asked  for  that  repeal 
by  the  method  which  it  had  always  been  taught  was 
the  constitutional  one, — viz.,  by  petition  and  remon- 
strance. The  moderate  party  controlled  the  Congress, 
and  by  the  moderate  party  is  meant  that  which  agreed 
with  General  Washington  in  the  opinion  which  he  ex- 
pressed in  a  letter  written  on  the  Qth  of  October,  1774, 
to  Captain  Mackenzie,  "  No  such  thing  as  independence 
is  desired  by  any  thinking  man  in  North  America,"  and 
in  that  of  John  Adams  of  the  same  date,  "If  it  is  the 
opinion  of  any  that  Congress  will  advise  offensive 
measures,  they  will  be  mistaken." 

The  Congress  refused  alike  to  listen  to  any  alleged 
violations  of  the  "  law  of  nature,"  or  to  favor  the  sys- 
tem of  federation  suggested  by  Galloway.  Having 
settled  exactly  the  grounds  of  complaint,  it  set  forth  a 
"  Declaration  of  Rights"  of  the  Colonists,  following  the 
English  precedent  when  William  and  Mary  were  called 
to  the  throne  in  1688.  It  agreed  upon  a  "  Petition  to  the 
King,"  in  which  it  asserted  in  the  most  positive  manner 
the  loyalty  of  his  American  subjects,  but  insisted  upon 
the  observance  of  their  fundamental  rights  as  Eng- 
lishmen. It  asked  more  especially  that  eleven  Acts 
of  Parliament,  or  parts  of  them,  which  violated  those 
rights,  should  be  repealed.  It  issued  addresses  to  the 
English  people,  and  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  newly- 
acquired  Province  of  Quebec,  in  which  the  position  and 
intentions  of  the  Americans  as  loyal  subjects  were 
carefully  defined.  It  agreed  upon  an  "  Association"  and 
a  non-importation  agreement,  by  which  the  subscribers 


CONDITION  OF  BOSTON. 


bound  themselves  neither  to  import  nor  to  use  English 
goods  until  their  grievances  were  redressed.  All  these 
resolutions  were  adopted  with  striking  unanimity.  Then 
came  Galloway's  proposition  concerning  federation, 
which  was  rejected. 

It  will  be  understood  that  during  the  session  of  Con- 
gress the  condition  of  Boston,  which  was  that  of  a  "  state 
of  siege,"  must  have  painfully  preoccupied  the  minds 
of  the  members,  as  it  was  indeed  the  immediate  cause 
of  their  meeting.  Doubtless  Congress  felt  that  some 
special  expression  of  sympathy,  framed  in  the  strongest 
terms  which  they  could  employ  consistently  with  their 
declarations  of  loyalty  to  the  king  and  their  desire  for 
reconciliation  which  they  had  just  professed  in  their 
Declaration  of  Rights  and  in  the  Petition,  should  be 
made.  Instead  of  adopting  expressions  on  this  subject 
couched  in  the  same  sober,  dignified,  and  statesmanlike 
language  as  had  been  employed  in  the  other  documents, 
Boston's  own  statement  of  her  case,  made  in  the  most 
passionate  and  inflammatory  language,  in  what  were 
called  the  "  Suffolk  Resolutions,"  was  approved.  Being 
surprised  on  the  loth  of  October  by  some  alarming 
rumors  that  hostilities  had  already  begun  there,  Con- 
gress on  that  day  resolved  (though  not  unanimously), 
"That  this  Congress  approve  the  opposition  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay  to  the 
execution  of  the  late  acts  of  Parliament,  and  if  the 
same  shall  be  attempted  to  be  carried  into  execution 
by  force,  in  such  case  all  America  ought  to  support 
them  in  their  opposition."  When  this  resolution  was 
offered,  the  delegates  from  Pennsylvania  feared  that  if 
it  should  pass  it  would  shut  the  door  to  all  hope  of 


THE  SUFFOLK  RESOLUTIONS.  139 

reconciliation.  There  was  a  strong  feeling  among  them 
that  the  Province  was  being  prematurely  dragged  into 
a  war  which  they  could  not  approve,  and  to  which  not 
only  their  constituents  but  the  people  in  the  Middle 
and  Southern  Colonies  generally  were  wholly  opposed. 
George  Ross,  one  of  the  Pennsylvania  delegates,  had 
the  boldness  at  this  juncture  to  propose  that  Massa- 
chusetts should  be  left  to  her  own  discretion  in  matters 
of  government,  and  Galloway  seconded  his  motion  ; 
but  the  feeling  of  sympathy  for  Boston  was  so  strong 
and  sincere  thaf  the  proposition  was  defeated. 

This  was  the  vote  which  more  than  anything  else 
hardened  the  heart  of  George  III.  in  the  beginning  of 
the  contest,  and  made  him  doubt  the  sincerity  of  all  the 
professions  of  loyalty  which  were  made  in  the  Petition 
and  the  other  papers  adopted  by  Congress.  Indeed, 
there  is  an  inconsistency  in  attempting  to  reconcile  a 
determination  to  aid  persons  with  an  armed  force  who 
are  in  rebellion  against  the  king  with  professions  of 
loyal  attachment  and  obedience  to  that  king.  It  has 
been  said  that  this  vote  was  the  result  of  a  false  alarm 
of  an  attack  upon  Boston.  On  the  loth  of  October, 
the  day  on  which  it  was  adopted,  Congress  wrote  a 
letter  to  General  Gage,  who  was  in  command  there, 
complaining  of  his  supposed  acts.  On  the  2Oth,  Gen- 
eral Gage  replied,  "Not  a  single  gun  has  been  pointed 
against  the  town  ;  no  man's  property  has  been  seized 
or  hurt  except  the  king's ;  no  troops  have  given  less 
cause  for  complaint,  and  greater  care  was  never  taken 
to  prevent  it;  such  care  was  never  more  necessary 
from  the  daily  insults  and  provocations  given  both  to 
officers  and  soldiers.  The  communication  between  the 


140       DICKINSON'S  POSITION  IN  CONGRESS. 

town  and  the  country  has  always  been  open  and  un- 
molested, and  is  so  still." 

Although  the  full  effect  of  the  conciliatory  policy 
adopted  by  the  Congress  in  the  addresses  and  declara- 
tions which  it  issued  was  somewhat  marred  by  this  un- 
looked-for contretemps  of  a  supposed  attack  upon  Boston, 
these  papers  still  remain  among  the  most  memorable 
and  instructive  documents  of  our  history.  The  true 
American  feeling  at  that  time  is  to  be  gathered  from 
them,  and  not  from  the  sayings  and  doings  of  panic- 
stricken  Boston.  Not  one  of  them,  it  is  believed,  was 
prepared  by  a  New  England  member.  The  address 
to  the  people  of  the  Colonies  was  written  by  Richard 
Henry  Lee ;  that  to  the  other  inhabitants  of  British 
America,  and  the  Declaration  of  Rights,  by  Mr.  Jay. 

Mr.  Dickinson  was  a  member  of  the  Congress  of 
1774  scarcely  more  than  a  week,  having  taken  his  seat 
on  the  1 7th  of  October,  and  the  Congress  having 
adjourned  on  the  26th.  He  had  been  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Assembly  of  the  Province  in  the  beginning 
of  October,  and  was  shortly  afterwards  chosen  as  a 
delegate  to  the  Congress,  having  been  up  to  this  time 
excluded,  as  he  always  thought,  by  Galloway's  influ- 
ence. During  his  short  membership  he  left  an  in- 
effaceable mark  of  his  influence  upon  its  records.  It 
was  he  who  wrote  the  most  memorable  paper  adopted 
by  the  Congress,  the  famous  Petition  to  the  King,  de- 
scribed by  an  historian  "  as  penned  with  extraordinary 
force  and  animation,  in  many  parts  rising  to  a  very 
high  strain  of  eloquence  ;"  and  also  the  address  to  the 
people  of  Canada,  a  paper  which  explains  more  fully 
the  principles  of  English  constitutional  liberty  and  their 


LORD  CHATHAM  AND   THE   CONGRESS.        141 

foundation  in  English  law  than  any  on  the  same  sub- 
ject in  the  language,  the  essays  and  speeches  of  Burke 
not  excepted.  Well  did  these  noble  and  masterly  ex- 
positions of  our  claims  deserve  the  tribute  paid  to  them 
by  Lord  Chatham :  "  History,  my  Lords,  has  been  my 
favorite  study,  and  in  the  celebrated  writings  of  an- 
tiquity I  have  often  admired  the  patriotism  of  Greece 
and  Rome  ;  but  I  must  declare  and  avow  that  in  the 
master  states  of  the  world  I  know  not  the  people 
nor  the  Senate  who  in  such  a  complication  of  difficult 
circumstances  can  stand  in  preference  to  the  Dele- 
gates of  America  assembled  in  General  Congress  at 
Philadelphia." 

There  is  not  a  single  word  in  either  of  these  docu- 
ments which  betokens  the  "timid  apathetic  spirit"  at- 
tributed by  Mr.  Bancroft  at  this  time  to  Mr.  Dickinson. 
Far  from  it.  They  treat  the  idea  of  submission  with 
scorn  ;  they  claim  redress,  not  as  a  favor,  but  as  a  right, 
because  when  it  was  refused  clearly-established  law 
was  violated.  They  rest  their  hope  for  the  restoration 
of  harmony  upon  this  basis,  that  they  can  enforce  the 
conviction  of  the  justice  of  their  claims  upon  the  minds 
of  those  whom  they  are  addressing.  They  disdain, 
therefore,  to  make  use  of  that  declamatory  rhetoric  so 
commonly  employed  at  that  time  in  certain  quarters 
in  making  complaints,  a  style  made  up  alternately  of 
blustering  threats  and  fawning  flattery,  and  which  pro- 
duced no  other  effect  upon  those  addressed  than  to 
irritate  them  still  more  and  to  increase  their  insolence. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  at  this  time  the  object  of 
the  great  majority  of  the  delegates  to  the  Congress 
was  conciliation  founded  upon  a  recognition  of  our 


142  FIRST  PETITION  TO    THE  KING. 


legal  rights,  and  that  Congress  was  not  asking  openly 
for  reconciliation  while  secretly  it  was  taking  measures 
to  secure  independence.  It  was,  indeed,  the  belief  of 
the  English  ministry  that  we  were  not  sincere  in  our 
professions,  for  they  seemed  strangely  inconsistent 
with  the  lawless  acts  of  the  people  of  New  England. 
The  Secretary  for  the  Colonies  in  London  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  say  to  the  Colonial  agents  there  that,  although 
our  addresses  were  expressed  in  a  "  decent  and  re- 
spectful tone,"  our  acts  gave  the  lie  to  the  professions 
we  made  in  them  of  loyalty.  This  feeling  was  so  well 
settled  in  the  mind  of  the  minister  that,  although  he 
promised  to  lay  the  Petition  and  the  addresses  before 
the  king  and  the  Parliament,  the  king,  it  would  appear, 
never  received  them,  and  the  papers  were  sent,  as 
Dickinson  afterwards  said,  to  the  House  of  Commons 
"huddled  up  in  a  mass,"  the  bundle  being  labelled 
"American  papers." 

The  Petition  to  the  King  is  the  production  of  a  man 
who,  while  he  felt  keenly  our  wrongs,  was  a  thorough 
loyalist  at  heart.  It  is  a  clear  and  logical  statement  of 
our  grievances,  and  in  dignified  expression  of  lofty  polit- 
ical sentiment,  framed  in  an  English  style  characterized 
by  force,  simplicity,  and  good  taste,  it  is  unsurpassed  by 
any  state  paper  issued  during  the  Revolution.  It  ad- 
dresses the  king  in  a  tone  far  more  of  sorrow  than  of 
anger,  and  speaks  of  the  wrongs  we  have  suffered  as 
abuses  of  the  royal  authority.  In  a  manner  calculated 
to  flatter  the  pride  of  a  constitutional  sovereign,  it  pro- 
ceeds, with  that  tone  of  "  proud  submission  and  dignified 
obedience"  of  which  Burke  speaks,  so  characteristic  of 
the  Englishman  at  his  best,  to  tell  the  king  that  "  the 


DICKINSON'S  AUTHORSHIP  DISPUTED.  M3 

apprehension  of  being  degraded  into  a  state  of  servi- 
tude from  the  pre-eminent  rank  of  English  freemen, 
while  our  minds  retain  the  strongest  love  of  liberty  and 
clearly  foresee  the  miseries  preparing  for  us  and  our 
posterity,  excites  emotions  in  our  breasts  which  we 
should  not  wish  to  conceal.  We  apprehend  that  the 
language  of  freemen  cannot  be  displeasing  to  your 
Majesty.  Your  royal  indignation,  we  hope,  will  rather 
fall  on  those  designing  and  dangerous  men  who,  daringly 
interposing  themselves  between  your  royal  person  and 
your  faithful  subjects,  and  for  several  years  past  inces- 
santly employed  to  dissolve  the  bonds  of  society  by 
abusing  your  Majesty's  authority,  misrepresenting  your 
American  subjects,  and  prosecuting  the  most  desperate 
and  irritating  projects  of  oppression,  have  at  length 
compelled  us  by  the  force  of  accumulated  injuries, 
too  severe  to  be  any  longer  tolerable,  to  disturb  your 
Majesty's  repose  by  our  complaints."  ' 

1  Mr.  Dickinson's  authorship  of  this  famous  letter  to  the  king  was 
questioned  by  Chief  Justice  Marshall  in  his  "Life  of  Washington." 
He  there  stated  that  it  was  generally  believed  to  have  been  written  by 
Richard  Henry  Lee.  For  reasons  which  will  appear  in  the  following 
correspondence,  this  erroneous  statement  affected  Mr.  Dickinson  very 
deeply,  and  he  took  the  trouble  of  proving  by  the  Journals  of  Con- 
gress that  he  was  the  sole  author  of  the  Petition  to  the  King.  He 
wrote  at  once  on  the  subject  to  his  friend  Dr.  George  Logan,  one 
of  the  Senators  from  Pennsylvania,  who  communicated  with  the 
Chief  Justice.  The  result,  as  will  be  seen,  was  highly  satisfactory  to 
Mr.  Dickinson.  The  correspondence  has  an  additional  interest  as 
referring  incidentally  to  Mr.  Dickinson's  opinion  of  Washington. 

John  Dickinson  to  George  Logan. 

DEAR  KINSMAN,  —  Having  subscribed  for  two  sets  of  General 
Washington's  Life  by  John  Marshall,  I  lately  received  the  second 


M4  DICKINSON  DEFENDS  HIS  CLAIM. 

The  address  of  Mr.  Dickinson  to  the  inhabitants  of 
Canada  in  regard  to  the  form  of  government  imposed 
on  the  inhabitants  of  that  country  after  the  conquest  by 
the  "  Quebec  Act"  is  written  in  the  same  elevated  and 

volumes  of  those  sets ;  and,  on  looking  over  one  of  them,  I  found 
a  reflection  cast  by  the  Chief  Justice  upon  my  character,  that  has  sur- 
prised and  hurt  me. 

In  page  180,  after  concluding  extracts  from  the  first  petition,  in 
1774,  to  the  king,  he  says,  in  a  note,  "  The  committee  which  brought 
in  this  admirably  well-drawn  and  truly  conciliatory  address  were  Mr. 
Lee,  Mr.  John  Adams,  Mr.  Johnson,  Mr.  Henry,  and  Mr.  John 
Rutledge.  The  original  composition  has  been  generally  attributed  to 
Mr.  Lee." 

Here  the  Chief  Justice  has  committed  a  mistake  directly  contra- 
dicted by  the  record,  perhaps  owing  to  his  having  attended  only  to 
the  first  resolution  of  Congress  respecting  an  address  to  the  king, 
which  was  in  these  words : 

"Saturday,  October  ist,  1774. 

"  Resolved  unanimously,  That  a  loyal  address  to  his  Majesty  be  pre- 
pared, dutifully  requesting  the  royal  attention  to  the  grievances  that 
alarm  and  distress  his  Majesty's  faithful  subjects  in  North  America, 
and  entreating  his  Majesty's  gracious  interposition  for  the  removal  of 
such  grievances ;  thereby  to  restore,  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
Colonies,  that  harmony  so  necessary  to  the  happiness  of  the  British 
Empire,  and  so  ardently  desired  by  all  Americans.  Agreed,  that 
Mr.  Lee,  Mr.  J.  Adams,  Mr.  Johnson,  Mr.  Henry,  and  Mr.  Rutledge 
be  a  committee,  to  prepare  an  address  to  his  Majesty." — -Journals  of 
Congress,  vol.  i.  p.  22. 

At  that  time  I  was  not  in  Congress,  having  been  kept  out  by 
J.  Galloway  and  his  party  till  the  session  of  Assembly  after  the  new 
election  in  that  year.  This  appears  from  the  following  entry  in  the 
Journals,  p.  31  : 

"  Monday,  October  I7th,  1774. 

"  Mr.  John  Dickinson  appeared  in  Congress  as  a  deputy  for  the 
Province  of  Pennsylvania,  and  produced  his  credentials,  as  follows : 


CORRESPONDENCE    ON  THE  SUBJECT.        *45 

masterly  style  as  the  Petition  to  the  King.  It  is,  in 
fact,  a  treatise  upon  the  great  guarantees  of  freedom 
which  England  provides  for  all  her  subjects  whose 
allegiance  she  claims.  He  insists  that  by  this  act  the 


"' 


A.M.  "'In  Assembly,  October  I5th,  1774. 

"  '  Upon  motion  by  Mr.  Ross,  ordered,  that  Mr.  Dickinson  be  and 
he  is  hereby  added  to  the  committee  of  deputies  appointed  by  the 
late  Assembly  of  this  Province,  to  attend  the  general  Congress  now 
sitting  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  on  American  grievances.' 

"  The  same  being  approved,  Mr.  Dickinson  took  his  seat  as  one  of 
the  deputies  for  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania." 

The  next  entry  in  the  Journals  concerning  the  Address  to  the 
King  is  in  these  words,  in  page  56  : 

"  Friday,  October  2ist,  1774. 

"  The  Address  to  the  King,  being  brought  in,  was  read,  and  after 
some  debate,  ordered,  that  the  same  be  recommitted,  and  that  Mr.  J. 
Dickinson  be  added  to  the  committee." 

The  next  entry  relating  to  this  subject  is  in  these  words,  in  page 

57: 

"  Monday,  October  24th,  1774. 

"  The  committee  to  whom  the  Address  to  the  King  was  recom- 
mitted reported  a  draft,  which  was  read,  and  ordered  to  be  taken 
into  consideration  to-morrow." 

"  Tuesday,  October  25th,  1774. 

"  The  Congress  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  Address  to  his 
Majesty,  and  the  same  being  debated  by  paragraphs  was,  after  some 
amendments,  approved  and  ordered  to  be  engrossed." 

Thus  it  is  manifest  that  the  Address  agreed  to  by  Congress  was 
not  brought  in,  as  the  Chief  Justice  states,  merely  by  the  committee 
first  appointed  upon  that  business,  but  by  the  persons  to  whom  it 
was  "recommitted"  —  that  is,  by  the  five  gentlemen  who  were  first 
appointed,  and  by  me  who  had  been  added  to  them  on  the  2ist  of 
October,  as  is  before  mentioned. 

The  truth  is,  that  the  draft  brought  in  by  the  original  committee 
was  written  in  language  of  asperity  very  little  according  with  the 
conciliatory  disposition  of  Congress. 

JO 


146          ADDRESS   ON  THE   "  QUEBEC  ACT." 

great  principles  which  the  English  law  lays  down  as 
fundamental — viz.,  that  the  people  shall  have  a  share 
in  their  government;  that  their  representatives  shall 

The  committee,  on  my  being  added  to  them,  desired  me  to  draw 
the  address,  which  I  did,  and  the  draft  was  reported  by  me. 

I  have  said  that  the  Chief  Justice  has  cast  a  reflection  upon  my 
character,  and  a  very  severe  one  it  is,  from  whatever  cause  it  has 
proceeded. 

The  severity  of  his  reflection  arises  from  this  circumstance.  In 
the  year  1800,  two  young  printers  applied  to  me  for  my  consent  to 
publish  my  political  writings,  from  which  they  expected  to  derive 
some  emolument.  I  gave  my  consent,  and  in  the  following  year  they 
published  in  this  place  two  octavo  volumes,  as  my  political  writings. 

This  publication  being  made  in  the  town  where  I  reside,  no  per- 
son of  understanding  can  doubt  that  I  must  be  acquainted  with  the 
contents.  Of  course  I  must  be  guilty  of  the  greatest  baseness,  if, 
for  my  credit,  I  knowingly  permitted  writings  which  I  had  not  com- 
posed to  be  publicly  imputed  to  me,  without  a  positive  and  public 
contradiction  of  the  imputation.  This  contradiction  I  never  have 
made,  and  never  shall  make,  conscious  as  I  am  that  every  one  of 
those  writings  was  composed  by  me. 

The  question,  whether  I  wrote  the  first  Petition  to  the  King  is 
of  little  moment,  but  the  question,  whether  I  have  countenanced  an 
opinion  that  I  did  write  it  though  in  reality  I  did  not,  is  to  me  of 
vast  importance. 

If  I  had  any  acquaintance  with  the  Chief  Justice,  I  would  im- 
mediately write  to  him,  upon  the  injury  he  has  done  to  me,  entertain- 
ing, as  I  do,  from  the  accounts  I  have  received  of  his  good  qualities, 
a  hope  that  he  would  be  disposed  to  do  me  justice  by  correcting  his 
error  in  the  third  volume  of  his  work,  soon  to  be  published. 

But,  as  we  are  strangers  one  to  the  other,  I  earnestly  wish  my  friend 
to  write  to  him  on  the  subject,  as  soon  as  his  convenience  will  permit. 
This  favor  will  much  oblige 

Thy  truly  affectionate  cousin, 

JOHN  DICKINSON. 

WILMINGTON,  the  i$th  of  the  Qth  mo.,  1804. 

To  DR.  G.  LOGAN. 


DICKINSON  AND   GENERAL    WASHINGTON.      M7 


have  the  absolute  right  of  voting  supplies  ;  and  that  the 
trial  by  jury,  the  liberty  of  the  person,  and  the  free- 
dom of  the  press  shall  be  preserved  inviolate — are  all 

Chief  Justice  Marshall  to  Dr.  Logan. 

RICHMOND,  January  28th,  1805. 

SIR, — Your  letter  of  the  lyth  inst.,  enclosing  an  extract  of  one 
from  Mr.  Dickinson,  reached  me  only  to-day.  This  delay  is  in  some 
measure  attributable  to  my  inattention  to  the  post-office,  and  in 
some  measure  to  the  impediments  to  the  mail  occasioned  by  the  bad 
weather. 

I  lament  sincerely  that  any  mistake  should  have  arisen  respecting 
the  author  of  the  Petition  to  the  King.  I  did  most  certainly  believe 
that  it  came  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Lee.  I  had  heard  so  at  the  time, 
and  this  report  appeared  to  me  to  derive  much  probability  from  his 
being  the  person  first  named  on  the  committee.  It  may  have  origi- 
nated in  his  having  drawn  that  which  was  not  approved.  The  subse- 
quent appointment  of  Mr.  Dickinson  on  the  committee  escaped  my 
attention.  It  being  my  object  to  state  the  address  itself,  without  ad- 
verting to  the  changes  it  experienced  in  passing  through  Congress,  I  did 
not  attend  to  the  recommitment  of  it.  The  book  mentioned  in  the 
extract  I  never  saw.  Had  it  been  in  my  possession  I  certainly  should 
not  have  been  unmindful  of  the  which  finding  this  paper 

among  the  political  tracts  of  that  gentleman  would  have  suggested. 

The  willingness  manifested  by  Mr.  Dickinson  to  attribute  this 
accident  to  improper  motives  I  can  readily  excuse ;  nor  will  it  in 
any  degree  diminish  the  alacrity  with  which  I  shall  render  him  the 
justice  to  which  he  is  entitled. 

With  great  respect, 

I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

J.  MARSHALL. 

THE  HONBLE.  GEORGE  LOGAN,  Washington. 

John  Dickinson  to  Dr.  Logan. 

I  wish  the  author  to  be  informed  that  I  am  very  sensible  of  the 
candor  with  which  he  has  been  pleased  to  rectify  the  note  in  the 
second  volume  of  his  work. 

I  disliked  several    parts  of  General  Washington's    conduct  as  a 


148  THE    CONGRESS  ADJOURNS. 

placed  at  the  mercy  of  an  absolute  governor,  who  is 
responsible  only  to  a  profligate  minister  at  home  who 
may  rule  them  as  he  will. 

When  the  Congress  adjourned  on  the  26th  of  Oc- 
tober, the  delegates  generally,  and  John  Dickinson 
especially,  were  not  sanguine  of  preserving  peace. 
"Delightful  as  peace  is,"  he  said,  "it  will  be  all  the 
more  gratifying  because  unexpected."  Who  had  de- 
stroyed the  hopes  of  that  reconciliation  for  which  he 
had  worked  so  long  and  so  faithfully?  He  could  not 
help  feeling  that  the  Congress  had  yielded  to  pity  and 
sympathy  what  their  calmer  judgments  would  have 
refused. 

Notwithstanding,  however,  the  gloomy  apprehen- 
sions of  Dickinson  as  to  the  failure  of  measures  of 
conciliation,  he  did  not  slacken  his  zeal  or  abate  his 
efforts  to  secure  the  ratification  of  the  acts  of  the 
Congress  by  the  legislatures  of  the  different  Colonies. 
The  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania  was  the  first  to  confirm 
the  proceedings  of  the  Congress,  as  it  was  the  first, 

commander,  and  as  a  statesman.  They  were,  in  my  opinion,  errors, 
committed  not  for  want  of  abilities,  but  for  want  of  that  informa- 
tion which  a  more  extensive  acquaintance  with  history  would  have 
afforded. 

However,  I  always  considered  him  as  a  great  and  good  man. 
His  honesty  and  firmness  throughout  our  severe  contest  establish  his 
character  in  a  most  conspicuous  and  endearing  light. 

I  had  a  strong  conviction  of  the  difficulties  he  had  to  encounter ; 
but  yet  I  had  not  such  a  knowledge  of  them,  and  consequently  not 
such  a  knowledge  of  his  merits  in  the  services  he  rendered  to  his 
country,  as  I  have  acquired  since  I  read  the  second  volume  of  the 
History  now  publishing.  His  memory  must  be  affectionately  cherished 
by  every  true  American,  by  every  friend  to  liberty. 


PENNSYLVANIA   RATIFIES  ITS  ACTS.  U9 

thirteen  years  afterwards,  to  ratify  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States.  It  met  on  the  loth  of  December: 
there  was  a  large  number  of  Quakers  in  the  Assem- 
bly, yet  the  acts  of  the  Congress  which  complained 
of  their  grievances  were  unanimously  approved.  This 
action  seems  to  have  caused  no  little  surprise  among 
those  who  thought  that  they  knew  the  composition  of 
that  body  well,  and  especially  the  Quaker  feeling.  Mr. 
Reed,  writing  to  Lord  Dartmouth,  the  American  Secre- 
tary, says  that  the  vote  was  expressive  of  "  the  appro- 
bation of  a  large  number  of  Quakers  in  the  House,  a 
body  of  people  who  have  acted  a  passive  part  in  all 
the  disputes  between  the  mother-country  and  the  Col- 
onies." Nothing  could  be  more  significant,  as  showing 
how  completely  united  were  the  people  of  all  classes 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  how  successful  had  been  the  man- 
agement of  Dickinson  in  securing  such  a  vote  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  influence  of  Galloway  and  those  of  his 
followers  (and  there  were  not  a  few  of  these)  who 
were  royalists  quand  meme. 

Besides  the  unanimous  formal  approval  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Congress  by  the  Assembly,  there  was 
an  earnest  effort  made  in  Pennsylvania  by  Dickinson 
and  his  friends  to  enlist  popular  sympathy  and  support 
in  aid  of  the  strict  enforcement  of  the  non-importation 
agreement.  This  effort  proved  in  a  great  measure 
successful,  and  the  "  Association/*  as  it  was  called,  be- 
came what  agreements  of  a  similar  nature  had  not  been 
hitherto, — a  reality.  With  this  object  in  view,  the  Com- 
mittee of  Correspondence,  of  which  Mr.  Dickinson  was 
chairman,  summoned  a  second  meeting  of  the  Con- 
vention which  had  been  held  during  the  past  summer. 


150       THE  SECOND  PROVINCIAL    CONVENTION. 

This  second  Convention,  like  its  predecessor,  was  sim- 
ply a  popular  body,  and  one  whose  acts  had  no  formal 
legal  sanction  and  whose  decision  could  be  enforced 
only  by  general  public  opinion  ;  it  met  at  the  close 
of  January,  1775.  Mr.  Dickinson,  the  chairman  of  the 
committee,  having  proposed  that  Mr.  Joseph  Reed 
should  be  the  chairman,  stated  the  reasons  which  had 
led  to  the  call  of  the  Convention.  He  said  that  while 
"  it  is  the  most  earnest  wish  and  desire  of  all  to  see 
harmony  restored  between  Great  Britain  and  the  Col- 
onies, this  body  should  emphasize  the  opinion  that  the 
commercial  opposition  pointed  out  by  the  Continental 
Congress,  if  faithfully  adhered  to,  will  be  the  means  of 
rescuing  this  unhappy  country  from  the  evils  meditated 
against  it."  He  then  proposed,  and  the  Convention 
adopted  his  proposal,  that  the  non-importation  agree- 
ment should  be  faithfully  observed,  and  that  various 
kinds  of  domestic  manufacture  should  be  undertaken 
in  order  to  render  us  independent  of  England  for  the 
supply  of  our  wants.  In  these  proposals  we  find  only 
the  echoes  of  the  opinions  he  had  always  maintained 
on  this  subject. 

On  the  Qth  of  March,  1775,  the  governor  (John  Penn) 
sent  a  message  to  the  Assembly,  suggesting  that  in  the 
present  critical  condition  of  affairs  it  would  be  more 
respectful  to  the  authorities  at  home  that  each  Colony 
should  state  its  peculiar  grievances  in  petitions  sepa- 
rately, rather  than  that  a  common  complaint  should 
be  made  by  a  Congress  of  all.  The  answer  of  the 
Assembly  is  worth  quoting,  as  showing  the  intensity 
and  earnestness  of  the  feeling  which  prevailed  in  Penn- 
sylvania, and  her  loyal  adhesion  to  those  of  her  sister 


PROPOSAL  TO  SEND  SEPARATE  PETITIONS.     *5J 

Colonies  who  were  then  suffering.  At  this  very  time 
she  has  been  represented  as  being  ready,  under  Quaker 
influence  and  the  leadership  of  Dickinson,  to  yield 
everything  for  the  sake  of  peace.  They  tell  the  gov- 
ernor, in  their  answer  to  his  message,  that,  if  there  was 
no  other  objection  to  his  proposition,  it  seemed  to  them 
that  it  would  be  dishonorable  to  adopt  it,  and  to  desert 
the  other  Colonies  which  were  connected  by  a  union 
founded  on  just  motives  and  mutual  faith  and  con- 
ducted by  general  councils.  They  rejected  with  dis- 
dain the  proposition  of  the  House  of  Lords  that  each 
Colony  should  vote  its  own  supplies  under  certain  con- 
ditions. They  were  unwavering  in  their  determination 
when  the  battle  of  Lexington  had  brought  affairs  to  a 
crisis.1  On  the  9th  of  May,  1775,  tnev  gave  tneir  m" 
structions  to  their  honored  and  trusted  delegates  (Gal- 
loway having  declined  to  be  a  candidate,  and  having 
retired  to  Bucks  County  to  meditate  "going  over,"  as 
afterwards  appeared)  in  a  very  few  but  pregnant  words : 
"  You  shall  meet  the  delegates  to  the  Congress  about 
to  assemble,  and  you  shall  exert  your  utmost  endeavors 

1  Mr.  Dickinson,  Mr.  Jay,  and  Mr.  Wythe  were  sent  by  Congress  to 
warn  the  Assembly  of  New  Jersey  not  to  send  petitions  singly,  as  Lord 
North  desired.  Mr.  Dickinson  said  to  the  Assembly,  "The  eyes  of 
all  Europe  are  upon  us.  Until  this  controversy  the  strength  and  im- 
portance of  this  country  were  not  known  ;  the  nations  of  Europe  look 
with  jealous  eyes  on  the  struggle.  Britain  has  natural  enemies,  France 
and  Spain  ;  France  will  not  sit  still  and  suffer  Britain  to  conquer.  All 
that  Britain  wanted  was  to  procure  separate  petitions,  which  we 
should  avoid ;  it  would  break  our  Union,  and  we  should  become  a 
rope  of  sand.  He  repeated,  that  neither  mercy  nor  justice  were  to  be 
expected  from  Britain."  Mr.  Jay  and  Mr.  Wythe  supported  Mr. 
Dickinson. — New  Jersey  Archives,  vol.  x.,  First  Series. 


152  MILITARY  FORCE  RAISED. 

to  agree  upon  and  recommend  such  further  measures 
as  shall  afford  the  best  prospect  of  obtaining  redress 
of  American  grievances  and  of  restoring  union  and 
harmony  between  Great  Britain  and  her  Colonies.3' 
Messrs.  Franklin,  Thomas  Willing,  and  James  Wilson 
were  then  chosen  additional  delegates. 

On  the  23d  of  June  a  petition  was  presented  to  the 
Assembly  by  the  Committee  of  Correspondence  of  the 
City  and  Liberties,  urging  that  "a  military  force  should 
be  raised,  and  that  a  Committee  of  Safety  and  of  De- 
fence should  be  organized,  composed  either  of  members 
of  the  Assembly  or  of  others,  as  might  seem  most  de- 
sirable, who  should  be  clothed  with  discretionary  powers 
to  act  in  case  of  invasion  or  of  threatened  invasion,  and 
that  they  should  have  power  to  appropriate  such  public 
moneys  as  may  be  already  raised,  or  to  raise  such  further 
sums  on  credit  or  otherwise  as  may  be  necessary."  A 
resolution  adopting  these  recommendations  was  at  once 
passed  with  great  unanimity,  and  John  Dickinson  was 
made  chairman  of  the  committee.  Of  course  the  gov- 
ernor's instructions  from  the  Proprietaries  would  not 
justify  his  approval  of  such  an  expenditure.  All  this 
action  was  revolutionary  in  its  character,  and  can  be 
defended  only  on  the  plea  of  an  overruling  necessity ; 
but  it  is  at  least  strong  proof  of  the  absolute  confi- 
dence felt  by  all  parties,  at  that  time,  not  merely  in  the 
sagacity  but  in  the  integrity  of  Mr.  Dickinson.  This 
most  important  and  responsible  trust  he  held,  with  the 
entire  approval  of  the  body  that  appointed  him,  for  more 
than  a  year.  In  pursuance  of  the  resolution  of  the 
Assembly,  a  "  military  association,"  as  it  was  called,  was 
formed  in  Philadelphia,  and  the  example  was  followed 


PECULIARITIES   OF  THE  ASSOCIATORS.       ^53 

by  the  interior  counties  soon  after.  The  "  associators" 
in  this  county  numbered  in  a  short  time  four  thousand 
three  hundred  men,  and  throughout  the  Province  vol- 
unteers came  forward  in  numbers  sufficient  to  form 
fifty-three  battalions.  It  soon  became  necessary  for 
the  officers  to  apply  to  the  Assembly  for  the  passage 
of  a  law  which  should  provide  for  their  proper  military 
organization  and  discipline,  and  such  a  law  was  passed 
on  the  30th  of  June,  1775.  Of  the  first  battalion  raised 
in  the  city  John  Dickinson  was  elected  colonel,  a  pretty 
strong  proof,  one  would  suppose,  that  the  earnestness 
of  his  resistance  by  force,  should  it  become  necessary, 
was  believed  in  by  those  who  appointed  him. 

The  military  force  which  was  organized  by  Pennsyl- 
vania at  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  was  peculiar 
to  that  Province.  Its  peculiarity  was  in  a  great  meas- 
ure due  to  the  unwillingness  of  the  Quakers,  who 
formed  so  large  a  part  of  the  population  of  the  Prov- 
ince, to  submit  to  compulsory  military  service  in  the 
militia.  At  this  time  there  was,  indeed,  no  enrolled 
and  organized  militia  force  in  the  Province.  It  had 
been  found  impossible,  as  we  have  seen,  as  far  back 
as  1 747,  to  induce  the  Quaker  members  of  the  Assem- 
bly to  agree  to  organize  such  a  force  by  law.  They 
defended  their  action  (so  far  as  the  legal  liability  was 
concerned)  by  appealing  to  the  well-known  maxim  of 
the  English  common  law,  that  under  no  English  tenure 
could  a  man  who  procured  a  substitute  be  forced  to 
serve  in  the  king's  levies  in  person,  and  to  certain 
provisions  of  the  charter  of  Pennsylvania  which  they 
claimed  exempted  those  who  were  conscientiously 
scrupulous  from  bearing  arms.  The  Quakers  con- 


154        NATURE    OF  MILITARY  FORCE  HERE. 

tended  that  their  action  did  not  embarrass  the  public 
service  ;  that  there  were  in  Pennsylvania  many  men 
at  all  times  willing  to  serve  as  soldiers  if  the  govern- 
ment would  enroll  them.  The  Proprietary  govern- 
ment had  always  been  unwilling  to  employ  these  vol- 
unteers, because  it  was  insisted  that  their  officers 
should  be  elected  by  the  men,  and  not  appointed  by 
the  governor.  This  controversy  had  led  to  a  perma- 
nent estrangement  between  the  Proprietaries  and  the 
Quakers  in  regard  to  the  employment  of  a  military 
force.  The  latter  were  represented  in  England  as 
unwilling  to  defend  the  Province  because  they  insisted 
that  the  military  force  should  be  composed  of  volun- 
teers, and  not  of  those  serving  under  compulsion,  and 
that  they  should  be  paid  and  maintained  by  taxes  levied 
upon  all  the  Proprietary  estates  as  they  were  laid  on 
those  of  others. 

Such  was  the  historical  position  of  the  Quakers 
towards  enlistments  in  the  military  service  in  provin- 
cial days.  Franklin  in  1 747,  upon  an  alarm  which  had 
arisen  lest  the  Spanish  pirates  who  had  appeared  in  the 
Delaware  Bay  might  attack  the  shipping  and  the  towns 
on  the  river,  formed  an  association  of  volunteers  for 
the  defence  of  the  Province  ;  but,  happily,  as  peace  was 
shortly  afterwards  declared,  there  was  no  occasion  for 
the  services  of  the  thousand  men  who  had  been  enrolled 
by  him.  This  experiment  set  the  fashion  of  recruiting 
men  for  the  military  service  in  subsequent  years,  and  it 
continued  the  favorite  method  in  case  of  emergencies, 
and  when  it  was  impossible  to  await  the  settlement  of 
the  long-standing  quarrel  between  the  governor  and 
the  Assembly  on  this  subject,  up  to  the  date  of  the 


VOLUNTEERS  AS  OPPOSED  TO  MILITIAMEN.     *55 

Revolution.  There  was  not  the  smallest  practical  incon- 
venience in  raising  a  military  force  of  this  description, 
as  there  were  always  plenty  of  men  ready  to  enlist 
and  others  desiring  to  receive  commissions  as  officers  ; 
the  only  difficulty  was  to  obtain  a  legal  consent  to  the 
enrolment  of  these  volunteers,  or,  as  they  were  called 
in  those  days,  "  associate rs."  The  outbreak  of  the 
Revolution  found  Pennsylvania,  owing  to  these  differ- 
ences between  the  governor  and  the  Assembly,  without 
a  militia  law  or  any  organized  military  force  whatever. 
Congress  having  resolved  that  a  certain  force  should 
be  raised,  Pennsylvania  was  called  upon  to  supply  her 
quota  of  four  thousand  three  hundred  men.  The  cir- 
cumstances of  the  time  permitting  no  delay,  it  was 
determined  by  a  large  public  meeting  held  in  the 
State-House  yard  that  Franklin's  expedient  of  1747 
should  be  adopted,  and  that  these  men  should  be 
raised  and  organized  as  "  associators"  or  volunteers.  It 
seems  almost  incredible  that  in  a  community  such  as 
the  population  of  Pennsylvania  then  formed,  fifty-three 
battalions  of  troops  could  have  been  raised  in  a  few 
weeks.  What  number  of  men  composed  a  battalion 
in  those  days  we  have  sought  in  vain  to  discover: 
there  were  enough  at  least  to  form  two  large  bri- 
gades, one  of  which  was  afterwards  commanded  by 
General  Roberdeau,  and  the  other  by  General  Ewing. 
It  seems  hard  to  reconcile  facts  such  as  these  with  the 
traditional  stories  of  the  Quaker  opposition  to  the  war 
and  its  influence  in  preventing  voluntary  enlistments. 
In  addition  to  these  two  brigades,  "flying  camps,"  as 
they  were  called,  were  established  during  the  sum- 
mer of  1776  in  various  parts  of  New  Jersey,  composed 


i56  OFFICERS  OF  THE  BATTALIONS. 

chiefly  of  Pennsylvania  troops,  and  designed  as  ad- 
vanced posts  to  defend  the  Province  from  invasion 
by  the  British  army  then  encamped  on  Staten  Island. 
It  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that  all  these  men  belonged  to 
the  Province  and  were  maintained  by  it,  the  Continen- 
tal army  not  being  yet  organized  and  ready  for  duty. 

Dickinson  was  one  of  the  foremost  and  most  active 
promoters  of  this  military  movement  during  the  sum- 
mer of  1775.  Of  the  five  battalions  raised  in  this  city, 
he  was,  as  we  have  said,  the  colonel  of  the  first,  Daniel 
Roberdeau  of  the  second,  John  Cadwalader  of  the  third, 
Thomas  McKean  of  the  fourth,  and  Timothy  Matlack 
of  the  fifth  (artillery).  From  the  County  of  Philadel- 
phia, William  Hamilton  was  colonel  of  the  sixth,  Rob- 
ert Lewis  of  the  seventh,  Thomas  Potts  of  the  eighth, 
John  Bull  of  the  ninth,  Tench  Francis  of  the  tenth,  and 
Henry  Hill  of  the  eleventh.  Many  of  the  companies 
in  these  battalions  had  in  their  ranks  the  very  elite  of 
the  young  men  of  the  city  and  county, — the  "silk-stock- 
ing gentry,"  as  they  were  called, — and  at  Amboy,  at 
Elizabethtown,  on  Long  Island,  at  Princeton,  and  at 
Brandywine,  wherever,  indeed,  the  emergency  of  the 
times  called  them,  these  volunteers  did  true  and  faith- 
ful service.  The  fatal,  but  perhaps  necessary,  defect 
in  their  organization  was  the  shortness  of  the  term  for 
which  they  were  enlisted.1 

Besides  the  eleven  battalions  of  "  associators"  sent  by  Phila- 
delphia to  the  field  in  the  summer  of  1776,  there  was  enlisted  a 
considerable  number  of  troops  for  the  Continental  line,  under  the 
authority  of  a  resolution  of  Congress  adopted  in  January,  1776. 
Among  these  were  four  infantry  regiments  (those  of  St.  Clair,  Shee, 
Wayne,  and  Magaw),  two  rifle  regiments  (those  of  De  Haas  and 


SECOND  PETITION  TO    THE   KING.  *57 

Mr.  Dickinson  thought  it  his  duty  to  his  constituents, 
even  after  the  battles  of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill, 
and  while  he  was  engaged  in  these  active  measures  of 
raising  a  military  force,  to  make  another  effort  in  Con- 
gress to  obtain  peace.  He  has  been  much  censured 
for  the  part  which  he  took  with  this  object  in  view, 
when  at  the  same  time  he  was  preparing  and  advo- 
cating what  is  called  the  "  Second  Petition  to  the  King," 
which  was  adopted  by  Congress  in  July,  1775.  It 
must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  in  the  first  place,  that, 
strongly  as  he  may  have  urged  its  adoption,  it  was, 
after  all,  only  the  echo  of  the  opinion  of  the  majority 
of  Congress  at  that  time,  whose  watchword  was  then 
Defence,  not  Defiance.  Exactly  how  great  that  ma- 
jority was  we  cannot  tell.  The  United  Colonies,  no 
doubt,  considered  themselves  as  armed  negotiators, 
and  in  that  position  more  likely  to  obtain  favorable 
terms.  Mr.  Dickinson  and  his  friends  also  supposed 
that  the  king  and  the  ministry  would  have  learned 
wisdom  from  the  lessons  taught  by  Lexington  and 
Bunker  Hill ;  but,  as  it  turned  out,  the  effect  of  this 
last  petition  to  the  king  was  directly  opposite  to  that 
which  they  had  calculated  upon.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered, however,  as  Charles  Thomson  says,  "  in  order  to 
explain  the  great  anxiety  which  Mr.  Dickinson  evinced 
to  send  forward  this  petition,  that  it  was  necessary  to 
make  an  experiment,  for  without  it  it  would  have  been 
impossible  to  have  persuaded  the  bulk  of  the  people  of 
Pennsylvania  that  a  humble  petition,  drawn  up  without 

Hand),  and  two  Provincial  battalions,  composed  of  fifteen  hundred 
men  (those  of  Miles  and  Atlee).  They  were  engaged  in  the  battle  on 
Long  Island  and  in  the  defence  in  November  of  Fort  Washington. 


158          MR.  ADAMS  OPPOSES  CONCILIATION. 

those  clauses  against  which  the  ministry  and  Parliament 
had  taken  exception  in  the  former  petition,  would  not 
have  met  with  a  favorable  reception  and  produced  the 
desired  effect." 

It  is  now  very  clear  that  Mr.  Adams  and  his  political 
friends  understood  more  correctly  than  did  their  op- 
ponents the  extent  of  the  pride  and  obstinacy  of  the 
English  king  and  people.  With  the  sentiment  of  inde- 
pendence always  in  their  hearts,  giving  it  no  utterance, 
but  guided  in  their  policy  always  by  it,  they  felt  that 
this  second  petition  to  the  king  might  be  regarded  in 
England  as  a  proof  of  fear  and  weakness  on  our  part, 
and  would  tend  rather  to  close  the  door  against  accepta- 
ble terms  than  to  open  it  more  widely  to  receive  them. 
Congress,  however,  relied  much,  as  we  have  seen,  upon 
Mr.  Dickinson's  judgment,  and  it  is  possible  that  it  was 
not  without  a  wish  to  administer  a  rebuke  to  those  who 
they  knew  were  planning  for  immediate  independence. 

As  it  turned  out,  this  petition  incensed  to  the  last  de- 
gree the  New  England  politicians  in  the  Congress.  In 
the  debate  which  preceded  its  adoption  it  would  appear 
that  they  spoke  very  harshly  of  the  motives  and  acts  of 
those  who  still  advocated  conciliation,  and  especially  of 
those  of  Dickinson,  their  leader.  A  speech  of  Sullivan 
of  New  Hampshire  would  seem  to  have  particularly 
annoyed  Dickinson,  ordinarily  the  most  amiable  of 
men.  According  to  Mr.  Adams's  statement,  he  rushed 
out  of  the  hall  in  a  great  passion,  and,  meeting  him 
(Adams)  walking  with  a  friend  in  the  State-House 
yard,  he  suddenly  cried  out,  "  What  is  the  reason  that 
you  New  England  men  oppose  our  measures  of  recon- 
ciliation ?  There  now  is  Sullivan  in  a  long  harangue 


DICKINSON  AND  JOHN  ADAMS. 


following  you  in  a  determined  opposition  to  our  pe- 
tition to  the  king  !  Look  ye  !  —  if  you  don't  concur 
with  us  in  our  pacific  system,  I  and  a  number  of  us 
will  break  off  from  you  in  New  England,  and  we  will 
carry  on  the  opposition  by  ourselves  in  our  own  way." 
If  this  be  an  accurate  account  of  the  interview,  it  is 
clear  that  Mr.  Dickinson  lost  his  temper  on  this  occa- 
sion, and  that  he  was  very  properly  rebuked  by  Mr. 
Adams.  As  to  the  threat  of  Dickinson  to  secede  if 
he  could  not  have  his  own  way,  it  is  so  unlike  anything 
he  ever  did,  and  it  resembles  so  much  the  avowed  de- 
termination of  the  New  England  leaders,  as  we  shall 
see  presently,  to  form  a  separate  confederacy  if  Con- 
gress delayed  in  proclaiming  independence,  that  it  is 
possible  that  Mr.  Adams's  memory  may  have  been 
betrayed  by  his  imagination.  Be  that  as  it  may,  after 
the  interview,  Mr.  Adams  was  so  much  ruffled  by  it 
that  he  went  to  his  lodgings,  and,  having  occasion  to 
write  a  letter  of  introduction  for  a  young  friend  of  his 
who  was  going  to  Boston,  he  could  not  refrain  from 
referring  to  the  incident  in  this  way:  "A  certain  great 
fortune  and  piddling  genius,  whose  fame  has  been 
trumpeted  so  loudly,  has  given  a  silly  cast  to  our 
whole  doings.  We  are  between  hawk  and  buzzard. 
We  ought  to  have  had  in  our  hands  a  month  ago  the 
whole  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  of  the  whole 
continent  and  have  completely  modelled  a  constitu- 
tion," and  so  on  in  the  same  strain.  This  letter,  very 
unfortunately,  we  think,  for  the  writer  and  for  all  con- 
cerned, was  captured  by  the  English  pickets  as  its 
bearer  was  crossing  the  Hudson,  and  it  was  soon  after 
published  in  full  in  the  English  newspapers.  The 


160  MR.   ADAMS'S  LETTER. 

publication  of  this  letter  produced  an  effect  which  Mr. 
Adams  could  not  have  anticipated.  It  appeared  in 
England  just  at  the  time  when  the  second  petition  to 
the  king  reached  that  country ;  and  it  was  at  once 
seized  upon  by  our  adversaries  there  as  showing  how 
insincere  were  our  professions  of  a  desire  for  peace  upon 
any  terms  short  of  independence,  and  as  giving  proof  of 
the  divisions  among  ourselves.  Attention  was  called  to 
the  similarity  of  our  position  now  to  that  which  we  had 
held  when  the  first  petition  was  sent  to  the  king, 
breathing  loyalty  and  hopes  for  reconciliation  while  at 
the  same  time  we  were  abetting  the  rebellion  of  the 
people  of  Boston.  Besides,  it  brought  to  view  an  im- 
passable gulf  between  those  in  Congress  who  had 
been  so  far  pursuing  a  common  remedy  and  those  who 
believed  that  independence  and  not  reconciliation  was 
the  real  object  of  the  war.  The  hall  of  Congress, 
although,  happily,  the  public  were  prevented  at  the  time 
from  knowing  what  took  place  in  their  secret  sessions, 
formed  an  arena  for  party  strife  and  management.  Mr. 
Adams  became  so  embittered  against  Dickinson  that 
his  judgment  of  his  conduct  and  motives  had  no  longer 
any  value.  For  instance,  he  writes,  "  I  have  always 
imputed  the  loss  of  Charlestown,  and  of  the  brave 
officers  and  men  who  fell  there,  and  the  loss  of  a  hero 
more  worth  than  all  the  town,  to  Mr.  Dickinson's  pe- 
tition [the  first  petition]  to  the  king,  and  the  loss  of 
Quebec  and  Montgomery  to  his  subsequent  unceasing, 
though  finally  unavailing,  efforts  against  independence." 
It  is,  of  course,  idle  to  argue  against  clamor  so  sense- 
less as  this :  it  is  only  referred  to  as  an  illustration  of 
the  intensity  of  the  opposition  which  existed  to  the 


ITS  EFFECT  IN  ENGLAND. 


Declaration  of  Independence  but  one  year  before  its 
adoption,  not  only  on  the  part  of  Dickinson,  but  on 
that  of  a  majority  of  the  members  of  Congress.  Let 
us  rather  turn  to  Dickinson's  own  account  of  his  opin- 
ions and  acts  at  this  crisis. 

On  the  8th  of  July,  the  same  day  on  which  this  much 
abused  petition  to  the  king  was  adopted,  Mr.  Dickin- 
son presented  the  report  of  the  committee  appointed 
to  prepare  a  Declaration  announcing  to  the  world  our 
reasons  for  taking  up  arms  against  England.1  This 
famous  Declaration  is  of  great  historical  interest,  not 
only  because  it  shows  definitely  and  accurately  the  sen- 
timents of  Congress  at  that  time  concerning  the  charac- 
ter and  the  motives  of  the  struggle,  but  also  because 
it  is  clear  that  Dickinson  was  chosen  as  the  fittest  in- 
terpreter of  those  sentiments.  Basing  our  defence 
of  rebellion  against  the  authority  of  the  king  upon 
a  long  series  of  grievances,  still  unredressed  in  spite 
of  repeated  petitions  and  remonstrances,  he  asks,  "  But 
why  should  we  enumerate  our  injuries  in  detail?  By 
one  statute  it  is  declared  that  Parliament  can  of  right 
make  laws  to  bind  us  in  all  cases  whatever."  Here 
was  our  whole  case  stated  in  a  single  sentence.  Then 
came  those  ringing  words  which,  spoken  in  trumpet- 
tones  to  the  division  of  General  Putnam  encamped 

1  Mr.  Dickinson's  claim  to  the  authorship  of  this  celebrated  paper 
had  been  denied  by  Mr.  Bancroft,  who  stated  in  his  history  that  Mr. 
Jefferson  wrote  the  Declaration  or  the  larger  part  of  it.  This  matter 
has  been  so  thoroughly  investigated  by  my  friend  Dr.  George  H. 
Moore  as  to  dispel  any  doubt  on  the  subject.  It  is  only  necessary  to 
refer  to  his  paper  establishing  Mr.  Dickinson's  claim  (Appendix  IV.). 
In  the  later  editions  of  his  history  Mr.  Bancroft  has  corrected  the 
error  into  which  he  had  fallen. 

ii 


162        DECLARATION  ON  TAKING   UP  ARMS. 

before  Boston,  were  answered  "by  a  shout  in  three 
huzzas  and  a  loud  amen :" 

"  We  have  counted  the  cost  of  this  contest,  and  find 
nothing  so  dreadful  as  voluntary  slavery.  .  .  .  Our 
cause  is  just,  our  union  is  perfect,  our  internal  re- 
sources are  great,  and,  if  necessary,  foreign  assistance 
is  no  doubt  attainable.  We  gratefully  acknowledge,  as 
signal  instances  of  the  Divine  favor  towards  us,  that  his 
providence  would  not  permit  us  to  be  called  into  this 
severe  controversy  until  we  were  grown  up  to  our 
present  strength,  had  been  previously  exercised  in  war- 
like operations,  and  possessed  the  means  of  defending 
ourselves.  With  hearts  fortified  by  these  animating 
reflections,  we  most  solemnly,  before  God  and  the 
world,  declare  that,  exerting  the  utmost  energies  of 
those  powers  which  our  beneficent  Creator  hath 
graciously  bestowed  upon  us,  the  arms  which  we  have 
been  compelled  by  our  enemies  to  assume,  we  will,  in 
defiance  of  every  hazard,  with  unabating  firmness  and 
perseverance  employ  for  the  preservation  of  our  liber- 
ties ;  being,  with  one  mind,  resolved  to  die  freemen 
rather  than  to  live  as  slaves."  It  is  certainly  not  easy 
to  recognize  in  the  writer  of  this  address  that  "  tame 
and  spiritless  creature"  who  is  said  by  Mr.  Bancroft  at 
that  time  to  have  been  John  Dickinson.  He  was  then? 
no  doubt,  the  foremost  man  in  Congress,  and  for  that 
very  reason  he  had  many  enemies ;  but  it  is  none  the 
less  true  that  no  man  in  that  body  saw  so  well  as  he 
the  real  necessities  of  the  situation.  Perhaps  others 
knew  best  how  to  meet  them. 

From  this  time  until  the  close  of  the  year  1775  the 
attitude  assumed  by  Mr.  Dickinson  in  his  "  Declaration 


DICKINSON  TAKES  ACTIVE  MEASURES.       ^3 

of  the  causes  of  our  taking  up  arms"  seems  to  have 
been  maintained  in  all  the  public  manifestoes  issued 
by  Congress.  During  this  period  the  stir  of  military 
preparation  throughout  the  Colonies  was  incessant. 
At  Philadelphia,  Congress  was  engaged  not  only  in 
organizing  armies  but  in  exercising  the  functions  of  an 
established  government.  It  determined  upon  the  ex- 
pedition to  Canada,  it  issued  bills  of  credit  for  a  large 
sum,  it  established  a  general  post-office,  and,  in  short, 
was  quite  as  much  a  government  de  facto  before  the 
Declaration  as  it  became  one  de  jure  after  it.  Still, 
not  a  word  came  from  it  to  the  public,  during  all 
these  preparations,  committing  us  irrevocably  to  inde- 
pendence or  to  a  final  separation.  It  issued,  during 
this  period,  two  most  important  papers  on  this  subject. 
The  first  was  the  report  of  the  committee  of  which 
Dr.  Franklin  was  the  chairman,  on  the  3ist  of  July, 
concerning  the  proposition  of  Lord  North,  that  Eng- 
land should  make  peace  separately  with  such  of  the 
Colonies  as  desired  to  do  so,  on  their  complying  with 
certain  conditions  (a  favorite  scheme  of  the  ministerial 
party),  and  the  other  was  the  report  presented  on  the 
1 6th  of  December,  in  answer  to  the  king's  proclama- 
tion issued  in  August,  in  which  the  Colonists  were 
charged,  among  other  things,  with  having  traitorously 
ordered  and  levied  war  against  their  king  and  having 
proceeded  to  an  avowed  and  open  rebellion.  So  care- 
ful was  Congress  that  our  attitude  should  not  be  misun- 
derstood, and  that  the  world  should  know  we  were  not 
levying  war  against  the  king,  that  it  insisted  that  we 
were  fighting  against  the  claim  of  Parliament  illegally 
to  rule  over  us,  and  not  against  the  royal  authority. 


164  THE  NATURE    OF  ALLEGIANCE. 

"  While  we  are  desirous  and  determined  to  consider  dis- 
passionately every  seeming  advance  towards  a  recon- 
ciliation made  by  that  Parliament,  we  ask  our  British 
brethren  how  they  would  welcome  articles  of  treaty 
from  any  power  on  earth  when  borne  on  the  point  of 
the  bayonet  by  military  plenipotentiaries." 

In  like  manner,  the  report  of  December,  1775,  asks, 
"What  allegiance  is  it  that  we  forget?  Allegiance  to 
Parliament  ?  We  never  owed  it ;  we  never  owned  it. 
Allegiance  to  our  king?  Our  words  have  ever  avowed 
it ;  our  conduct  has  been  ever  consistent  with  it.  The 
cruel  and  illegal  attacks  which  we  oppose  have  no  foun- 
dation in  the  royal  authority.  We  will  not,  on  our  part, 
lose  the  distinction  between  the  king  and  the  ministry." 
It  is  curious  to  note  the  similarity  of  Franklin's  lan- 
guage at  this  time  to  that  of  Dickinson.  To  the  same 
effect  was  a  resolution  adopted  on  the  3d  of  November, 
1775,  by  the  Congress,  in  answer  to  a  request  for 
advice  from  New  Hampshire  in  regard  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  new  government  in  that  Colony.  It  was 
recommended  to  the  people  there  to  establish  such  a 
form  as  should  most  effectually  secure  peace  and  good 
order  in  the  Colony  during  the  continuance  of  the 
dispute  with  Great  Britain.1  These  extracts  from  the 
Journal  show  most  clearly  that  the  views  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts delegates  were  not,  at  least  to  the  close 
of  the  year  1775,  those  which  found  favor  in  the 

1  In  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  Congress  and  Independence,"  supposed 
to  have  been  written  by  John  Jay,  and  reprinted  in  the  "  Correspon- 
dence of  John  Jay,"  will  be  found  a  collection  of  extracts  from  the 
Journal  of  Congress  showing  how  strongly  opposed  that  body  was  to 
a  Declaration  of  Independence  up  to  June,  1776. 


INSTRUCTIONS  TO  THE  DELEGATES.          165 

Congress,  for  there  is  no  hint  of  independence  in  any 
one  of  them. 

In  perfect  accord  with  the  opinions  of  Gongress  thus 
expressed,  and  with  the  general  public  sentiment  out- 
side New  England,  was  the  action  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Assembly.  On  the  4th  of  November,  1775,  that  body 
elected  its  delegates  for  the  coming  year  to  the  Con- 
gress ;  they  were  the  same  that  had  been  chosen  in 
the  previous  May,  John  Morton,  the  Speaker,  taking 
the  place  which  Galloway  had  held  in  the  Congress 
of  1774.  They  were  told,  "You  should  use  your  ut- 
most endeavors  to  agree  upon  and  recommend  the 
adoption  of  such  measures  as  you  shall  judge  to  afford 
the  best  prospect  of  obtaining  the  redress  of  American 
grievances,  and  utterly  reject  any  proposition  (should 
such  be  made)  that  may  cause  or  lead  to  a  separation 
from  the  mother-country,  or  a  change  in  the  form  of 
this  government"  (that  is,  the  charter  government  of 
the  Province). 

These  instructions,  like  most  of  the  important  papers 
of  the  time,  were  drafted  by  Mr.  Dickinson,  who,  it  will 
be  remembered,  was  a  member  not  only  of  the  Con- 
gress, but  of  the  Assembly  of  the  Province  also,  and 
they  were  adopted  by  that  body  without  a  dissenting 
voice.  The  delegates,  as  members  of  the  Assembly, 
all  co-operated  with  their  fellow-members  in  their 
efforts  to  place  the  Province  in  a  proper  state  of 
defence.  Their  attitude  was  in  perfect  harmony  with 
that  of  Congress.  At  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Dickin- 
son, all  male  white  persons  in  the  Province  between  the 
ages  of  sixteen  and  fifty  years,  who  should  not  "  asso- 
ciate" for  its  defence,  were  required  to  contribute 


166  THE  ASSEMBLY  OF  1775. 

in  money  an  equivalent  for  the  time  spent  by  the 
"  associators"  in  acquiring  military  knowledge.  This, 
by  the  way,  was  the  beginning  of  the  system  of  mi- 
litia fines  for  non-service  which  prevailed  for  so  many 
years  in  Pennsylvania  under  the  State  government. 
It  was  also  agreed  by  the  Assembly  that  eighty  thou- 
sand pounds  should  be  raised  to  supply  the  present 
military  establishment  of  the  Province,  and  a  plan  was 
adopted  for  levying  taxes  on  the  property  of  the  non- 
associators  for  the  benefit  of  the  families  of  those  who 
served. 

The  proceedings  of  the  Assembly  at  this  session 
present  a  valuable  historical  illustration  of  the  spirit 
which  animated  our  fathers  at  that  time.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  the  Assembly  was  not  a  popular 
convention,  like  so  many  of  the  meetings  of  the  people 
in  different  parts  of  the  country  in  those  days, — pro- 
fessing to  speak  with  the  authority  of  the  people,  but 
having  really  no  responsibility  and  no  power  whatever 
to  carry  out  the  measures  they  proposed, — but  that 
it  was  the  legal  representative  body,  having  full  power 
of  taxation  under  the  charter.  All  its  members  under 
the  existing  law  had  taken  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
George  III.  before  entering  upon  their  duties ;  they 
were  elected  by  a  limited  suffrage,  and  it  was  composed 
in  a  great  measure  of  those  whose  religious  principles 
forbade  them  to  declare  or  maintain  war.  It  is  natural, 
then,  to  look  upon  such  a  body  as  eminently  cautious 
and  conservative,  and  certainly  we  cannot  expect  to  find 
in  it  the  enthusiastic  utterances  in  favor  of  indepen- 
dence which  had  become  fashionable  elsewhere.  But 
while  others  talked,  they  worked  quietly  and  effectively, 


ITS  PROMINENT  MEMBERS.  l67 

— the  olive-branch  in  one  hand,  and  "  the  lightning  of 
Jove"  in  the  other. 

Its  acts  show  how  the  love  of  country  was  an  im- 
pulse which,  at  that  time,  had  penetrated  the  very 
hearts  of  all  classes,  and  they  are  a  better  index  of 
the  current  of  popular  feeling  than  the  many  foolish 
stories  about  the  "  toryism  of  the  Quakers"  which  have 
become  traditional.1  The  Assembly  at  that  crisis  is 
remarkable  for  another  reason  :  never  since  that  time 
has  a  legislative  body  sat  in  Pennsylvania  which  num- 
bered among  its  members  so  many  men  of  force,  char- 
acter, wealth,  culture,  and  single-minded  devotion  to 
their  country  as  did  this  memorable  Assembly  of  1775. 
Pennsylvania  has  doubtless  gained  much  by  the  per- 
manent establishment  of  the  government  which  was 
secured  by  our  independence ;  but  the  historian  who 
tells  the  truth  must  confess  that  men  like  Dickinson, 
Potts,  Miles,  Morris,  Roberts,  Franklin,  Mifflin,  Morton, 
Gibbons,  Pennock,  Humphreys,  Grubb,  Ross,  Chief 
Justice  Allen,  Montgomery,  and  many  of  their  col- 
leagues of  like  temper  have  been  sadly  missed  from 
her  councils  ever  since.  This  was  the  last  Assembly 
elected  under  the  old  Provincial  charter,  and  if  that 
charter  had  no  other  merit  than  that  of  bringing  to- 
gether such  a  body  of  men  to  guide  our  destiny,  pos- 
terity should  be  grateful  to  it.  It  cannot  be  doubted 
that  among  such  men  John  Dickinson  must  have  pos- 
sessed remarkable  qualities  to  be  recognized  as  leader, 
and  it  is  most  satisfactory  to  find  that  the  Provincial 

1  It  was  estimated  by  Dr.  Rush  that  three-fourths  of  the  taxes  by 
which  the  war  was  supported  in  Pennsylvania  were  paid  by  non- 
combatants,  or  Tories. 


168  THE    OATH   OF  OFFICE. 

Assembly  terminated  its  existence  while  engaged  in  the 
most  patriotic  work  it  ever  performed,  while  under  his 
guidance. 

An  effort  has  been  made  to  belittle  the  work  of  this 
body,  so  illustrious  in  the  history  of  Pennsylvania,  by 
representing  that  Dr.  Franklin,  who  had  been  elected 
a  member  from  the  city,  declined  to  take  his  seat  in 
it  because  he  was  required,  by  a  law  which  existed  in 
all  the  Colonies  as  well  as  in  Pennsylvania,  to  take  an 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  king  before  entering  upon  his 
duties.  This  statement,  like  most  of  the  statements  of 
Mr.  Bancroft  where  Dickinson  is  concerned,  proves  to 
be  incorrect,  as  shown  by  the  following  letter : 

"February  26,  1776. 

"  SIR, — I  am  extremely  sensible  of  the  honor  done  me  by  my  fel- 
low-citizens in  choosing  me  their  representative  in  the  Assembly,  and 
of  that  lately  conferred  on  me  by  the  House  in  appointing  me  one 
of  the  Committee  of  Safety  for  this  Province  and  a  delegate  to  the 
Congress.  It  would  be  a  happiness  to  me  if  I  could  serve  the  people 
duly  in  all  those  stations ;  but,  aged  as  I  now  am,  I  feel  myself  un- 
equal to  so  much  business,  and  on  that  account  think  it  my  duty  to 
decline  part  of  it. 

"I  hope,  therefore,  that  the  House  will  be  so  good  as  to  accept 
my  excuse  for  not  attending  as  a  member  of  the  present  Assembly, 
and,  if  they  think  fit,  give  orders  for  the  election  of  another  in  my 
place,  that  the  city  may  be  more  completely  represented. 

"  I  request,  also,  that  the  House  would  be  pleased  to  dispense  with 
my  further  attendance  as  one  of  the  Committee  of  Safety. 

"I  am,  sir,  etc., 

' '  To  the  Speaker  of  the  Assembly. "  "  B.  FRANKLIN.  ' 

1  Dr.  Franklin,  it  must  be  remembered,  took  the  oath  required  by 
law,  affirming  among  other  things  his  belief  in  the  Trinity  as  denned 
by  the  Athanasian  Creed,  before  entering  upon  any  of  the  various 
offices  he  held  in  Provincial  days. 


CHANGES  IN  THE  BEGINNING    OF  1776.      l69 

By  the  beginning  of  the  year  1776  a  great  change 
had  taken  place  in  the  political  feeling  of  the  country, 
especially  in  Pennsylvania.  People  became  more  and 
more  convinced  by  all  that  was  taking  place  around 
them  that  the  king's  heart  was  really  hardened  against 
them,  and  that  the  ministry  was  not  to  be  moved  from 
the  persistent  enforcement  of  its  arbitrary  measures  by 
any  appeal  to  its  reason  or  to  the  self-interest  of  the 
trading-classes  in  England.  Hopes  of  the  restoration 
of  peace  and  harmony  by  means  of  conciliation  grew 
fainter  and  fainter  every  day.  It  became  necessary, 
therefore,  for  those  who  had  urged  measures  of  recon- 
ciliation with  a  view  of  redressing  our  grievances,  to 
determine  whether  they  would  agree  upon  the  plan  for 
a  final  separation,  which  had  been  advocated  by  the 
majority  of  the  New  England  delegates  for  more  than 
a  year.  So  exasperated  had  these  delegates  become 
by  the  beginning  of  the  year  1776  with  the  hesitancy 
and  delay  of  the  delegates  from  the  Middle  and  South- 
ern Colonies,  that  Samuel  Adams  is  said  to  have  pro- 
posed to  Dr.  Franklin  in  January,  "  If  none  of  the  rest 
will  join,  I  will  endeavor  to  unite  the  New  England 
Colonies  in  confederating ;"  and  Dr.  Franklin  is  said 
to  have  replied  (although  the  story  so  far  as  Franklin 
is  concerned  seems  very  apocryphal),  "I  approve  your 
proposal,  and  if  you  succeed  I  will  cast  in  my  lot  with 
you." 

Pennsylvania  was  then  governed,  as  is  well  known, 
by  a  charter  which  had  been  granted  by  William  Penn 
in  the  year  1701.  The  New  England  theory  was,  so 
far  as  it  applied  to  Pennsylvania  (but  not  to  their  own 
Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  where  there  were  royal 


i?o      EFFORTS  TO  PRESERVE   THE   CHARTER. 

charters  to  which  the  same  objection  might  have  been 
made  as  was  made  to  the  Proprietary  charter  of  Penn- 
sylvania), that  there  could  be  no  independence  of  Great 
Britain  while  the  Proprietary  government  of  this  Prov- 
ince remained  in  force.  Hence  to  achieve  national  in- 
dependence it  became  necessary  to  destroy  that  charter 
of  William  Penn  which  had  become  dear  to  the  people 
of  this  Province,  and  under  which  it  had  reached  a  de- 
gree of  material  prosperity  far  greater  than  that  of  any 
other  Colony.  This  is  perhaps  the  reason  why  the 
people  of  Pennsylvania  did  not  seize  upon  the  pros- 
pect of  independence  with  as  much  alacrity  as  the 
people  of  some  of  the  other  Colonies.  The  result  of 
the  struggle  was  in  the  interval  between  the  beginning 
of  the  year  and  the  4th  of  July,  when  independence 
was  declared,  a  most  disastrous  one  in  Pennsylvania. 
It  consumed  in  violent  internal  disputes  those  energies 
which  should  have  been  directed  against  the  common 
enemy ;  it  bred  suspicion  among  public  men  who  up 
to  this  time  had  been  united  in  opinion  and  action ;  it 
destroyed  all  force  and  unity  in  the  counsels  of  her 
leaders,  and  finally  resulted  in  the  organization  and 
simultaneous  action  of  two  bodies,  each  professing  to 
be  composed  of  the  real  representatives  of  the  people, 
thus  disheartening  many  friends  of  order  and  good 
government,  who  would  otherwise  have  been  friendly 
to  a  change,  by  forcing  the  people  to  recognize  the 
power  of  a  convention  which  was  simply  a  body  of 
self-elected  politicians.  We  cannot  trace  too  carefully 
the  movement  in  this  revolutionary  crisis  if  we  desire 
to  understand  the  true  history  of  Pennsylvania  during 
that  time. 


PARTIES  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 


Thus,  in  the  beginning  of  1776  there  were  two  par- 
ties violently  opposed  to  each  other  :  the  one  insisting 
not  only  that  independence  should  not  be  proclaimed 
until  we  had  made  at  least  another  effort  at  reconcilia- 
tion and  in  the  mean  time  had  taken  measures  to  secure 
it  by  foreign  alliances  and  a  more  perfect  union,  but 
also  that  it  should  not  be  declared  in  any  event  until 
the  permanency  of  the  Provincial  charter  was  assured  ; 
the  other,  urged  on  by  the  influence  of  the  New  Eng- 
land delegates,  contending  most  strenuously  that  we 
should  cease  at  once  to  recognize  the  authority  of 
Great  Britain  in  any  form,  whether  exercised  directly 
or  through  the  provisions  of  a  royal  charter.  The 
leaders  of  the  first  party  were  Dickinson,  Wilson,  and 
Robert  Morris  ;  and  of  the  other,  Franklin,  Dr.  Rush, 
and  McKean.  There  were,  of  course,  many  in  the 
Province  (loyalists  so  called)  who  did  not  desire  in- 
dependence even  if  the  charter  were  preserved,  and 
there  were  others  at  the  opposite  extreme,  —  followers 
of  Thomas  Paine  chiefly,  —  who  sought  to  substitute  for 
the  old  order  simply  a  democratical  Constitution.  But 
the  extremists  on  either  side  had  little  influence,  and 
the  contest  which  was  to  follow  began,  at  least,  between 
those  who  differed  chiefly  as  to  the  time  when  we  should 
proclaim  our  independence  ;  in  other  words,  concerning 
the  opportuneness  of  a  measure  which  had  met  with 
so  much  opposition.  All  parties  were  alive  to  the  im- 
portance of  the  proposals  of  change  that  were  made, 
involving,  as  they  did,  a  complete  transformation  of 
the  government,  State  and  national.  One  party  hesi- 
tated before  deciding  to  adopt  them,  and  the  other  did 
not.  The  position  of  Pennsylvania  at  this  crisis  was 


172      PENNSYLVANIA   FAVORS   CONCILIATION. 

of  vital  importance  in  settling  the  first  indispensable 
condition  of  a  national  government, — its  absolute  sov- 
ereignty. The  delegates  of  the  extreme  party  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, whose  object  from  the  beginning  had  been 
independence,  sought  by  every  means  of  influence  they 
could  employ  to  secure  the  support  of  the  Pennsylvania 
delegates  in  Congress  ;  but  their  efforts  were  vain,  for 
Dickinson  and  Wilson  were  not  the  men  to  be  easily 
moved  from  their  well-settled  position. 

On  the  Qth  of  January,  1776,  Mr.  Wilson  came  into 
the  Congress  with  the  king's  speech  in  his  hand,  com- 
plaining that  "  the  true  state  of  feeling  here  had  been 
misrepresented  in  England,  and  asked  that  an  address 
should  be  issued  by  Congress  explaining  our  position 
and  stating  that  we  had  no  design  to  set  up  as  an 
independent  nation."  The  motion  was  adopted  by  a 
large  majority,  Messrs.  Cushing,  Paine,  and  Hancock, 
of  the  Massachusetts  delegation,  voting  for  it.  John 
Adams  was  at  home  at  the  time,  and  the  Provincial 
Convention  of  Massachusetts  was  so  exasperated  by 
the  vote  that  Cushing  was  dropped  by  that  body  from 
the  list  of  delegates  to  the  Congress  for  the  ensuing 
year,  Elbridge  Gerry  being  substituted  for  him.  As 
to  Samuel  Adams,  this  vote  drove  him  almost  to  de- 
spair :  with  this  proof  of  the  defection  of  his  colleagues 
before  him,  to  say  nothing  of  the  opinions  of  the  other 
delegates,  he  allowed  his  indignation  so  to  master  his 
prudence  that  he  made  the  proposition  to  Dr.  Franklin 
about  the  establishment  of  a  separate  confederacy  of 
which  we  have  spoken.  The  spectacle  of  the  Congress 
in  which  two  of  its  most  prominent  members  are  repre- 
sented as  resolving  to  establish  a  separate  government 


INFL  UENCE  OF  NE  W  ENGLAND  DELE  GA  TES.      1 73 

unless  they  be  permitted  to  have  their  own  way,  is  a 
very  sad  but  a  very  suggestive  one.  The  truth  is, 
the  patience  of  the  delegates  from  the  Middle  and  the 
Southern  Colonies  with  their  restless  brethren  was  by 
this  time  well-nigh  exhausted,  and  the  long-suppressed 
murmurs  at  New  England  dictation  burst  forth  in  un- 
mistakable tones  of  protest.  The  proofs  of  interference 
of  this  kind  by  the  New  England  delegates  who,  in  con- 
cert with  a  party  in  this  Province,  strove  to  drag  us  into 
a  premature  declaration  of  independence,  were  said  at 
that  time  to  have  been  abundant,  and  some  of  them 
remain.  Mr.  Elbridge  Gerry,  the  new  delegate  to 
Congress  from  Massachusetts,  in  January,  1776,  wrote 
a  letter  on  this  subject  shortly  after  his  arrival  in  Phila- 
delphia, which  is  very  suggestive.  "  Since  my  arrival 
in  this  city,"  he  says,  "  the  New  England  delegates  have 
been  in  continual  war  with  the  advocates  of  the  Pro- 
prietary interest  in  Congress  and  in  this  Colony.  These 
are  they  who  are  most  in  the  way  of  the  measures  we 
have  proposed  ;  but  I  think  the  contest  is  pretty  nearly 
at  an  end,"  etc.  One  loses  patience  at  the  coolness 
with  which  men  who  came  here  to  seek  our  aid  in 
restoring  their  charter  propose  as  the  only  means  of 
effecting  their  object  the  destruction  of  our  own. 

The  influence  of  certain  members  of  the  Congress 
upon  the  politics  of  Pennsylvania,  and  especially  upon 
the  popular  leaders  there,  at  this  crisis,  is  also  referred 
to  by  Mr.  Edward  Tilghman  in  a  letter  to  his  father, 
dated  February  4,  1776.  He  confirms  Mr.  Gerry's 
statement  from  an  opposite  point  of  view.  He  writes: 

"  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  disposition  of 
Congress  (a  majority)  are  in  favor  of  reconciliation 


174  MR.    TILGHMAN'S  LETTER. 

and  abhorrent  from  independency.  The  division  is 
this :  Rhode  Island  frequently  loses  a  vote,  having  only 
two  members,  and  they  differing ;  New  Hampshire, 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  the  Ancient  Dominion 
hang  very  much  together.  They  are  what  we  call  vio- 
lent, and  suspected  of  independency.  All  the  others 
breathe  reconciliation,  except  that  the  Lower  Counties 
[Delaware]  are  sometimes  divided  by  the  absence  of 
Rodney  or  Read.  Colonel  McKean  is  a  true  Presby- 
terian, and  joins  the  violents.  The  minority  are  inde- 
fatigable, try  all  schemes  in  all  shapes,  act  in  concert, 
and  thereby  have  a  considerable  advantage  over  the 
others,  who  are  by  no  means  so  closely  united.  Some 
time  since,  Judas  Iscariot  [Samuel  Adams]  made  a 
motion,  of  whose  contents  I  am  not  quite  certain,  but 
it  tended  towards  a  closer  confederacy,  and  was  of  such 
a  nature  that  whole  Colonies  threatened  to  leave  the 
Congress.  Saml.  Adams  has  twelve  hundred  pounds 
a  year  from  the  present  Massachusetts  Constitution. 
Franklin  has  hurt  himself  much  here,  and  reigns  only 
with  the  Presbyterian  interest,  which  is  much  stronger 
than  I  could  wish  it  to  be."  * 

The  trouble  caused  by  these  dissensions  among  the 
people  of  Pennsylvania,  who  had  been  hitherto  practi- 
cally unanimous,  not  merely  in  setting  forth  their  griev- 
ances, but  as  to  the  methods  of  redress,  and  the  efforts 

1  Among  the  many  political  parties  in  Pennsylvania  in  Provincial 
times,  the  Presbyterians,  or  Scotch-Irish,  seem  to  have  held  at  all 
times  a  distinct  position.  In  1764  they  had  preferred  to  retain  the 
Proprietary  government  rather  than  submit  to  the  direct  authority  of 
the  Crown;  in  1776  they  were  the  strongest  opponents  of  the  Pro- 
prietary government  and  charter,  and  earnestly  advocated  national 
independence  and  the  abolition  of  the  Provincial  charter. 


ASSOCIATORS   ORDERED    TO  NEW  YORK.      i?5 

which  were  made  by  the  popular  party  in  the  Province, 
aided  by  violent  men  in  Congress,  to  induce  the  Assem- 
bly to  adopt  at  once  extreme  measures,  soon  brought 
affairs  here  to  a  revolutionary  crisis.  The  adhesion  of 
Pennsylvania  to  the  project  of  independence  was  abso- 
lutely necessary  if  that  project  was  to  be  carried  out ; 
Pennsylvania  was  the  prize  for  which  both  parties  were 
contending,  and  any  measure  which  seemed  likely  to 
succeed,  no  matter  how  revolutionary  or  radical  it  might 
be,  was  regarded  only  as  a  means  of  gaining  that  object. 
During  the  whole  winter  this  state  of  anarchy  continued, 
to  the  destruction  of  all  confidence  among  men  of  dif- 
ferent parties  in  the  Province,  and  to  the  injury  of  those 
material  interests  which  the  welfare  of  the  population 
required  should  be  adopted. 

The  only  bright  side  of  the  gloomy  picture  which 
this  period  presents  is  that  which  shows  the  readiness 
with  which  the  "  Philadelphia  Associate rs  "  responded 
to  a  call  from  the  Congress  to  march  at  once  to  the 
relief  of  New  York,  then  supposed  to  be  threatened 
with  an  invasion  by  the  enemy.  A  detachment  of  three 
battalions  was  detailed  for  this  service  on  February  15, 
under  the  command  of  Colonel  John  Dickinson,  a  man 
who  has  since  been  represented  by  persons  who  claim 
to  write  history  as  at  that  time  the  leader  of  those  who 
preferred  submission  to  resistance.  The  alarm  of  an 
invasion  of  New  York  soon  passed  over,  but  the  readi- 
ness of  the  Philadelphia  battalions  and  of  John  Dickin- 
son to  "  resist  it  by  force  "  is  very  significant. 

In  the  midst  of  this  revolutionary  tumult  and  anarchy 
the  bewildered  Assembly,  the  only  legal  representative 
of  the  people  of  this  Province,  deeply  sensible  of  the 


THE  ASSEMBLY  ASSAILED. 


responsibility  of  its  position,  was  for  a  long  time  at  a 
loss  how  to  act.  It  was  most  anxious  to  conciliate  pop- 
ular favor,  but  duty  to  the  people  who  had  chosen  it 
forced  it  to  do  two  things  :  first,  to  preserve  the  charter 
under  whose  authority  it  acted,  and,  secondly,  to  post- 
pone a  final  separation  from  the  mother-country  until 
that  charter  was  made  safe,  or,  to  use  the  language  of 
the  petitioners  to  the  king  in  1764,  until  these  "privi- 
leges were  assured."  Like  all  representative  bodies  in 
times  of  peril  and  excitement,  the  Assembly  made  one 
concession  after  another  to  the  popular  clamor,  and  it 
turned  out,  as  it  always  does  at  such  times,  that  the 
more  they  yielded,  the  more  violent  became  the  de- 
mands for  further  concessions. 

The  Assembly  was  assailed  on  all  sides  by  the  indig- 
nant protests  of  the  multitude,  who  had  just  discovered 
that  this  body,  which  up  to  that  time  had  rendered  as 
true,  faithful,  and  effective  service  to  the  cause  of  Amer- 
ican liberty,  to  say  the  least,  as  the  legislatures  of  any 
of  the  Colonies,  had  suddenly  become  incapable  of  in- 
terpreting the  wishes  and  the  aspirations  of  the  people 
of  Pennsylvania.  A  great  clamor  had  been  raised  in 
the  newspapers  concerning,  among  other  things,  the 
oaths  of  supremacy  and  obedience  to  the  king  which 
all  officers  of  the  government,  including  the  members  of 
the  Assembly,  were  required  by  law  to  take,  under  the 
provisions  of  an  act  passed  in  1705.  It  was  said,  with 
some  show  of  reason,  that  to  swear  allegiance  to  a  king 
whom  we  were  preparing  to  fight  was  an  inconsistent, 
not  to  say  an  absurd,  act.  But  the  answer  was  the  same 
that  had  been  made  by  the  Congress  in  December,  1 775, 
to  a  similar  charge.  "  We  are  not  fighting  against  the 


NATURALIZATION  LAWS  REPEALED.         *77 

king,"  said  the  Congress,  "but  against  an  abuse  and 
usurpation  of  the  royal  authority,  under  the  cover  of 
an  act  of  Parliament  which  we  regard  as  unconstitu- 
tional,— that  is,  out  of  the  ordinary  and  established 
course  of  the  English  law, — and  we  are  justified  in 
making  resistance  by  English  tradition  and  example." 
44  Our  true  course,"  it  was  said  by  Dickinson  and  his 
friends,  "  is  now,  as  it  has  always  been,  especially  if  we 
hope  to  preserve  our  charter,  to  seek  redress  with  arms 
in  our  hands,  if  necessary,  to  enforce  our  petition ;  but 
as  long  as  we  seek  protection  in  that  way  we  must  not 
withdraw  our  allegiance."  It  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  the  ideal  conception  of  what  a  province  ought  to 
be,  in  the  minds  of  the  majority  of  the  Assembly,  was 
its  condition  before  1763,  and  not  that  of  an  indepen- 
dent State.  The  opponents,  however,  of  this  view  of 
affairs,  in  and  out  of  the  Assembly,  were  numerous, 
powerful,  and  active.  They  spared  no  efforts  to  remove 
the  corner-stone  of  the  temple  which  William  Penn  had 
builded. 

On  the  24th  of  May  a  resolution  was  offered  that  a 
committee  be  appointed  to  report  upon  a  plan  "  render- 
ing1 the  naturalization  laws  hitherto  in  force,  and  the 
oaths  or  affirmations  of  allegiance,  unnecessary  in  all 
cases  where  they  are  required  or  have  been  usually 
taken  in  this  Colony."  Previously,  however,  on  the 
1 5th  of  March,  a  resolution  had  been  adopted  by  the 
Assembly  (the  vote  being  twenty-three  to  eight)  pro- 
viding for  seventeen  additional  representatives  in  that 
body, — four  from  the  city,  two  each  from  Lancaster, 
York,  Cumberland,  Berks,  and  Northampton,  and  one 
each  from  Bedford,  Northumberland,  and  Westmore- 


12 


1 78  JOHN  ADAMS'S  RESOLUTIONS. 

land.  The  Assembly  seems  to  have  been  alarmed,  not 
to  say  panic-stricken,  by  the  popular  clamor,  and  to  have 
abdicated  its  power  more  rapidly  even  than  its  enemies 
asked  for.  There  was  one  point,  however,  that  it  could 
not  be  forced  to  yield.  It  refused,  April  4,  to  rescind 
the  instructions  which  had  been  given  to  the  delegates 
in  Congress  in  November,  1775,  and  it  was  encouraged 
to  insist  upon  those  instructions  by  the  result  of  the 
election  for  members  of  the  Assembly  held  in  the  city 
on  the  ist  of  May.  At  that  election  three  out  of  four 
of  the  friends  of  the  old  charter  were  returned.  The 
Assembly,  in  the  mean  time,  had  adjourned  until  the 
20th  of  that  month,  and  in  the  interval  Congress  took 
in  hand  the  affairs  of  Pennsylvania,  and  by  its  action 
wholly  subverted  and  destroyed  the  old  charter  and  all 
obedience  to  its  authority. 

On  the  loth  of  May,  Congress,  on  the  motion  of 
John  Adams,  after  much  debate  passed  a  resolution 
which  was  intended  to  be  a  death-blow  to  the  royal 
authority  everywhere,  and  to  the  existing  Proprietary 
government  in  Pennsylvania  in  particular.  It  recom- 
mended to  the  respective  Assemblies  and  Conventions 
of  the  United  Colonies,  where  no  government  sufficient 
to  the  exigency  of  their  affairs  had  been  hitherto  estab- 
lished, to  "  adopt  such  a  government  as  shall,  in  the  opin- 
ion of  the  representatives  of  the  people,  best  conduce 
to  the  happiness  and  safety  of  their  constituents  in  par- 
ticular and  America  in  general."  It  was,  of  course,  in- 
tended by  this  resolution  that  governments  should  be 
established  by  the  authority  of  the  people,  but  it  became 
a  question  in  Pennsylvania  whether  she  had  not  already 
a  government  sufficient  for  "  the  exigency  of  her  affairs," 


THEIR  BEARING   UPON  PENNSYLVANIA.       *79 

and  really  under  the  control  of  the  representatives  of 
the  people,  as  contradistinguished  from  that  of  mass- 
meetings.  As  soon  as  a  doubt  was  suggested  con- 
cerning the  meaning  of  the  resolution,  Mr.  Adams,  our 
self-constituted  Mentor,  induced  the  Congress  to  pass 
another  resolution,  which  he  called  a  preamble,  which 
should  be  explanatory.  This  was  passed  on  the  I5th 
of  May,  declaring  "  that  it  was  absolutely  irreconcilable 
with  reason  and  good  conscience  for  the  people  of  these 
Colonies  now  to  take  the  oaths  and  affirmations  neces- 
sary for  the  support  of  any  government  under  the  Crown 
of  Great  Britain,  and  that  it  was  necessary  that  the  ex- 
ercise of  every  kind  of  authority  under  the  Crown  should 
be  totally  suppressed."  Where  the  Congress  got  the 
power  to  direct  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  to  change 
their  government  for  any  purpose  it  would  be  difficult  to 
explain,  but  it  is  evident  from  what  followed  that  the 
majority  in  the  Assembly  were  not  disposed  to  submit 
quietly  to  orders  which  were  in  direct  opposition  to 
those  of  whom  they  were  the  only  legal  representa- 
tives. It  is  idle  to  pretend  to  justify  these  proceedings 
of  Congress  on  any  other  ground  than  that  they  were 
revolutionary,  and  history  justifies  them  because  they 
were,  perhaps,  the  necessary  means  for  attaining  what 
has  proved  to  be  a  grand  result,  Let  us  frankly  admit 
that  the  object  was  to  remove,  by  reason  or  by  force, 
the  great  obstacle  that  stood  in  the  way  of  our  indepen- 
dence,— the  Proprietary  government.  Let  us  call  these 
extraordinary  proceedings,  however,  and  the  great  men 
who  were  engaged  in  them  on  both  sides,  by  their  right 
names.  Dickinson  and  Wilson  at  this  time  were  the 
champions  of  law  and  order,  as  represented  in  the  old, 


i8o  STRONG   OPPOSITION  TO   THEM. 

well-established  government  of  the  Province  ;  Franklin 
and  McKean  were  revolutionists,  whose  sole  object  was 
the  independence  of  the  Colonies,  and  they  were  willing 
to  pay  any  price  for  it,  even  to  the  destruction  of  the 
charter  and  the  chance  of  anarchy  in  their  own  home. 
However  desirable  the  end,  the  means  employed  to 
attain  it  was  a  simple  usurpation  of  power.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  in  the  fiery  trial  of  the  Revolution 
Pennsylvania  suffered  more  than  any  other  Colony  in 
order  that  independence  might  be  achieved.  In  a  most 
important  sense  she  was  condemned  to  die  that  others 
might  live.  She  suffered  from  all  the  evils  of  a  double 
revolution.  Not  only  was  her  charter  taken  from  her, — 
a  wholly  unnecessary  act,  as  by  its  provisions  six  parts 
out  of  seven  of  the  voters  could  at  any  time  have 
so  changed  it  as  to  reach  the  desired  result, — but 
the  commanding  influence  among  the  Colonies  which 
she  had  up  to  that  time  enjoyed  was  lost  when  the  class 
of  men  who  controlled  her  destinies  under  it  gave  way 
to  others.  Truly,  Pennsylvania  was  in  a  sad  plight  in 
the  days  immediately  preceding  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence. The  majority  of  her  legal  voters  were 
ordered  by  a  discontented  minority  of  her  own  people, 
aided  by  a  Congress  whose  very  existence  was  due  in 
a  great  measure  to  her  co-operation,  to  sacrifice  her 
own  charter  and  to  take  anything  as  a  substitute  which 
the  revolutionary  leaders  might  see  fit  to  bestow  upon 
her. 

The  bewildered  Assembly  met  again,  as  we  have 
seen,  on  the  2Oth  of  May.  Its  right  to  perform  the 
duties  imposed  upon  it  by  the  charter  had  been  ques- 
tioned by  the  mass-meeting  of  its  opponents,  who  had 


MEETING  IN  THE   STATE-HOUSE  YARD.       181 

determined  that,  even  if  the  Assembly  were  disposed  to 
do  so,  it  should  not  be  permitted  to  frame  the  new  gov- 
ernment which  Congress  had  ordered  to  be  constituted 
in  Pennsylvania.  Immediately  upon  its  assembling,  a 
protest  was  presented  against  its  undertaking  to  estab- 
lish such  a  government.  This  action  had  been  taken 
by  a  very  large  meeting  held  in  the  State-House  yard, 
which  declared  that  "this  meeting  [of  Whigs]  should 
take  measures  to  elect  a  Convention  to  frame  a  new 
Constitution."  A  large  number  of  counter-petitions 
were  then  presented  to  the  Assembly,  objecting  to  any 
change  of  government,  either  by  that  body  itself,  or 
by  any  other  body  claiming  to  act  in  the  name  of  the 
people,  and  objecting  to  any  interference  of  Congress 
in  the  matter.  Then  followed  a  protest  from  the  offi- 
cers of  the  five  Philadelphia  battalions,  or  some  of  them, 
headed  by  General  Roberdeau,  against  the  appointment 
of  any  general  officers  by  the  Assembly,  many  of  the 
battalion  officers  declining  to  recognize  the  authority 
of  the  Assembly  for  such  a  purpose,  and  threatening 
that  they  would  refuse  to  obey  the  orders  of  the  gen- 
erals so  appointed.  Then  came  a  protest  from  the 
private  soldiers  of  these  battalions  to  the  same  effect. 
As  these  men,  both  officers  and  soldiers,  had  all  been 
appointed  and  raised  by  authority  of  the  Assembly,  the 
result  of  this  action  was  to  place  the  existing  civil  gov- 
ernment under  the  control  of  the  military, — that  is, 
under  the  law  of  force, — a  condition  of  things  in  the 
highest  degree  revolutionary,  and  one  which  resulted 
in  the  total  subversion  of  the  lawful  government. 

In  this  condition  of  anarchy  the  Assembly  was  utterly 
at  a  loss  what  measures  to  take.     It  had  modified  the 


1 82         THE  MILITARY  REFUSE   OBEDIENCE. 

fundamental  laws  of  the  Province  by  proposing  to  re- 
peal the  naturalization  laws  and  those  requiring  that 
all  the  officers  of  government  should  take  the  oaths 
or  affirmations  of  allegiance ;  it  had  enlarged  the  rep- 
resentation in  the  Assembly,  giving  especially  more 
members  to  the  western  counties,  whence  the  com- 
plaints of  inequality  had  chiefly  come ;  but  all  these 
concessions  proved  of  no  avail  so  long  as  it  would  not 
give  up  the  charter  under  which  it  acted.  Nothing 
was  done,  in  the  opinion  of  the  popular  party,  while 
this  stumbling-block  in  the  way  of  independence  was 
not  removed.  The  very  men,  officers  and  soldiers, 
who  had  been  enrolled  to  defend,  among  other  things, 
the  power  of  the  Assembly  and  the  chartered  rights 
of  the  people,  had  now  turned  against  them.  The  As- 
sembly did  the  only  thing  which,  in  its  position,  it  was 
possible  for  it  to  do  :  it  preserved  an  attitude  of  "  mas- 
terly inactivity."  It  could  not  be  forced  to  rescind  the 
instructions  which  prohibited  the  delegates  in  Congress 
from  consenting  to  a  final  separation.  The  revolu- 
tionists had,  however,  gone  too  far  to  be  foiled  by  so 
trifling  an  obstacle  as  this.  They  determined,  there- 
fore, to  seize  upon  the  whole  power  of  the  State,  to 
form  a  new  government  to  suit  their  purposes,  and  to 
substitute  the  government  so  formed  for  the  lawful 
system  which  was  then  in  full  operation  under  the 
charter.  Nothing  could  well  be  more  revolutionary, 
nothing  less  justifiable  by  the  practice  or  traditions 
of  people  of  English  blood.  Nothing,  indeed,  quite 
so  anarchical  as  this  scheme  has  ever  been  attempted 
since  in  an  American  community.  No  act  in  the  whole 
course  of  American  history  would  have  been  more 


CALL   FOR  A    CONVENTION.  183 

bitterly  denounced,  it  seems  to  me,  than  this  usurpa- 
tion, had  it  not  been  that  we  have  been  blinded  to  the 
truth  by  the  great  results  which  have  followed  this  bold 
assumption  of  power. 

The  leaders  of  the  meeting  held  in  the  State-House 
yard  on  the  2Oth  of  May,  finding  the  Assembly  appar- 
ently immovable  in  its  determination  not  to  establish  a 
new  government  and  not  to  rescind  the  instructions 
given  to  the  delegates  in  Congress  in  the  preceding 
November,  applied  at  once,  as  they  had  threatened,  to 
the  "  Committee  of  Inspection  and  Observation  of  the 
City  and  Liberties"  to  call  a  conference  of  the  com- 
mittees of  the  several  counties,  that  these  committees 
might  direct  the  election  of  a  Convention  which  should 
frame  a  new  Constitution.  Why  it  was  necessary  that 
this  scheme  should  pass  through  three  different  com- 
mittees to  give  it  validity,  or  how  this  process  in  any 
way  lessened  the  flagrant  illegality  of  the  whole  pro- 
ceedings, it  is  hard  to  explain.  They  informed  the 
Assembly  that  they  had  taken  this  step,  and  modestly 
suggested  to  the  judges  of  the  different  county  courts 
that  it  would  be  well  for  them  to  suspend  business  until 
the  new  government  was  formed.  The  judges  declined 
to  follow  the  example  set  elsewhere.  That  a  new  Con- 
stitution for  such  a  Province  as  that  of  Pennsylvania 
should  be  framed  at  such  a  crisis,  the  outgrowth  of 
such  conditions,  seemed  to  Whigs  like  Dickinson  and 
Thomson  and  Mifflin  a  solecism  in  politics,  and  they 
protested  vehemently  against  the  popular  clamor,  but 
to  no  purpose. 

This  congeries  of  committees,  bound  together  by 
no  legal  obligations  and  under  no  legal  responsibility, 


1 84  MEETING    OF  THE    CONFEREES. 

really  representing  no  one  except  the  violent  mem- 
bers of  the  Whig  party  who  had  chosen  to  meet  in 
the  State-House  yard,  joined  by  committees  of  cor- 
respondence from  the  different  counties,  brought  into 
existence  in  a  similar  manner,  assembled  in  Philadel- 
phia on  the  1 8th  of  June.  They  called  themselves 
"  Conferees  and  Delegates  of  the  people  of  Pennsyl- 
vania for  forming  a  plan  for  executing  the  resolution 
of  Congress  passed  on  the  i5th  of  May."  Nothing 
saved  this  extra-legal  Assembly,  which  proposed  noth- 
ing less  than  the  formation  of  the  fundamental  Con- 
stitution of  a  sovereign  State,  from  the  treatment 
usually  bestowed  on  violators  of  the  public  peace  and 
order,  but  the  high  character  of  the  men  who  were  at 
the  head  of  the  movement.  Doubtless  such  men  as 
Dr.  Franklin  and  Colonel  McKean  persuaded  them- 
selves that  there  was  no  other  way  of  accomplishing 
what  they  deemed  absolutely  essential  to  the  safety 
of  the  Province  than  a  revolutionary  one.  Under  any 
aspect,  the  experiment  they  made  and  the  example 
they  set  seem  to  have  been  most  dangerous  and 
unnecessary.  Not  only  did  these  conferees  assume, 
with  a  perfect  knowledge  that  they  did  not  repre- 
sent the  people  of  Pennsylvania  in  any  sense,  to  order 
that  an  election  should  be  held  (of  course,  without 
legal  sanction)  for  delegates  to  a  Convention  which 
should  assume  the  sovereignty  of  the  State  and  form 
a  permanent  Constitution  for  its  people,  but  also,  in 
the  same  assumed  capacity,  they  sent  a  message  to  the 
Congress  "unanimously  declaring  their  willingness  to 
concur  in  a  vote  of  the  Congress  declaring  the  United 
Colonies  to  be  free  and  independent  States,  provided 


USURPATION  OF  POWER  BY  THEM.  185 

that  the  forming  of  the  government  and  the  regulation 
of  the  internal  police  of  this  Colony  be  always  reserved 
to  the  people."  How  this  body  of  conferees  could 
call  themselves,  except  in  the  sense  of  the  tailors  of 
Tooley  Street,  "  representatives  of  the  people  of  Penn- 
sylvania," and  how  the  Congress  could  have  received 
such  a  declaration  without  an  incredulous  smile,  it  is 
hard  to  understand,  especially  as  Congress  had  always 
hitherto  recognized  the  Assembly  as  truly  represent- 
ing the  people.  The  whole  transaction  is  a  striking 
illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  the  revolutionary 
craze  at  times  twists  the  ideas  and  opinions  of  even 
the  best  and  wisest  men.  There  was  no  excess  of 
power,  apparently,  to  which  these  conferees  did  not 
lay  claim.  Among  other  things,  they  provided  that 
each  member  of  the  proposed  Convention  before  he 
took  his  seat  should  make  and  subscribe  the  following 
declaration  of  his  religious  faith  :  "  I  do  profess  faith 
in  God  the  Father,  and  in  Jesus  Christ  his  Eternal 
Son  the  true  God,  and  in  the  Holy  Spirit,  one  God 
blessed  for  evermore  ;  and  I  do  acknowledge  the  Holy 
Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  to  be  given 
by  Divine  inspiration."  We  think  it  may  well  be 
doubted  whether  such  sovereign  authority  in  matters 
ecclesiastical  as  well  as  civil  was  ever  claimed  by  any 
deliberative  body  in  modern  times  composed  of  people 
of  English  blood.  It  was  the  first  instance  of  the  exer- 
cise of  such  absolute  despotic  power  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  it  is  to  be  devoutly  hoped  that  it  will  prove  the 
last,  even  if  the  pretext  may  be,  as  it  was  then,  the 
security  of  liberty.  No  wonder  that  the  calmer  and 
wiser  Whigs,  who  felt  degraded  by  the  manner  in 


1 86  THE    CUMBERLAND  PETITION. 

which  the  Province  was  "  making  history,"  protested 
against  these  extraordinary  proceedings  ;  but  it  was 
too  late. 

Meantime,  the  Assembly,  which  was  still  the  only 
legal  body,  and  whose  authority  had  been  so  openly 
defied  by  the  proposed  Conference  and  Convention, 
was  puzzled  as  to  the  course  it  should  take  in  regard 
to  the  instructions  which  it  had  given  to  the  dele- 
gates in  Congress  in  the  preceding  November.  The 
popular  current,  or  at  least  the  current  moved  by 
the  populace,  seemed  to  rush  more  and  more  rapidly 
towards  independence.  The  Assembly  was  apparently 
helpless  ;  its  military  force  had  gone  over  to  the  side 
of  those  who  were  clamoring  for  its  dissolution,  and 
it  seemed  possible  that  the  party  of  the  conferees 
might  be  tempted  to  seize  by  force  what  had  been  de- 
nied it  by  the  majority  of  votes.  Besides,  there  could 
be  no  doubt  that  the  popular  feeling  had  changed, 
and  was  changing  in  favor  of  a  final  separation  from 
Great  Britain  since  the  instructions  of  November  had 
been  adopted.  This  change  is  well  expressed  in  a 
petition  which  was  presented  to  the  Assembly  on  the 
28th  of  May,  coming  from  the  voters  of  the  county  of 
Cumberland.  The  petitioners  say,  "The  prosecution 
of  the  war  may  require  the  adoption  of  some  measures 
which,  besides  the  purposes  intended  to  be  immediately 
produced  by  them,  may  have  the  tendency  to  weaken 
or  even  dissolve  the  connection  between  Great  Britain 
and  the  Colonies.  To  avoid  the  terrible  consequences 
of  anarchy,  and  to  prevent  the  best  men  from  falling  a 
sacrifice  to  the  worst,  it  will  soon  become,  if  it  has  not 
already  become,  necessary  to  advise  and  to  form  such 


VIRGINIA  RECOMMENDS  INDEPENDENCE.     187 

establishments  as  will  be  sufficient  to  protect  the  vir- 
tuous and  restrain  the  vicious  members  of  society.  As 
these  establishments  may  be  construed  to  lead  to  a 
separation  from  Great  Britain,  would  it  not  be  better 
to  withdraw  the  instructions  which  enjoin  the  dele- 
gates not  to  consent  to  any  such  separation  ?"  These 
petitioners  were  the  friends  of  the  Assembly,  and  their 
cautious  and  conservative  language  is  probably  but  an 
echo  of  the  feeling  of  that  body  at  this  crisis.  If  any 
doubt  still  existed  in  the  minds  of  the  leaders  of  the 
conservatives  as  to  the  course  that  should  be  taken 
by  the  delegation,  it  was  settled  a  few  days  after  the 
Cumberland  petition  was  presented  by  the  receipt  of 
news  that  the  Virginia  Convention  had  adopted  on 
the  22d  of  May  resolutions  instructing  their  delegates 
in  Congress  to  urge  an  immediate  declaration  of  inde- 
pendence. 

From  the  ist  to  the  4th  of  June,  both  days  in- 
clusive, there  was  no  meeting  of  the  Assembly ;  on 
the  5th  the  letter  from  Virginia  announcing  its  action 
was  received  by  that  body,  and  on  the  same  day  a 
committee  was  appointed  "by  a  large  majority"  to 
bring  in  new  instructions  to  its  Congressional  del- 
egates. On  the  8th  of  June  the  committee  reported 
in  favor  of  doing  so.  Mr.  Dickinson  was  the  chair- 
man of  this  committee,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  revolu- 
tionary fury  by  which  he  was  surrounded  he  had  the 
courage  to  bid  farewell  to  the  expiring  government  in 
these  noble  and  pathetic  words  :  "  The  happiness  of 
these  Colonies  has  been,  during  the  whole  course  of 
this  fatal  controversy,  our  first  wish ;  their  reconcilia- 
tion with  Great  Britain  our  next:  ardently  have  we 


i88    INSTRUCTIONS  OF  NOVEMBER  RESCINDED. 

prayed  for  the  accomplishment  of  both.  But  if  we 
must  renounce  the  one  or  the  other,  we  humbly  trust 
in  the  mercies  of  the  Supreme  Governor  of  the  uni- 
verse that  we  shall  not  stand  condemned  before  His 
throne  if  our  choice  is  determined  by  that  law  of  self- 
preservation  which  his  Divine  wisdom  has  seen  fit  to 
implant  in  the  hearts  of  His  creatures."  The  delegates 
were  then  authorized  (not  instructed)  "  to  confer  with 
the  other  delegates  in  Congress  in  forming  such  further 
contracts  between  the  United  Colonies,  concluding  such 
treaties  with  foreign  kingdoms  and  states  and  adopt- 
ing such  other  measures  as  upon  a  view  of  all  the  cir- 
cumstances shall  be  judged  necessary  for  promoting 
the  liberty,  safety,  and  interests  of  America,  reserving 
to  the  people  of  this  Colony  the  sole  and  exclusive 
right  of  regulating  its  internal  government  and  police/' 
It  will  be  observed  that  both  the  Assembly  and  the  Con- 
vention tried  to  reserve  to  the  people  of  Pennsylvania 
the  power  to  regulate  their  own  internal  affairs.  In 
the  revolutionary  storm  which  followed,  this  most  im- 
portant provision  was  either  made  light  of  or  forgotten, 
and  the  people  of  this  Province  were  treated  as  if  they 
had  been  identical  with  those  who  composed  the  mass- 
meeting  in  the  State-House  yard  and  their  imitators  in 
the  different  counties. 

The  new  instructions  were  approved  by  the  Assem- 
bly on  June  8,  and  laid  aside  in  order  to  be  transcribed 
for  their  final  passage  on  the  I4th  of  June.  When  that 
day  arrived,  it  appeared  that  there  was  not  a  quorum 
of  members,  the  rules  requiring  that  two-thirds  of  the 
whole  number  should  be  present  for  the  transaction  of 
business.  On  the  i4th  of  June  the  Assembly  (thirty- 


ASSEMBLY  LEFT  WITHOUT  A   QUORUM.       '89 

six  members  being  present)  passed  as  the  true  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  of  Pennsylvania  the  following 
resolution,  fitting  expression  of  their  true  patriotism  : 
"  Resolved,  by  the  members  of  the  Assembly  now  pres- 
ent, that  they  are  earnestly  desirous  of  carrying  into 
effect  the  resolutions  of  Congress  of  the  ist  instant 
[in  regard  to  raising  the  quota  of  troops  required 
from  this  State],  but  there  is  no  quorum,  and  there- 
fore we  cannot  proceed."  The  Whigs  in  the  Assembly, 
by  a  secret  understanding,  had  withdrawn  after  the  8th 
of  June,  and  never  again  took  their  seats  in  that  body, 
so  that  no  quorum  could  be  had  for  its  organization. 
They  took  this  course  either  because  they  regarded 
the  Assembly  as  without  any  legal  power  since  the 
vote  of  Congress  of  May  10-15,  1776;  or  because 
the  Assembly  had  by  the  new  instructions  protested 
against  any  attempt  to  change  the  home  government ; 
or  because  they  felt  that  if  by  their  withdrawal  they 
could  for  a  short  time  paralyze  the  action  of  the  As- 
sembly, the  progress  of  the  Revolution  would  do  the 
rest.  At  any  rate,  thus  fell  the  Provincial  Assembly, 
keeping  up  its  shadowy  existence  until  the  close  of 
August,  1776,  a  quorum  for  business  being  at  no  time 
present.  Its  fall  raises  many  interesting  questions, — 
among  others,  where  and  in  whom  was  vested  the 
legal  authority  when  the  assent  of  Pennsylvania  was 
supposed  to  have  been  given  to  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  on  the  4th  of  July,  1776. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  noisy  demonstrations 
with  which  the  news  of  independence  was  welcomed 
elsewhere,  it  was  perhaps  not  unnatural  that  a  Penn- 
sylvanian,  as  he  looked  to  the  future,  should  have  been 


X9°  LEE'S  RESOLUTION. 

filled  with  dismal  forebodings  rather  than  with  joyful 
anticipations.  He  could  not  but  fear  that  the  birth- 
throes  which  gave  life  to  the  nation  would  cause  the 
death  of  that  mother  whom  he  had  so  dearly  loved  and 
of  whose  beauty  and  renown  he  had  been  so  proud. 

The  resolution,  which  was  offered  in  Congress  on 
June  7  by  Richard  Henry  Lee,  in  obedience  to  the 
instructions  of  the  Virginia  Convention,  was  a  simple 
ratification  of  the  act  of  that  body  which  had  requested 
Congress  to  declare  that  henceforth  the  United  Colonies 
should  be  free  and  independent  States.  The  resolution 
was  discussed  at  great  length  during  the  whole  month. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  when  the  debate  began 
the  delegates  from  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Delaware,  Maryland,  and  South  Carolina  con- 
sidered themselves  bound  to  oppose  the  resolution,  either 
by  the  express  wish  of  the  Assemblies  of  these  Colonies 
or  by  the  well-known  wishes  of  their  constituents.  Hence 
Dickinson  and  his  friends,  delegates  from  Pennsylvania, 
doubtless  supposed  that  they  would  continue  to  be  sup- 
ported in  the  views  they  maintained  by  the  Assembly, 
as  the  delegates  from  the  other  Colonies  were  by  their 
own  legislatures.  But  during  the  month  those  Colonies 
which  had  not  been  hitherto  favorable  to  independence 
hesitated  to  consent  to  it.  During  the  severe  trial  of 
the  long  debate  in  Congress  on  this  vital  question,  it  is 
worthy  of  remark  that  Dickinson,  whose  views  in  regard 
to  the  inopportune  time  which  had  been  chosen  for  a 
final  separation  were  well  known,  should  have  been  re- 
garded by  his  fellow-members  with  undiminished  trust 
and  confidence.  Special  pains  seem  to  have  been  taken 
to  meet  his  objections,  which  were  chiefly  twofold, — 


CONGRESS   TRUSTS  DICKINSON. 


the  want  of  unity  among  the  Colonies,  and  the  want  of 
foreign  allies. 

On  the  1  2th  of  June,  Congress  adopted  the  fol- 
lowing resolution:  "Resolved,  That  the  committee  ap- 
pointed to  prepare  a  form  of  confederation  consist 
of  one  member  from  each  Colony."  The  draft  of  the 
original  form  of  the  confederation  is  preserved  in  Mr. 
Dickinson's  handwriting,  he  being  the  member  of  the 
committee  from  Pennsylvania.  On  the  same  day  Con- 
gress adopted  another  resolution:  "Resolved,  That  a 
committee  be  appointed  to  prepare  a  plan  of  treaties 
to  be  proposed  to  foreign  powers."  Mr.  Dickinson, 
who  had  been  from  the  beginning  a  member  of  the 
Secret  Committee  for  foreign  affairs,  was  also  a  mem- 
ber of  this  committee,  and  reported  the  draft  of  a 
treaty.  Every  effort  seems  to  have  been  made  in 
Congress  during  this  month,  as  we  have  said,  to  con- 
ciliate Mr.  Dickinson,  and  his  treatment  was  in  striking 
contrast  with  that  which  he  met  with  from  the  revolu- 
tionary faction  in  his  own  Province  ;  there  the  constant 
object  was  to  crush  him,  not  that  he  had  given  any 
offence  personally,  but  because  he  stood  in  the  way 
of  the  accomplishment  of  the  designs  of  his  political 
opponents.  During  the  month  the  different  Colonies 
which  had  decided  to  oppose  a  declaration  of  inde- 
pendence at  that  time  determined  to  follow  the  lead 
of  Virginia.  In  some  of  the  Colonies  the  instructions 
forbidding  their  delegates  had  been  rescinded,  so  that 
by  the  close  of  June  New  York  alone  stood  out  against 
it.  The  truth  is,  the  conviction  was  growing  stronger 
and  stronger  every  hour  that  it  was  hopeless  to  expect 
a  redress  of  grievances  at  the  hands  of  the  English 


HE  ABANDONS   CONCILIATION. 


ministry.  This  conviction  was  confirmed  by  the  con- 
temptuous indifference  with  which  the  last  petition  to 
the  king  had  been  received,  and  by  the  employment 
of  foreign  mercenaries  in  the  armies  sent  against  us. 
Acts  such  as  these  convinced  those  who  had  doubted 
longest.  It  was  plain  that  resistance  could  best  be 
made  to  aggressions  carried  on  in  this  spirit  by  our 
becoming  an  independent  nation.  Certainly,  in  July, 
1776,  no  man  who  for  more  than  a  year  had  maintained 
our  rights  with  arms  in  his  hands,  as  Dickinson  had 
done,  was  likely  to  be  deterred  from  using  those  arms 
any  longer  through  any  sentimental  loyalty  to  the  king 
or  because  independence  had  become  our  aim.  It  was 
simply  with  him,  as  with  a  multitude  of  others,  a  ques- 
tion of  expediency,  as  he  himself  said  afterwards:  "After 
the  rejection  of  the  last  petition  to  the  king,  not  a  syl- 
lable, to  my  recollection,  was  ever  uttered  in  favor  of  a 
reconciliation  with  Great  Britain."  Had  the  time  come 
for  the  final  separation  ?  On  this  point  very  sincere 
patriots  differed.  Dickinson  was  perhaps  an  over- 
cautious man,  —  certainly  he  was  not  one  of  a  sanguine 
temperament,  —  and  his  experience  of  a  want  of  unity 
during  the  months  he  had  passed  in  Congress,  the 
spectacle  constantly  before  him  of  the  delegates  from 
one  half  of  the  Colonies  wrangling  with  those  from  the 
other  half  and  disagreeing  almost  to  the  last  moment 
on  fundamental  points,  —  all  this  was  not  likely  to  en- 
courage the  hope  that  a  serviceable  confederation  could 
be  formed,  or  that  helpful  foreign  alliances  could  be 
contracted,  and  that  our  powers  of  resistance  would 
be  thereby  made  adequate  for  the  purpose. 

The  speech  which  Mr.  Dickinson  is  said  to  have  made 


\ 


DICKINSON'S  SPEECH.  193 

in  Congress  in  explanation  of  his  position  rests  on 
somewhat  doubtful  authority,  like  that  of  John  Adams 
on  the  same  occasion.  Both  speeches  appeared  for  the 
first  time  in  Botta's  "  History  of  the  Revolution,"  where 
it  was  thought  proper  to  make  the  chiefs  talk  after  the 
fashion  of  Livy's  heroes ;  but  there  were  no  reporters 
in  Congress,  and  neither  Dickinson  nor  Adams  recog- 
nized these  speeches  as  their  own.  On  the  contrary, 
John  Adams,  in  a  letter  to  Governor  McKean,  of  July 
30,  1815,  says,  "Mr.  Dickinson  printed  a  speech  which 
he  said  he  made  in  Congress  against  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  but  it  appears  to  me  very  different 
from  that  which  you  and  I  heard.  Dr.  Witherspoon 
did  the  same,  but  these,  I  believe,  are  the  only  speeches 
which  were  committed  to  writing."  No  doubt  the 
printed  speeches  express  generally  the  sentiments  of 
those  to  whom  they  are  attributed,  but  in  that  form 
they  must  not  be  taken  au  pied  de  la  lettre*  Mr.  Dick- 
inson is  said  to  have  begun  his  speech  by  complaining 
of  the  tumultuous  proceedings  in  the  Congress,  de- 
signed to  coerce  the  opinion  of  the  members  and  to 
drive  them  precipitately  to  the  most  serious  and  im- 
portant decisions.  He  spoke  earnestly  of  the  dangers 
which  he  clearly  foresaw  of  dissension  among  ourselves 
unless  some  strong  central  authority  were  created  to 
enforce  obedience,  and  of  the  fears  which  he  enter- 
tained lest,  the  object  of  the  war  being  changed,  the 

1  The  speech  attributed  to  Mr.  Dickinson  by  Mr.  Bancroft  on  this 
occasion  is  made  up  of  extracts  from  his  "Vindication,"  printed 
seven  years  later,  in  1783.  (See  Appendix.)  So  far  as  can  be  ascer- 
tained, Mr.  Dickinson  printed  no  speech  as  having  been  made  at  this 
time. 

13 


194  THE   SAME    CONTINUED. 

union  of  the  people  would  be  destroyed.  He  insisted 
that  our  history  proved  that  it  was  the  restraining  power 
of  the  king  alone  which  had  protected  the  Colonies 
from  disunion  and  civil  war.  He  went  so  far  as  to 
say  that  we  would  find  the  evils  resulting  from  such 
an  independence  intolerable.  His  argument  seemed 
mainly  directed  to  the  want  of  a  central  authority,  the 
inconvenience  of  which  had  been  impressed  upon  him 
by  experience.  The  necessity  of  providing  for  such  an 
authority  made  him  in  after-life  urge  a  closer  union 
than  the  loose-jointed  confederation  by  which  we  were 
then  governed,  as  well  as  a  strong  advocate  of  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  He 
did  not  conceal  his  opinions  of  the  arbitrary  acts  of  the 
ministry  during  the  last  twelve  years,  but,  as  he  evi- 
dently despaired  of  our  military  success  in  a  contest 
with  Great  Britain,  he  thought  it  wiser  to  trust  for  a 
change  for  the  better  to  anything  rather  than  to  our 
power  of  accomplishing  our  purpose  by  force.  He  is 
reported  to  have  said  that  England  having  found  re- 
pose only  in  monarchy,  it  would  be  more  prudent  for 
us  to  be  governed  by  her  example.  It  is  to  be  observed 
that  he  positively  denied  afterwards  ever  having  advo- 
cated any  such  doctrine.  He  seemed  to  think  that  one 
campaign  would  settle  the  controversy,  so  far  as  it  could 
be  settled  by  arms,  and  that  it  would  be  better  to  test 
our  strength  before  we  had  gone  too  far  to  retrace  our 
steps.  He  then  dwelt,  as  he  had  always  done,  upon  the 
two  essential  conditions,  not  only  of  successful  resist- 
ance, but  of  any  permanent  independency,  —first,  union 
among  ourselves,  by  means  of  a  confederacy  with  ample 
power  to  enforce  its  laws,  and,  secondly,  a  foreign  alliance 


HIS   VIEWS  AS  REPORTED   BY  HIMSELF.       *95 

which  should  make  up  for  our  military  deficiencies. 
What  Mr.  Dickinson  really  said  in  the  debate  on  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  or,  rather,  what  opinions 
he  entertained  upon  the  most  important  points  involved 
in  that  debate,  we  are  fortunate  enough  to  know  from 
a  letter  of  his  addressed  to  Mrs.  Mercy  Warren  (a 
relative  of  the  hero  of  Bunker  Hill),  who  had  written  a 
history  of  the  Revolution  and  submitted  the  book  to  his 
criticism.  The  following  is  the  answer  to  her  letter : 

John  Dickinson  to  Mercy  Warren. 

MY  HIGHLY  ESTEEMED  FRIEND, — Though  increasing  infirmities 
permit  me  to  discharge  but  very  imperfectly  the  offices  of  civility,  yet 
I  have  attended  to  thy  late  request,  and  turned  to  the  ninth  chapter 
of  the  History. 

As  well  as  I  can  rely  on  my  fading  memory,  R.  H.  Lee  and  John 
Adams  were  the  principal  speakers  in  favor  of  a  declaration  of  inde- 
pendence. As  for  myself  and  those  who  acted  with  me,  we  certainly 
entertained,  and  expressed,  apprehensions  of  great  calamities  to  both 
countries  should  that  measure  be  adopted,  but  the  expression  of  these 
apprehensions  was  always  accompanied  by  a  solemn  declaration  that, 
dreadful  as  they  (those  calamities)  might  be,  they  were  to  be  firmly 
encountered,  whatever  the  consequences  might  be.1 

In  the  tendency  of  our  councils  towards  a  separation,  two  points 
appeared  to  me  important :  first,  to  obtain  as  much  time  as  possible 
for  recovering  the  ministers  of  Great  Britain  from  the  madness  under 
which  they  were  laboring ;  secondly,  to  ascertain  the  disposition  of 
France,  with  which  we  were  then  negotiating. 

As  to  the  first  point,  an  effort  was  made  by  bringing  forward  the 

1  There  was  no  question  concerning  forms  of  government,  no 
inquiry  whether  a  republic  or  a  limited  monarchy  was  best ;  for  if 
Britain  persevered  in  her  folly,  we  knew  that  the  people  of  this  coun- 
try must  unite  themselves  under  some  form  of  government,  and  that 
this  could  be  no  other  than  the  republican  form ;  in  that  case  all 
objections  against  this  form  must  vanish  before  the  immediate  neces- 
sity of  self-defence. 


J96   REFUSES  TO  VOTE  FOR  THE  DECLARATION. 

second  petition  to  the  king ;  and  in  doing  this  it  was  expressly  stated 
that  if  this  address  should  not  produce  the  desired  effect,  the  rejec- 
tion of  it  would  assuredly  produce  another  of  vast  moment, — that  is, 
an  union  of  all  those  who  now  differed  in  sentiments  on  this  subject. 
It  did  so  :  the  rejection  was  complete.  After  the  rejection,  not  a  syl- 
lable, to  my  recollection,  was  ever  uttered  in  favor  of  a  reconciliation 
with  Great  Britain. 

As  to  the  second  point,  the  ascertaining  the  disposition  of  France, 
it  was  perfectly  well  known  how  much  she  had  been  weakened  and 
discouraged  by  the  events  of  the  war  that  ended  in  1 763.  It  was  not 
likely  that  she  could  be  in  a  state  of  preparation  for  yielding  us  early 
and  effectual  assistance.  Our  precipitation  might  be  displeasing  to 
her,  if  we  took  this  step  without  her  knowledge  when  we  were  treat- 
ing with  her  for  aid,  especially  as  the  establishing  a  great  republic  in 
the  neighborhood  of  French  and  Spanish  territories  might  be  re- 
garded as  a  procedure  as  dangerous  as 

However,  the  infatuation  of  Great  Britain  facilitated  all  the  enter- 
prises of  her  enemies.  She  has  persevered  in  her  folly  ever  since, 
and  the  best  rule  now  to  judge  what  she  will  do  is  to  consider  what 
her  true  interests  are ;  for  it  may  be  depended  on  that  she  will  act 
directly  against  them. 

With  every  respectful  consideration,  I  am  thy  friend, 

JOHN  DICKINSON. 

WILMINGTON,  the  Qth  of  the  gth  month,  1807. 

When  the  final  vote  was  taken,  Mr.  Dickinson,  with 
a  consistency  of  conduct  which  was  the  surest  test 
of  his  sincerity,  and  with  a  noble  disinterestedness  in 
which  he  was,  unfortunately,  not  imitated  by  some  of 
his  colleagues,  refused  to  give  his  vote  in  favor  of  that 
measure.  Whatever  else  may  be  said  of  his  connec- 
tion with  that  act,  there  are  few  who  will  not  agree 
with  Hildreth,  the  historian,  in  thinking  that  it  was 
the  "  noblest  proof  of  moral  courage  ever  shown  by 
a  public  man  in  the  history  of  the  country."  As  far 
as  could  then  be  seen,  he  had  made  himself  by  it  an 


HIS  MORAL    COURAGE.  197 

outcast  from  public  life,  and  he  sank  at  once  from  the 
position  of  leader,  which  he  had  held  for  twelve  years, 
to  that  of  a  martyr  to  his  opinions.  It  is  easy  for  us 
now  to  see  that  Dickinson  made  many  mistakes,  and 
that  he  was  too  distrustful  of  the  people  of  the  Col- 
onies, and  perhaps  of  that  Providence  that  guided 
their  steps  ;  but  we  must  remember  that  a  lack  of 
confidence  or  of  enterprise  does  not  imply  a  lack  of 
self-denying  patriotism.1  Robert  Morris  followed  the 
example  of  Dickinson  by  absenting  himself  when  the 
vote  was  taken,  but  he  afterwards  signed  the  Declara- 
tion, notwithstanding  the  opinion  he  expressed  in  a 
letter  to  General  Reed  of  the  2Oth  of  July,  "  that  in 
his  poor  opinion  it  was  an  improper  time,  and  that  it 
[the  Declaration]  will  neither  promote  the  interest  nor 
redound  to  the  honor  of  America,  for  it  has  caused 
division  when  we  wanted  union,"  etc.  James  Wilson, 
who  had  been  as  strong  an  opponent  of  the  measure 
during  the  debate  as  Dickinson  himself,  recorded  his 
vote  in  its  favor  ;  Dr.  Franklin  and  the  Speaker  of  the 
Assembly,  John  Morton,  united  with  him,  while  Willing 
and  Humphreys  voted  against  it.  Biddle  and  Allen, 
the  remaining  delegates,  who  were  both  opposed  to  it, 
had  resigned  their  seats  in  Congress  some  time  before. 
Such  is  the  true  story  of  the  attitude  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  of  her  great  leader,  John  Dickinson,  at  this 
important  crisis  of  our  national  history.  We  are  now 
so  far  from  this  event,  and  we  have  proved  so  com- 

1  Many  of  the  delegates  from  the  other  Colonies  were  personally 
opposed  to  a  Declaration  of  Independence  on  the  4th  of  July. 
Among  others  were  Jay,  Duane,  Robert  Livingston,  Read,  and 
Rutledge. 


198       DICKINSON  CONSISTENT  IN  HIS   VIEWS. 

pletely  in  this  State  our  loyalty  ever  since  to  the  gov- 
ernment which  was  based  upon  our  independence, 
under  very  severe  trials  at  various  times,  that  we 
can  well  afford  to  do  justice  to  the  motives  of  those 
who  thought  the  Declaration  at  the  time  inopportune. 
One  thing  is  very  clear,  from  the  review  of  the  history 
of  the  time,  that  there  were  other  forms  of  patriotic 
devotion  during  the  war  besides  working  for  the  final 
separation  of  the  Colonies  from  Great  Britain,  and  that 
the  epithets  which  have  been  applied  to  our  Pennsyl- 
vania statesmen,  and  to  those  who  upheld  the  Penn- 
sylvania policy,  of  "  tame,"  "  spiritless,"  and  "  apa- 
thetic," are  singularly  out  of  place.  We  trust  that 
7we  may  recall  with  just  pride  the  historical  truth  that 
the  first  resistance  in  this  country  to  the  pretensions 
of  the  ministry  to  tax  us  in  all  cases  whatever,  made 
upon  legal  and  constitutional  grounds,  was  organized 
in  1768  by  John  Dickinson  in  the  "Farmer's  Letters;" 
that  his  opinions  were  recognized  as  the  wisest  and 
most  expedient  which  had  been  advocated  ;  that  his 
advice  was  taken  by  all  parties  up  to  the  time  of  the 
meeting  of  the  Continental  Congress  in  1774,  even  by 
Samuel  Adams  and  his  friends,  who  from  the  beginning 
had  favored  independence  ;  that  Dickinson  was  the 
/leading  spirit  in  the  Congress  from  that  time  until 
/  June,  1776,  having  been  selected  during  that  period 
to  prepare  all  the  important  public  manifestoes  made 
by  that  body ;  and  that  he  never  wavered  in  his  opin- 
/  ion  as  to  the  soundness  of  the  principles  by  which  he 
was  guided, — to  wit,  that  resistance  should  be  made  to 
the  measures  of  the  ministry  with  arms  in  our  hands 
until  our  grievances  were  redressed.  In  the  beginning 


CREDIT  DUE    TO  ALL   PARTIES. 


of  1776,  certain  of  the  New  England  delegates,  for 
reasons  no  doubt  perfectly  satisfactory  to  themselves 
and  their  constituents,  changed  their  views  and  became 
more  aggressive  by  asserting  the  necessity  of  a  speedy 
declaration  of  independence.  Dickinson  remained  un- 
moved in  his  opinion  as  to  the  best  course  which  should 
be  pursued  up  to  the  middle  of  June,  1776,  and  the  vote 
of  six  Colonies  supported  him. 

But  it  is  quite  unnecessary  to  maintain  that  any  party 
or  set  of  men  should  be  entitled  to  the  monopoly  of 
whatever  credit  may  be  due  to  the  work  of  our  fathers. 
Many  of  those  who  did  not  agree  with  Dickinson  in  the 
measures  he  advocated  were  sanguine  in  their  hopes, 
absolutely  certain  that  the  end  which  they  proposed  to 
themselves  could  be  reached,  very  impatient  with  those 
who  did  not  agree  with  them,  and  very  unscrupulous 
in  the  means  they  took  to  accomplish  their  ends.  Much 
the  same  may  be  said  of  their  political  friends,  the  party  in 
Pennsylvania  who  strove  to  manipulate  the  expression 
of  public  sentiment  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  it  appear 
that  she  demanded  an  immediate  act  of  independence. 
This  party  tried  to  move  its  own  legal  Assembly,  as  we 
have  seen,  by  threats  and  persuasions  alternately,  and 
finally  assumed  a  thoroughly  revolutionary  attitude  by 
trying  to  supersede  its  authority  by  a  popular  conven- 
tion ;  and  all  this  was  done  by  men  who  claimed  to  be 
and  were  good  patriots  (but  not  better  than  their  more 
conservative  brethren),  although  they  maintained  that 
persons  styling  themselves  conferees,  the  creatures  of 
county  committees  and  mass-meetings  in  the  State- 
House  yard,  could,  without  authority,  guarantee,  or 
responsibility,  claim  to  express  the  true  voice  of  law- 


200  PARTIES  BECOME    CONCILIATED. 

abiding  Pennsylvania.  It  is  curious,  however,  to  ob- 
serve how  the  enmity  which  had  existed  in  the  Con- 
gress between  extreme  partisans  of  opposite  views 
seemed  to  wear  away  in  the  course  of  time.  Dick- 
inson and  Wilson  and  Morris  were  all  ostracized  for 
a  short  period,  owing  to  the  unpopularity  of  their  opin- 
ions with  those  who  had  succeeded  to  power  in  Penn- 
sylvania, but  when  permitted  to  return  to  Congress 
they  were  among  the  most  useful  and  faithful  members 
of  that  body,  and  among  the  most  active  and  influential 
afterwards  in  the  Convention  which  framed  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States.1 

1  In  1783  Mr.  Dickinson  published  a  statement  of  his  services 
during  the  Revolution,  from  which  many  of  the  facts  presented  in 
the  text  have  been  quoted.  This  statement,  entitled  a  "  Vindication," 
is  reprinted  in  Appendix  V. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MR.  DICKINSON'S  CAREER  AFTER  THE  DECLARATION 
OF  INDEPENDENCE. 

THE  public  life  of  Mr.  Dickinson  was  eclipsed,  but 
not  extinguished,  by  the  attitude  he  assumed  in  regard 
to  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  He  was  certainly 
unpopular  for  the  time  with  those  who  had  usurped 
power  in  Pennsylvania*  but  the  soldiers  he  commanded 
seem  to  have  had  at  this  time  undiminished  confidence 
in  him.  Within  a  week  after  the  Declaration  was 
adopted,  news  reached  Philadelphia  of  the  concentra- 
tion of  the  British  army,  under  Sir  William  Howe,  on 
Staten  Island.  The  army  was  accompanied  by  Lord 
Howe,  the  commander  of  the  fleet,  the  brother  of  the 
general,  who  came  as  a  commissioner  to  make  propo- 
sals of  peace  under  certain  conditions.  It  was  thought 
proper  by  Congress,  however,  in  order  to  be  ready  to 
meet  any  emergency,  to  send  a  large  force  to  the  neigh- 
borhood of  New  York,  either  to  defend  that  city  or  to 
oppose  the  advance  of  the  enemy  across  New  Jersey, 
as  might  be  required.  The  five  battalions  of  the  Phila- 
delphia  Associators,  forming  a  brigade,  under  Colonel 
Dickinson,  were  ordered  to  march  forthwith  towards 
New  York.  Dickinson's  conduct  on  this  occasion  is 
beyond  all  praise.  His  duty  as  a  soldier,  he  felt,  was 
totally  distinct  from  that  as  a  legislator.  Not  a  trace 
of  irritability  or  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  treatment  he 


201 


202        DICKINSON'S  SERVICE  AS  A  SOLDIER. 

had  received,  which  would  have  been  so  natural  under 
the  circumstances,  appeared  in  his  conduct.  He  sacri- 
ficed not  only  his  opinions  but  his  pride  to  the  true 
instinct  of  patriotism,  and  he  proved  as  loyal  to  his 
country  in  the  field  as  if  he  had  been  defending  there 
a  cause  which  had  been  all  his  life  dear  to  him.  He 
felt  keenly  his  position,  but  he  was  all  the  more  anx- 
ious to  do  his  duty,  for  the  sentiment  of  devotion  to  his 
country  seemed  to  absorb  his  whole  life.  The  follow- 
ing extracts  from  letters  written  by  him  when  we  may 
suppose  that  he  felt  most  keenly  the  unworthy  treat- 
ment he  had  received  are  very  characteristic : 

John  Dickinson  to  Charles  Thomson. 

ELIZABETH-TOWN,  August  7,  1776. 

.  .  .  You  may  recollect  circumstances  that  are  convincing  that 
my  resignation  was  voluntary,  I  might  have  said  ardent.  Whether  I 
shall  ever  put  on  the  cumbersome  robes  (of  public  life)  I  know  not 
and  care  not.  However,  for  your  Horatian  hint  of  rebus  in  arduis, 
I  will  pay  you  with  two  of  equal  merit : 

"  Hie  murus  aheneus. 
****** 

"  Justum  ac  tenacem  propositi  virum 
Non  civium  ardor  prava  jubentium, 
Non  vox  instantis  tyranni." 

I  wrote  about  a  week  ago  to  Mr.  Hancock,  desiring  Congress  to 
open  my  English  letters  and  send  them  to  me. 

Same  to  Same. 

ELIZABETH-TOWN,  August  10,  1776. 

The  enemy  are  moving,  and  an  attack  on  New  York  is 
quickly  expected.  As  for  myself,  I  can  form  no  idea  of  a  more 
noble  fate  than,  after  being  the  constant  advocate  for  and  promoter 


IN  ANTICIPATION  OF  BATTLE.  203 

of  every  measure  that  could  possibly  lead  to  peace  or  prevent  her 
return  from  being  barred  up ;  after  cheerfully  and  deliberately  sacri- 
ficing my  popularity  and  all  the  emoluments  I  might  certainly  have 
derived  from  it  to  principle ;  after  suffering  all  the  indignities  that  my 
countrymen  now  bearing  rule  are  inclined,  if  they  could,  so  plenti- 
fully to  shower  down  upon  my  innocent  head, — than  willingly  to 
resign  my  life,  if  Divine  Providence  shall  please  so  to  dispose  of  me, 
for  the  defence  and  happiness  of  those  unkind  countrymen  whom 
I  cannot  forbear  to  esteem  as  fellow-citizens  amidst  their  fury  against 
me.  Much  rather  would  I  wish  that  these  severe  masters  would  give 
me  up  to  my  dear  connections.  My  books  and  my  fields  are  inter- 
course and  employment  for  which  my  constitution  is  better  formed 
than  for  the  toils  of  war,  to  cultivate  which  my  temper  is  more  dis- 
posed than  to  aspire  to  all  the  united  glories,  could  I  attain  them,  of 
every  heroic  death  from  the  Roman  Curtius  to  the  British  Wolfe. 

Same  to  Mrs.  Mary  Norris. 

.  .  .  This  moment  Genl.  Mercer  has  left  my  table.  .  .  .  Just  as 
we  were  setting  down  to  dinner  he  received  an  express  from  Genl. 
Washington,  informing  him  that  the  enemy  was  making  such  move- 
ments that  the  attack  on  New  York  is  expected  every  hour.  .  .  .  The 
enemy  is  about  twenty  or  twenty-five  thousand  strong.  Our  troops 
intended  for  that  service  are  passing  with  the  utmost  expedition  to 
New  York.  Genl.  Mercer  is  gone  this  afternoon  to  Newark  to  for- 
ward them.  The  fate  of  America  will  be  decided  in  a  few  weeks  or 
days.  Genl.  Washington  has  invited  our  militia  to  reinforce  them. 
The  duty  is  so  evident,  the  occasion  so  vast,  that  I  spoke  to  my 
battalion  and  offered  to  lead  them  to  New  York  in  defence  of 
our  country,  our  wives,  children,  and  friends.  I  have  not  yet  re- 
ceived their  answer.  .  .  .  Whatever  it  may  be,  I  feel  a  conscious 
satisfaction  in  having  done  what  I  OUGHT  to  have  done,  AND  NO 
MORE.  .  .  . 

Be  pleased  to  give  my  tenderest  love  to  Cousins  Debby,  Isaac,  Jose, 
and  Charley.  They  must  love  my  baby  most  dearly,  and  I  hope  she 
will  deserve  their  sincerest  affection. 

I  am,  my  dearest  aunt,  your  affectionate  and  dutiful  nephew, 

JOHN  DICKINSON. 

ELIZABETH-TOWN,  August  i4th,  1776. 


204        CONCEPTIONS   OF  A  SOLDIER'S  DUTY. 

Mr.  Dickinson's  belief  in  the  claim  of  the  country  to 
the  services  of  all  her  sons  when  in  danger  is  the  true 
explanation  of  his  conduct  at  this  crisis.  He  wrote 
after  the  war,  when  reviewing  the  part  he  had  taken 
in  the  struggle,  "Although  I  spoke  my  sentiments 
freely, — as  an  honest  man  ought  to  do, — yet  when  a 
determination  was  reached  upon  the  question  against 
my  opinion,  I  regarded  that  determination  as  the  voice 
of  my  country.  That  voice  proclaimed  her  destiny,  in 
which  I  was  resolved  by  every  impulse  of  my  soul  to 
share,  and  to  stand  or  fall  with  her  in  that  scheme  of 
freedom  which  she  had  chosen."  It  is  not  to  be  for- 
gotten, as  a  commentary  on  these  views,  that  Colonel 
Dickinson  and  Colonel  McKean,  each  commanding  a 
regiment  and  holding  at  that  time  opposite  political 
views,  were  the  only  members  of  Congress  who  took 
up  arms  in  its  defence.  With  the  same  patriotic  fervor 
is  filled  the  speech  delivered  by  Mr.  Dickinson  in  Con- 
gress in  1779  :  uTwo  rules  I  have  laid  down  for  myself 
throughout  this  contest,  to  which  I  have  constantly  ad- 
hered, and  still  design  to  adhere :  first,  on  all  occasions 
where  I  am  called  upon,  as  a  trustee  for  my  countrymen, 
to  deliberate  on  questions  important  to  their  happiness, 
disdaining  all  personal  advantages  to  be  derived  from 
a  suppression  of  my  real  sentiments,  and  defying  all 
dangers  to  be  risked  by  a  declaration  of  them,  openly 
to  avow  them  ;  and,  secondly,  after  thus  discharging 
this  duty,  whenever  the  public  resolutions  are  taken,  to 
regard  them,  though  opposite  to  my  opinion,  as  sacred, 
because  they  lead  to  public  measures  in  which  the  Com- 
monwealth must  be  interested,  and  to  join  in  support- 
ing them  as  earnestly  as  if  my  voice  had  been  given 


COMPLAINTS   OF  INGRATITUDE.  205 

for  them.  If  the  present  day  is  too  warm  for  me  to 
be  calmly  judged,  I  can  credit  my  country  for  justice 
some  years  hence." 

Dickinson  seems  to  have  been  illy  repaid  for  his 
magnanimous  course.  It  will  be  remembered  that  in 
the  preceding  month  of  May  the  Assembly  had  been 
informed  by  a  message  from  some  of  the  private  sol- 
diers of  the  battalions  of  the  Associators  that  they  would 
not  submit  to  the  orders  of  the  general  officers  who 
might  be  appointed  by  that  body  to  command  them. 
The  object  of  this  dangerous  movement  on  the  part  of 
the  Whigs  was  to  place  the  military  force  of  the  Prov- 
ince beyond  the  control  of  the  Assembly.  The  Assem- 
bly seems  to  have  made  no  attempt  to  disregard  the 
order  of  this  military  mob,  and,  there  being  no  general 
officers  when  the  Associators  were  called  into  service, 
Dickinson,  as  the  senior  colonel,  took  the  command. 
An  election  was  held,  however,  by  the  soldiers,  without 
any  legal  warrant,  for  two  brigadier-generals  in  the 
mean  time,  but  it  was  not  confirmed  by  the  Convention 
until  the  28th  of  September.  General  Roberdeau,  a 
violent  Whig,  but  an  excellent  man,  was  chosen  to 
supersede  Dickinson.  Meantime,  however,  Dickinson 
was  under  the  command  of  General  Hugh  Mercer,  a 
veteran  officer  highly  thought  of  by  Washington,  who 
was  afterwards  killed  at  the  battle  of  Princeton. 

But  the  cup  of  indignity  and  humiliation  forced  upon 
him  by  his  enemies  in  Pennsylvania  had  not  yet  been 
wholly  drained.  The  Convention  which  had  been  chosen 
to  frame  a  new  Constitution  met  on  the  2Oth  of  July ; 
the  first  of  all  its  revolutionary  acts — and  all  its  acts  of 
ordinary  legislation  were  revolutionary — was  to  elect 


206         NQT  RE-ELECTED  AS  A   DELEGATE. 

a  new  set  of  delegates  to  Congress  to  replace  those 
whose  term  had  not  expired,  but  who  had  offended 
the  violent  Whig  partisans  by  refusing  to  vote  for  the 
Declaration.  Mr.  Dickinson  was  not  re-elected,  and 
the  result  seems  to  have  made  him,  as  it  would  appear 
to  us,  more  angry  than  the  occasion  required.  "  I  had 
not  been  ten  days  in  camp  at  Elizabethtown,"  he  said, 
many  years  after,  "  when  I  was  by  my  persecutors 
turned  out  of  Congress.  While  I  was  exposing  my 
person  to  every  hazard,  and  lodging  every  night  within 
half  a  mile  of  the  enemy,  the  members  of  the  Conven- 
tion at  Philadelphia,  resting  in  quiet  and  safety,  igno- 
miniously  voted  me,  as  unworthy  of  my  seat,  out  of 
the  National  Senate."  When  the  election  of  General 
Roberdeau  was  confirmed  by  the  Convention  on  the 
28th  of  September,  Dickinson  resigned  his  commission, 
on  the  double  ground  that  the  Convention,  as  an  illegal 
body,  had  no  right  whatever  to  appoint  military  officers, 
and  also  because  the  design  clearly  was  to  insult  him, 
although  he  had  been  faithfully  performing  his  duties. 
His  battalion,  however,  had  by  this  time  been  much 
weakened  by  desertions,  and  that  portion  of  it  that  was 
left  was  directed  by  General  Mercer  to  join  the  "  flying 
camp"  after  the  battle  of  Long  Island. 

The  first  Assembly  under  the  new  Constitution  met 
early  in  November.  Mr.  Dickinson,  who  had  been 
chosen  as  a  member  from  the  county  of  Philadelphia, 
was  firmly  convinced,  with  many  of  his  friends  of  all 
parties,  that  the  Convention  was  an  illegal  and  revolu- 
tionary body :  illegal  in  its  origin  because  in  no  proper 
way  did  it  represent  the  people  of  the  State,  and  revo- 
lutionary in  its  action  not  merely  because  it  presumed 


ANARCHY  UNDER    THE    CONSTITUTION.       2°7 

to  form  a  State  Constitution,  but  because  it  exercised 
all  the  powers  of  legislation,  of  which  its  election  of 
delegates  to  the  Congress  and  the  appointment  of  mil- 
itary officers  are  examples.  What  the  public  sentiment 
was  regarding  the  Convention  and  the  Assembly  sitting 
under  its  authority  is  well  told  by  James  Allen  in  his 
Diary.1  Mr.  Allen  had  been  elected  in  May,  1776,  by 
the  county  of  Northampton  a  member  of  the  legal  As- 
sembly by  a  vote  of  eight  hundred  and  fifty-three  to 
fourteen.  This  was  one  of  the  counties  which  a  few 
weeks  afterwards  was  said  to  have  sent  delegates  to  the 
Convention  to  frame  the  constitution  of  a  new  govern- 
ment, while  Mr.  Allen  and  his  supporters  were  strong 
supporters  of  the  old  charter.2  Mr.  Allen  says  in  his 
Diary,  "  Instead  of  immediately  framing  a  new  govern- 
ment, the  Convention,  unwilling  to  part  with  its  power, 
continued  to  exercise  all  power  till  the  voice  of  the 

1  Pennsylvania  Magazine  of  History,  vol.  ix.  p.  188. 

2  This  James  Allen  belonged  to  perhaps  the  most  conspicuous  fam- 
ily in  Pennsylvania  just  previous  to  the  Revolution.     It  was  a  family 
of  great  wealth  and  of  the  highest  social  and  political  position.     It 
was  composed  of  the  Chief  Justice  and  his  four  sons.     All  of  them 
were  stanch  defenders  of  the  rights  of  the  Province  (most  of  them 
with  arms  in  their  hands)  up  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
when  they  all  became,  or  rather  all  continued  to  be,  loyalists.    Their 
course  was  in  striking  contrast  with  that  of  Mr.  Dickinson.    The  per- 
sonal popularity  of  Mr.  James  Allen,  and  the  attachment  of  his  con- 
stituents to  the  old  order,  are  very  significant.     It  would  appear  that 
some  of  the  representatives  under  the  new  system  in  Pennsylvania 
were  chosen  very  much  as  was  Mr.  Simon  Boerum  to  represent  one 
of  the  counties  of  Long  Island  in  the  Continental  Congress,  the 
meeting  at  which  he  was  elected  having  consisted  of  two  persons, 
one  of  whom  became  the  chairman,  and  the  other  the  delegate  to 
represent  the  county. 


208  DOINGS   OF  THE  ASSEMBLY. 

people — that  is,  the  Whiggist  part — obliged  them  to 
frame  a  government  and  dissolve  themselves,  having 
made  it  a  necessary  qualification  for  electors  and  elected 
to  swear  to  preserve  their  frame.  This  split  the  Whigs 
to  pieces,  the  majority  disliking  the  frame,  and  therefore 
not  voting  for  the  new  Assembly,  which  was  of  course 
chosen  by  very  few.  In  some  of  the  counties  the  oath 
was  dispensed  with.  The  papers  now  teemed  with 
strictures  on  the  frame  of  government.  The  Assem- 
bly was  chosen  and  sat ;  the  minority,  who  disliked  the 
frame,  threatened  to  leave  the  rest  if  they  proceeded 
to  business,  which  would  have  left  less  than  a  quorum, 
till  the  Congress,  when  the  enemy  were  expected  in 
Philadelphia  in  December,  sent  them  word  that  if  they 
did  not  agree  to  act  as  an  Assembly  they  would  take 
the  government  of  Pennsylvania  into  their  own  hands." 
This  humiliating  condition  of  affairs  here  was  the  legit- 
imate outgrowth  of  the  revolutionary  Convention,  and 
of  the  manner  in  which  it  had  been  brought  together. 

At  this  crisis,  Dickinson,  as  always  in  difficult  times, 
strove  to  bring  order  out  of  the  chaos  in  which  the  rev- 
olutionists had  involved  the  State.  On  the  first  day  of 
the  meeting  of  the  Assembly  he  proposed  the  following 
plan  to  extricate  it  from  its  embarrassment.  "  On  be- 
half of  myself  and  of  others,  my  constituents,"  he  said, 
"I  agree  that  we  will  consent  to  the  choice  of  a  Speaker, 
sit  with  the  other  members,  and  pass  such  acts  as  the 
public  affairs  may  require  :  provided  that  the  other  mem- 
bers, the  majority,  will  agree  to  call  a  free  Convention 
for  a  full  and  fair  representation  of  the  freemen  of 
Pennsylvania,  to  meet  on  or  before  the day  of  Jan- 
uary next,  for  the  purpose  of  revising  the  Constitution 


DICKINSON  RETIRES  FROM  PUBLIC  LIFE.     209 

framed  by  the  late  Convention,  and  making  such  altera- 
tions and  amendments  therein  as  shall  by  them  be 
thought  proper,  and  making  such  ordinances  as  the 
circumstances  of  affairs  may  render  necessary :  pro- 
vided that  no  part  of  said  Constitution  be  carried  into 
execution  by  this  Assembly,  and  provided  that  this 
Assembly  be  dissolved  before  the  meeting  of  the 
Convention." 

This  proposition  was  not  accepted  by  the  Assembly, 
and  Mr.  Dickinson,  disdaining  to  sit  and  legislate  in  a 
body  so  illegally  constituted,  retired  from  it.  He  left 
it,  as  he  says,  with  a  firm  resolution  on  three  points  : 
i  st,  that  he  would  never  again  hold  any  office,  civil  or 
military,  under  such  men  ;  2d,  that  he  would  retire  to 
another  State,  where  his  services  might  be  better  ap- 
preciated ;  and,  3d,  that  he  would  volunteer  as  a  private 
soldier  on  the  next  call  for  the  militia. 

Mr.  Dickinson's  determination  to  retire  from  public 
life  at  this  time  was  unyielding.  His  "  wounded  spirit," 
tortured  by  the  distrust  in  his  course  shown  by  his  ene- 
mies and  by  what  he  considered  the  want  of  a  proper 
measure  of  support  by  his  friends,  so  disgusted  him 
with  the  public  service  that  he  did  not  feel  called  upon 
to  remain  longer  in  a  position  in  which  he  felt  that  he 
was  looked  upon  by  many  as  having  outlived  his  use- 
fulness. He  had  many  warm  and  devoted  friends  still, 
and  they  tried  to  convince  him  that  he  had  been  made 
morbidly  sensitive  by  the  treatment  which  he  had  re- 
ceived. In  November  he  was  elected  by  Delaware  one 
of  her  delegates  in  Congress,  but  he  declined  absolutely 
the  honor,  without  assigning  any  reason  for  his  refusal. 
Perhaps  the  state  of  his  mind  at  this  time  is  best  por- 

14 


210       HfS  FRIENDS   URGE  HIM  TO  RETURN. 

trayed  in  the  two  letters  which  we  annex,  from  his 
friends  Charles  Thomson  and  Dr.  Rush.  It  will  be 
observed  that  they  both  remonstrate  with  him  upon 
his  retirement  as  a  serious  loss  to  the  great  cause  in 
which  they  were  all  engaged. 

Charles  Thomson  to  John  Dickinson. 

SUMMERVILLE,  Aug.  l6,  1776. 

DEAR  SIR, —  .  .  .  You  and  I  have  differed  in  sentiment  with  re- 
gard to  the  propriety  of  certain  public  measures, — not  so  much  about 
the  measures  themselves  as  the  time,  which  you  thought  was  not  yet 
come.  But  from  the  prejudices  that  I  find  prevail,  and  the  notions 
of  honor,  rank,  and  other  courtly  ideas  so  eagerly  embraced,  I  am 
fully  persuaded,  had  time  been  given  for  them  to  strike  deep  or  root, 
it  would  have  been  extremely  difficult  to  have  prepared  men's  minds 
for  the  good  seed  of  liberty. 

I  know  the  rectitude  of  your  heart  and  the  honesty  and  upright- 
ness of  your  intentions,  but  still  I  cannot  help  regretting  that,  by  a 
perseverance  which  you  were  fully  convinced  was  fruitless,  you  have 
thrown  the  affairs  of  this  State  into  the  hands  of  men  totally  unequal 
to  them.  I  fondly  hope  and  trust,  however,  that  Divine  Providence, 
which  has  hitherto  so  signally  appeared  in  favor  of  our  cause,  will 
preserve  you  from  danger  and  restore  you,  not  to  "  your  books  and 
fields,"  but  to  your  country,  to  correct  the  errors  which,  I  fear,  those 
''now  bearing  rule"  will  inflict  through  the  form  of  government. 

There  are  some  expressions  in  your  letter  which  I  am  sorry  for, 
because  they  seem  to  flow  from  a  wounded  spirit.  Consider,  I  beseech 
you,  and  do  justice  to  your  "unkind  countrymen."  They  did  not 
desert  you.  You  left  them.  Possibly  they  were  wrong  in  quickening 
their  march  and  advancing  to  the  goal  with  such  rapid  speed.  They 
thought  they  were  right,  and  the  only  "fury"  they  showed  against 
you  was  to  choose  other  leaders  to  conduct  them.  I  wish  they  had 
chosen  better :  that  you  could  have  led  them  or  they  waited  a  little 
for  you.  But  sure  I  am,  when  their  fervor  is  abated,  they  will  do 
justice  to  your  merit,  and  I  hope  soon  to  see  you  restored  to  the 
confidence  and  honors  of  your  country. 

I  am  glad  to  hear  you  continue  hearty. 


DR.   RUSH'S  LETTER.  211 


We  have  flattering  accounts  from  Canada  by  some  Canadian  officers 
who  have  joined  our  army.  I  hope  they  will  prove  true. 

Order  and  harmony  are  returning  to  our  northern  army,  and  if  it 
please  Providence  to  dispel  the  dark  cloud  that  hovers  over  New 
York,  I  fondly  hope  the  sun  of  peace  will  quickly  shine  upon  us. 
May  that  gracious  Providence  in  which  I  know  you  place  your  confi- 
dence protect  and  preserve  you.  .  .  . 

Adieu.     I  am  your  sincere  and  affectionate  friend, 

CHAS.  THOMSON. 
Dr.  Rush  to  John  Dickinson. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — While  I  disapprove  most  heartily  of  the  coalition 
of  parties  in  the  Assembly,  I  cannot  help  lamenting  that  you  have 
left  the  House  upon  the  account  of  it.  The  members  from  West- 
moreland and  Bedford  will  turn  the  scale  in  our  favor  as  soon  as  they 
come  to  town,  and  we  shall  have  a  convention  and  a  consistent  legis- 
lature in  spite  of  all  their  cunning  and  malice.  For  the  present  it 
becomes  us  to  unite  heart  and  hand  in  repelling  the  common  enemy. 
The  eyes  of  the  whole  city  are  fixed  upon  you.  We  expect,  we  are 
sure,  you  will  head  your  battalion.  All  our  hopes  of  your  future 
usefulness  in  our  State  depend  upon  it.  Mr.  Howe  cannot  mean  to 
winter  in  Philadelphia,  unless  he  is  invited  here  by  the  slender  oppo- 
sition Gen.  Washington  now  makes  against  him.  A  body  of  ten 
thousand  militia  will  certainly  terrify  him  into  winter  quarters.  The 
safety  of  the  continent  depends  upon  the  part  Pennsylvania  will  take 
upon  this  occasion.  The  whole  State  of  Pennsylvania  will  be  influ- 
enced by  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  city  waits  only  to  see  what 
part  you  will  take  upon  the  occasion.  Excuse  the  liberty  I  have 
taken  of  suggesting  these  hints,  and  believe  me  to  be,  with  the  most 
sincere  regard,  your  most  affectionate  humble  servant, 

BENJ.  RUSH. 
PHILADA.,  Dec.  ist,  1776. 

JOHN  DICKINSON,  ESQ.,  at  Fairhill. 

On  the  nth  of  December,  upon  the  rumor  that  the 
British  army  was  approaching  Philadelphia,  he  removed 
with  his  family  to  his  farm  near  Dover,  in  Delaware. 
There  he  had  abundant  opportunity  during  the  next 


212  fffS  LIFE  IN  DELAWARE. 

two  years  to  ponder  upon  the  mutability  of  human 
affairs  and  the  ingratitude  of  mankind.  He  did  not 
again  return  to  Pennsylvania  until  the  people  of  that 
State,  tired  of  the  unsuccessful  attempts  of  their  rulers 
to  bring  the  Constitution  of  1776  into  satisfactory  work- 
ing order,  called  him  again  to  her  councils  in  1782.  His 
family  seems  to  have  returned  to  Philadelphia.  In  Oc- 
tober, 1777,  he  writes  the  following  letter  to  his  wife  on 
the  occupation  of  the  city  by  the  British  army : 

"October  3oth,  1777. 

"  MY  DEAR  WIFE, — Mr.  Mifflin  has  been  so  kind  as  to  undertake 
to  come  from  Philadelphia  with  you  and  our  dear  child.  I  heartily 
rejoice  in  such  an  opportunity.  Come  immediately.  Don't  trouble 
yourself  with  bringing  any  of  my  clothes ;  but  request  our  kind  aunt 
that  they  may  be  safely  put  up.  I  should  like  to  have  the  day-book 
brought,  if  not  inconvenient.  The  carriage  is  at  Bringhurst's ;  the 
harness  James  has.  Mr.  Mifflin  engages  to  provide  some  way  of  get- 
ting you  out  of  town.  I  wish  you  to  lodge  the  first  night  at  the  Hum- 
phreys's ;  the  next  you  may  get  to  some  friend's  at  Wilmington.  I 
entreat  that  you  will  not  cross  the  Ferry  of  Christeen.  I  also  ear- 
nestly desire  that  you  will  not  pass  any  ferry  or  bridge  in  the  car- 
riage ;  I  beg  earnestly  that  you  and  our  precious  one  may  get  out  at 
such  places.  Please  to  bring  the  bark  in  gross,  and  put  up  the  pow- 
dered bark  in  some  dry  and  safe  bureau  or  drawer.  I  dread  your 
coming  in  a  two-wheeled  carriage.  If  any  of  your  friends  supply 
you  with  horses  they  shall  be  well  taken  care  of." 

He  passed  his  time  in  the  society  of  his  "  fields  and 
books,"  which  he  so  dearly  loved,  seeking  therein  that 
repose  for  body  and  spirit  which,  after  the  excessive 
labors  of  the  two  preceding  years,  he  so  sorely  needed. 
His  health  had  never  been  robust,  and  doubtless  the 
hope  of  its  restoration  induced  him  to  decline  the  elec- 
tion by  his  ever-faithful  friends  in  Delaware,  on  the  5th 


AGAIN  ENTERS   THE  ARMY.  213 

of  November,  1776,  to  the  post  of  delegate  to  Congress 
from  that  State. 

It  certainly  is  one  of  the  curiosities  of  political  expe- 
rience that  at  the  very  time  that  he  was  driven  from 
public  life  in  Pennsylvania  by  the  violence  of  the  party 
opposed  to  him  he  should  have  been  besought  by  men 
apparently  of  the  same  national  party  in  Delaware  to 
accept  office  at  their  hands.  To  an  active  spirit  such 
as  that  of  Dickinson,  residence  in  Delaware  without 
any  official  relations  to  the  public,  although  he  was 
constantly  surrounded  by  kind  and  considerate  friends, 
must  have  seemed  almost  like  exile.  Doubtless  he 
watched  with  the  deepest  anxiety  the  movements  of 
the  British  army  at  that  critical  period :  its  object  had 
evidently  been  from  the  beginning  the  occupation  of 
Philadelphia.  Sir  William  Howe,  having  been  foiled 
in  his  attempt  to  approach  the  city  from  the  north  by 
the  victories  of  Washington  at  Trenton  and  Prince- 
ton during  the  winter  of  1776-77,  decided,  during  the 
summer  of  1777,  to  advance  on  it  from  the  south. 
For  that  purpose,  his  army  was  sent  by  way  of  Chesa- 
peake Bay  to  the  head-waters  of  the  river  Elk.  Wash- 
ington moved  southward  from  Philadelphia  to  repel  this 
advancing  force,  and  in  September,  1777,  the  battle  of 
the  Brandywine  was  fought.  Meanwhile,  the  State  of 
Delaware  was  exposed  to  the  incursions  of  the  enemy 
on  both  sides,  and  Caesar  Rodney,  the  president  of 
the  State,  was  called  upon  by  Washington  to  raise  a 
force  sufficient  at  least  to  harass  the  invaders,  and,  if 
possible,  to  cut  off  the  retreat  of  the  army  to  their 
ships  at  the  head  of  Elk  in  case  of  their  defeat. 
President  Rodney  gathered  together  the  militia  of 


214     AT  THE  BATTLE   OF  THE  BRANDYWINE. 

Kent  County,  which  was  in  the  rear  of  the  invading 
army,  for  that  purpose.  Of  the  men  and  the  officers 
composing  this  force  we  know  little,  save  that  John 
Dickinson  is  represented  to  have  served  with  it  as  a 
private  soldier  in  the  company  of  Captain  Stephen 
Lewis,  and  that  he  was  present  with  it  at  the  battle 
of  the  Brandywine.1  We  may  be  sure,  however,  that 
whatever  he  did  in  the  military  service  at  that  time  he 
did  well ;  for  on  the  24th  of  September,  less  than  two 
weeks  after  the  battle  of  the  Brandywine,  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  his  old  political  opponent,  Thomas  McKean, 
who  was  then  acting  president  of  Delaware  in  place  of 
John  McKinley,  who  had  been  made  a  prisoner  of  war, 
and  Caesar  Rodney  (the  vice-president),  who  was  then 
engaged  in  military  duty,  a  brigadier-general  of  the 
militia  of  that  State,  an  office  which,  however,  he  held 
for  a  few  months  only.  Nothing,  it  may  be  said,  is 
more  interesting  in  the  whole  career  of  Dickinson  than 
these  instances  which  are  constantly  brought  before 
us  of  what  has  been  sometimes  rather  inappropriately 
called  his  "  magnetic  power."  Not  only  does  he  seem 
to  have  had  many  warm  friends,  and  of  course,  like  all 
men  of  strong  character,  many  bitter  enemies,  but  he 
had  also  the  power  of  attaching  to  himself  in  a  very  re- 
markable degree  many  of  those  from  whom  he  differed 
very  widely  in  political  opinion.  His  earnest  sincerity, 
his  transparent  integrity  of  motive,  the  amiability  of  his 
manners,  and  the  unmistakable  kindness  of  his  heart 
were  such  conspicuous  traits  of  his  character  that  they 
disarmed  such  opponents  as  the  warm-hearted  and  im- 

1  I  make  this  statement  on  the  authority  of  the  late  William  D. 
Lewis,  Esq.,  who,  if  I  mistake  not,  was  a  son  of  Captain  Lewis. 


MCKEAN  AND  DICKINSON.  215 

petuous  McKean  and  took  away  from  their  enmity  all 
its  sting.  This  appointment  of  Dickinson  to  such  a 
post  as  that  of  brigadier-general  by  a  man  like  McKean, 
who  had  known  all  about  him  from  his  earliest  manhood, 
and  who  recognized  at  once,  if  any  one  ever  did  in  those 
gloomy  days,  the  true  ring  of  patriotism  when  he  heard 
it,  is  highly  creditable  to  both.  We  may  add  that  it  is 
one  of  the  strongest  indications  we  have  of  the  high 
reputation  of  Dickinson  at  that  time  as  a  sincere  lover 
of  his  country,  especially  as  it  comes  from  the  leader 
of  that  party  in  Pennsylvania  which  had  driven  Dick- 
inson into  exile. 

But  the  true  sphere  for  the  activity  of  such  a  man  as 
Dickinson  at  this  crisis,  as  all  his  friends  felt,  was  the 
national  Congress;  His  experience  in  that  body  was 
invaluable.  He  had  been  superseded,  as  we  have  seen, 
as  a  delegate  from  Pennsylvania  by  the  Convention  of 
that  State  on  the  2Oth  of  July,  1776,  but  he  was  returned 
with  great  unanimity  by  Delaware  as  a  member  of  that 
body  on  the  1 7th  of  November  in  the  same  year.  He 
was  prevented,  however,  by  causes  which  we  can  only 
conjecture,  from  taking  his  seat  at  that  time.  On  the 
i8th  of  January,  1779,  he  was  sent  again  by  Delaware 
as  a  delegate  to  Congress.  On  his  return  to  that  body 
he  found  that  the  condition  of  the  country  and  the  rela- 
tions of  Congress  towards  it  had  been  much  changed 
in  the  interval.  In  July,  1776,  the  prospect  of  success- 
ful resistance  had  appeared  to  the  majority  of  Congress 
bright  and  hopeful.  A  measure  had  just  been  adopted 
which  it  was  supposed  would  add  much  to  the  force 
of  the  country,  by  making  the  struggle  one  for  main- 
taining its  independence  rather  than  for  securing  a  re- 


216  CHANGES  IN  CONGRESS. 


dress  of  grievances.  The  members  of  that  body  were 
then,  without  doubt,  the  foremost  characters  of  the 
country,  most  truly  representing  the  different  shades 
of  opinion  in  its  different  sections,  and  all  were  ready 
to  yield  their  own  private  convictions  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  common  cause.  At  that  time,  too,  the  suc- 
cess of  our  arms  at  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill  and 
the  evacuation  of  Boston  had  inspired  every  one  with 
the  hope  of  a  speedy  and  successful  termination  of  the 
war.  Money  for  its  successful  prosecution  seemed 
abundant,  each  Colony  vying  with  its  neighbors  in 
sending  men,  fully  organized  and  equipped,  at  its  own 
expense  towards  New  York,  the  point  then  threatened 
with  invasion.  But,  alas!  in  1779  these  bright  and 
hopeful  days  had  long  since  gone  by,  and  a  gloom  black 
as  Erebus  had  settled  down  upon  the  hearts  of  the 
patriots,  eclipsing,  if  not  extinguishing,  all  their  joyful 
anticipations.  The  defeat  on  Long  Island,  the  advance 
of  the  British  army  across  New  Jersey,  the  subsequent 
occupation  of  Philadelphia,  although  the  dark  picture 
was  somewhat  relieved  by  the  brilliant  affairs  at  Tren- 
ton and  Princeton  and  by  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne's 
army,  showed  unmistakably  that,  as  in  all  wars,  so  espe- 
cially in  this,  if  success  was  in  the  end  to  be  reached, 
the  path  which  led  to  it  was  beset  by  many  obstacles 
which,  except  to  the  eye  of  faith,  appeared  insurmount- 
able. The  consequence  was  that  in  the  year  1779  to 
many  there  appeared  no  prospect  of  raising  more  men 
and  more  money,  and  that  meant,  of  course,  that  the 
end  was  near.  The  Continental  paper  money  had  by 
that  time  become  almost  valueless,  and  the  supply  of 
men  for  recruiting  the  army  seemed  exhausted.  It 


DICKINSON  RETURNS   TO    CONGRESS.         217 

was  the  period  of  the  war  when  men  of  stout  hearts  and 
iron  wills  were  most  needed  ;  when  men  like  Morris 
and  Rush  and  McKean  strove  to  revive  and  uphold  the 
drooping  spirits  of  their  countrymen  by  earnest  appeals 
to  their  patriotism.  These  men  turned  to  the  counsel 
and  example  of  John  Dickinson  to  guide  them  in  the 
difficult  path  upon  which  the  Revolution  had  entered. 
He  was  welcomed  back  to  Congress  most  warmly  by 
those  who  looked  to  him  for  aid  and  support  in  the 
arduous  work  which  they  had  undertaken.1 

Amidst  all  the  gloom  by  which  the  country  was  sur- 
rounded at  the  time  of  Dickinson's  return  to  Congress 
there  was  one  bright  spot,  and  that  was  the  alliance 
with  France,  concluded  in  1778  ;  yet  such  were  the  gen- 
eral despondency  and  impatience  that  many  could  not 

1  Mr.  Jay,  then  president  of  Congress,  wrote  him  the  following 
letter  of  congratulation  on  his  election.  It  will  soon  be  seen  how 
much  Mr.  Dickinson's  advice  was  needed  in  the  very  important 
affairs  then  before  Congress : 

John  Jay  to  the  Honorable  John  Dickinson,  Esq. 

PHILADELPHIA,  March  22d,  1779. 

DEAR  SIR, — Your  election  to  a  seat  in  Congress  is  an  event  for 
many  reasons  pleasing  to  me.  I  have  for  some  time  past  flattered 
myself  with  soon  having  the  pleasure  of  again  seeing  you  in  a  place 
which  you  formerly  filled  with  advantage  to  your  country  and  repu- 
tation to  yourself. 

Permit  me  to  hint  that  your  State  is  unrepresented,  and  that  were 
you  apprised  of  the  very  important  affairs  now  under  consideration, 
you  would  think  with  me  that  your  attendance  ought  not  to  be  longer 
delayed. 

I  am,  dear  sir,  with  great  respect, 

Your  most  obedient  and  h'ble  servant, 

JOHN  JAY. 
THE  HON'BLE  JOHN  DICKINSON,  ESQ. 


THE  FRENCH  ALLIANCE. 


see  its  vital  importance  in  bringing  about  the  result  ;  and 
to  others,  with  their  English  traditions,  nothing  seemed 
so  unnatural  as  an  alliance  with  a  power  both  French 
and  Catholic,  with  which  we  had  always  been  contend- 
ing upon  this  continent,  and  the  manners  and  religion 
of  whose  people  our  fathers  had  always  been  taught 
to  hold  in  abhorrence.  The  truth  is  that  in  the  war  of 
the  Revolution,  as  in  all  wars  waged  for  the  maintenance 
of  a  principle,  our  countrymen  were  to  learn  that  what 
was  needed  as  the  true  characteristic  of  the  popular 
judgment  of  a  war  which  had  been  entered  upon  with 
an  unreasoning  enthusiasm  ought  to  be  not  so  much 
"  hopefulness  or  impatience  of  immediate  results  as  a 
stern  endurance,  —  that  king-quality  of  heroic  constancy, 
which,  rooted  deep  in  a  profound  conviction  of  the  jus- 
tice of  the  cause,  supports  a  lofty  public  spirit  equally 
well  in  the  midst  of  temporary  disaster  and  in  the  hour 
of  assured  triumph." 

When  Dickinson  took  his  seat  in  Congress  in  the 
spring  of  1779,  ne  f°und  not  only  a  wonderful  change 
in  the  condition  of  the  country,  but  also  that  many  of 
the  ablest  men  whom  he  had  left  there  in  1776  had  left 
their  seats.  Not  only  were  the  times  more  difficult,  but 
the  men  who  were  to  confront  the  danger  were  far  less 
capable  in  every  way  than  their  predecessors.  From 
Virginia  alone,  Mason,  Wythe,  Jefferson,  Nicholas,  and 
Pendleton  were  gone  ;  John  Adams  and  Franklin  were 
Commissioners  abroad,  and  Jay  was  soon  to  become 
one.  No  means  had  been  taken  to  restore  the  cur- 
rency, ruined  by  an  unrestricted  emission  of  paper 
money,  except  frantic  and  senseless  appeals  to  the 
States  to  enforce  the  circulation  of  worthless  paper  as 


DEPRESSED    CONDITION  OF  AFFAIRS.        219 

money.  There  was  no  national  money  in  any  true 
sense,  because  Congress  had  no  power  of  taxation,  and 
the  States  refused  or  neglected  to  pay  the  quotas  for 
which  they  had  been  assessed  for  the  public  service. 
There  were  no  more  men  forthcoming  to  fill  up  the  de- 
pleted ranks  of  the  army,  because  each  State  retained 
in  its  own  service  the  men  it  saw  proper  to  enlist,  so 
that  at  that  time  there  were  thirteen  petty  armies,  and 
no  Continental  army  which  could  be  relied  upon  for 
effective  service,  because  its  numbers  could  not  be 
kept  up.  Men  who  were  most  familiar  with  the  con- 
dition of  public  affairs  were  sunk  in  despondency  ;  and 
even  the  serene  Washington  himself  did  not  hesitate 
to  say  in  his  private  correspondence  that  in  his  opinion 
"  America  was  on  the  brink  of  destruction,  and  that  her 
common  interests,  if  a  remedy  were  not  soon  to  be  ap- 
plied, would  moulder  and  sink  into  irretrievable  ruin." 
All  this  was  clear  before  men's  eyes,  but  to  those  who 
had  the  responsibility  of  governing  at  this  critical  time 
there  were  dangers  impending,  arising  from  a  well- 
founded  distrust  of  the  French  alliance,  from  which 
even  our  success  in  the  war  would  not  screen  us. 

Such  was,  in  brief,  the  situation  when  Mr.  Dickinson 
returned  to  Congress.  He  took  his  seat  on  the  23d  of 
May  ;  he  bore  with  him  the  ratification  of  the  Articles 
of  Confederation  by  the  State  of  Delaware,  which  had 
been  made  on  the  3d  of  the  preceding  February.  As 
Congress  was  then  in  a  condition  in  which  good  news 
and  favors,  however  small,  were  thankfully  received,  no 
doubt  this  act  of  the  representative  of  Delaware  helped 
to  make  him  in  that  Congress  persona  grata:  at  any  rate, 
Congress  was  not  long  in  turning  to  him  for  advice. 


220      DICKINSON'S  ADDRESS   TO    THE  STATES. 

He  was  appointed  chairman  of  a  committee  to  prepare 
an  address  to  the  States  on  the  perilous  condition  of 
the  finances.  On  the  26th  of  May  this  address  was 
presented,  and  adopted  by  Congress.  It  was  hoped 
that,  all  other  expedients  having  been  exhausted,  the 
voice  of  one  to  whom  they  had  been  accustomed  to 
listen  would  be  heeded.  This  was  the  fifth  and  last  of 
those  memorable  State  papers  issued  by  Congress  and 
prepared  by  Mr.  Dickinson,  and  it  is  interesting  to  us 
principally  from  the  enumeration  which  it  gives  of  the 
embarrassments  and  difficulties  by  which  Congress  was 
surrounded.  If  it  did  not  rouse  the  people  of  the  dif- 
ferent States  to  action  or  force  them  to  change  their 
policy,  it  had  upon  them  an  indirect  effect  not  without 
its  value.  It  drew  the  attention  of  the  people  to  the 
defects  of  the  central  government  under  which  they 
were  living,  and  showed  them  in  a  forcible  way  how 
utterly  unfitted  it  was  for  the  functions  which  a  govern- 
ment is  called  upon  to  exercise  in  time  of  war ;  and 
hence  it  tended,  with  other  things,  to  impress  upon 
them  the  absolute  need  of  a  better  plan  to  accomplish 
its  ends.  Thus,  out  of  the  countless  embarrassments 
which  surrounded  Congress  in  the  prosecution  of  its 
special  work  arose  an  intense  conviction  of  the  neces- 
sity of  a  more  perfect  union.  Rhetoric  and  argument 
might  in  themselves  be  of  little  avail,  but  they  at  least 
quickened  the  apprehension  of  those  who  were  search- 
ing heaven  and  earth  to  find  new  force  and  greater 
strength. 

In  February,  1779,  Spain  offered  her  friendly  medi- 
ation to  Congress,  with  the  view  of  securing  peace. 
This  was  probably  the  "  very  important  affair"  referred 


PROPOSED  ALLIANCE   WITH  SPAIN.  221 

to  in  Mr.  Jay's  letter  to  Mr.  Dickinson,  and  the  many 
questions  involved  in  the  proposal  demanded  the  ability 
and  experience  of  the  best  men  in  Congress  for  its  safe 
settlement.  We  had  long  sought  for  the  alliance  of 
Spain,  and  hoped  that  through  the  influence  of  our  ally, 
France,  she  would  give  us  more  active  aid  and  sym- 
pathy than  she  had  hitherto  done.  She  now  offered 
her  services  in  the  neutral  office  of  mediator.  But  her 
situation  was  peculiar.  Not  only  did  she  look  with  an 
apprehension  not  unnatural  upon  all  colonial  revolts, 
but  she  also  feared  England,  and  she  hoped  to  gain  for 
herself  as  the  price  of  her  mediation  certain  advantages 
of  a  territorial  kind  which  she  could  not  have  ventured 
to  ask  for  as  our  ally.  She  wished  to  be  confirmed  in 
the  exclusive  possession  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi 
and  to  retain  Florida,  so  as  to  maintain  her  influence 
in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  these  advantages  she  hoped 
to  gain  at  a  general  peace.  The  French  were  tired  of 
the  alliance,  as  it  entailed  an  enormous  drain  on  their 
treasury,  and  they  were  anxious  to  be  confirmed  in  their 
claims  to  the  fisheries  on  the  coast  of  Newfoundland, 
which  they  hoped  also  to  secure  at  a  general  peace  ; 
and  hence  all  the  influence  of  the  Bourbon  family  com- 
pact was  brought  to  bear,  so  that  Spain,  if  she  could 
not  be  induced  to  be  our  ally,  might  gain  her  ends  as 
well  as  those  of  France  by  acting  as  a  mediator. 

It  was  thought  wise,  at  the  instance  of  Gerard,  the 
French  minister,  to  listen,  at  least,  to  these  proposals 
of  Spain.  The  terms  which  we  would  agree  upon  as 
the  price  of  peace,  especially  our  position  in  regard  to 
the  fisheries  and  the  Mississippi,  were  warmly  discussed 
in  Congress  for  many  days.  The  Southern  members, 


222       DICKINSON'S  DRAFT  OF  INSTRUCTIONS. 

whose  territory  was  overrun  by  the  enemy,  favored 
peace,  and  insisted  that  the  dispute  about  the  fisheries 
was  too  small  a  matter  to  prove  an  obstacle  to  attain- 
ing it,  while  the  New  England  men  regarded  the  con- 
trol of  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  as  hardly  worth 
contending  for.  The  result  was,  as  appears  from  the 
secret  journals  of  Congress,  that  instructions  were  at 
last  agreed  upon  by  which  Mr.  Adams,  Dr.  Franklin, 
and  Mr.  Jay,  our  Commissioners  respectively  in  Eng- 
land, France,  and  Spain,  were  to  be  guided  in  the 
negotiation.  In  these  instructions,  prepared  by  Mr. 
Gouverneur  Morris  and  Mr.  Dickinson,  the  terms  on 
which  we  were  willing  to  accept  mediation  and  con- 
clude peace  are  distinctly  stated.  This  negotiation,  as 
is  well  known,  came  to  nothing.  The  most  interesting 
thing  about  it  at  this  time  is  the  tone  which  our  fathers, 
and  Mr.  Dickinson  as  representing  them,  maintained 
in  regard  to  concluding  peace  in  that  darkest  hour  of 
the  war.  We  have  the  draft  of  the  instructions  to  Mr. 
Adams,  our  Commissioner  in  England,  prepared  by 
Mr.  Dickinson,  which  was  substantially  approved  by 
Congress.  In  regard  to  the  recognition  of  our  inde- 
pendence,— the  form  as  well  as  the  substance, — and 
our  claims  to  the  fisheries  and  the  boundaries,  it  took 
the  same  ground  which  was  successfully  taken  by  our 
negotiators  in  1783  at  the  Treaty  of  Paris.1 

Mr.  Dickinson  resigned  his  seat  in  Congress  in  the 
autumn  of  1779,  and  returned  to  his  farm  in  Delaware. 
In  1781  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Ex- 
ecutive Council  of  that  State,  and  shortly  afterwards 
(unanimously)  its  president.  Both  of  these  offices 
1  See  Appendix  VI. 


HE   RETURNS   TO  PHILADELPHIA.  223 

were  literally  forced  upon  him ;  he  was  obliged  to 
serve  in  spite  of  his  protestations  and  refusals,  because 
in  those  times  of  trial  he  seems  to  have  been  regarded 
not  only  as  the  most  brilliant  of  all  the  galaxy  of  brilliant 
men  in  public  life,  but  also  as  the  most  trusted,  by  men 
of  all  parties  of  that  little  State. 

In  1782,  Mr.  Dickinson  determined  to  return  from 
Delaware  to  Philadelphia.  The  anti-Constitutionalists 
there,  who  by  that  time  had  gained  a  majority  in  the 
Assembly,  and  who  earnestly  desired  to  retain  their 
ascendency  and  to  keep  their  opponents,  whom  they 
still  regarded  as  revolutionists  of  a  very  bad  type,  out 
of  office,  struggled  hard  to  secure  a  majority  in  the 
Council  and  thus  choose  a  president  of  their  own  party. 
They  were  much  aided  by  the  anarchical  condition  of 
the  State  government  at  that  time.  Never,  indeed,  in 
its  history  had  the  affairs  of  Pennsylvania  been  brought 
to  such  desperate  straits  as  during  the  administration 
of  President  Reed,  which  was  now  closing.  This  was 
certainly  not  entirely  due  to  defects  either  in  the  policy 
or  in  the  methods  which  the  president  had  employed, 
but  in  a  great  degree  was  the  result  of  evils  which 
were  inherent  in  the  condition  of  affairs  at  that  time, 
and  which  grew  necessarily  out  of  a  state  of  war.  The 
era  of  the  Declaration  was  called  by  Paine  the  "times 
that  try  men's  souls;"  these  may  be  styled  the  "times 
which  try  men's  tempers  and  capacities."  The  diffi- 
culty was  substantially  a  financial  one.  The  regiments 
for  which  the  State  was  responsible  were  ill  fed,  ill 
clothed,  and  unpaid  during  the  last  two  years  of  the 
war,  and  were  at  length  driven  by  their  sufferings  into 
mutiny,  and  all  this  was  mainly  due  to  the  worthless- 


224  ANARCHY  IN  PENNSYLVANIA. 

ness  of  the  currency  in  which  they  were  paid,  consisting 
of  State  obligations  becoming  more  and  more  depre- 
ciated as  increasing  amounts  were  issued.  There  was 
a  false  theory  of  the  currency  prevalent  at  that  time 
which  pervaded  the  minds  of  vast  numbers  of  the 
people,  and  faith  in  this  theory  was  the  true  source 
of  all  our  woes.  It  was  generally  believed  that  the 
people  could  be  forced  to  take  anything  as  money 
at  its  nominal  value,  provided  that  the  penalties  for 
refusing  to  take  it  were  made  sufficiently  severe  and 
constantly  enforced.  The  persistent  attempt  to  carry 
out  such  a  system  during  the  administration  of  Presi- 
dent Reed  (who,  to  do  him  justice,  was  under  no  delu- 
sion as  to  the  true  cause  of  the  trouble)  led  to  a  state 
of  confusion  unparalleled  in  the  annals  of  the  conti- 
nent. Embargoes,  legal-tender  laws,  —  even  martial 
law, — were  tried  as  remedies,  but  they  could  not  stay 
the  rapid  decline  in  value  of  the  paper-money  currency. 
Wedded  to  a  false  theory,  those  who  suffered  turned 
with  violence  not  only  against  their  rulers,  whom  they 
regarded  as  the  authors  of  their  misfortunes,  but  also 
and  especially  against  those  who  were  supposed  to  have 
made  their  fortunes  at  the  price  of  the  public  distress, 
and  in  many  cases  these  were  pointed  out  as  fit  objects 
of  popular  vengeance.  The  refusal  to  receive  paper 
money  in  payment  of  debts  contracted  when  hard 
money  was  current  was  looked  upon  as  a  species  of 
petit  treason;  while  he  who  would  not  sell  his  goods,  to 
be  paid  for  in  such  worthless  paper,  was  spoken  of  as 
an  ill-disguised  enemy  of  the  Revolution.  This  short 
method  of  confiscating  the  property  of  the  creditor 
class  of  the  community  not  only  changed  the  status  of 


REVOLTS,   CIVIL  AND  MILITARY.  225 

very  many  of  those  who  were  utterly  helpless  to  resist, 
but  also  destroyed  those  endowments  of  charitable 
institutions,  which  by  the  wish  of  the  donors  had  been 
invested  in  mortgages,  the  debtors  taking  advantage  of 
the  depreciated  currency,  especially  in  the  case  of  the 
College  of  Philadelphia,  to  cancel  their  obligations. 
Many  looked  upon  their  distress  as  the  result  of  a 
cunningly-devised  scheme  on  the  part  of  the  Tories 
to  disgust  and  weary  the  patriots  with  the  war.  They 
could  not  understand  how  there  should  be  such  a 
paralysis  of  the  functions  of  industrial  life,  while  the 
harvests  of  Pennsylvania  continued  abundant  and  when 
Lord  Cornwallis's  army  had  surrendered. 

To  the  public  and  private  distress,  caused  by  the 
scarcity  of  food  and  by  the  nominally  high  price  it 
commanded,  were  to  be  attributed  the  disorders  and 
disturbances  of  the  public  peace  which  marked  the 
administration  of  President  Reed.  The  revolt  against 
the  so-called  monopolizers  of  goods, — commonly  called 
the  "Fort  Wilson  Riot," — the  proclamation  of  martial 
law,  the  perpetual  embarrassments  which  attended  the 
recruiting  of  the  army,  and  the  meeting  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania line  in  1781  at  Princeton,  where  the  soldiers 
positively  refused  to  serve  any  longer  a  State  which 
had  so  often  deluded  them  by  false  promises, — these 
troubles,  combined  with  the  high  price  of  all  the  neces- 
saries of  life,  forced  upon  many  men  the  belief  that  a 
hope  of  remedy  lay  only  in  the  revision  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  1776.  To  its  numerous  patent  defects,  and 
not  to  the  violation  of  natural  laws,  many  were  disposed 
to  ascribe  the  evils  from  which  they  suffered.  Parties 
were  formed  in  the  State  called  the  Constitutional  and 

15 


226      PROPOSED  REVISION  OF  CONSTITUTION. 

the  Republican,  the  latter  urging  a  revision  of  the  Con- 
stitution as  the  panacea  for  all  ills.  In  November,  1778, 
the  Assembly,  tired  out  apparently  with  the  dispute,  and 
unable  to  suggest  any  other  remedy  for  pressing  evils, 
had  agreed  upon  a  plan  for  revision  ;  but  in  the  suc- 
ceeding February,  from  motives  which  it  is  not  now  easy 
to  explain,  they  reversed  their  vote  almost  unanimously. 
Probably  it  may  have  been  felt  that  it  was  as  dangerous 
to  change  the  organic  law  at  that  time  as  it  had  been 
in  1776;  and  no  further  effort  was  made  by  the  legis- 
lature to  revise  the  Constitution  until  long  after  the 
war  had  terminated.  Practical  unanimity  on  this  point, 
however,  did  not  calm  the  violence  of  party  spirit :  each 
was  most  bitter  in  its  denunciations  of  the  other,  al- 
though neither  had  any  scheme  to  propose  which  would 
now  be  recognized  as  effective  to  cure  the  evil  from 
which  all  were  suffering.  Those  who  told  the  truth,  and 
who  found  the  cause  of  the  trouble  in  the  measures 
which  the  masses  of  the  populace  on  both  sides  advo- 
cated, were  the  enlightened  men  of  both  parties,  who 
were  not  listened  to  by  those  who  controlled  the  votes. 
Such  is  a  sketch  of  the  demoralized  condition  of  the 
State  when  President  Reed  gave  up  his  office.  He  had 
tried  in  vain  to  make  his  fellow-citizens  understand  that 
revolutions  cannot  be  long  kept  up  upon  an  over- 
strained credit.  The  main  question  before  the  new 
administration  was  how  to  extricate  the  State  from  the 
"  slough  of  despond"  into  which  this  popular  faith  in 
paper  money  had  plunged  it.  Mr.  Dickinson  had  been 
elected  in  1782  a  member  of  the  Council  from  the 
County  of  Philadelphia,  and  in  November  he  was  chosen 
by  the  legislature  president  of  the  Council  by  a  vote 


DICKINSON  CHOSEN  PRESIDENT.  227 

of  forty-one  to  thirty-two  given  to  General  Potter,  a 
distinguished  Revolutionary  officer.1 

1  His  return  to  Philadelphia,  and  his  election,  first  as  a  member  of 
the  Council,  and  afterwards  as  its  president,  seem  to  have  been  the 
occasion  of  much  rejoicing  among  his  friends.  The  following  letters 
bear  strong  testimony  to  his  popularity  at  the  time : 

Dr.  Rush  to  John  Dickinson. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND, — I  expected  from  your  note  that  you  would 
have  left  town  yesterday.  The  day  is  at  last  come  that  will  give  free- 
dom and  happiness  to  Pennsylvania.  The  country  will  vote  nearly 
as  one  man  in  your  favor.  Take  care  of  your  health  in  your  excur- 
sion to  Delaware.  The  wishes,  the  hopes,  the  affections  of  every 
good  man  in  our  State  now  centre  in  you. 
Yours — yours — yours, 

BENJ.  RUSH. 

Tuesday  morning,  Octob.  loth,  1782. 

From  the  Officers  of  the  Continental  Army. 

To  his  Excellency  John  Dickinson,  Esquire,  President  of  the  Su- 
preme Executive  Council  of  Pennsylvania,  <5rv.  &c. 

We,  the  subscribers,  officers  of  the  troops  of  Pennsylvania  in  the 
Continental  army,  beg  leave  to  present  our  congratulations  on  your 
appointment  to  the  high  office  you  now  fill. 

Deeply  interested  as  we  are  in  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  our 
common  country,  to  procure  which  we  have  given  our  united  exer- 
tions under  very  great  difficulties,  we  consider  your  appointment  as 
the  returning  dawn  of  that  temper  and  good  sense  which  long  dis- 
tinguished Pennsylvania,  and  augur  to  ourselves  and  the  community 
great  advantages  from  a  person  of  such  known  abilities  and  integrity, 
and  who  has  had  so  distinguished  a  part  in  bringing  about  the  present 
revolution,  being  placed  at  the  head  of  the  government. 

That  your  administration  may  be  attended  with  lasting  blessings  to 
the  people  over  whom  you  preside,  which  can  alone  render  it  satisfac- 
tory to  your  enlarged  mind,  is  the  sincere  wish  of, 

Sir,  Y'r  Excell'y's  very  h'mble  serv'ts, 

OFFICERS  OF  THE  CONTINENTAL  ARMY. 

October,  1782. 


228  POWER    OF  THE  PRESIDENT. 

Mr.  Dickinson  was,  of  course,  an  anti-Constitution- 
alist, or  Republican,  as  the  party  in  favor  of  revision 
was  then  called,  and  he  was  at  the  outset  supported  by 
a  majority  of  the  members  both  of  the  Council  and  of 
the  Assembly.  His  administration  opened  with  a  favor- 
able omen, — the  sudden  and  total  discredit  of  the  paper 
money  of  the  State  and  the  restoration  of  the  currency 
to  the  specie  basis.  "  It  was  effected,"  says  President 
Reed,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Searle  written  in  the  spring  of 
1781,  "  really  and  truly  by  the  people  themselves  gradu- 
ally depreciating  the  money  until  the  exchange  rose  to 
two  hundred  and  fifty  and  three  hundred  for  one  (hard, 
or  in  specie).  Ostensibly,  it. was  occasioned  by  a  decree 
of  the  Supreme  Executive  Council  that  it  should  be 
received  in  payments  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  to  one.  At  once,  as  if  by  that  force  which 
in  days  of  ignorance  would  be  ascribed  to  enchantment, 
all  dealings  in  paper  ceased ;  necessity  forced  out  gold 
and  silver,  a  fortunate  trade  opened  at  the  same  time 
to  the  Havannah  for  flour,  all  restrictions  were  taken 
off,  and  the  Mexican  dollars  flowed  in  by  thousands/' 

The  president  of  the  Supreme  Executive  Council  of 
Pennsylvania  was  a  man  of  more  limited  power  in  or- 
dinary times  than  his  successors,  the  governors  of  that 
State.  He  was  chosen  by  the  Council,  whose  members 
were  elected  from  certain  districts  of  the  State,  and  he 
exercised  the  executive  power  jointly  with  this  body. 
The  legislative  power  was  vested  absolutely  in  one 
body,  in  accordance  with  a  favorite  theory  of  Dr. 
Franklin,  which,  by  the  way,  he  strove  hard  to  intro- 
duce into  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  There 
was  another  part  of  the  government  machinery,  a  body 


MEN  OF  ABILITY  SELECTED.  229 

of  men  called  the  Council  of  Censors,  whose  business 
it  was  to  meet  every  seven  years  and  to  examine 
whether  during  that  period  the  laws  had  been  duly 
enforced.  The  president  held  his  office  for  one  year, 
but  it  was  customary,  when  his  administration  had  been 
satisfactory  to  his  party,  to  re-elect  him  until  he  had 
served  three  years,  after  which  he  was  ineligible.  Thus 
Mr.  Reed,  Mr.  Dickinson,  and  Dr.  Franklin  each  held 
the  office  for  three  years.  In  ordinary  times  the  posi- 
tion was  not  one  of  any  great  or  controlling  influence, 
but  in  war  time,  when  the  State  authorities  were  neces- 
sarily in  constant  correspondence,  and  expected  to  be  in 
constant  co-operation,  with  the  Federal  government  in 
regard  to  the  raising  of  men  for  recruiting  the  army  and 
of  money  for  the  needs  of  the  government,  the  office, 
in  the  midst  of  unparalleled  public  distress  and  embar- 
rassment, was  one  which  required  men  of  extraordinary 
capacity  and  energy  to  fill  it  with  any  degree  of  success. 
In  1780,  as  we  have  seen,  it  had  been  necessary  to  pro- 
claim martial  law, — that  is,  the  suspension  of  all  law 
save  the  will  of  the  president  and  Council, — in  order  to 
preserve  the  State  from  falling  into  absolute  anarchy. 
Although  the  war  was  drawing  to  a  close  when  Mr. 
Dickinson  entered  upon  his  office,  and  he  was  spared 
the  constant  struggle  which  his  predecessor  had  under- 
gone in  his  efforts  to  find  money  in  an  empty  treasury 
and  soldiers  in  an  exhausted  and  demoralized  populace, 
still  he  met  with  embarrassments  and  difficulties  pecu- 
liar to  the  time,  which  it  required  the  most  enlarged 
capacity  and  statesmanlike  ability  to  surmount. 

The  people  of  Pennsylvania  of  all  parties,  with  an 
instinctive  sense  that  the  Constitution  of  1776  was,  at 


23°        DICKINSON  ATTACKED  BY  VALERIUS. 

its  best,  only  an  untried  experiment  in  government, 
adopted,  as  we  have  said,  out  of  deference  to  the  great 
name  of  Franklin,  had  placed  at  the  head  of  the  gov- 
ernment those  whom  they  believed  to  be  the  ablest  and 
most  experienced  public  men  in  the  State,  and  from 
them  something  worthy  of  their  great  reputation  was 
naturally  expected.  This  may  in  a  certain  degree  ex- 
plain the  fact  that  no  three  governors  of  Pennsylvania 
since  the  Constitution  of  1776  was  abolished  can  com- 
pare, in  intelligence,  patriotic  service,  and  general  states- 
manlike ability,  with  Reed,  Dickinson,  and  Franklin, 
however  great  the  shortcomings  of  some  of  them  may 
have  been.  It  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that  Dickinson 
had  been  a  strong  opponent  of  the  Constitution  of 
1776,  or,  rather,  of  the  manner  in  which  it  had  been 
set  in  operation,  and  that  he  had  gone  so  far,  in  Novem- 
ber of  that  year,  as  to  decline  acting  as  a  member  of  the 
legislature  elected  under  its  supposed  authority.  But 
he  had  been  convinced  by  the  events  of  the  past  six 
years  that  the  majority  of  the  people  of  the  State  were 
at  least  content  to  live  under  it  quietly  until  more  pro- 
pitious times  should  come  for  revising  it.  In  the  mean 
time  he  took  sincerely  the  oath  to  support  it  while  he 
exercised  the  powers  it  conferred  upon  him  as  the 
chief  of  the  Executive  Council. 

Mr.  Dickinson  was  not  permitted  to  assume  office 
until  after  he  had  been  exposed  to  a  most  violent  and 
scurrilous  attack  in  the  newspapers  by  an  anonymous 
writer  who  signed  himself  Valerius.  The  attack  began 
by  a  letter  in  the  Freeman's  Journal  of  the  3Oth  Octo- 
ber, 1782,  and  was  followed  up,  after  Mr.  Dickinson's 
election  as  president,  by  several  other  letters  from  the 


VIGOR    OF  THE  ASSAULT.  231 

same  source,  in  which  the  bitterness  and  malignity  of 
the  writer  were  more  conspicuous,  if  possible,  than  in 
the  first.  Mr.  Dickinson,  with  that  dignity  of  charac- 
ter which  he  maintained  in  all  his  political  controver- 
sies, and  with  that  consciousness  of  rectitude  of  inten- 
tion which  seems  to  have  sustained  him  in  all  his  trials, 
took  no  notice  of  this  perfidious  assault  upon  his  acts 
and  motives  until  after  his  election.  He  was,  doubtless, 
unwilling  that  he  should  owe  his  office  to  any  personal 
denial  of  the  charges  which  were  made  against  him. 
He  neither  said  nor  wrote  anything  in  the  way  of  ex- 
planation until  it  was  ascertained  that  these  calumnies 
had  had  no  influence  upon  his  friends,  who,  for  their 
sake,  not  his,  were  urging  his  election.  So  far  as  can 
be  known,  the  stories  of  Valerius  concerning  Dickin- 
son's want  of  patriotism,  his  unscrupulous  ambition, 
his  cowardice,  and  his  desertion  of  duty  in  the  hour  of 
danger,  did  not  take  from  him  a  single  supporter.  He 
waited  quietly  until  confidence  in  his  personal  character 
had  secured  his  election,  and  when  the  bitterness  of  his 
adversary  had  exhausted  itself,  so  far  as  it  could  ex- 
haust itself  in  the  newspapers,  he  published  his  vindi- 
cation, which,  to  any  man  who  has  studied  his  career 
and  watched  carefully  the  steps  of  his  progress,  seems 
complete  and  satisfactory.  Who  Valerius  was  has  never 
been  distinctly  known,  and  his  identity  has  been,  per- 
haps, as  difficult  to  fix  certainly  as  that  of  the  author 
of  the  letters  of  Junius.  Like  the  attacks  of  that  famous 
libeller,  the  letters  of  Valerius  are  more  remarkable  for 
boldness  of  invective  and  unscrupulous  ascription  of 
bad  motives  than  for  any  influence  or  impression  which 
they  made  upon  the  public  mind  at  the  period  when 


232          POLITICAL   LIBELS  THEN  COMMON. 

they  were  written.  As  these  letters  are  the  source 
from  which  posterity  has  drawn  the  materials  for  the 
libels  which  have  done  so  much  to  misjudge  and  injure, 
in  the  eyes  of  posterity,  the  man  who  had  the  moral 
courage  to  refuse  to  vote  for  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence because  he  thought  it  inopportune,  it  will  be 
necessary  hereafter  to  refer  to  the  explanation  which 
Mr.  Dickinson  thought  proper  to  give  of  the  circum- 
stances upon  which  they  were  founded.  Meantime,  the 
fact  that  they  were  believed  at  the  time  by  all  his  friends 
to  be  false  and  malicious,  and  that  Mr.  Dickinson,  after 
having  served  one  year  as  president,  was  unanimously 
re-elected  to  that  office  on  two  successive  occasions, 
would  seem  to  show  that  the  impression  made  by  them 
was  not  very  permanent.1 

Perhaps  this  is  the  place  where  we  may  best  consider 
the  vast  part  played  by  anonymous  libels  upon  promi- 
nent men  during  the  Revolution,  and,  indeed,  during 
the  remaining  years  of  the  eighteenth  century.  They 
were  all  liable  to  assaults  of  these  nameless  calumni- 
ators. It  will  be  remembered  that  General  Washington 
himself,  when  the  Conway  Cabal  was  about  maturing  its 
treasonable  designs,  received  from  Governor  Henry  of 
Virginia  an  anonymous  letter  which  had  been  sent  him, 
and  which  afterwards  was  proved  to  have  been  written 
by  one  of  the  most  eminent  men  in  the  country,  sug- 
gesting that  the  General-in-Chief  was  unfit  for  his 
place,  and  urging  the  necessity  of  replacing  him.  It 
was  the  day  of  coarse  abuse  and  cowardly  attack :  all 
that  the  libeller  needed  was  a  ready  pen  and  the  ca- 
pacity to  write  pure,  nervous,  direct  Saxon  English,  like 
1  See  Appendices  V.  and  VII. 


VIRULENCE    OF  THE   NEWSPAPERS.  233 

Paine  and  Cobbett,  and  his  writings  might  convey  the 
vilest  insinuations  against  men  whom  he  dared  not 
attack  except  with  visor  down.  Nothing  was  so  com- 
mon at  that  time  as  to  impute  wrong  and  unpatriotic 
motives  to  one's  opponents,  as,  indeed,  has  always  been 
a  favorite  device  in  times  of  revolution.  The  private 
character  of  men  in  official  station  was  as  open  to 
assault  as  their  public  acts.  Let  a  man  be  a  ready 
writer,  and,  although  his  words,  read  by  his  contempo- 
raries, would  be  looked  upon  with  an  incredulous  smile  by 
those  who  had  occasion  to  know  their  falsity,  yet  these 
words  remain  in  history,  with  the  venom  they  contain 
preserved  in  the  vehicle  which  has  brought  them  down 
to  us,  without  the  antidote  which  rendered  them  harm- 
less when  they  first  appeared.  The  wonder  is,  not  that 
Dickinson  was  attacked  by  Valerius,  but  that,  promi- 
nent as  he  was,  and  peculiar  as  was  his  position,  he 
was  not  made  more  frequently  the  target  for  anony- 
mous libellers.  When  Washington  himself  was  called 
by  a  writer  on  Jay's  treaty,  among  other  hard  names, 
"a  fool  by  nature,  exhibiting  all  the  ostentation  of  an 
Eastern  bashaw ;"  when  we  recall  the  libels  of  Thomas 
Paine  and  Peter  Porcupine;  when  Dr.  Rush  asserted 
that  some  people  were  advised  not  to  take  his  remedies 
for  yellow  fever  because  he  had  signed  the  Declaration 
of  Independence, — others  might  complain,  but  they 
could  not  wonder  if  they  received  similar  treatment. 
This  virulent  abuse  of  men  whom  we  now  regard  truly 
as  the  best  of  their  time  was  then  the  disgraceful  charac- 
teristic of  the  newspapers  on  both  sides.  Such  assaults 
now  seem  the  most  senseless  of  clamors.  When  we 
read  these  libels  now,  in  the  hope  of  finding  in  them 


234      MORE  BITTER   COMMONLY  THAN  NOW. 

the  grain  of  truth  which  some  of  them  contain  amidst 
a  bushel  of  chaff,  our  curiosity  is  often  repelled  by  the 
vileness  of  the  story  through  which  we  have  to  wade  to 
accomplish  our  purpose. 

No  one,  too,  can  read  these  libels  without  being 
convinced  of  the  falseness  of  the  opinion  which  holds 
that  our  forefathers,  in  their  political  controversies,  were 
more  decent,  truth-loving,  and  respectful  in  their  man- 
ners towards  their  opponents,  and  less  given  to  im- 
puting bad  motives  to  their  political  adversaries,  than 
the  men  of  our  own  time.  Many  of  the  subjects  which 
led  to  the  acrimonious  disputes  of  the  last  century  were 
lacking  in  those  features  of  importance  which  would 
justify  such  coarseness,  to  say  nothing  of  the  mode  of 
showing  it,  among  public  men  at  the  present  day.  To 
speak  now  only  of  questions  the  discussion  of  which 
was  conducted  with  the  greatest  heat  after  the  Revolu- 
tion was  closed,  it  is  not,  perhaps,  to  be  wondered  at 
that  men  became  excited  over  the  interpretation  of  the 
Constitution  or  the  wisdom  of  Jay's  treaty  and  other 
measures  of  equal  importance  ;  but  who  would  not  be 
tempted  now  to  smile,  could  he  forget  how  many  true 
hearts  were  wounded,  by  assertions,  confidently  made, 
that  a  large  portion  of  the  best  men  in  the  country  were 
monarchists  because  they  were  Federalists,  or  that  the 
Democrats  were  Jacobins  and  infidels  because  they 
looked  with  sympathy  upon  the  French  Revolution ; 
that  the  funding  of  the  public  debt  was  proposed  as 
a  means  of  establishing  an  aristocracy  ;  that  General 
Washington's  levees,  and  his  delivering  his  speech  in 
person  instead  of  sending  a  message  to  Congress,  were 
designed  to  familiarize  the  people  with  monarchical 


ABSURDITY  OF  THE    CHARGES.  235 

forms  ;  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was 
designed  for  a  monarchy  that  was  to  be  established  ; 
that  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati  was  either  the  out- 
growth or  the  parent  of  a  conspiracy  to  establish 
a  monarchical  government,  with  all  its  forms,  here? 
Yet  these  chimerical — we  are  almost  tempted  to  call 
them  silly — disputes,  which  we  have  so  happily  out- 
grown, formed  in  the  days  of  our  forefathers  the  great 
topics  of  political  controversy.  From  the  wretched  im- 
putations which  these  political  discussions  occasioned, 
few  men  in  public  life  at  that  time,  no  matter  how 
exalted  their  station  or  how  devoted  their  services  to 
the  country,  wholly  escaped.  Such  methods  of  political 
warfare  we  should  scorn  to  engage  in  now,  low  as  the 
ethical  tone  is;  nor  would  public  sentiment,  degenerate 
as  we  are  said  to  be  as  compared  with  our  fathers, 
suffer  it  to  be  done. 

Scurrilous  political  libels,  or,  rather,  libels  for  political 
purposes,  had  become  so  common  during  a  considerable 
portion  of  Dickinson's  career  that  they  naturally  did  not 
produce  an  effect  commensurate  with  the  efforts  which 
were  made  to  inflict  upon  him  their  venomous  sting. 
In  Mr.  Dickinson's  case,  partly  from  the  bitter  malignity 
of  the  attack,  partly  from  the  extraordinary  vigor  with 
which  the  letters  of  Valerius  were  written,  partly  from 
the  gross  injustice  which  every  one  of  ordinary  intelli- 
gence must  have  seen  was  done  to  the  motives  of  all 
Mr.  Dickinson's  acts,  and  partly,  and,  we  may  hope, 
principally,  from  the  complete  vindication  of  his  politi- 
cal conduct  which  Mr.  Dickinson  saw  proper  to  pub- 
lish, these  productions  of  Valerius  have  outlived  the  ob- 
livion which  has  completely  covered  the  countless  other 


236  CHARGES  MADE  BY  VALERIUS. 

political  libels  of  which  that  age  was  so  prolific.  The 
principal  interest  now  attaching  to  the  letters  of  Valerius 
and  the  vindication  of  Mr.  Dickinson  which  they  called 
forth  is  the  picture  which  they  furnish  us  of  Mr.  Dick- 
inson's career  during  the  Revolutionary  era  as  viewed 
by  his  political  adversaries.  In  this  respect  they  are 
important  contributions  to  the  history  of  the  times. 

The  charges  against  Dickinson  by  Valerius  are 
grouped,  in  his  "  Vindication,"  under  four  heads:  i, 
his  general  opposition  to  the  independence  of  the  coun- 
try ;  2,  his  desertion  of  the  battalion  of  militia  under 
his  command  in  December,  1776,  when  an  attack  on 
Philadelphia  was  expected  ;  3,  his  persistent  opposition 
to  the  State  Constitution  of  1776;  4,  the  advice  given 
by  him  to  his  brother  not  to  receive  Continental  paper 
money  in  payment  of  debts  due  him.  A  few  sentences 
from  the  first  letter  of  Valerius  will  give  an  idea  of  his 
style  and  animus  : 

"  His  worst  enemies  cannot  deny  that  he  has  a  mind 
well  improved  by  education,  reading,  a  good  profes- 
sional knowledge  of  the  law,  a  slow  but  elegant  pen, 
and  the  manners  of  a  gentleman.  He  possesses  a 
boundless  ambition,  savoring  too  much  of  personal 
gratification,  no  small  degree  of  dissimulation,  passions 
naturally  strong  and  under  unequal  command.  He  was 
the  early  and  persevering  enemy  of  the  independence 
of  America.  He  has  neither  the  firmness  nor  the  de- 
cision of  mind  for  trying  occasions,  and  after  sounding 
the  trumpet  to  others  and  engaging  himself  in  civil 
and  military  offices  he  shrank  from  his  duty  and  aban- 
doned the  cause  at  a  time  when  his  distressed  country 
required  his  services  the  most.  This  example  was  most 


IMPUTATION  OF  COWARDICE.  ^37 

dangerous.  In  his  despondency  he  endeavored  to  cut 
asunder  the  great  sinew  of  our  defence,  the  Continental 
money,  and  upon  discovery  he  retired  in  disgrace  and 
despair  to  a  corner  of  the  State  he  lately  governed. 
He  remained  there  in  obscurity  until  the  ebb  of  adver- 
sity was  spent  and  the  tide  of  American  fortune  de- 
cisively turned  by  the  capture  of  Burgoyne  and  the 
French  alliance,"  etc. 

Valerius  quotes  many  passages  from  the  speeches  and 
writings  of  Mr.  Dickinson  in  order  to  show  the  cautious 
and  conservative  position  maintained  by  him  from  the 
beginning  of  the  controversy.  He  professes  to  be  un- 
able to  understand  what  was  certainly  clear  to  every 
one  else, — that  a  man  who  could  hesitate  so  long  to 
break  off  all  connection  with  Great  Britain  could  be 
willing  at  any  time  or  under  any  possible  provocation 
to  do  so.  This  peculiar  line  of  attack  against  Mr.  Dick- 
inson's political  course  we  have  had  occasion  to  criticise, 
and,  whatever  may  be  said  of  its  wisdom  as  a  method 
of  gaining  popularity,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  its  en- 
tire consistency.  The  main  difference  between  him  and 
those  who  advocated  independence  in  1776  was  simply 
this :  that  he  had  more  faith  in  the  sincerity  and  intelli- 
gence of  the  British  government,  and  was  more  con- 
vinced of  the  value  of  the  English  connection  to  this 
country,  than  his  opponents.  But  the  sting  of  the 
attack  of  Valerius  was  not  so  much  in  the  charges  of 
unpatriotic  conduct  themselves,  which  every  one  in  Mr. 
Dickinson's  own  home,  at  least,  knew  to  be  not  only 
false  but  ridiculous,  as  in  the  tone  of  personal  insult  he 
assumed  in  belittling  the  motives  of  his  conduct,  and 
especially  in  attributing  that  conduct  to  a  timid,  vacil- 


238         NATURE    OF  DICKINSON'S   COURAGE. 


lating,  and  cowardly  spirit.  It  is  from  the  brilliant  and 
reckless  invective  of  Valerius,  as  we  have  said,  that  pos- 
terity has  derived  its  impressions  of  Dickinson,  and  it 
is  very  clear  that  when  Mr.  Bancroft  and  others  wished 
to  attack  the  Pennsylvania  Farmer,  they  found  in  these 
shameless  libels  the  arsenal  from  which  their  weapons 
were  drawn.  The  charge  of  a  want  of  personal  cour- 
age is  to  a  man  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  instincts  and  asso- 
ciations the  grossest  form  of  personal  insult.  It  is  a 
charge  easily  made,  and  it  is  seldom  that  in  such  cases 
any  eye  short  of  that  of  omniscience  sees  clearly,  be- 
cause the  medium  is  clouded.  As  far  as  we  can  judge, 
Dickinson  certainly  manifested  during  his  career  the 
highest  form  of  courage  of  which  a  man  in  public  life 
is  capable, — that  of  fearlessly  maintaining  his  opinions 
in  the  face  of  popular  clamor.  As  we  have  already 
said,  his  acts  in  the  crisis  of  the  Revolution,  however 
unwise  they  may  have  been,  have  been  properly  re- 
garded by  one  distinguished  historian  as  exhibiting  a 
greater  degree  of  moral  courage  than  that  of  any  other 
of  the  great  actors  in  those  days  of  trial.  Unless  we 
are  to  believe  that  there  is  no  courage  in  opposing  the 
fury  of  the  mob  in  times  of  great  excitement, — and 
this  has  often  proved  the  highest  form  of  courage, — 
we  cannot  believe  the  innuendoes  of  Valerius  nor  the 
absurd  charges  of  timidity  and  vacillation  which  have 
been  founded  upon  them  in  our  own  times. 

There  were  certain  peculiarities  of  Mr.  Dickinson's 
character  and  position  which  gave  to  his  political  oppo- 
nents, who  spoke  even  of  General  Washington  as  a 
"misplaced  Fabius,"  an  opportunity  of  charging  him 
with  a  want  of  aggressiveness  and  self-assertion,  these 


IN  WHAT  WAY  A  MAN  OF  PEACE.  239 

being  the  qualities  which,  to  their  minds,  constituted  the 
truly  brave  man. 

Mr.  Dickinson  by  birth  and  descent  was  a  Quaker, 
and  although  he  was  early  forced  to  adopt  the  opinion 
that  defensive  war,  at  least,  was  permissible,  he  advo- 
cated and  engaged  in  it  as  if  he  were  performing  a 
solemn  duty  from  which  there  was  no  escape.  He  had 
nothing  of  the  swaggering  military  adventurer  or  hero 
about  him.  He  was,  in  the  finest  and  best  sense,  a 
man  of  peace,  never  invading  the  rights  of  others,  and 
never  suffering  his  own  to  be  trodden  upon,  yet  firmly 
believing,  and  acting  all  the  time  upon  the  belief,  that 
"  the  pen  was  mightier  than  the  sword."  Wherever  we 
meet  him,  from  his  earliest  manhood,  we  find  him  always 
mild  and  amiable,  disposed  to  be  conciliatory,  free  from 
anything  that  looks  like  a  quarrelsome  disposition.  He 
was  beloved  even  by  many  of  his  political  opponents, — 
men  such  as  McKean  and  Rush, — and  he  was  always 
ready  to  exert  himself  in  behalf  of  those  who  sought 
his  aid  and  influence.  No  one  ever  doubted  his  posi- 
tion or  was  misled  as  to  his  opinions.  He  was  perfectly 
frank  and  sincere,  even  when  the  avowal  of  his  views 
might  have  involved  him  in  great  personal  danger ;  and 
it  is  to  the  possession  of  these  qualities  of  openness  and 
sincerity,  as  much  as  to  his  unquestioned  ability,  that  he 
owed  many  of  the  public  positions  which  he  filled.  The 
record  of  his  whole  life  shows  that,  in  the  opinion  of  his 
contemporaries, — friends  as  well  as  political  enemies, — 
the  peculiar  qualities  ascribed  to  him  by  Valerius  are 
precisely  those  which  were  most  conspicuous  by  their 
absence. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  repeat  here  what  will  be  found 


240  SUMMARY  OF  HIS  DEFENCE. 

fully  stated  in  the  Vindication  by  way  of  refutation  of 
these  calumnious  charges.  As  to  the  extraordinary 
statement  that  Colonel  Dickinson  abandoned  his  bat- 
talion in  the  hour  of  danger,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
remember  that  he  was  practically  superseded  in  its 
command  by  the  election,  on  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  of 
General  Roberdeau  as  brigadier-general  by  the  sol- 
diers, which  election  was  confirmed  by  the  Convention 
in  September.  As  Colonel  Dickinson  was  then  in  the 
midst  of  a  campaign,  and  commanded  not  only  his  own 
regiment,  but,  as  senior  colonel,  the  brigade  of  Phila- 
delphia troops,  to  the  satisfaction  of  General  Mercer,  he 
regarded  the  appointment  of  General  Roberdeau  and 
his  confirmation  by  the  Convention  as  what  it  was  no 
doubt  intended  to  be, — a  method  of  getting  rid  of  him. 
As  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  action  of  the  government 
de  facto  (that  of  the  Convention),  he  felt  called  upon, 
by  every  consideration  founded  upon  military  honor 
and  usage,  to  resign  his  commission.  Besides,  it  must 
be  said  that  the  spirit  of  disaffection  prevailed  among 
his  troops.  His  soldiers  were  patriotic  "  home  guards," 
rather  than  soldiers  moulded  into  trustworthiness  and 
effectiveness  by  long  military  discipline.  Many  de- 
serted ;  and  the  truth  is  that  his  battalion  abandoned 
him,  and  not  he  the  battalion.  At  last  General  Mercer, 
who,  like  all  veterans,  believed  that  there  could  be  no 
efficiency  without  strict  discipline,  in  disgust  disbanded 
them,  ordering  those  who  still  remained  to  repair  to 
the  "  flying  camp."1 

1  The  following  is  a  copy  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  commission  as  colonel. 
It  will  be  observed  that  it  is  issued  by  the  Assembly,  and  that  he  is  to 
be  responsible  to  the  Assembly  and  the  Committee  of  Safety  only : 


HIS  RESPONSIBILITY  TO   THE  ASSEMBLY.      241 

His  hostility  to  the  Constitution  of  1776  was  due 
rather  to  the  mode  by  which  it  had  been  imposed  upon 
the  people  of  the  State.  In  this  respect  his  position 
was  exactly  similar  to  that  of  some  of  the  best  men  in 
the  State,  many  of  whom  bitterly  regretted  that  they 
had  approved  the  call  for  the  Convention.  They  were 
numerous  enough  to  form  a  majority  of  the  Council 
and  the  Assembly  when  he  took  office  under  it,  and  he 
thought,  very  properly,  that  a  submission  to  six  years' 
government  under  it  condoned,  for  practical  purposes, 
the  vices  of  its  origin.  As  to  the  accusation  that  he 

"Pennsylvania,  ss. 

[L.  s.]  "!N  ASSEMBLY. 

"May  23rd,  1775. 

"  To  John  Dickinson,  JE squire. 

"We,  reposing  especial  trust  and  confidence  in  your  patriotism, 
valor,  conduct,  and  fidelity,  do,  by  these  presents,  constitute  and 
appoint  you  to  be  Colonel  of  the  First  Battalion  of  Associators  in 
the  City  and  Liberties  of  Philadelphia,  for  the  protection  of  this 
Province  against  all  hostile  enterprises,  and  for  the  defence  of  Amer- 
ican liberty.  You  are  therefore  carefully  and  diligently  to  discharge 
the  duty  of  a  colonel,  as  aforesaid,  by  doing  and  performing  all  man- 
ner of  things  thereunto  belonging.  And  we  do  strictly  charge  and 
require  all  officers  and  soldiers  under  your  command  to  be  obedient 
to  your  orders  as  their  colonel.  And  you  are  to  observe  and  follow 
such  orders  and  directions,  from  time  to  time,  as  you  shall  receive 
from  the  Assembly  during  their  sessions ;  and,  in  their  recess,  from 
the  present  or  any  future  Committee  of  Safety  appointed  by  the 
Assembly  of  this  Province,  or  from  your  superior  officer,  accord- 
ing to  the  rules  and  regulations  for  the  better  government  of  the 
Military  Association  in  Pennsylvania,  and  pursuant  to  the  trust  re- 
posed in  you.  This  commission  to  continue  in  force  until  revoked 
by  the  Assembly  or  by  the  present  or  any  succeeding  Committee 
of  Safety. 

"  Signed  by  order  of  the  Assembly. 

"  JOHN  MORTON,  Speaker." 
16 


242  CONDITION  OF  AFFAIRS  IN  1782. 


had  advised  his  brother  privately  that  he  should  not 
receive  paper  money  in  payment  of  mortgages  to  secure 
debts  contracted  in  specie,  that  was  certainly  regarded 
by  the  popular  tyranny  of  the  time  as  a  transaction  little 
short  of  treasonable,  or,  as  it  was  called  by  Valerius, 
"  endeavoring  to  cut  asunder  the  great  sinew  of  our 
defence,  the  Continental  money."  This  charge,  as  we 
have  explained,  grew  out  of  the  false  sentiment  pre- 
vailing at  the  time,  which,  while  it  did  not  forbid  a  man 
from  thinking  that  silver  and  paper  had  at  that  time  a 
different  value,  prohibited  him  from  telling  even  his  own 
brother  that  such  were  his  opinions.  It  is  certainly  not 
worth  while  to  waste  time  in  showing  that  the  enforce- 
ment of  such  a  policy  was  as  absurd  as  it  was  tyrannical, 
and  that  it  is  only  another  illustration  of  the  attempt  of 
the  ostrich  to  conceal  its  body  by  burying  its  head  in 
the  sand,  a  species  of  folly  of  which  the  history  of  great 
outbursts  of  popular  passion  during  revolutions  affords 
many  examples. 

No  more  critical  period  of  our  State  history  is  to  be 
found,  it  has  been  said,  than  the  interval  between  the 
signing  of  the  preliminaries  of  peace,  in  1782,  and  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  Every  interest, 
social  and  political,  was  at  that  time  marked  by  disorgan- 
ization and  change,  and  it  seems  hard  to  understand 
how  a  new  form  of  society  was  built  up  from  the  very 
foundation  in  the  exhausted  condition  into  which  we 
had  sunk  at  the  close  of  the  war.  There  seemed  to 
be  no  vigorous  life  left  to  enable  us  to  grapple  with  a 
mutinous  army,  with  a  worthless  currency,  and  with  a 
discontented  people,  who  had  by  this  time  lost  their 
illusions  and  were  clamorous  for  aid  in  many  ways 


MISGOVERNMENT  OF  THE  STATE.  243 

which  no  human  government  could  give  them.  Noth- 
ing could  be  expected  from  the  measures  of  the  State 
legislature,  which  during  the  previous  administration 
had  been  ruled  by  incapable  demagogues.  It  is  true 
that  an  act  for  abolishing  slavery  in  Pennsylvania  had 
been  passed,  to  which,  however,  there  seems  to  have 
been  no  opposition  ;  but  for  other  internal  affairs  no 
better  expedients  could  be  found  than  embargoes,  legal 
tender  laws,  and  maximum  of  prices  fixed  by  law,  en- 
forced at  last  by  martial  law.  All  this  revolutionary 
legislation  was  crowned  by  the  famous  act  of  spoliation 
by  which  the  revenues  of  the  College  of  Philadelphia 
were  taken  from  it  by  the  legislature  under  false  pre- 
tences and  transferred  to  a  new  educational  establish- 
ment, in  direct  violation  of  the  guarantees  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  State.  Whatever,  then,  was  the  public 
distress,  it  was  in  vain  to  look  to  the  legislature  for 
hopeful  measures  of  relief.  Gradually,  as  the  currency 
— as  we  have  explained — grew  sounder,  there  was  an 
improvement,  and  business  slowly  revived ;  but  the 
liquidation  of  the  claims  of  the  soldiers,  and  finding  for 
them  employment  in  the  new  conditions  in  which  they 
would  be  placed  when  disbanded  in  1 783,  caused  almost 
as  much  anxiety  as  was  felt  during  the  war,  when  it  was 
necessary  to  equip,  maintain,  and  pay  them  for  active 
service.  The  discontent  was  well-nigh  universal,  and, 
in  the  case  of  the  soldiers  at  least,  not  unnatural.  That 
they  should  be  disbanded  without  the  payment  of  their 
just  claims,  after  all  they  had  undergone,  was  an  act  of 
flagrant  wrong,  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
some  of  those  quartered  nearest  to  the  place  where 
Congress  was  sitting  were  determined  to  extort  the 


244        REVOLT  OF  TROOPS  AT  LANCASTER. 

money  due    them    by  force,  if  their  claims  were  still 
unheeded. 

In  the  month  of  June,  1783,  some  fifty  of  the  dis^ 
banded  soldiers  of  the  Pennsylvania  Line  in  the  Conti- 
nental army  at  Lancaster,  finding  it  impossible  to  get 
the  pay  due  them,  determined  to  march  to  Philadelphia, 
with  the  intention  of  stating  their  grievance  to  Con- 
gress in  session  there  and  urging  payment  of  their 
claims.  On  reaching  the  city  they  were  joined  by  a 
considerable  number  of  their  comrades  who  had  suf- 
fered the  same  injustice  and  who  determined  to  unite 
with  them  in  seeking  a  remedy.  The  mutinous  soldiers, 
under  the  charge  of  certain  sergeants,  presented  them- 
selves drawn  up  in  the  street  before  the  State  House, 
where  Congress  was  assembled.  They  made  no  at- 
tempt to  enter  the  building  or  to  insult  any  member  of 
Congress.  The  Executive  Council  of  the  State,  sitting 
under  the  same  roof,  was  called  upon  by  Congress  to 
interpose  its  authority  and  disperse  the  soldiers.  Pres- 
ident Dickinson  came  in  and  explained  to  the  members 
of  Congress  the  difficulty,  under  the  circumstances,  of 
calling  out  the  militia  of  the  State  to  suppress  what  was 
spoken  of  as  the  mutiny.  He  had  called  together 
General  St.  Clair  and  the  field  officers  of  the  Philadel- 
phia militia,  and  they  agreed  that  unless  there  was 
imminent  danger  of  some  outrage  on  persons  and 
property  their  men  could  not  be  relied  upon.  Although 
no  attempt  was  made  to  compel  Congress  by  force  to 
grant  the  demands  of  the  soldiers,  yet  its  members 
became  very  much  alarmed,  and  adjourned  to  meet  at 
Princeton,  alleging  that  they  could  not  deliberate  in 
safety  in  Philadelphia.  The  soldiers  then,  becoming 


MARCH  TO  PHILADELPHIA.  245 

incensed  by  this  method  of  evading  their  just  demands, 
threatened  to  attack  the  bank  where  the  public  money 
was  supposed  to  be  deposited.  As  this  offence  seemed 
to  the  President  and  his  Council  a  much  more  serious 
one  than  the  insults  that  were  alleged  to  have  been 
offered  to  the  members  of  Congress  by  urging  them  to 
pay  what  was  due  the  soldiers,  a  force  sufficiently  large 
to  guard  the  bank  and  preserve  the  peace  was  soon 
formed  from  volunteers.  In  a  few  days  all  danger 
from  the  military  riot  (falsely  so  called,  because  the 
men  concerned  in  it  were  under  no  control  or  military 
discipline,  but  were  simply  discharged  soldiers)  was 
over,  the  leaders,  fearing  punishment,  having  deserted 
their  followers  and  escaped. 

The  following  explanation  of  this  riot  and  of  the 
measures  taken  to  quell  it  was  sent  by  Mr.  Dickinson 
to  Congress : 

"  To  the  President  of  Congress. 

"  PHILADELPHIA,  June  25,  9  o'clock. 

«  gIR) — The  Minister  of  France,  who  has  been  a  witness  of  the 
last  transactions  of  this  day,  has  obligingly  offered  to  convey  to 
Congress  my  account  of  their  happy  conclusion.  He  is  now  wait- 
ing to  receive  it  in  my  house ;  and  that  circumstance,  with  the  great 
fatigues  I  have  lately  undergone,  having  been  up  all  the  last  night, 
will,  I  hope,  apologize  to  Congress  for  this  short  and  imperfect  de- 
spatch. 

"  This  day,  about  twelve  o'clock,  the  Council  received  from  the 
committee  of  officers  appointed  by  the  soldiers  in  the  barracks  their 
requests,  attended  with  a  petition  of  pardon  from  Council  for  their 
misbehavior. 

"As  their  proposals  contained  no  submission  to  Congress,  Council 
unanimously  informed  those  of  the  committee  who  attended  that 
we  should  not  take  their  proposals  into  consideration  unless  they 
should  first  make  a  full  and  satisfactory  submission  to  Congress,  and 


246       -DICKJNSON'S  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  XEVOLT. 

we  directed  the  attending  members  of  their  committee  to  communi- 
cate this  unalterable  resolution  of  Council  to  them. 

"  This  was  immediately  done,  and  at  the  same  moment  orders  were 
issued  by  Council  for  a  guard  of  five  hundred  men  to  be  immediately 
assembled,  and  for  the  militia  of  the  city  and  neighborhood  to  hold 
themselves  in  readiness  for  action  on  the  shortest  notice,  having  re- 
ceived intelligence  that  an  attack  upon  us  was  intended  this  afternoon. 

(l  The  negotiation  for  the  desired  submission  was  continued,  and, 
with  the  prudent  and  highly  commendable  management  of  Colonel 
Hampton,  so  well  conducted  that  six  of  the  leading  sergeants  among 
the  soldiers  first  attended  me,  submitted,  and  impeached  two  officers, 
—a  Mr.  Carberry,  deranged,  and  a  Mr.  Sullivan.  Colonel  Hampton 
and  a  number  of  citizens  then  repaired  to  the  barracks,  and  this 
afternoon  just  at  dark  all  the  soldiers,  except  some  of  those  lately 
from  Lancaster,  appeared,  without  their  arms,  before  my  house. 

11 1  then  addressed  them,  reminded  them  of  their  fault, — unprece- 
dented and  heinous, — approved  the  evidence  given  of  their  dutiful 
disposition,  insisted  on  their  instantly  putting  themselves  under  the 
command  of  their  officers  and  yielding  to  them  a  proper  obedience ; 
that,  as  a  stronger  proof  of  the  disposition  mentioned,  they  should, 
at  the  end  of  twenty-four  hours,  use  their  arms  to  reduce  the  soldiers 
who  lately  came  from  Lancaster  to  obedience,  unless  in  that  time 
they  should  of  themselves  return  to  obedience  and  put  themselves  on 
their  march  for  that  town  under  the  command  of  such  of  their 
officers  as  should  be  in  this  city,  in  which  service  the  militia  should 
co-operate  with  them. 

"  The  soldiers,  being  dismissed,  were  ordered  to  retire  to  their  quar- 
ters in  the  barracks  under  the  command  of  their  officers,  and  they 
instantly  obeyed.  I  am  informed,  by  officers  in  whom  I  am  per- 
suaded I  may  confide,  that  the  mutiny  is  suppressed  except  among 
some  of  the  Lancaster  soldiers, 

"  I  told  the  others  that  in  consequence  of  their  good  behavior  I 
should  recommend  them  to  Congress  for  pardon,  and  I  hope  that 
they  will  act  in  such  a  manner  as  to  obtain  a  restoration  to  the  favor 
of  Congress.  I  shall  give  orders  for  the  apprehending  the  two 
officers  before  mentioned. 

"  I  am,  sir,  your  very  h'ble  serv't, 

"JOHN  DICKINSON." 


THE    WYOMING    TROUBLES.  247 

This  incident  in  Mr.  Dickinson's  administration  has 
been  referred  to  because  it  seems  to  illustrate  very 
forcibly  the  coolness,  the  moderation,  and  the  humanity 
which  were  so  characteristic  of  the  man.  He  said  con- 
cerning it  in  a  message  which  he  sent  shortly  after- 
wards to  the  Assembly,  "  In  this  unhappy  affair  we 
found  ourselves  extremely  distressed.  On  one  side 
we  were  urged  by  the  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  to  draw  forth  and  employ  the  citizens  in  imme- 
diate hostility  against  the  soldiers,  while  on  the  other 
hand  the  citizens  considered  them  as  objects  of  com- 
passion rather  than  of  terror  and  resentment.  They 
could  not  bear  to  avenge  the  dignity  of  Congress,  ac- 
cidentally and  undesignedly  offended,  by  shedding  the 
blood  of  men  whom  they  considered  as  having  fought 
and  suffered  for  the  American  cause." 

The  year  1784  is  marked  in  the  annals  of  Pennsyl- 
vania by  the  disgraceful  and  iniquitous  proceedings 
of  parties  professing  to  act  under  the  authority  of 
the  State  in  their  attempt  to  dispossess  by  force  the 
claimants  of  lands  which  were  held  in  the  Wyoming 
Valley  under  the  Connecticut  title.  As  is  well  known, 
it  was  long  a  matter  of  doubt  and  controversy  whether 
these  lands  were  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Penn- 
sylvania or  of  Connecticut.  Under  a  provision  of 
the  Articles  of  Confederation,  questions  of  this  kind 
were  to  be  submitted  to  a  court  to  be  constituted 
by  Congress.  Accordingly,  a  court  acting  under  this 
authority  was  held  at  Trenton,  which,  after  listening 
for  forty  days  to  arguments  from  the  most  learned 
counsel  to  be  found  in  the  country,  decided  that  the 
lands  in  question  were  within  the  bounds  of  Pennsyl- 


248  DICKINSON'S  POSITION. 

vania  as  set  forth  in  the  charter  of  Charles  II.  The 
inhabitants  of  this  region  were  said  to  exceed  six 
thousand  in  number,  and  they  nearly  all  held  their 
lands  by  titles  derived  from  Connecticut.  To  reconcile 
the  sovereignty  of  Pennsylvania  in  the  Valley  of  Wyo- 
ming with  an  equitable  treatment  of  the  actual  settlers, 
who  suddenly  found  that  they  had  bought  a  bad  title 
and  made  costly  improvements  on  the  lands  in  good 
faith,  was  a  task  which  required  the  exercise  of  the 
utmost  skill,  patience,  comprehensiveness  of  view,  and 
humane  consideration  on  the  part  of  the  authorities 
of  Pennsylvania.  The  task  was  all  the  more  difficult 
because  the  Executive  Department  of  the  State  could 
not  agree  upon  any  plan  of  settling  the  question.  The 
President  in  this  matter  stood  alone,  the  Supreme 
Executive  Council,  which  shared  his  power,  and  the 
Assembly,  which  had  all  the  legislative  authority,  being 
united  against  him.  Hence  his  voice  of  remonstrance, 
joined  to  that  of  another  governmental  body,  called 
the  Council  of  Censors,  was  utterly  unheeded  by  the 
agents  of  the  Pennsylvania  landholders,  who  set  to  work 
to  drive  away  from  this  region  the  Connecticut  settlers 
as  intruders.  The  whole  controversy  is  perhaps  best 
explained  in  the  report  of  these  Censors,  from  which 
it  will  appear  how  difficult  it  must  have  been  to  act 
justly  and  at  the  same  time  to  deal  mercifully  with  the 
actual  settlers  : 

"  IN  COUNCIL  OF  CENSORS,  September  n,  1784. 

"  It  is  the  opinion  of  this  Council  that  the  decree  made  at  Trenton, 
early  in  1783,  between  the  State  of  Connecticut  and  this  Common- 
wealth, concerning  the  territorial  right  of  both,  was  favorable  to 
Pennsylvania.  It  likewise  promised  the  happiest  consequences  to 
the  confederacy,  as  an  example  was  thereby  set  of  two  contending 


SUPPORTED  BY  COUNCIL   OF  CENSORS.        249 

sovereignties  adjusting  their  differences  in  a  court  of  justice,  instead 
of  involving  themselves,  and  perhaps  their  confederates,  in  war  and 
bloodshed.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  this  happy  event  was  not 
improved  on  the  part  of  this  State,  as  it  might  have  been ;  that  the 
persons  claiming  lands  at  and  near  Wyoming  occupied  by  the  emi- 
grants from  Connecticut,  now  become  subjects  of  Pennsylvania,  were 
not  left  to  prosecute  their  claims,  in  their  proper  course,  without 
the  intervention  of  the  legislature ;  that  a  body  of  troops  was  en- 
listed, after  the  Indian  war  had  ceased  and  the  civil  government  had 
been  established,  and  stationed  at  Wyoming,  for  no  other  apparent 
purpose  than  that  of  promoting  the  interest  of  the  claimants  under 
the  former  grants  of  Pennsylvania ;  that  these  troops  were  kept  up 
and  continued  there  without  the  license  of  Congress,  in  violation 
of  the  confederation ;  that  they  were  suffered,  without  restraint,  to 
injure  and  oppress  the  neighboring  inhabitants  during  the  course  of 
the  last  winter ;  that  the  injuries  done  to  these  people  excited  the 
compassion  and  the  interposition  of  the  State  of  Connecticut,  who 
thereupon  demanded  of  Congress  another  hearing,  in  order  to  inves- 
tigate the  private  claims  of  the  settlers  at  Wyoming,  formerly  inhab- 
itants of  New  England,  who,  from  this  instance  of  partiality  in  the 
army,  might  have  been  led  to  distrust  the  justice  of  the  State,  when, 
in  the  mean  time,  numbers  of  these  soldiers  and  other  disorderly  per- 
sons, in  a  most  violent  and  inhuman  manner,  expelled  the  New  Eng- 
land settlers  before  mentioned  from  their  habitations,  and  drove  them 
towards  the  Delaware  through  unsettled  and  almost  impassable  ways, 
leaving  these  unhappy  outcasts  to  suffer  every  species  of  distress ; 
that  this  armed  force,  stationed,  as  aforesaid,  at  Wyoming,  as  far  as 
we  can  see  without  any  public  advantage  in  view,  has  cost  the  Com- 
monwealth the  sum  of  ,£4460  and  upwards  for  the  bare  levying,  pro- 
viding, and  paying  them,  besides  other  expenditures  of  public  money ; 
that  the  authority  for  embodying  these  troops  was  given  privately 
and  unknown  to  the  good  people  of  Pennsylvania,  the  same  being 
directed  by  a  mere  resolve  of  the  late  House  of  Assembly,  brought  in 
and  read  the  first  time  on  Monday,  September  22,  1783,  when,  on 
motion,  and  by  special  order,  the  same  was  read  a  second  time  and 
adopted ;  that  the  putting  this  resolve  on  the  secret  journals  of  the 
House,  and  concealing  it  from  the  public  after  the  war  with  the  savages 
had  ceased  and  the  inhabitants  of  Wyoming  had  submitted  to  the  gov- 


25<>  COUNCIL  AND  ASSEMBLY  OPPOSE. 

ernment  of  the  State,  sufficiently  marks  and  fixes  the  clandestine  and 
partial  intent  of  the  armament,  no  such  caution  having  been  thought 
necessary  in  defence  of  the  northern  frontiers  during  the  late  war ; 
and,  lastly,  we  regret  the  fatal  example  which  this  transaction  has  set, 
of  private  persons,  at  least  equally  able  with  their  opponents  to  main- 
tain their  own  cause,  procuring  the  influence  of  the  Commonwealth 
in  their  behalf,  and  the  aid  of  the  public  treasury ;  the  opprobrium 
which  has  from  thence  resulted  to  the  State,  and  the  dissatisfaction 
and  prospect  of  dissensions  now  existing  with  one  of  our  sister  States ; 
the  violation  of  the  confederation,  and  the  injury  done  to  such  of  the 
Pennsylvania  claimants  to  land  at  Wyoming,  occupied  as  aforesaid, 
as  have  given  no  countenance  to,  but,  on  the  contrary,  have  dis- 
avowed, these  extravagant  proceedings.  In  short,  we  lament  that 
our  government  has  in  this  business  manifested  little  wisdom  or  fore- 
sight, or  has  not  acted  as  the  guardian  of  the  rights  of  the  people  com- 
mitted to  its  care.  Impressed  with  the  multiplied  evils  which  have 
sprung  from  the  improvident  management  of  this  business,  we  hold 
it  up  to  censure,  to  prevent,  if  possible,  any  further  instances  of 
bad  government  which  might  involve  and  distract  our  new-formed 


This  humane  remonstrance  of  the  Council  of  Cen- 
sors produced  no  effect  whatever  upon  the  Supreme 
Executive  Council  or  upon  the  Assembly,  and  they 
both  seem  to  have  been  wholly  under  the  influence  of 
the  Pennsylvania  land  claimants.  President  Dickinson, 
whose  humanity  had  been  shown  on  a  previous  occa- 
sion by  his  efforts  to  supply  the  wretched  inhabitants 
of  the  valley  with  food  when  they  had  suffered  the  loss 
of  everything  by  an  ice-flood,  and  whose  sense  of  jus- 
tice and  ideas  of  policy  were  both  shocked  by  the  vio- 
lence committed  on  these  people,  now  interposed  once 
more  for  their  relief.  He  sent  a  message  to  the  Coun- 
cil on  the  5th  of  July,  in  which  he  says,  "  Being  still 
indisposed  and  unable  to  attend  the  Council  to-day,  I 


DICKINSON'S  PROTEST.  251 

think  it  my  duty,  notwithstanding  what  has  been  already 
offered,  to  request  that  you  will  be  pleased  to  consider 
the  propriety  of  calling  a  body  of  militia  into  active  ser- 
vice on  the  intelligence  so  far  received,  in  the  manner 
proposed.  If  the  intention  is  that  the  militia  shall 
assist  the  Pennsylvania  claimants  in  securing  the  corn 
planted  on  the  lands  from  which  the  settlers  were 
expelled  last  spring,  such  a  procedure  would  drive 
these  settlers  to  absolute  despair.  They  will  have  no 
alternative  but  to  fight  for  the  corn  or  to  suffer  and 
perhaps  to  perish  for  the  want  of  it  in  the  coming 
winter.  They  (the  settlers)  will  regard  this  step  as 
the  commencement  of  hostilities  against  them ;  and 
perhaps  others,  whose  statements  are  of  vastly  more 
importance,  may  be  of  the  same  opinion." 

This  impressive  protest,  like  that  which  preceded  it, 
produced  no  change  in  the  legislation  of  the  State  or 
in  the  action  of  the  militia  who  were  sent  to  Wyoming. 
But  the  prophecies  of  Mr.  Dickinson  as  to  the  result 
of  this  policy  were  all  fulfilled,  and  there  was  no  peace 
on  "  Susquehanna's  side,  fair  Wyoming,"  until  justice, 
as  urged  by  him,  was  done  to  the  settlers,  and  until  the 
inhabitants,  who  had  fought  with  desperate  valor  for 
the  preservation  of  their  homes,  had  the  bad  titles  to 
the  lands  which  they  had  bought  in  good  faith  quieted 
and  confirmed  by  the  irrevocable  authority  of  the  State. 

The  duties  of  the  President  of  the  Supreme  Ex- 
ecutive Council  under  the  Constitution  of  1776  were 
indeed  multifarious.  Besides  being  charged  with  the 
executive  business  of  the  State,  he  was  ex-officio  Chief 
of  the  High  Court  of  Errors  and  Appeals,  the  head 
of  the  judicial  system.  As  such,  associated  with  the 


252        JUDGMENT  IN  AN  ADMIRALTY  CASE. 


judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  he  delivered  in  1785, 
among  other  opinions,  one  in  an  important  cause 
(Talbot  vs.  The  Achilles  et  al.,  reported  in  i  Dallas) 
involving  questions  of  admiralty  jurisdiction,  which 
shows  how  even  in  this  comparatively  unexplored 
region  his  learning  was  accurate  and  profound.  He 
discusses  these  questions  of  a  purely  technical  kind 
with  wonderful  clearness  and  ability.  He  holds,  first, 
that  the  owners  of  letters  of  marque  are  responsible 
for  injuries  committed  on  the  high  seas  by  the  com- 
manders of  vessels  sent  out  by  them ;  secondly,  that 
in  cases  of  captures  from  enemies,  persons  in  other 
vessels  acquire  no  right  merely  by  seeing  the  capture 
made ;  thirdly,  that  the  judge  of  the  admiralty  for  this 
State  may  legally  take  cognizance  in  cases  similar  to 
this;  fourthly,  that  the  appeal  in  such  cases  to  the  High 
Court  of  Errors  and  Appeals  of  this  State  is  regular. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

HIS    SERVICES    IN    THE    CONVENTION   WHICH    FRAMED    THE 
CONSTITUTION    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

THE  time  was  approaching  when  the  abilities  and  ex- 
perience of  Mr.  Dickinson  were  again  to  be  called  into 
action  upon  a  wider  stage  than  that  of  a  single  State. 
The  statesman,  especially  he  who  was  actively  engaged 
in  public  affairs,  was  more  and  more  impressed  by  the 
experience  of  every  passing  day  with  the  necessity  of 
a  revision  of  the  Federal  system.  The  air  was  fairly 
filled  with  what  may  be  called  national  problems  at 
the  termination  of  the  war,  and  the  existing  govern- 
ment seemed  to  provide  no  method  of  solving  them 
satisfactorily.  Such  questions  as  the  right  of  the  navi- 
gation of  the  Mississippi,  the  disputed  boundaries  of 
the  States,  the  best  method  of  applying  the  proceeds 
of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands,  the  mode  of  raising  a 
revenue  by  imposts,  the  conflict  that  existed  in  several 
of  the  States  between  the  authorities  and  dissatisfied 
soldiers  and  creditors  of  every  description  ;  in  short, 
the  inevitable  embarrassments  arising  from  a  new  life 
under  new  conditions, — all  these  difficulties  might  well 
have  appalled  and  discouraged  the  ablest  and  most 
experienced  statesman.  No  one  denied  that  our  con- 
dition at  that  time  was  chaotic.  All  admitted  that 
the  remedy  lay  in  a  more  perfect  union  ;  but  under 
what  conditions  that  union  was  to  be  established,  and 

253 


254  REVISION  OF  THE    CONSTITUTION. 


especially  as  to  how  far  it  was  to  absorb  the  powers 
of  the  States,  scarcely  two  persons  could  be  found  who 
were  of  the  same  opinion.  The  root  of  the  difficulty 
was  the  jealous  fear  lest  in  any  new  organization  the 
pretensions  of  each  State  to  a  quasi-sovereignty  should 
be  denied  or  ignored.  In  all  our  political  history,  as  is 
well  known,  no  doctrine  has  been  more  tenaciously 
held  than  that  of  State  sovereignty.  Even  now  it  sur- 
vives in  many  quarters  after  a  century's  trial  and  a 
crushing  condemnation  by  the  terrible  ordeal  of  a  four 
years'  war.  But  before  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  was  adopted  as  an  instrument  deliberately  framed 
for  the  purpose  of  extracting  the  poison  of  this  doctrine 
from  the  body  politic,  it  was  natural  that  the  States 
which  had  just  emerged  not  only  from  colonial  depend- 
ence but  also  from  a  system  of  centralized  administrative 
tyranny  should  look  with  suspicion  upon  plans  which 
seemed  in  any  measure  to  withdraw  from  themselves 
the  power  of  home  rule.  The  Colonies  had  called 
themselves  before  the  world  "  free  and  independent 
States,"  banded  together  only  for  a  special  purpose, — 
that  of  armed  resistance.  Besides,  as  has  been  already 
explained,  a  union  was  not  thought  of  as  the  outgrowth 
of  any  national  feeling,  but  as  a  matter  of  absolute 
necessity.  At  that  time  the  people  in  the  different 
States  had  different  habits,  ideas,  and  modes  of  living, 
and  they  had  been  taught  that  their  material  interests 
were  irreconcilable.  Country  meant  to  most  persons 
the  narrow  Colony  in  which  they  were  born  and  lived ; 
men  of  action  knew  their  own  people  and  their  needs, 
and  to  satisfy  them  was  their  highest  ambition.  The 
national  government  which  has  since  arisen,  and  in  the 


CONVENTION  AT  ANNAPOLIS.  255 

service  of  which  men  are  proud  to  act  and  call  them- 
selves Americans,  was  then  at  best  a  shadowy  league, 
the  result  of  conflicts  and  compromises  which  it  was 
supposed  would  not  outlive  the  war.  But,  of  course, 
the  great  obstacle  on  the  part  of  the  States  to  the 
adoption  of  any  federal  system  of  real  force  and  sta- 
bility was  the  uncertainty  which  prevailed  concerning 
the  nature  and  extent  of  the  powers  with  which  it  was 
proposed  to  invest  it. 

Thus,  while  the  country  was  recovering  from  the 
material  losses  caused  by  the  war,  it  was  this  element 
of  uncertainty  about  the  future  which  paralyzed  all  at- 
tempts to  build  new  hopes  of  prosperity  upon  a  sure 
foundation.  Nowhere  had  a  statesman  ever  had  a  more 
difficult  task  than  to  solve  the  problem  in  which  were 
involved  so  many  conflicting  ideas  and  interests.  There 
was  as  yet  no  national  statesman,  in  our  meaning  of  the 
term.  The  one  element  of  hopefulness  in  the  situation 
was  that,  much  as  men  differed  about  the  remedy,  all 
agreed  that  the  existing  condition  was  simply  a  prelude 
to  anarchy. 

At  last,  in  January,  1786,  affairs  had  reached  such  a 
crisis  that  it  became  imperatively  necessary  to  deter- 
mine whether  it  was  possible  to  form  a  more  perfect 
union,  and  whether  a  permanent  national  sentiment  was 
an  American  idea.  Accordingly,  on  the  2ist  of  that 
month  the  legislature  of  Virginia  adopted  the  follow- 
ing resolution  :  "Resolved,  That  certain  Commissioners 
be  appointed,  who  shall  meet  such  Commissioners  as 
may  be  appointed  by  the  other  States  of  the  Union,  at 
a  time  and  place  to  be  agreed  upon,  to  take  into  con- 
sideration the  trade  of  the  United  States,  to  examine 


256  ITS  RECOMMENDATIONS. 

the  relative  trade  and  situation  of  said  States,  to  con- 
sider how  far  a  uniform  system  in  their  commercial 
regulations  may  be  necessary  to  their  common  interest 
and  permanent  harmony,  and  to  report  to  the  several 
States  such  an  act  relative  to  this  great  object  as,  when 
unanimously  ratified  by  them,  will  enable  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled  effectually  to  provide  for 
the  same."  At  a  meeting  held  on  the  nth  of  Septem- 
ber, at  Annapolis,  in  pursuance  of  this  invitation,  Com- 
missioners from  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  and  Virginia  appeared,  and  John  Dickinson, 
a  Commissioner  from  Delaware,  was  chosen  president. 
It  appeared  that,  although  Commissioners  were  said  to 
have  been  appointed  by  the  legislatures  of  several  of 
the  other  States,  they  did  not  attend  at  Annapolis. 
Those  who  did  attend  instructed  their  president,  Mr. 
Dickinson,  to  make  a  report  of  their  proceedings  to 
Congress,  from  which  the  following  extracts  are  taken  : 
"As  the  powers  of  the  Commissioners  suppose  a  dele- 
gation from  all  the  States,  those  who  are  present  did 
not  consider  it  proper  to  proceed  to  business  under 
such  a  defective  representation.  They  think  that  the 
idea  of  extending  the  powers  of  the  delegates  to  objects 
beyond  commerce,  as  has  been  suggested  by  New  Jer- 
sey, is  a  good  one,  and  that  it  would  be  better  to  extend 
it  to  the  whole  matter  of  Federal  government.  They 
decline  to  state  what  the  defects  of  the  existing  system 
are,  but  they  express  their  unanimous  conviction  that 
an  effort  should  be  made  for  the  appointment  of  Com- 
missioners to  meet  at  Philadelphia  on  the  second  Mon- 
day in  May  next,  to  take  into  consideration  the  situa- 
tion of  the  United  States,  and  to  devise  such  further 


THE  ACTION  OF  CONGRESS.  257 

provisions  as  shall  appear  necessary  to  render  the 
Constitution  of  the  Federal  government  adequate  to 
the  exigencies  of  the  Union.'' 

On  the  2ist  of  February,  1787,  this  letter  of  Mr. 
Dickinson  was  read  in  Congress,  and  his  suggestions 
were  adopted,  with  the  following  modification  proposed 
by  Massachusetts,  viz.  :  "  That  the  Convention  report 
to  Congress  and  the  State  legislatures  such  alterations 
as  they  may  deem  adequate."  Such  is  the  genesis  of 
the  Convention  which  framed  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  Mr.  Dickinson  took  his  seat  in  the 
Convention  as  a  delegate  from  Delaware.  It  seemed 
eminently  fitting  and  proper  that  he  should  take  a 
leading  part  in  this  last  and  most  successful  attempt 
to  establish  a  government  which  it  was  hoped  would 
secure  for  his  country  a  more  perfect  union.  He  had 
been  conspicuous,  it  will  be  remembered,  in  all  the  Con- 
ventions which  had  been  held  since  such  meetings  had 
been  resorted  to  for  the  purpose  of  securing  united  and 
concerted  action.  Besides  having  represented  his  own 
State  and  that  of  Delaware  many  times  in  their  differ- 
ent Assemblies  and  Conventions,  he  had  been  the  dele- 
gate of  both  in  the  national  Congress.  He  had  been 
a  member  of  the  Congress  that  protested  against  the 
Stamp  Act  in  1765,  a  member  of  the  first  Continental 
Congress  in  1774,  and  during  four  years  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  he  had  continued  a  most  active  member 
of  that  body.  In  this  way  his  knowledge  of  public  men 
in  different  parts  of  the  country  and  his  experience  in 
public  affairs  had  become  invaluable.  Moreover,  he 
had  been  one  of  the  most  active  members  of  the  com- 
mittee appointed  by  Congress  in  1776  not  only  to  draft 

17 


258         ORIGINAL  PLAN  OF  CONFEDERATION. 

treaties  with  foreign  powers,  but  also  to  prepare  arti- 
cles of  confederation  between  the  States,  and  he  had 
given  special  study  to  these  subjects,  believing  that  both 
measures  were  of  such  importance  that  they  should 
be  adopted  before  independence  was  finally  declared. 

The  original  plan  for  the  Confederation  remains,  in 
the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Dickinson,  but  it  was  not  re- 
ported by  the  committee  until  the  1 2th  of  July,  when  he 
had  left  Congress  and  was  in  command  of  his  regiment 
at  Elizabethtown.  The  Articles  of  Confederation  were 
not  ratified  by  all  the  States  until  1781.  Defective 
as  they  proved  to  be,  they  were  doubtless,  in  those 
days  of  jealousy,  and  in  the  absence  of  all  true  national 
feeling,  the  best  possible  attainable  at  the  time.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  however,  good  or  bad,  they  formed  the 
charter  of  the  government  which  brought  us  through 
the  Revolution  ;  and  so  far  was  Mr.  Dickinson  from 
being  censured  by  his  contemporaries  for  the  want  of 
force  which  they  exhibited,  that  he  was  one  of  the  first 
to  call  attention  to  their  defects  and  to  suggest  a  rem- 
edy. He  was  certainly  one  of  the  most  useful  and 
conspicuous  members  of  that  illustrious  body  which 
framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  as  he 
had  been  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  an  exam- 
ination of  the  records  of  the  Convention  will  show  how 
vastly  important  were  his  acquaintance  with  the  general 
principles  of  English  free  institutions  and  his  long  ex- 
perience and  profound  knowledge  of  affairs  in  settling 
the  foundations  of  our  great  system  of  constitutional 
law.  He  was  one  of  the  most  active  members  of  the 
Convention,  and  took  part  in  the  discussion  of  a  great 
variety  of  subjects, — a  fact  which  is  a  little  remarkable, 


DICKINSON  A  MEMBER  OF  THE  CONVENTION.  259 

for  his  health  during  the  session  was  more  than  usually 
feeble. 

The  two  points  upon  which  he  dwelt  most  forcibly  in 
the  Convention  appear  to  have  been  the  powers  which 
it  was  proposed  to  vest  in  the  Executive  and  the  posi- 
tion to  be  held  by  the  States  of  small  territorial  extent 
in  the  scheme  of  union.  He  advocated  very  strongly 
a  choice  of  the  electors  of  the  President  directly  by 
the  people,  and  not  by  the  legislatures  of  the  different 
States,  as  had  been  proposed,  and  as  many  desired. 
He  thought  that  the  President  might  be  removed  by 
Congress  at  the  request  of  the  majority  of  the  legisla- 
tures of  the  different  States,  and  that  he  should  be 
aided  or  sustained  in  the  exercise  of  his  functions  by 
a  council  composed  of  citizens  of  States  of  different 
geographical  positions  in  the  Union,  and,  moreover, 
that  this  Council  should  exercise  jointly  with  the  Presi- 
dent the  power  of  appointment  to  office.  Mr.  Dick- 
inson's theory  of  the  Union  was  one  which  regarded 
the  States  as  the  stable  factors  and  units  of  our  politi- 
cal system.  In  the  Convention  he  insisted  frequently 
upon  his  favorite  thesis,  as  he  did  during  the  remainder 
of  his  political  life,  that  the  States  should  have  the 
power  to  check  and  control  in  a  measure  the  acts  of 
the  President ;  but,  strange  to  say,  his  opinion  was  due 
not  so  much  to  a  jealousy  of  the  power  of  the  Presi- 
dent as  to  the  belief  that  authority  thus  exercised 
would  be  more  readily  supported  by  the  people.  He 
gives  these  reasons  for  this  opinion,  which  are  worth 
considering.  He  contended  "  that  in  the  British  gov- 
ernment the  weight  of  the  Executive  arises  from 
attachments  which  the  Crown  draws  to  itself,  and  not 


260  HIS   VIEWS    ON  VARIOUS  POINTS. 

merely  from  the  force  of  its  prerogatives.  In  place  of 
these  attachments  we  must  look  for  something  else. 
One  source  of  stability  is  the  double  branch  of  the 
legislature.  The  division  of  the  country  into  distinct 
States  formed  the  other  principal  source  of  stability. 
The  division  ought  therefore  to  be  maintained,  and  con- 
siderable powers  to  be  left  with  the  States.  This  was  his 
ground  of  consolation  for  the  future  fate  of  his  country." 

In  regard  to  the  qualification  for  suffrage,  he  doubted 
"the  policy  of  interweaving  with  a  republican  Constitu- 
tion a  veneration  for  wealth.  It  seemed  improper  that 
any  man  of  merit  should  be  subjected  to  disabilities  in 
a  republic,  where  merit  was  understood  to  form  the 
great  title  to  public  trusts,  honors,  and  rewards." 

The  most  serious  controversy  in  the  Convention 
arose  between  the  delegates  of  the  larger  and  those 
of  the  smaller  States  in  regard  to  the  number  of  the 
representatives  which  should  be  sent  by  each  to  the 
national  Congress,  and  upon  what  basis  they  were  to 
be  elected.  The  Virginian  plan,  as  it  was  called,  pro- 
posed by  Mr.  Edmund  Randolph,  had  provided  that 
the  right  of  suffrage  for  members  of  the  national  legis- 
lature should  be  based  on  the  proportion  of  the  quotas 
of  taxes  contributed  by  each,  or  on  the  number  of  the 
free  inhabitants,  if  such  a  plan  were  preferred,  and  that 
the  members  of  the  first  branch,  or  Senate,  should  be 
elected  by  the  people  of  the  several  States  directly. 
Mr.  Read,  of  Delaware,  having  reminded  the  members 
that  the  delegates  from  that  State  had  been  instructed 
to  withdraw  from  the  Convention  if  any  change  in  the 
existing  rule  of  suffrage  (giving  one  vote  to  each  State) 
should  be  adopted,  the  consideration  of  the  proposition 


ELECTION  OF  SENATORS.  261 

to  base  the  representation  upon  the  number  of  the 
inhabitants  was  postponed.  As  to  the  election  of  Sen- 
ators by  the  people  instead  of  by  the  legislatures,  the 
large  States  all  voted  for  it  and  the  smaller  ones 
against  it  in  the  Committee  of  the  Whole.  This  result 
caused  serious  alarm  in  the  Convention,  and  many  of 
the  delegates  began  to  fear  that  all  hope  of  a  national 
government  would  be  shipwrecked  by  collision  with  an 
obstacle  which  it  was  equally  impossible  to  escape  or 
to  overcome.  The  large  majority  of  the  delegates  were 
evidently  in  favor  of  proportional  representation,  while 
those  from  the  smaller  States,  feeling  that  by  the  adop- 
tion of  such  a  plan  they  would  be  crushed  or  their 
influence  wholly  destroyed,  refused,  even  at  the  risk 
of  losing  a  national  government,  to  consent  to  it.  Mr. 
Dickinson,  as  representing  Delaware,  was  foremost  in 
this  controversy.  His  first  object  was  to  insure  an 
equal  representation  of  each  State  in  the  Senate,  thus 
placing  there  at  least  the  smaller  States  on  a  footing 
of  equality  with  the  larger.  The  Convention,  after 
refusing  to  agree  to  propositions  that  the  Senate  should 
be  elected  by  the  people  in  large  separate  districts,  or 
that  it  should  be  appointed  by  the  President  out  of 
nominations  made  by  the  State  legislatures,  decided 
unanimously  on  the  7th  of  June,  on  the  motion  of  Mr. 
Dickinson,  that  the  members  of  that  body  should  be 
chosen,  two  for  each  State,  by  its  legislature.  Propor- 
tional representation  was  confined  to  the  election  of 
the  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 
thus  the  great  compromise  was  agreed  to, — certainly 
one  of  the  most  original  conceptions  of  the  division  of 
powers  to  be  found  in  the  Constitution,  and  the  feature 


262          NOVELTY  OF  THIS  ARRANGEMENT. 

which  above  all  others  has,  contrary  to  the  general 
expectation,  commended  itself  to  the  approval  of  all 
parties  during  our  whole  history.  If  the  Senate  is  the 
permanent  and  conservative  force  in  our  system,  we 
should  not  forget,  as  we  are  too  apt  to  do,  to  whose 
influence  we  are  indebted  for  the  introduction  into  it 
of  this  rare  invention  of  state-craft.  How  much  Mr. 
Dickinson  had  this  scheme  at  heart,  and  how  great  was 
the  danger  at  this  crisis  had  it  not  been  adopted,  may 
be  inferred  from  his  statement  to  Mr.  Madison,  who, 
as  the  representative  of  one  of  the  larger  States,  had 
been  the  strong  advocate  of  a  proportional  represen- 
tation in  both  branches  of  the  national  legislature. 
"  You  see,"  said  he,  "  the  consequences  of  pushing 
things  too  far.  Some  of  the  members  of  the  small 
States  wish  for  two  branches  of  the  national  legisla- 
ture, but  we  would  sooner  submit  to  a  foreign  rule 
than  be  deprived  in  both  branches  of  an  equality  of 
suffrage  and  thereby  be  thrown  under  the  domination 
of  the  larger  States." 

Mr.  Dickinson,  probably  from  representing  the  small- 
est of  all  the  States,  was  always  jealous  of  their  im- 
portance and  dignity  in  the  Union.  He  drafted  the 
section  which  prohibits  a  new  State  from  being  formed 
from  the  junction  of  parts  of  two  States  without  the 
consent  of  the  States  from  which  the  parts  were  taken, 
as  well  as  of  Congress.  He  was  at  all  times  the  cham- 
pion of  the  Senate  as  the  guardian  and  representative 
of  the  States.  He  urged  State  sovereignty,  strange  to 
say,  as  the  guarantee  of  the  stability  of  the  Federal 
government.  But  he  did  it  only,  as  has  been  said,  as 
the  advocate  of  a  strong  national  government. 


OTHER    TOPICS  DISCUSSED   BY  DICKINSON.     263 

He  felt  obliged  to  confine  the  power  of  the  Union 
over  the  State  militia  to  a  limited  time,  because  he 
feared  that  its  unchecked  control  over  the  State  forces 
by  the  general  government  might  endanger  the  ratifica- 
tion of  the  Constitution  by  the  States.  He  thought,  on 
the  other  hand,  that  the  general  government  should 
have  power  to  suppress  domestic  violence  in  all  cases, 
whether  it  might  arise  from  the  State  legislation  itself, 
or  from  disputes  between  the  Houses.  Finally,  he  and 
Mr.  Madison  were  strenuous  supporters  of  the  propo- 
sition that  Congress  should  have  power  to  repeal  any 
State  law  which  it  deemed  improper, — that  is,  contrary 
to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, — a  function 
which  was  deemed  by  both  these  experienced  statesmen 
indispensable  to  the  smooth  working  of  the  system, 
and  which  has  since  been  exercised  through  the  inter- 
vention of  the  courts.  Mr.  Dickinson  presented  to  the 
Convention  important  views  concerning  many  other 
vital  topics  which  were  brought  before  it,  especially  in 
regard  to  the  organization  of  the  judiciary,  but,  after 
all,  his  great  reputation  as  a  member  of  that  body  must 
rest  upon  his  having  secured  for  each  State,  large  and 
small,  equal  representation  in  the  Senate,  and  upon  his 
having  forced  the  majority  of  the  delegates  to  confine 
the  operation  of  the  principle  of  proportional  repre- 
sentation to  the  House  of  Representatives. 

After  the  Constitution  was  adopted  by  the  Conven- 
tion, it  was  necessary  that  it  should  pass  through  the 
ordeal  of  popular  approval  for  ratification.  Its  various 
provisions  were  discussed  in  the  bodies  called  in  the 
different  States  to  consider  the  question  of  their  adop- 
tion, with  a  jealous  criticism  more  minute  and  searching, 


264    DEBATES  IN  THE    CONVENTION  SECRET. 

if  possible,  than  that  which  those  provisions  underwent 
in  the  Convention  itself.  The  debates  in  the  Con- 
vention had  taken  place  with  closed  doors,  and  it  was 
understood  that  all  its  proceedings  were,  during  the 
period  when  the  ratification  of  the  Constitution  was 
discussed,  kept  secret.  Hence  those  who  were  to  de- 
cide upon  the  final  adoption  of  the  proposed  Consti- 
tution were  obliged  to  make  up  their  minds  without 
having  had  the  advantage,  as  we  have,  of  knowing  the 
reasons  which  led  the  members  of  the  Convention  to 
the  conclusions  which  they  reached.  The  feeling  at 
first  among  a  large  portion  of  the  people  was  doubt- 
less one  of  disappointment,  due,  perhaps,  very  much  to 
the  uncertainty  which  prevailed  in  regard  to  the  success 
of  such  an  experiment,  even  under  the  most  favorable 
auspices.  They  knew  nothing  of  a  federal  government 
hitherto,  except  that  it  had  proved  a  most  ineffective 
system,  trenching,  as  was  alleged,  upon  the  powers  of 
the  sovereigns  composing  it  whenever  it  showed  any 
strength  or  force.  To  many,  where  the  new  Constitu- 
tion seemed  an  improvement  of  the  old,  it  became 
strong  at  the  sacrifice  of  home  rule.  The  fear  that 
such  would  be  the  outcome  of  the  work  of  the  Con- 
vention was  very  general  in  certain  quarters  before  its 
meeting.  In  Massachusetts,  for  instance,  the  legisla- 
ture having  asked  Congress  to  revise  the  Articles  of 
Confederation  before  the  Convention  was  held,  the 
delegates  of  that  State  declined  to  present  the  request, 
for  which  the  following  strange  reason  was  given  by 
Mr.  Elbridge  Gerry  on  their  behalf:  "More  power  in 
Congress,"  said  he,  "  has  been  the  cry  from  all  quarters, 
but  especially  of  those  whose  views,  not  being  confined 


RATIFICATION  UNCERTAIN.  265 

to  a  government  that  will  best  promote  the  happiness 
of  the  people,  are  extended  to  one  that  will  afford  lucra- 
tive employment,  civil  and  military.  Such  a  government 
is  an  aristocracy  which  would  require  a  standing  army 
and  a  numerous  train  of  pensioners  and  placemen  to 
prop  and  support  its  exalted  administration."  These 
jealous  and  suspicious  fears  were  worthy  of  the  men 
who  afterwards  regarded  Jefferson's  old  red  waistcoat 
and  soiled  corduroy  breeches,  his  slippers  down  at  the 
heels  and  his  unshorn  beard,  as  emblems  of  the  sort  of 
republican  simplicity  which  the  President  should  show 
when  he  received  the  ministers  of  foreign  powers. 
Strange  as  it  may  appear,  these  fears  were  very  real 
to  men  moved  by  the  party  spirit  of  the  day.  Added 
to  dangers  such  as  these  which  they  foresaw  from  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution,  they  hesitated  to  take 
what  they  called  "a  leap  in  the  dark."  They  said, 
very  truly,  that  they  were  asked  to  adopt  a  plan  by 
an  irrevocable  step  which  resembled  nothing  which 
they  could  find  in  history.  Hence  there  was  on  all 
sides,  even  among  those  most  hostile  to  the  worthless 
Articles  of  Confederation,  doubt  and  hesitation. 

It  was,  it  is  true,  stated  that  the  Constitution  had 
been  adopted  unanimously  by  the  States  represented 
in  the  Convention  ;  but  it  was  manifest  on  its  face  that 
it  was  a  compromise  of  opposite  opinions,  and  it  was 
felt  by  those  who  desired  its  ratification  that  to  secure 
that  object  some  information  and  explanation  for  the 
public  were  essential.  Thus  some  of  those  who  had 
taken  the  most  active  part  in  its  formation  as  members 
of  the  Convention  undertook  this  task,  and  thus  it  hap- 
pens that  the  clearest  light  thrown  upon  the  proceed- 


266  VARIOUS  FORMS    OF  OPPOSITION. 

ings  of  the  Convention  comes  from  its  own  members. 
Hence  Hamilton  and  Madison  in  The  Federalist,  and 
John  Dickinson  in  his  essays  signed  Fabius,  explained 
the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  and  enforced  the 
necessity  of  their  adoption. 

Those  who  opposed  the  ratification  of  the  Constitu- 
tion may  be  divided,  for  our  purposes,  into  three  classes : 
First,  those  who  desired  that  a  stronger  government — 
that  is,  one  with  more  consolidated  powers — should  be 
adopted ;  most  of  these,  however,  afterwards  became 
ardent  supporters  of  the  Constitution.  The  leader  of 
such  men  as  these  was  Hamilton,  who  in  the  beginning 
had  proposed  that  both  the  President  and  the  Senators 
should  hold  their  offices  for  life,  but  who,  finding  him- 
self alone  in  that  opinion,  yielded  to  those  of  his  col- 
leagues, and  strongly  urged,  in  The  Federalist,  the  rati- 
fication of  the  Constitution.  Second,  those  who  believed 
that  too  much  power  had  been  reserved  by  the  Consti- 
tution to  the  separate  States,  holding  that  the  people, 
and  not  the  States,  were  the  true  sovereigns  in  the 
formation  of  a  constitution,  they  only  possessing  any 
constituent  power  which  they  could  delegate.  Third, 
those  who  believed,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  sover- 
eignty which  they  claimed  inhered  in  the  States  had 
either  been  wholly  ignored  by  the  provisions  of  the 
Constitution  or  had  been  given  up  entirely  to  the  pro- 
posed national  government. 

The  fundamental  differences  between  the  Federalists 
and  the  anti-Federalists,  friends  and  opponents  of  the 
Constitution,  grew  out  of  the  different  conception  which 
each  party  held  of  the  relations  of  the  people  to  the 
constitution-making  power,  if  we  may  so  call  it.  While 


THE  LETTERS   OF  FABIUS.  267 

the  Federalists  insisted  that  in  the  people  alone,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  States,  in  their  sovereign  capacity, 
lay  all  the  constituent  power  which  was  exercised  in 
forming  the  national  Constitution,  and  that  this  power 
had  never  been  delegated  to  the  States,  the  anti-Feder- 
alists contended  that  the  States,  with  all  their  various 
attributes  of  sovereignty,  still  subsisted  when  the  Con- 
stitution was  framed,  and  that  the  States,  as  such,  had 
entered  into  a  compact  or  league,  to  which  each  had 
contributed  a  definite  portion  of  this  power  to  form  a 
national  government  for  the  benefit  of  all.  These  dif- 
ferences, in  this  country  always  fundamental,  were,  at 
the  time  that  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  more  or  less 
pronounced  in  various  quarters.  Vast  consequences 
have  flowed  in  our  political  history  from  efforts  to  es- 
tablish them  as  the  fixed  policy  in  the  administration 
of  the  government,  and  hence  it  becomes  desirable  to 
ascertain  how  the  problem  presented  itself  to  a  mind 
like  that  of  Mr.  Dickinson,  and  how  he  proposed  to 
solve  it. 

He  had  contended  strongly  in  the  Convention  for  the 
conservation  of  the  identity  as  well  as  the  power  of  the 
States,  except  where  it  seemed  essential  that  this  power 
should  be  delegated  if  a  national  government  of  any 
force  was  to  be  established. 

In  the  nine  letters  signed  Fabius,  which  were  pub- 
lished shortly  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Convention, 
Mr.  Dickinson  appears  as  the  ardent  champion  of  the 
ratification  of  the  new  Constitution.  He  advocated  this 
course,  not  merely  because  he  thought  that  the  pro- 
posed government  would  be  better  suited  for  the  pur- 
pose in  view  than  that  established  by  the  Articles  of 


268       CONTRASTED   WITH  THE  FEDERALIST. 

Confederation,  but  because  he  found  that  the  Constitu- 
tion accorded  with  his  ideas  of  a  true  system  of  fed- 
eral government ;  and  he  seems  at  that  time  to  have 
been  wholly  free  from  that  fear  of  a  consolidated  gov- 
ernment by  which  many  others  were  oppressed.  He 
tried  to  make  it  appear  that  the  novel  features  of  the 
Constitution  were  its  strong  ones.  He  himself,  as  has 
been  said,  was  the  author  of  the  greatest  novelty  in  it, — 
that  of  a  double  representation,  the  one  by  means  of  sov- 
ereign States,  as  he  called  them,  where  all  should  be  on  a 
footing  of  equality,  and  the  other  by  the  people  directly, 
in  proportion  to  their  population.  These  letters,  with- 
out pretending  to  the  comprehensiveness  and  force  of 
argument  which  characterize  many  of  the  papers  of 
The  Federalist,  had  a  wide  influence.  They  were  prob- 
ably intended  for  a  more  numerous,  and  possibly  a  more 
popular,  audience.  Doubtless  they  did  much — as  Mr. 
Dickinson's  writings  always  did — to  remove  prejudices, 
and  they  certainly  proved  that  it  was  possible  for  the 
strongest  and  most  conscientious  advocate  qf  State 
sovereignty  to  support  warmly  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution,  and  to  do  it  in  a  tone  of  wise  moder- 
ation. 

In  his  view  of  the  Constitution,  Mr.  Dickinson  began 
by  explaining  the  nature  of  a  federal  system  and  show- 
ing the  nature  of  delegated,  or,  as  he  called  them,  "con- 
tributed," powers. 

"  When  persons  speak  of  a  confederation,"  he  says, 
"  do  they  or  do  they  not  acknowledge  that  the  whole  is 
interested  in  the  safety  of  every  part,  in  the  agreement 
of  parts,  in  the  relation  of  parts  to  one  another,  to 
the  whole,  or  to  other  societies  ?  If  they  do,  then  the 


HO  IV  OPPRESSION  IS   TO  BE  RESISTED.      269 

authority  of  the  whole  must  be  coextensive  with  its 
interests  ;  and  if  it  is,  the  will  of  the  whole  must  and 
ought  in  such  cases  to  govern,  or  else  the  whole  would 
have  interests  without  the  authority  to  manage  them, — 
a  position  which  prejudice  itself  cannot  digest." 

After  saying  that  the  judgment  of  the  most  en- 
lightened among  mankind  points  to  the  necessity  of  a 
division  of  the  governmental  powers  into  great  depart- 
ments, distinct  in  office  and  yet  connected  in  operation, 
he  says  that  it  must  be  granted  that  a  bad  administra- 
tion may  take  place.  "  What,"  he  asks,  "  is  then  to  be 
done  ?  The  answer  is  instantly  found.  Let  the  fasces 
be  lowered  before  the  supreme  sovereignty  of  the 
people.  It  is  their  duty  to  watch  and  their  right  to 
take  care  that  the  Constitution  be  preserved,  or,  in 
the  Roman  phrase  on  perilous  occasions,  to  provide 
that  the  republic  receive  no  damage." J  This  view  of 
the  work  of  the  Convention,  it  may  be  said,  is  very 
unlike  that  taken  by  a  man  who  had  been  President 
of  the  United  States,  and  who  therefore  may  have  been 
supposed  to  understand  the  true  relation  of  the  States 
to  the  general  government.  "  The  result  of  all  these 
arrangements,"  says  Mr.  Van  Buren,  in  his  "  Inquiry 
into  the  Rise  of  Political  Parties  in  the  United  States," 
published  after  his  death  in  1869  (after  the  war  of  the 
Rebellion),  "was,  that  the  Federal  Constitution  was  so 
constructed  as  to  put  it  in  the  power  of  a  bare  majority 
of  the  States  to  bring  the  government  proposed  by  it 
to  a  peaceable  end,  without  exposing  their  citizens  to 
the  necessity  of  resorting  to  force,  by  simply  withhold- 

1  In  other  words,  Mr.  Dickinson  justified  "revolution"  and  not 
"peaceable  secession"  in  the  last  resort. 


2?o    AMPHICTYONIC  AND  ACHAEAN  LEAGUES. 

ing  the  appointment  of  electors  or  the  choice  of  their 
Senators,  or  both." 

Mr.  Dickinson  then  turned,  as  he  was  always  inclined 
to  do,  to  history  for  illustrations  of  the  peculiar  posi- 
tion of  confederated  republics.  Our  fathers,  it  must 
be  remembered,  had  not  the  advantage,  which  we  pos- 
sess, of  learning  by  observation  the  causes  of  the  fail- 
ures of  so  many  modern  republics.  He  could  find 
nothing  in  history  which  resembled  the  system  proposed 
for  us  until  he  reached  the  times  of  the  Amphictyonic 
Council  or  the  Achaean  League.  These  certainly  were 
not  modern  instances  of  political  institutions,  nor  did 
they  undertake  to  provide  for  the  most  pressing  needs 
of  modern  times.  The  fashion  of  those  days,  however, 
in  both  the  Old  World  and  the  New,  was  to  go  back  to 
the  heroic  days  of  Greece  and  Rome  for  models,  and 
Mr.  Dickinson  followed  the  example  of  his  contempo- 
raries. The  Amphictyonic  Council  had  a  jurisdiction  a 
good  deal  more  enlarged  than  he  has  chosen  to  assign 
it,  but  he  considers  it  only  as  the  general  court  of 
Greece.  He  seems  to  think  that  in  its  want  of  power 
it  resembled  somewhat  the  government  which  we  were 
then  trying  to  revise,  that  of  the  Confederation,  for  he 
tells  us  that  it  failed  because  its  parts  were  not  suffi- 
ciently combined  to  guard  against  the  ambitious,  avari- 
cious, and  selfish  projects  of  some  of  the  States,  or,  if  it 
had  the  authority,  it  dared  not  employ  it.  To  the  force 
and  union  derived  from  the  Achaean  League,  on  the 
contrary,  he  ascribes  much  of  the  prosperity  and  glory 
of  Greece.  Its  different  States,  represented  in  a  Diet 
or  Congress,  "declared  war,  made  peace,  entered  into 
alliances,  and  compelled  every  State  in  the  Union  to 


OBJECTION  TO  THE  SYSTEM  AS  NOVEL.      271 

obey  its  ordinances.  Their  chief  officer  was  called 
Strategos,  and  he  was  chosen  in  the  Congress  by  a 
majority  of  votes.  He  was  vested  with  great  powers, 
especially  in  time  of  war,  and  was  liable  to  be  called  to 
account  for  misbehavior  by  the  Congress."  According 
to  Mr.  Dickinson's  view,  their  subsequent  weakness 
was  to  be  traced  to  the  faithlessness  to  their  obligations 
of  the  States  composing  this  league,  and  to  their  intes- 
tine quarrels.  Hence  disunion,  and  not  the  tendency 
to  aristocracy,  made  them  victims  first  of  the  power  of 
Macedonia,  and  then  of  Rome. 

After  drawing  what  encouragement  he  could  from 
the  experience  of  the  only  governments  in  history  which 
seemed  to  him  to  bear  any  analogy  to  the  federal  sys- 
tem proposed  for  us,  he  turns  to  that  objection  to  its 
ratification  which  was  undoubtedly  the  popular  one, — 
that  we  were  asked  to  try  an  experiment  which  might, 
after  all,  not  only  prove  a  failure,  but  might  also,  in 
the  process,  involve  us  in  ruin.  In  short,  he  had  to 
meet  that  most  natural  but  most  unreasoning  objection 
to  any  new  scheme, — a  feeling  of  uncertainty  as  to  what 
may  happen.  He  meets  this  objection  in  the  best  way 
in  which  it  could  be  met  when  arguing  the  question 
before  a  popular  audience.  He  shows  that  the  argu- 
ment from  uncertainty  as  to  the  result  might  always  be 
applied  to  any  proposed  change,  and  he  enforces  this 
view  by  a  singularly  apt  illustration.  At  that  time  the 
famous  speech  of  the  Earl  of  Belhaven  in  opposition  to 
the  proposed  union  between  England  and  Scotland  was 
no  doubt  familiar  to  many  of  his  readers.  Lord  Bel- 
haven,  with  a  patriotic  fervor  of  rhetoric  which  has  been 
seldom  surpassed,  spoke  of  the  proposed  union  as  a 


AN  APT  REPLY. 


direful  calamity.  He  pictured  in  detail  the  many  evils 
which  his  imagination  conjured  up  in  the  future  as  the 
inevitable  consequence  of  that  measure.  He  thought 
he  saw,  as  results  of  giving  up  a  free  and  independent 
Scotland,  "the  national  Church  placed  upon  an  equal 
level  with  Jews,  Papists,  Socinians,  Armenians,  Ana- 
baptists, and  other  sectaries  ;  the  noble  and  honorable 
peerage  of  Scotland,  whose  valiant  predecessors  had 
led  armies  against  their  enemies  at  their  own  costs  and 
charges,  now  divested  of  their  followers  and  vassalages ; 
the  present  peers  of  Scotland  walking  in  the  Court  of 
Requests  like  so  many  English  attorneys,  laying  aside 
their  walking-swords  when  in  company  with  English 
peers,  lest  their  self-defence  should  be  found  murder ; 
the  honest  and  industrious  tradesman  loaded  with  new 
taxes  and  impositions,  drinking  water  in  the  place  of 
ale,  eating  his  saltless  pottage,  petitioning  for  encour- 
agement to  his  manufactures,"  etc.,  to  the  end  of  the 
chapter. 

After  explaining  the  positive  merits  of  the  system 
which  it  was  proposed  to  adopt,  he  gives  us  a  most  in- 
teresting history  of  the  article  which  he  himself  had  so 
strenuously  advocated,  and  which  was,  as  we  have  said, 
a  perfectly  novel  feature  in  a  confederated  plan  of  gov- 
ernment. "The  proposition,"  he  says,  "was  expressly 
made  by  the  delegate  who  brought  it  forward  upon  this 
principle  :  that  a  territory  of  such  extent  as  that  of  the 
United  States  could  not  be  safely  and  advantageously 
governed  but  by  a  combination  of  republics,  each  re- 
taining all  the  rights  of  supreme  sovereignty  excepting 
such  as  ought  to  be  contributed  to  the  Union ;  that, 
for  the  better  preservation  of  these  sovereignties,  they 


THE  SENATE'S  POWER  EXPLAINED.          273 

ought  to  be  represented  in  a  body  by  themselves,  and 
with  equal  suffrage  ;  and  that  they  would  be  annihi- 
lated if  both  branches  of  the  legislature  were  to  be 
formed  of  representatives  of  the  people  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  inhabitants  in  each  State."  There 
were  many  who  objected  to  the  Constitution  because 
they  alleged  that  in  its  powers  and  in  their  distribution 
it  bore  a  close  resemblance  to  the  English  monarchical 
system.  These  persons  were  met  with  arguments  such 
as  these:  "Is  there  more  danger  to  our  liberty  from 
such  a  President  as  we  are  to  have  than  to  that  of 
Britons  from  an  hereditary  monarch  with  a  vast  revenue, 
absolute  in  the  erection  and  disposal  of  offices  and  in 
the  exercise  of  the  whole  executive  power ;  in  the  com- 
mand of  the  militia,  fleets,  and  armies,  and  the  direc- 
tion of  their  operations ;  in  the  establishment  of  fairs 
and  markets,  the  regulation  of  weights  and  measures, 
and  the  coining  of  money ;  who  can  call  Parliaments 
with  a  breath  and  dissolve  them  with  a  nod  ;  who  can 
at  his  will  make  war  and  peace,  and  treaties  irrevo- 
cably binding  the  nation  ;  who  can  grant  pardons  for 
crimes  and  titles  of  nobility  as  it  pleases  him  ?  Is  there 
more  danger  to  us  from  twenty-six  Senators,  or  double 
that  number,  than  to  Britons  from  an  hereditary  aristo- 
cratic body,  consisting  of  many  hundreds,  possessed  of 
enormous  wealth  in  lands  and  money,  strengthened  by 
a  host  of  dependants,  and  who,  availing  themselves 
of  defects  in  the  Constitution,  send  many  of  these  into 
the  House  of  Commons  ;  who  hold  a  third  part  of  the 
legislative  power  in  their  own  hands,  and  who  form 
the  highest  judicature  in  the  nation  ?  Is  there  more 
danger  to  us  from  a  House  of  Representatives,  to  be 

18 


274         WASHINGTON'S  OPINION  OF  FAB  I  US. 

chosen  by  all  the  freemen  of  the  Union  every  two 
years,  than  to  Britons  from  such  a  sort  of  representa- 
tion as  they  have  in  the  House  of  Commons,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  are  chosen  but  every  seven  years  ?  .  .  . 
What  bodies  are  there  in  Britain  vested  with  such  ca- 
pacities for  inquiring  into,  checking,  and  regulating  the 
conduct  of  national  affairs  as  our  sovereign  States  ? 
What  proportion  does  the  number  of  freeholders  in 
Britain  bear  to  the  number  of  the  people,  and  what  is 
the  proportion  in  the  United  States?"1 

From  these  extracts  it  is  very  clear  that  Mr.  Dickin- 
son, at  the  time  the  Constitution  was  presented  for  rati- 
fication, was  a  pronounced  Federalist,  as  the  term  was 
then  understood  ;  that  is,  he  was  its  upholder  with  all 

1  The  essays  of  Fabius  were  published  anonymously.  The  follow- 
ing letter  from  General  Washington  to  John  Vaughan,  expressing  his 
opinion  of  them,  is  of  interest : 

"  MOUNT  VERNON,  April  27th,  1788. 

"  SIR, — I  have  received  your  two  letters  of  the  i7th  and  25th  inst, 
and  the  papers  containing  the  four  numbers  of  Fabius  which  accom- 
panied them.  I  must  beg  you  to  accept  of  my  best  thanks  for  your 
polite  attention  in  forwarding  those  papers  to  me.  The  writer  of 
the  pieces  signed  Fabius,  whoever  he  is,  appears  to  be  master  of  his 
subject ;  he  treats  it  with  dignity,  and  at  the  same  time  expresses  him- 
self in  such  a  manner  as  to  render  it  intelligible  to  every  capacity.  I 
have  no  doubt  but  an  extensive  republication  of  those  numbers  would 
be  of  utility  in  removing  the  impressions  which  have  been  made  upon 
the  minds  of  many  by  an  unfair  or  partial  representation  of  the  pro- 
posed Constitution,  and  would  afford  desirable  information  upon  the 
subject  to  those  who  sought  for  it. 

" I  am  happy  to  hear  of  your  father's  safe  arrival  in  Jamaica;  you 
will  please  to  tender  my  regards  to  him  whenever  you  write. 
"  I  am,  sir,  y'r  most  obed't  h'ble  serv't, 

"G.  WASHINGTON. 

" JOHN  VAUGHAN." 


STATE   SOVEREIGNTY  INSISTED    UPON.       275 

its  peculiarities,  the  good  in  its  provisions  far  surpass- 
ing, in  his  opinion,  its  objectionable  features.  It  is 
clear  that  he  advocated  its  adoption  not  merely  because 
it  supplied  the  defects  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation, 
but  also  because  it  established  an  orderly  system  which, 
if  not  ideally  perfect,  had  the  merit  of  satisfying  the 
wants  of  the  larger  number  of  the  people.  He  went 
further,  perhaps,  than  many  Federalists  of  the  time  in 
laying  stress  upon  the  sovereignty  or  autonomy  of  the 
States,  but,  as  we  have  said,  he  did  this  on  conservative 
grounds  ;  and  possibly  his  mind  had  been  specially  di- 
rected to  the  dangers  of  proportional  representation 
from  his  position  as  a  delegate  in  the  Continental  Con- 
gress from  the  smallest  of  all  the  States.  He  seems, 
however,  to  have  been  affected,  as  time  went  on,  by 
that  alarming  fear  of  a  national  consolidation  of  power 
which  was  felt  by  many  anti-Federalists  as  the  greatest 
danger  to  which  the  new  system  was  exposed. 

These  essays  of  Mr.  Dickinson  are  remarkable  for 
the  absence  of  any  display  of  partisan  feeling.  They 
do  not  advocate  the  views  of  any  particular  political 
school.  They  read,  as  indeed  do  nearly  all  Dickinson's 
controversial  writings,  like  the  teachings  of  a  philoso- 
pher, and  their  authority  is  vastly  enhanced  by  the  calm 
serenity  and  moderation  of  their  tone.  One  would 
hardly  suppose  that  they  were  written  while  a  fierce 
fight  of  the  friends  and  opposers  of  the  proposed 
Constitution  was  going  on  around  him.  For  the  time 
being,  at  least,  he  took  the  part  which  had  always  so 
well  become  him,  that  of  an  independent.  He  hoped 
to  persuade  his  readers  to  listen  rather  to  the  voice  of 
reason  than  to  that  of  party  leaders. 


276     CONTROVERSY  ABOUT  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

It  turned  out,  unfortunately,  that  he  had  underesti- 
mated the  violence  of  popular  passion.  The  contro- 
versy which  had  begun  before  the  Convention  met,  and 
which  was  most  active  during  its  deliberations,  was  not 
closed  when  the  Constitution  was  adopted  and  the  new 
government  had  gone  into  operation.  The  same  par- 
ties now  found  a  new  question,  or  rather  the  old  ques- 
tion with  a  new  face,  in  the  interpretation  of  that 
instrument,  about  the  adoption  of  which  so  fierce  a 
struggle  had  been  waged.  The  anti-Federalists  ob- 
jected to  many  of  the  measures  which  were  urged,  on 
the  ground  that  a  strict  construction  of  its  powers 
gave  to  the  general  government  no  authority  to  enact 
them.  In  short,  the  controversy  was  reopened  with  re- 
newed vigor  in  regard  to  the  merits  respectively  of  a 
system  more  or  less  centralized  and  of  one  which  was 
simply  a  federal  compact  using  only  powers  clearly 
delegated ;  and  these  were  the  standards  by  which 
every  measure  proposed  in  Congress  was  tested.  The 
Federalists,  as  is  well  known,  insisted  upon  the  right  of 
the  new  government  to  exercise  what  were  called  im- 
plied powers, — that  is  to  say,  those  which  were  neces- 
sarily derived  from  the  general  powers  granted  by  the 
Constitution ;  while  the  anti-Federalists  interpreted  the 
Constitution  to  mean  that  no  powers  were  to  be  exer- 
cised which  had  not  been  granted  in  express  terms. 
The  result  was  that  many  public  men,  and  Mr.  Dickin- 
son was  one  of  them,  became  alarmed  at  the  liberal 
construction  which  was  placed  upon  these  provisions 
by  the  first  administration,  and,  in  the  discussion  that 
followed,  the  old  crucial  question  whether  the  Constitu- 
tion was  an  instrument  formed  solely  by  the  constituent 


FEDERAL   LEGISLATION  EXCITES  ALARM.      277 

power  of  the  people,  or  whether  it  was  a  compact 
between  sovereign  States  possessing  only  powers  ex- 
pressly delegated,  divided  the  people  of  the  country 
into  two  political  parties.  More  or  less  it  has  been  a 
cause  of  permanent  difference  between  parties  ever 
since.  Perhaps  it  may  not  be  considered  absolutely 
settled  at  this  day,  although  it  has  been  submitted  to 
that  ordeal  which  fundamental  irreconcilable  differences 
in  a  nation  must  undergo  in  the  last  resort,  that  of  civil 
war. 

In  the  first  administration,  that  of  General  Wash- 
ington, such  measures  as  the  assumption  of  the  State 
debts,  the  funding  system,  the  protection  of  American 
manufactures  by  duties  on  imports,  the  internal  revenue 
system,  the  incorporation  of  the  United  States  Bank, 
and  other  measures  of  a  general  character,  were  all 
not  merely  regarded  as  violations  of  the  Constitution, 
as  it  was  said  no  express  power  existed  to  enact  them, 
but  were  generally  spoken  of  also  by  their  opponents  as 
indicating  a  dangerous  tendency  to  consolidate  power 
in  the  hands  of  the  national  government,  and  therefore 
a  desire  on  the  part  of  their  advocates  to  establish  here 
a  monarchical  system  under  a  republican  form. 

Exactly  what  part  Mr.  Dickinson  took  in  these  dis- 
cussions it 'is  not  easy  to  say  with  certainty.  On  the 
one  side  we  have  his  opinions  in  regard  to  the  Consti- 
tution, of  which  we  have  spoken,  and  of  which  he  was 
the  strenuous  supporter  and  advocate  ;  and  on  the  other 
is  the  well-known  fact  that  he  was  the  warm  friend  of 
Mr.  Jefferson  and  of  his  administration,  and  that  he  was 
frequently  consulted  by  him  in  regard  to  the  policy  of 
certain  proposed  public  measures. 


278     DICKINSON  RETIRES  FROM  PUBLIC  LIFE. 

Mr.  Dickinson  was  not  a  member  of  Congress,  nor 
did  he  hold  any  Federal  public  office,  after  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Constitution,  but  it  would  appear  from  his 
writings  and  correspondence  during  the  remainder  of 
his  life  that  he  was  in  a  party  sense  an  anti-Federalist, 
or  Republican,  as  the  Democrats  were  then  called.1 

1  It  would  appear  from  the  following  correspondence  that  his 
friends  were  desirous  that  he  should  represent  Delaware  in  the  Senate 
at  this  time : 

"  DEAR  SIR, — Permit  me  to  congratulate  you  upon  the  adoption 
of  the  Federal  government.  The  enclosed  paper  contains  some  of 
my  feelings  upon  this  most  auspicious  event.  It  is  intended  as  a 
present  to  Miss  Sally. 

"  The  success  of  the  new  government  in  restoring  order  to  our 
country  will  depend  very  much  upon  the  talents  and  principles  of  the 
gentlemen  who  are  to  compose  the  Federal  legislature.  Your  friends 
in  Philadelphia  have  desired  you  to  be  one  of  the  members  of  the 
Senate  from  the  Delaware  State.  I  know  how  perfectly  your  present 
tranquil  mode  of  life  accords  with  the  present  happy  frame  of  your 
mind.  But  remember,  my  dear  friend,  that  '  none  liveth  to  himself.' 
Even  our  old  age  is  not  our  own  property.  All  its  fruits  of  wisdom 
and  experience  belong  to  the  public.  '  To  do  good'  is  the  business 
of  life.  '  To  enjoy  rest"1  is  the  happiness  of  heaven.  We  pluck  pre- 
mature or  forbidden  fruit  when  we  grasp  at  rest  on  this  side  the  grave. 
I  know,  too,  your  present  infirm  state  of  body ;  but  an  active  interest 
in  the  great  objects  and  business  of  the  new  legislature  for  a  few 
years,  by  giving  tone  to  your  mind,  will  invigorate  your  body. 
Should  you  only  assist  with  your  advice  for  one  or  two  years,  till  all 
the  wheels  of  the  great  machine  are  set  in  motion,  your  country  will 
forgive  your  resignation  of  your  seat  in  the  Senate  afterwards. 

"With  most  respectful  compts.  to  Mrs.  Dickinson  and  Miss  Sally 
and  love  to  Miss  Maria,  in  which  my  dear  Mrs.  Rush  joins,  I  am,  my 
dear  sir,  Yours  sincerely, 

"BENJ'N  RUSH." 

"  MY  DEAR  FRIEND, — I  am  much  obliged  for  thy  letter  of  last 
month,  and  should  be  very  desirous  of  pursuing  the  advice  of  a 


CHANGE    OF  HIS  POLITICAL    VIEWS.  279 

During  the  seventeen  years  that  he  lived  after  the 
Constitution  was  ratified,  his  keen  interest  in  public 
affairs  and  the  eagerness  with  which  his  opinions  con- 
cerning the  policy  of  public  measures  was  sought  led 
him  often  to  express  his  opinions,  although  he  held 
no  official  position.  We  are  left  to  speculate,  as  we 
have  said,  as  to  the  causes  which  changed  the  views 
of  a  man  who  had  been  regarded  during  his  whole 
previous  life  as  a  conservative  of  the  conservatives,  and 
led  him  to  support  those  who  advocated  the  popular, 
almost  revolutionary,  doctrines  which  were  at  one 
time  (when  the  influence  of  the  French  Revolution  was 
first  felt  here)  held  by  the  anti-Federalists,  and  who 
were  opposed  to  the  administration  of  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment under  General  Washington  and  Mr.  Adams. 
In  the  absence  of  any  trustworthy  history  of  the  rise  of 
political  parties  in  this  country  (hiatus  valde  deflendus), 
we  are  at  a  loss  to  explain  accurately  the  causes  of 
this  wonderful  transformation.  We  think  it  very  clear, 
however,  that  the  Democratic  views — if  we  may  so  call 

friend  who  wishes  well  not  only  to  me  but  to  his  country.  How- 
ever, it  is  impossible  for  me  to  engage  again  in  the  duties  of  public 
life.  I  believe  there  is  not  a  man  upon  earth  besides  myself  who  can 
form  any  idea  of  the  distresses,  from  weakness  of  body,  that  I  have 
undergone  by  endeavoring  to  sustain  a  public  character  with  some 
decency  while  laboring  under  such  infirmities. 

"  I  cannot  think,  with  such  a  constitution  and  at  such  an  age,  of 
subjecting  myself  again  to  such  inconveniences. 

"Be  pleased  to  accept  my  heartiest  congratulations  on  the  adop- 
tion by  the  eleventh  State,  and  to  believe  me 

"  Thy  sincere  friend, 

"  JOHN  DICKINSON. 

"WILMINGTON,  August  4,  1788. 

"DR.  RUSH." 


28o  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION. 

them — held  by  Mr.  Dickinson  were  as  different  from 
those  maintained  by  the  anti-Federalists,  in  regard  to  the 
interpretation  of  the  Constitution  and  to  the  "  rights  of 
man"  after  the  French  model,  as  they  were  from  those 
of  Hamilton,  Fisher  Ames,  or  other  pronounced  Fed- 
eralists. Mr.  Dickinson,  as  representing  Delaware, 
was  necessarily  an  anti-Federalist  and  the  opponent  of 
any  measure  which  looked  towards  the  centralization 
of  the  national  power,  and  that  was  enough  in  those 
early  days  to  make  him  a  good  Democrat. 

But  while  parties  here  were  violently  discussing  ques- 
tions relating  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Constitu- 
tion, an  unexpected  event  occurred  which  turned  men's 
minds  to  a  different  method  of  ascertaining  their  friend- 
liness or  hostility  to  popular  principles.  That  event  was 
the  French  Revolution,  which  began  its  course  a  few 
months  after  our  government  under  the  Constitution 
was  organized.  The  body  of  the  American  people 
had  no  doubt  in  the  beginning  of  the  genuineness  and 
success  of  the  French  republic,  and  they  viewed  all 
doubts  in  others  as  arising  from  a  love  of  monarchy. 
The  Federalists  were  charged  with  a  design  to  intro- 
duce into  this  country  a  government  similar  to  that  of 
England.  The  Alien  and  Sedition  Laws,  based  upon 
an  enactment  in  that  country  designed  to  stop  the 
progress  of  the  French  Revolution  there,  were  most 
unpopular  here.  The  Senate,  the  Judiciary,  and  the  Ex- 
ecutive were  pointed  out  as  differing  from  the  French 
republican  system  and  so  far  differing  from  true  repub- 
licanism. The  enthusiasm  in  favor  of  the  French  in 
this  country,  and  the  sympathy  which  was  manifested 
towards  them  because  they  stood  alone  in  Europe, 


OUR  RELATIONS   TO  IT.  281 

threatened  with  attacks  from  all  the  great  monarchical 
powers,  were  intense.  The  excesses  of  the  terrorists, 
and,  later,  even  the  ambition  of  Bonaparte,  did  not 
destroy  all  the  illusions  which  had  taken  possession  of 
the  anti-Federalists.  They  went  so  far  as  to  insist  that 
the  only  true  type  of  liberty  was  that  of  which  France 
had  set  us  the  example,  that  our  own  was  but  a 
"bastard  imitation,"  and  that  their  opponents  were 
only  monarchists  in  disguise,  who  were  restrained  by 
the  good  faith  and  honesty  of  Washington  alone  from 
turning  our  system  in  form,  as  they  had  already  done 
in  substance,  into  a  monarchical  government,  such  as 
that  of  Great  Britain.  The  Federalists  were  not  be- 
hind their  opponents  in  denouncing  the  schemes  and 
the  doctrines  of  the  Democrats.  They  called  them 
Jacobins  and  infidels,  and  denounced  them  as  dis- 
organizers  and  revolutionists  in  State  and  in  Church. 
When  our  foreign  affairs  became  entangled  with  their 
troubles,  as  they  soon  did  when  hostilities  broke  out 
in  i  793  between  England  and  France,  all  who  thought 
that  the  policy  of  the  administration  towards  the  bel- 
ligerents should  be  that  of  cautious  neutrality  were 
denounced  as  faithless  to  our  alliance  with  France,  and 
as  lacking  in  sympathy  with  those  who  in  the  Old  World 
were  struggling  for  liberty  against  tyrants.  Neither 
the  excesses  of  their  revolution  nor  the  extraordinary 
proceedings  of  Genet,  the  first  minister  of  the  republic 
here,  in  1 793,  his  insolent  defiance  of  the  government 
which  had,  as  a  neutral  power,  forbidden  him  to  com- 
mission privateers  in  our  ports  to  cruise  against  the 
English  commerce,  or  his  threatened  appeal  to  the 
people  in  favor  of  France  from  the  order  of  the  govern- 


282       DIFFERENT  SCHOOLS    OF  DEMOCRATS. 

ment  to  which  he  was  accredited  as  minister, — none  of 
these  events  could  dispel  the  infatuation  which  led  cer- 
tain newspapers  of  the  party  to  denounce  the  course 
of  the  administration  towards  this  truculent  envoy. 
This  party  was  the  anti-Federal,  Democratic,  or  Re- 
publican (for  by  all  three  of  these  names  it  was  called 
at  different  times),  and  to  it  Mr.  Dickinson  is  said  to 
have  belonged. 

It  should  be  said,  however,  that  although  Mr.  Dick- 
inson advocated  strongly  the  French  alliance  as  a 
proper  measure  of  our  foreign  policy,  he  never  justified 
the  excesses  of  the  French  Revolution  on  any  ground. 
In  the  essays  of  Fabius  he  speaks  of  the  "  reign  of 
monsters  in  France  having  ended,"  and,  later,  of  the 
danger  in  which  the  country  was  placed  by  the  "  flood 
of  atheism  and  democracy"  which  was  pouring  in  upon 
us  from  France.  Indeed,  a  government  of  violence  and 
force,  whether  under  the  control  of  the  monarch  or 
under  that  of  the  mob,  had  always  been  opposed  to  his 
political  instincts.  The,  truth  is  that  the  Democratic 
party  of  that  day,  to  give  it  the  name  which  was  finally 
assumed  by  the.  opponents  of  the  first  two  administra- 
tions, was  a  body  of  a  composite  nature,  its  different 
parts  attracting  adherents  for  very  different  reasons. 
Thus,  the  governing  classes  in  the  Southern  States 
called  themselves  Democrats  or  Republicans,  but  their 
political  doctrines  were  based  upon  State  sovereignty 
and  a  jealousy  of  the  national  government,  and  not 
upon  any  sympathy  with  the  doctrines  of  equality  and 
of  popular  rights  laid  down  in  the  declaration  of  "  droits 
derhomme  et  du  citoyen."  In  that  section  of  the  coun- 
try the  ideal  of  the  commonwealth  was  an  agricultural 


DEMOCRACY  IN  THE  NORTH  AND   WEST.      283 

community  formed  of  people  with  simple  habits  and 
needs,  resembling  that  which  prevailed  in  Virginia  pre- 
vious to  the  Revolution,  the  established  Church  and  the 
entailed  estates  being  destroyed.  There  was  among 
this  class  a  strong  aversion  to  the  trading  classes,  who 
were  supposed  to  owe  their  fortunes  to  the  weakness 
or  the  misfortunes  of  other  portions  of  the  community, 
and  who  were  charged  with  having  so  managed  the 
government  under  the  administrations  of  General 
Washington  and  Mr.  Adams  as  to  have  enriched  them- 
selves by  the  operation  of  the  Funding  Bill  and  kin- 
dred measures. 

In  the  Northern  and  Western  States,  on  the  contrary, 
where  society  was  very  differently  organized,  Democ- 
racy presented  to  its  adherents  a  different,  if  not  an 
opposite,  face.  The  party  was  especially  large  and 
dominant  in  the  cities,  and  there  European  ideas  of 
democracy  formed  the  moving  impulse,  while  questions 
of  strict  construction  or  the  claims  of  State  sovereignty 
were  regarded  as  simple  abstractions,  without  any  prac- 
tical importance  or  value  whatever.  There,  sympathy 
with  the  ideas  of  the  French  Revolution  was  strong, 
and  it  was  insisted  that  in  our  foreign  policy  we  should 
favor  France,  even  at  the  risk  of  violating  our  neu- 
trality and  at  the  expense  of  the  other  belligerent. 
Moreover,  the  Democratic  party  and  indeed  all  parties 
at  the  North  at  that  time  were  made  up  of  an  active, 
aggressive,  and  enterprising  people,  who  were  seeking 
by  their  own  industry,  trade,  and  commerce  to  enrich 
themselves,  feeling  that  while  they  did  so  they  were 
thereby  increasing  the  influence  and  power  of  their 
country  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 


284    JEFFERSON'S  DREAD   OF  CENTRALIZATION. 

The  cardinal  principle  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  the  leader 
of  the  Democratic  party,  was  a  dread  of  centralization, 
— a  danger, 'according  to  him,  inherent  in  the  Constitu- 
tion we  had  adopted,  and  made  clearly  apparent  by  the 
measures  of  those  who  first  administered  it.  He  no 
doubt  honestly  thought,  as  he  repeatedly  said,  that  by 
his  election  as  President  in  1801  this  country  had  been 
rescued  from  the  English  monarchical  system  which  his 
opponents  were  striving  to  establish.  This  belief  (which 
seems  to  have  been  prevalent  at  the  time  among  many 
prominent  public  men,  but  which  is  utterly  unsupported 
by  any  evidence  which  history  offers  us)  appears  to 
have  tinged  his  opinion  of  all  the  measures  of  the 
Federalists.  Mr.  Jefferson,  besides  feeling,  like  all  the 
disciples  of  Rousseau,  little  sympathy  with  the  trading 
classes  of  the  nation,  shown  among  other  ways  by  such 
phrases  as  this,  "that  he  wished  that  this  country  was 
separated  from  Europe  by  an  ocean  of  fire,"  was  in 
many  respects  what  the  French  call  an  ideologue.  His 
idea  of  statesmanship  when  he  became  President  was 
to  make  every  effort  to  harmonize  parties  at  home  (for 
he  thought  that  the  mass  of  his  opponents  had  been 
deluded,  but  that  they  were  not  wilful  in  their  delu- 
sions and  would  not  persist  in  them),  and  to  conduct 
our  foreign  affairs  so  as  not  to  involve  us  in  war.  He 
seems  to  have  had  little  conception  of  the  imperial  des- 
tiny which  awaited  his  country.  He  had  a  passion  for 
simplicity  in  all  things,  and  especially  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  that  most  complex  of  human  machines,  a  pop- 
ular government.  "  What  is  necessary,"  he  says,  "  to 
make  us  a  happy  and  prosperous  people?  A  wise 
and  frugal  government,  which  shall  restrain  men  from 


EFFECT  OF  JEFFERSON'S  INFLUENCE.       285 

injuring  one  another,  which  shall  leave  them  otherwise 
free  to  regulate  their  own  pursuits  of  industry  and  im- 
provement, and  shall  not  take  from  the  mouth  of  labor 
the  bread  it  has  earned.  This  is  the  sum  of  good 
government,  and  this  is  necessary  to  close  the  circle 
of  our  felicities."  These  ideas  of  the  functions  of  gov- 
ernment, which  have  never  assumed  any  practical 
shape  in  its  administration  during  our  history,  and 
least  of  all  during  the  Presidency  of  Jefferson,  seem 
to  have  had  a  strange  fascination  for  Mr.  Dickinson. 
No  stronger  proof  could  be  given  of  Jefferson's  ex- 
traordinary capacity  of  influencing  other  men's  minds, 
often  those  of  his  contemporaries  who  had  been  most 
thoroughly  trained  in  state-craft,  than  Dickinson's  con- 
version to  his  views.  By  adopting  them  he  seemed  to 
disown  all  the  principles  which  had  up  to  that  time 
formed  the  basis  of  his  political  life.  Hitherto  he  had 
always  contended  that  he  could  form  no  conception  of 
liberty  unless  guarded  and  protected  by  law,  and  that 
the  only  government  in  history  which  had  brought 
liberty  into  friendly  alliance  with  law  was  the  English. 
Now  we  find  him  defending  the  new  French  theories, 
holding  apparently  with  Mr.  Jefferson  that  government 
should  be  a  mere  police  force,  and  that  social  liberty 
requires  no  other  safeguard  for  its  protection.  All 
this  would  seem  strange  and  inexplicable  enough,  did 
we  not  remember  that  in  France  the  wisest  of  phil- 
osophers and  statesmen  had  been  moved  from  their 
most  strongly  entrenched  habits  and  prejudices  as  ad- 
vocates of  absolutism  in  government  by  the  passion- 
ate declamations  of  Rousseau  and  Diderot  to  adopt 
similar  opinions. 


286  LETTERS   TO    GOVERNOR  M^KEAN. 

The  two  following  letters,  the  first  written  on  the 
day  Mr.  Jefferson  was  inaugurated,  and  the  other  some 
time  previously,  are  good  specimens  of  the  opinions  of 
Mr.  Dickinson  on  the  delusions  of  the  Federalists : 

"  WILMINGTON,  the  fourth  of  the  third  Month,  1801. 
"To  GOVERNOR  McKEAN : 

"My  DEAR  FRIEND, — This  day,  added  to  the  memorable  events 
that  have  latterly  preceded  it,  completes  the  wishes  of  those  who 
sincerely  love  their  country. 

"Among  that  honorable  band  with  pleasure  I  count  my  old  friend, 
and  therefore  offer  to  him  my  heartiest  congratulations. 

"Having  from  my  first  outset  in  public  life  been  deeply  affected 
by  the  charms  of  Liberty,  and  having  from  that  early  period  to  my 
old  age  been,  as  thou  knows,  without  fee  or  reward  an  advocate  for 
her  slandered  righteous  cause,  the  review  affords  me  great  satisfaction  ; 
and  I  thank  God  that  I  have  lived  to  see  her  sacred,  salutary  princi- 
ples so  warmly  adopted  by  my  fellow-citizens,  and  so  far  practised 
upon  for  the  accomplishment  of  all  the  blessings  that  by  the  laws  of 
our  nature  are  made  dependent  on  her  existence. 

"  Next  to  the  humble  hope  of  admittance  into  the  mansions  of 
everlasting  happiness,  the  most  cheerful  prospect  to  us  who  are  likely 
soon  to  land  on  the  shore  of  immortality  from  this  side  of  life,  on 
which  all  who  are  dear  to  us  are  to  continue  still  embarked,  is  purely 
this,  that  '  De  Republica  nil  desperandum. ' 

"  With  an  affection  unimpaired  by  years,  I  remain  thy  friend, 

"  JOHN  DICKINSON." 

"  WILMINGTON,  the  Qth  of  the  yth  Month,  1800. 
"  To  GOVERNOR  McKEAN  : 

"  MY  DEAR  FRIEND, — Thy  letter  of  the  23d  of  last  month,  with 
the  enclosure,  is  received,  for  which  be  pleased  to  accept  my  thanks. 

"  I  can  form  some  estimate  of  the  '  cares  and  labors'  that  must  in- 
cessantly have  engaged  mind  arid  body  for  the  last  six  months,  and 
rejoice  at  the  prospect  of  '  calmer  seas  and  gentle  breezes. ' 

"  I  cannot  but  entertain  hopes  that  many  thousands  of  the  deluded 
inhabitants  of  Pennsylvania  will  become  sincere  converts  to  Repub- 
licanism when  they  find  the  government  of  Republicans  uniting 


JEFFERSON  AND    THE  POLICE  POWER.       287 

sound  policy,  firmness,  justice,  and  mercy  in  its  administration,  and 
faithfully  aiming  at  the  promotion  of  general  happiness.  As  for  the 
deluders,  the  various  classes  of  which  have  been  well  defined,  may 
they  ever  be  restrained  by  an  unintermitting  vigilance  from  endan- 
gering the  public  welfare.  Their  passions  and  prejudices  deserve  not 
the  name  of  principles.  They  are  hostile  to  liberty  and  the  best 
interests  of  mankind,  and  I  like  the  determination  that  gives  them 
their  proper  title  and  meets  them  face  to  face. 

"  I  hope  my  old  friend  will  eminently  contribute  to  vindicate  the 
cause  of  truth,  freedom,  and  human  felicity.  It  is  a  cause  allied  to 
heaven,  and  it  is  better  to  defy  its  foes  than  to  treat  with  them. 

"  I  begin  to  entertain  expectations  that  internally  things  are  work- 
ing together  for  good ;  but  when  I  turn  my  view  to  the  country  of 
s forms,  l  nimborum  in  patriam,'  I  confess  I  look  for  nothing  but 
deceitful  calms,  to  be  succeeded  by  the  most  furious  and  tempestu- 
ous agitation  which  ambition,  avarice,  and  revenge  are  capable  of 
exciting. ' ' 


It  is,  however,  to  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Jefferson's 
conception  of  government  included  practically  many 
things  which  would  not  seem  to  be  embraced  by  his 
narrow  definition  of  its  appropriate  functions.  It  in- 
cluded not  only  the  guarantee  of  equal  and  exact  jus- 
tice to  all  men  under  its  rule,  but  the  establishment 
of  peace,  commerce,  and  honest  friendship  with  all 
nations,  entangling  alliances  with  none,  the  support  of 
the  State  governments  in  all  their  rights,  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  general  government  in  its  whole  constitu- 
tional vigor,  absolute  acquiescence  in  the  decisions  of 
the  majority,  the  vital  principle  of  republics  (from  which, 
as  he  said,  there  is  no  appeal  but  to  force),  the  enrol- 
ment of  a  well-disciplined  militia,  economy  in  the  public 
expenses,  and,  indeed,  almost  all  the  objects  which  have 
been  sought  for  by  men  since  governments  were  first 


288        CORRESPONDENCE    WITH  JEFFERSON. 

established  by  them  on  earth.  Doubtless  it  was  not  to 
a  government  exercising  simply  police  powers,  but  to 
one  which  was  made  wise  and  beneficial  by  exercising 
the  powers  enumerated  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  commentary 
on  his  original  definition,  that  Mr.  Dickinson  gave  his 
willing  adhesion. 

The  correspondence  between  Jefferson  and  Dickin- 
son during  the  early  years  of  Jefferson's  administration 
was  most  confidential  and  intimate.  The  President 
writes  to  Dickinson  on  the  2ist  of  June,  1801,  on  a 
subject  which  has  tormented  him,  as  it  has  done  many 
Presidents  since, — the  distribution  of  official  patronage. 
He  says  that  he  has  been  urged  to  appoint  a  person, 
of  whom  he  knows  nothing,  Collector  of  the  Customs  in 
Delaware,  and  he  writes  confidentially  to  his  friend  for 
information,  in  case  it  be  desirable  to  make  any  removal, 
"for,"  he  says,  "you  know  Republicans  do  not  admit 
the  removing  any  person  from  office  merely  for  a  dif- 
ference of  political  opinion."  So  on  the  igth  of  De- 
cember of  the  same  year  he  writes  more  fully  on 
general  politics.  "The  approbation  of  my  ancient 
friends  is  above  all  things  the  most  grateful  to  my 
heart.  They  know  for  what  objects  we  relinquished 
the  delights  of  domestic  society,  of  tranquillity  and 
science,  and  committed  ourselves  to  the  ocean  of  revo- 
lution, to  wear  out  the  only  life  God  has  given  us  here, 
in  scenes  the  benefits  of  which  will  accrue  only  to  those 
who  follow  us.  Surely  we  had  in  view  to  obtain  the 
theory  and  practice  of  good  government ;  and  how  any 
who  s.eemed  so  ardent  in  this  pursuit  could  so  shame- 
fully have  apostatized,  and  supposed  we  meant  only  to 
put  our  government  in  other  hands  but  not  other  forms, 


JEFFERSON'S  THEORY  OF  GOVERNMENT.       289 

is  indeed  wonderful.  The  lesson  we  have  had  will 
probably  be  useful  to  the  people  at  large,  by  showing 
to  them  how  capable  they  are  of  being  made  the  in- 
struments of  their  own  bondage.  A  little  more  pru- 
dence and  moderation  in  those  who  had  mounted  them- 
selves on  their  fears,  and  it  would  have  been  long  and 
difficult  to  unhorse  them.  Their  madness  has  done  in 
three  years  what  reason  alone,  acting  against  them, 
would  not  have  effected  in  many,  and  the  more  so  as 
they  might  have  gone  on  forming  new  entrenchments 
for  themselves  from  year  to  year.  My  great  anxiety 
at  present  is  to  avail  ourselves  of  our  ascendency  to 
establish  good  principles  and  good  practices,  to  fortify 
republicanism  behind  as  many  barriers  as  possible, 
that  the  outworks  may  give  time  to  rally  and  save  the 
citadel,  should  that  be  again  in  danger.  On  their  part 
they  have  retired  into  the  Judiciary  as  a  stronghold. 
There  the  remains  of  Federalism  are  to  be  preserved 
and  fed  from  the  treasury,  and  from  that  battery  all  the 
works  of  Federalism  are  to  be  beaten  down  and  erased. 
By  a  fraudulent  use  of  the  Constitution  which  has  made 
judges  irremovable,  they  have  multiplied  useless  judges 
merely  to  strengthen  their  phalanx." 

It  would  probably  help  us  very  much  in  forming  an 
estimate  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  character,  after  he  became 
a  friend  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  if  we  could  discover  the  letter 
to  which  this  extraordinary  production  of  the  latter  was 
an  answer,  or  if  we  could  know  how  he  regarded  the 
opinions  expressed  in  it.  Unfortunately,  after  a  dili- 
gent search,  no  direct  reference  to  this  letter  is  to  be 
found  among  Mr.  Dickinson's  papers.  Of  one  thing 
we  may  be  assured, — that  whatever  Dickinson  may  have 

J9 


290        DICKINSON'S  PECULIAR   DEMOCRACY. 

thought  of  the  Federalists  and  their  schemes,  and  es- 
pecially of  John  Adams,  whom  he  had  good  reason  to 
distrust,  he  never  posed  as  the  savior  of  his  country, 
claiming  that  he  had  helped  to  rescue  it  from  the  immi- 
nent danger  (which  existed  only  in  the  imagination  of 
some  of  the  most  violent  of  the  Democratic  party)  of 
the  transformation  of  the  government  into  a  monarchy. 
Nothing  is  more  remarkable,  as  the  reader  must  have 
observed,  in  all  the  controversial  writings  of  Mr.  Dick- 
inson, than  his  careful  abstinence  from  ascribing  bad 
motives  and  sinister  designs  to  his  political  opponents. 
Whether  that  opponent  was  Galloway,  who  tried  to  keep 
him  out  of  the  Continental  Congress,  in  1774,  because 
he  thought  him  not  loyal  to  the  British  Crown,  or  John 
Adams,  who  denounced  him  because  he  thought  him 
too  friendly  to  it,  his  attitude  was  always  the  same, — a 
dignified  and  contemptuous  silence,  a  calm  conscious- 
ness that  his  actions  would  speak  louder  than  words. 
So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  discover,  friend  as  he 
was  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  there  is  no  evidence  that  he 
ever  believed  in  that  conspiracy  of  the  Federalists  to 
overturn  the  government  and  establish  in  its  place  a 
monarchy,  the  rumor  of  which  so  much  alarmed  the 
country,  and  the  fear  of  which  had  so  much  to  do  with 
Mr.  Jefferson's  election  to  the  Presidency. 

Their  correspondence  continued  during  the  first 
term  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  office.  There  is,  among  others, 
an  interesting  letter  from  him  dated  gih  of  August, 
1803,  concerning  the  Louisiana  purchase  and  the  hopes 
with  which  he  was  inspired  by  this  acquisition  to  our 
territory.  Of  course  neither  he  nor  any  one  else 
could  have  foreseen,  at  that  time,  what  an  imperial 


CESSION  OF  LOUISIANA.  291 

domain  these  lands  were  to  become  in  our  hands.  He 
says,  "The  acquisition  of  New  Orleans  would  of  itself 
have  been  a  great  thing,  as  it  would  have  insured  to 
our  Western  brethren  the  means  of  exporting  their 
produce  [this  was  the  territory  which  our  Commissioners 
in  France  were  instructed  to  negotiate  for],  but  that  of 
Louisiana  is  inappreciable,  giving  us  the  sole  dominion 
of  the  Mississippi.  It  excludes  those  bickerings  which 
we  know  of  a  certainty  would  have  put  us  at  war  with 
France  immediately,  and  it  secures  to  us  the  course 
of  a  peaceable  nation.  The  unquestioned  bounds  of 
Louisiana  are  the  Iberville  and  the  Mississippi  on  the 
east,  the  Mexicano  [Sabine  River],  or  the  highlands 
east  of  it,  on  the  west,  thence  from  the  heads  of  the 
Mexicano,  gaining  the  highlands  which  include  the 
waters  of  the  Mississippi  and  its  source,  where  we  join 
the  English,  or  perhaps  to  the  Lake  of  the  Woods." 
He  then  speaks  of  the  well-known  constitutional  diffi- 
culties about  the  purchase  of  the  territory,  and  goes  on 
to  say,  "  With  respect  to  the  disposal  of  the  country — 
we  must  take  the  island  of  New  Orleans  and  the  west 
side  of  the  river  as  high  up  as  Point  Coupee,  containing 
nearly  the  whole  inhabitants,  say  about  fifty  thousand, 
and  erect  it  into  a  State  or  annex  it  to  the  Mississippi 
Territory,  and  shut  up  all  the  rest  from  settlement  for 
a  long  time,"  etc.  He  thinks  it  might  serve  as  a  place 
for  transferring  the  Indians  east  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
that  this  arrangement  would  present  a  double  advan- 
tage, as  the  price  for  which  the  lands  then  held  by  the 
Indians  could  be  sold  would  go  far  towards  paying  the 
purchase-money  of  Louisiana. 

Mr.  Dickinson,  however,  was  not  always  in  sympathy 


292  DIFFERS   WITH  MR.  JEFFERSON. 

with  Mr.  Jefferson's  opinions  or  public  acts.  In  the 
year  1805  there  was  a  strong  disposition  manifested, 
especially  in  the  Southern  States,  for  the  acquisition 
of  Florida  from  Spain.  As  we  had  claims  against  the 
Spanish  government  for  spoliations  of  the  property  of 
our  citizens  at  New  Orleans  and  at  sea,  and  as  there 
had  been  some  incursions  made  by  her  Mexican  troops 
on  the  line  of  the  Sabine  River  (our  southern  frontier), 
it  was  hoped  that  by  negotiating  with  the  Spanish 
government  all  these  difficulties  might  be  settled  at 
one  time  and  the  purchase  or  acquisition  of  Florida 
finally  completed.  Mr.  Monroe  was  sent  to  Madrid  to 
conduct  this  business,  and  completely  failed  to  get  any 
redress  for  our  complaints  or  to  make  any  advance 
towards  the  acquisition  of  Florida.  It  was  thought 
proper  by  the  President,  in  order  to  bring  Spain  to 
terms,  to  assume  in  his  annual  message,  December, 
1805,  a  warlike  tone  towards  her.  Probably  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son had  no  intention  of  carrying  out  his  threats,  espe- 
cially as  the  public  clamor  at  that  time  against  the  out- 
rages of  England  and  France  upon  our  neutral  com- 
merce seemed  more  likely  to  force  us  into  war  with 
them  than  with  Spain.  But  the  tone  of  Mr.  Jefferson's 
message  alarmed  Mr.  Dickinson,  and,  friend  as  he  was 
of  the  President,  he  felt  called  upon  to  remonstrate  in 
the  following  letter  to  Dr.  Logan  : 

John  Dickinson  to  George  Logan,  Senator  in  Congress. 

MY  DEAR  KINSMAN, — I  have  read  the  Message  again  and  again, 
and  the  more  I  study  it  the  less  I  like  the  most  important  sections 
of  it.  Perhaps  future  communications  may  throw  light  on  the  dark 
parts.  At  present  they  are  obscured  by  a  very  portentous  gloom. 
Particulars  are  not  brought  into  view ;  but  they  must  be  outrageous 


THE  LOUISIANA   PURCHASE.  293 

indeed,  to  correspond  with  the  language  that  has  been  used  in  re- 
ferring to  them. 

Surely  we  are  not  to  be  plunged  into  a  war  on  account  of  such 
characters  as  the  Kempfers.  The  idea  that  occurs  to  me  is  this — 
that  our  government  has  committed  momentous  errors  in  the  nego- 
tiation with  Spain,  which  cannot  well  be  retracted,  and  now  en- 
deavors to  cover  them  by  an  excitement  of  national  passion.  I 
have  not  the  least  doubt  but  that  we  have  improperly  alarmed  and 
provoked  her. 

The  western  limits  of  Louisiana  have  never  been  ascertained  by 
any  treaties,  ancient  maps,  or  documents,  that  have  come  to  my 
hands.  Yet  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  our  late  claims  extend  to 
the  Rio  Bravo,  otherwise  called  the  River  of  the  North. 

Then,  again,  to  the  northwestward  our  claims,  as  far  as  I  am 
informed,  are  founded  on  arbitrary  inferences  from  equivocal  prem- 
ises, whether  becoming  a  great,  just,  and  generous  nation,  I  trust, 
will  be  most  solemnly  considered. 

Perhaps,  without  deciding  on  the  property  of  that  vast  country,  or 
even  allowing  the  property  of  the  greater  part  of  it  to  be  in  Spain, 
the  only  benefit  that  for  ages  can  be  derived  from  it,  that  is,  a  right 
of  trading  with  the  Indian  tribes  that  inhabit  it,  might  be  secured  to 
these  States. 

As  to  our  eastern  boundary,  if  it  cannot  be  now  finally  established, 
it  seems  to  me  that  at  least  a  convention  might  be  made  for  quieting 
the  possessions  of  both  parties  until  it  can  be  established.  This 
measure  has  frequently  been  adopted  by  nations  differing  about  their 
boundaries. 

Devoted  as  I  am  to  the  Executive,  it  is  painful  to  me  to  feel  myself 
compelled  to  think  as  I  do  on  the  present  state  of  our  affairs. 

To  rush  into  war  at  this  time  for  the  wildernesses  beyond  the 
river  Mexicano,  or  on  the  remote  waters  of  the  Missouri,  would  be, 
in  my  opinion,  madness.  We  want  them  not.  We  can  hereafter 
have  as  much  territory  as  we  ought  to  desire.  Nothing  is  so  likely 
to  prevent  such  acquisitions  as  the  seeking  them  too  eagerly,  unrea- 
sonably, and  contemptuously.  In  the  natural  course  of  things  we 
shall,  if  wise,  gradually  become  irresistible,  and  the  people  will  sink 
into  our  population.  Let  us  patiently  wait  for  this  inevitable  pro- 
gression, and  not  deprive  ourselves,  of  the  golden  eggs  that  will  be 


294  JAY'S   TREATY. 


laid  for  us  by  destroying  in  a  covetous  and  cruel  frenzy  the  bird  that, 
if  left  to  itself,  will  from  day  to  day  supply  them. 

If  thy  sentiments  on  this  subject  accord  with  mine,  let  me  most 
ardently  entreat  thee  to  make  the  strongest  and  incessant  exertions 
to  bring  over  others  to  approve  and  act  upon  them.  Not  a  moment 
is  to  be  lost.  .  .  . 

Before  I  close  this  letter  I  must  recall  thy  attention  to  the  im- 
politic and  dishonorable  trade  to  St.  Domingo.  Renew,  I  beseech 
thee,  in  due  season  thy  motion  to  prohibit  that  trade  entirely.  Our 
rapacity  in  that  respect  and  our  ambition  in  acquiring  territory  will 
destroy  our  peace,  our  welfare,  our  reputation. 

Let  us  never  forget  how  essential  a  character  for  moderation  is  to 
the  happiness  of  a  republic,  nor  the  dreadful  comment  made  upon  it 
by  the  League  of  Cambray. 

I  am,  very  truly,  thy  affectionate  cousin, 

JOHN  DICKINSON. 

WILMINGTON,  the  igth  of  the  I2th  month,  1805. 

In  1795  political  passions  were  at  fever-heat  through- 
out the  country.  The  excitement  was  caused  by  the 
ratification  of  Jay's  treaty  with  England.  By  this 
measure  we  were  supposed  to  have  practically  aban- 
doned our  alliance  with  France,  and  to  have  submitted 
to  ignominious  terms  in  the  agreement  we  had  made 
with  England.  There  was  no  yielding  up  of  the  forts  in 
our  territory  which  had  been  held  contrary  to  the  treaty 
of  1783,  no  compensation  for  the  carrying  off  of  negro 
slaves  during  the  war,  no  giving  up  of  the  impressment 
of  seamen,  nothing  but  restrictions  upon  our  commerce 
with  the  colonies  of  Great  Britain,  while  our  ports 
were  to  be  free  for  her  vessels.  The  provisions  of 
this  treaty  became  the  occasion  of  the  most  wearisome 
debates  of  the  time.  Matters  of  domestic  interest 
were  forgotten  for  the  moment  by  politicians  who 
thought  very  much  more  how  their  acts  might  aid  the 


STRONG    OBJECTIONS   TO  IT.  295 


foreign  policy  of  the  French  Convention  or  affect  Mr. 
Pitt's  measures  than  of  the  most  important  home  in- 
terests. During  the  first  ten  years  of  the  existence  of 
the  government  many  foolish  things  were  done,  many 
more  talked  of;  but  that  our  opinions  on  our  own  politi- 
cal measures  should  be  determined  by  the  encourage- 
ment or  opposition  which  they  gave  to  the  French 
Revolution  could  hardly  have  been  dreamed  of  when 
the  Constitution  was  planned.  There  was  but  one 
policy  for  us  to  pursue  in  our  intercourse  with  foreign 
countries,  and  that  was  the  one  afterwards  laid  down 
by  Jefferson,  of  "  avoiding  entangling  alliances."  There 
was  but  one  practical  question  for  us  to  settle,  and  that 
was  how  far  the  treaty  of  alliance  of  1778  imposed 
upon  us  the  obligation  of  aiding  France  in  her  present 
struggle.  Mr.  Dickinson  felt  it  his  duty  after  the  rati- 
fication of  Jay's  treaty  to  come  forward  and  plead  for 
the  continued  alliance  with  France.  Such  was  the 
motive  which  led  to  the  publication  of  the  second  series 
of  letters  signed  Fabius,  which  appeared  in  1 798.  We 
find  in  his  correspondence  with  Governor  McKean  an 
explanation  of  the  reasons  which  led  him  to  take  a 
part  in  this  controversy. 


John  Dickinson  to  Thomas  McKean. 

(No  date.) 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND, — A  strong  sense  of  duty  compels  me  to  offer 
some  remarks  on  the  present  situation  of  public  affairs  to  the  con- 
sideration of  my  fellow-citizens.  The  first  number  has  appeared, 
under  the  signature  of  "Fabius,"  in  the  New  World  of  the  i2th 
instant. 

My  infirmities  are  so  great  that  I  cannot  bear  the  fatigue  of  turning 
over  many  books  or  publications ;  but,  after  some  preparatory  letters, 


296  LETTER    TO    GOVERNOR  MCKEAN. 

I  propose  to  consider  the  causes  of  disgust  our  conduct  has  given  to 
the  French  government. 

As  we  think,  I  believe,  a  good  deal  alike  on  late  transactions,  as  I 
know  thy  extensive  information,  and  can  rely  on  thy  friendship,  I 
request  thee,  in  the  name  of  our  country,  to  give  me  what  assistance 
circumstances  will  permit. 

To  me  it  appears  that  the  best  way  of  proceeding  will  be  to  select 
a  few  striking  points,  the  grounds  of  which  can  be  maintained  against 
any  attacks.  To  make  weak  charges  will  do  no  good,  and  may  do 
harm. 

I  take  it  that  the  late  treaty  gives  advantages  in  commerce  to  Great 
Britain  which  she  had  not  before.  What  are  they,  that  it  gives  her 
greater  advantages  than  France  has  ?  What  are  these,  that  it  con- 
tains violations  in  words,  or  in  effect,  of  our  treaty  with  France? 
What  are  those  also  ? 

In  short,  I  earnestly  desire  thee  to  supply  me  every  sort  of  useful 
information  that  thou  thinkest  my  feeble  diligence  may  apply,  agree- 
ably to  thy  wishes. 

I  do  not  desire  to  obtrude  my  name  on  the  public,  and  therefore  I 
should  prefer  that  the  fact  of  my  being  the  writer  should  rather  be 

guessed  at  than  avowed. 

#####*** 

Thy  truly  affectionate  friend, 
JOHN. 

Mr.  Dickinson's  object  in  printing  these  letters  was 
the  conciliation  of  parties,  and  the  establishment  of  a 
policy  in  our  dealings  with  France  upon  which  all  could 
agree,  because  it  would  be  based  upon  justice  and  a 
proper  sense  of  gratitude  to  that  country.  They  con- 
tain almost  the  first  words  of  truth  and  soberness  which 
had  been  written  on  this  subject  in  this  country.  Here- 
tofore our  relations  with  England  and  France  had  de- 
pended much  upon  the  possession  of  power  by  the 
Federalists  or  by  the  Republicans.  Mr.  Dickinson  de- 
sired that  our  foreign  relations  should  be  placed  upon  a 


THE  MAZZEI  LETTER    OF  JEFFERSON.        297 

juster  and  a  broader  basis.  He  took,  therefore,  very 
high  ground  against  any  action  on  our  part  which 
would  be  likely  to  weaken  the  French  alliance  of  1778. 
In  1797,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  Bonaparte  was  un- 
known on  this  side  of  the  ocean,  and  no  one  dreamed 
of  the  extraordinary  military  success  which  attended 
his  future  career.  France  presented  herself  then  in 
the  attitude  of  a  republic  only,  having  proved  herself 
competent  to  establish  her  liberties  upon  the  trophies 
of  her  victories  over  those  who  had  denied  her  right 
to  live,  stretching  out  her  right  hand  to  us,  and  prof- 
fering to  us  her  friendship.  While  she  was  in  this 
amiable  condition,  we  must  be  willing  to  forget,  it  was 
said,  the  fancied  insults  of  Genet  and  Adet,  or  re- 
gard them  as  the  outbreaks  of  an  exuberant  activity, 
and  remember  that  whatever  else  changed  in  France, 
and  however  corrupt  and  truculent  her  present  rulers 
might  be,  the  French  people,  like  the  American  people, 
still  survived  behind  all  parties  :  in  short,  that  the  cord 
of  sympathy  was  unbroken  between  us.  There  is  one 
peculiarity  about  these  letters,  so  uncommon  at  that 
time  as  to  be  very  striking,  and  that  is  the  absence  of 
that  tone  of  exaggeration,  abuse,  and  ascription  of  bad 
motives  to  opponents  which  was  then  well-nigh  univer- 
sal in  the  political  controversies  of  the  time.  Their 
tone  was  very  unlike  that  of  Jefferson,  for  instance. 
Take  the  famous  Mazzei  letter  as  an  example,  in  which 
Mr.  Jefferson  tells  his  correspondent  "that  an  Anglican 
monarchical  and  aristocratical  party  had  sprung  up. 
The  open  purpose  of  these  men  was  to  pull  over  the 
United  States  the  substance,  as  they  had  already  done 
the  forms,  of  the  British  government.  The  Executive 


298     DICKINSON  AND  JEFFERSON  CONTRASTED, 

was  with  them,  the  Judiciary  was  with  them.  All  the 
officers  of  the  government,  all  men  who  wished  to  be 
officers,  all  who  traded  on  British  capital,  who  speculated 
in  the  funds,  who  owned  shares  in  the  bank,  were  joined 
together  on  the  English  side."  It  is  worth  while  to 
contrast  the  rancorous  hatred  of  his  opponents  which 
is  expressed  by  Jefferson  in  these  words  with  the  calm, 
dignified,  statesmanlike  spirit  which  Dickinson  brings  to 
the  discussion  of  these  same  questions  about  the  same 
time.  Nothing  is  more  strikingly  characteristic  of  the 
difference  between  the  minds  of  these  two  men,  or 
shows  more  clearly  where  the  true  superiority  rests. 
As  it  turned  out,  both  of  them  were  fighting  what 
proved  to  be  mere  phantoms,  Mr.  Jefferson  dealing 
with  an  English  monarchical  party  which  was  non- 
existent except  in  his  imagination,  and  Mr.  Dickinson 
with  a  French  nation  which  had  no  ambition  for  con- 
quest, with  Napoleon  at  its  head,  and  hence  these  pro- 
ductions remain  as  specimens  only  of  the  style  adopted 
by  each  in  discussing  political  questions.  The  one  has 
all  the  tricks  of  the  politician  ;  the  other,  although  a 
party  writer,  shows  the  anxious  desire  of  the  seeker 
after  truth  to  reach  the  reason  and  the  hearts  of  those 
whom  he  addressed. 

He  speaks  of  the  value  especially  of  our  friendship 
with  France.  Like  all  the  diplomatists  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, he  does  not  advocate  the  policy  of  such  a  relation 
upon  any  sentimental  or  humanitarian  grounds,  nor 
does  he  appeal  to  the  fact  that  both  nations  are  re- 
publics, but  he  urges  friendly  relations  with  France  for 
the  simple  reason  that  our  self-interest  demands  them. 
He  says,  indeed,  that  he  regards  the  establishment  of 


STRONG  PARTIALITY  FOR   FRANCE.  299 

a  republic  in  France  as  an  auspicious  event  in  the  his- 
tory of  mankind,  and  that  on  every  account  it  is  our 
interest  to  consolidate  the  strength  of  such  a  republic 
in  Europe,  to  work  for  her  peace  and  prosperity,  and 
to  aid  her  in  securing  it,  by  making  our  alliance  still 
stronger. 

If  Mr.  Dickinson  had  been  led,  as  we  may  think,  to 
advocate  a  French  alliance  too  strongly  and  too  unre- 
servedly, we  must  attribute  the  error  to  the  generosity 
of  his  nature,  and  to  the  gratitude  which  he  always  felt 
for  what  France  had  done  for  us.  In  common  with 
some  of  the  most  illustrious  men  of  that  generation, 
especially  in  England  (of  whom  Sir  James  Mackintosh, 
the  author  of  the  famous  Vindicice  Gallicce,  was  the  most 
conspicuous),  nearly  every  one  was  blinded  by  the  en- 
thusiasm which  was  felt  for  the  success  of  the  French 
Revolution.  Mr.  Dickinson  regarded  it  as  the  begin- 
ning of  a  new  and  happy  era  in  the  history  of  mankind. 
He  was  willing  to  look  upon  its  early  excesses  as  par- 
donable, or  perhaps  inevitable,  considering  the  work 
which  in  the  providence  of  God  he  felt  that  it  had  been 
appointed  to  do.  Hence  his  faith  in  French  republican- 
ism was  persistent,  and  this  was  no  doubt  the  ground 
of  his  earnest  desire  that  this  country  should  extend 
to  republican  France  a  practical  sympathy  in  every  way 
in  our  power. 

But  the  time  came  when  there  could  be  no  longer 
any  doubt  that  the  French  government  and  the  French 
nation  had  become  tired  of  republicanism  and  were 
ready  to  substitute  for  it  an  imperial  system.  This 
change  of  sentiment  became  apparent  when  the  rup- 
ture of  the  Peace  of  Amiens,  concluded  in  1802,  made 


300  PAMPHLET  ON  FRENCH  AFFAIRS. 

it  clear  that  the  ambition  of  Napoleon,  and  not  the 
happiness  of  the  people  under  republican  methods, 
would  be  thenceforth  the  governing  motive  in  French 
policy.  The  conviction  that  such  a  change  had  taken 
place  changed  at  once  the  current  of  Mr.  Dickinson's 
sympathies.  From  having  been  an  ardent  friend  of 
France,  and  a  promoter  of  an  alliance  on  our  part 
which  would  draw  the  two  nations  more  closely  to- 
gether, he  became  as  bitter  an  opponent  of  the  French 
imperial  system  as  the  most  ardent  Federalist  in  the 
country.  In  1803  he  wrote  and  printed  anonymously 
a  pamphlet  entitled  "  An  Address  on  the  Past,  Present, 
and  Eventual  Relations  of  the  United  States  to  France." 
In  this  pamphlet  he  describes  all  that  France  had  done 
for  us  in  the  Revolution,  and  insists  that  our  obligations 
of  gratitude  to  her  when  ^she  became  a  republic  were 
in  every  way  stronger  than  if  she  had  preserved  the 
monarchy  ;  that  while  one  party  here  had  neglected 
to  recognize  these  obligations,  the  other  had  always 
striven  to  enforce  them. 

"  But,"  he  says,  rushing  from  one  extreme  to  the 
other,  and  contrasting  the  picture  of  what  France  was 
and  what  she  might  be,  actual  and  potential,  under  a 
republic,  with  what  she  was  likely  to  become,  as  far  as 
foreign  powers  were  concerned,  under  the  new  regime, 
"it  has  become  our  painful  office  to  declare  that  these 
pleasing  hopes  have  vanished.  The  virtues  appear  to 
be  proscribed  by  ambition.  A  gigantic  power  seems 
animated  by  the  devastating  spirit  of  conquest,  and 
glares  with  a  fierce  aspect  on  all  around."  In  gen- 
uine alarm  he  goes  on  to  say,  "  When  we  consider  the 
ascendency  which  France  has  acquired  over  Spain,  we 


CHANGE    OF  VIEWS. 


think  that  the  territories  of  the  latter  on  this  continent 
may,  with  propriety  of  language,  be  said  to  belong  to 
the  former;  and  when  we  consider,  also,  how  unim- 
portant Louisiana  must  be  of  itself  to  France,  we  can- 
not entertain  the  least  doubt  but  that  the  French 
government  means  to  acquire  the  dominion  of  all 
America,  and  that  the  possession  of  Louisiana  is  to 
be  the  first  act  of  the  tragedy."  He  goes  on  still 
more  violently  to  deplore  the  fate  of  this  country: 
"  Your  young  men  and  your  sailors  will  be  compelled 
to  serve  in  armies  and  on  board  of  fleets  in  distant 
regions  and  untried  climes  wherever  the  ambition  and 
rapacity  of  their  masters  may  destine  them,  to  bleed 
and  to  perish,  while  large  bodies  of  foreign  soldiers 
will  be  stationed  among  you,  to  extort  taxes  from  you 
and  to  awe  you  into  submission  under  every  injury  and 
insult."  What,  it  may  be  asked,  is  the  remedy  sug- 
gested for  these  direful  calamities?  "A  conjunction 
of  the  naval  powers  of  Britain  and  these  States  may 
in  a  short  time  seize  every  island  held  by  France  and 
her  associates.  It  may  do  more."  .  .  .  But  these  ex- 
travagant fears  were  soon  dissipated  by  our  purchase 
of  Louisiana,  and  we  hear  no  more  of  dangers  to  us 
from  French  intervention. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

MR.  DICKINSON    IN    PRIVATE    AND    DOMESTIC    LIFE. 

IT  has  been  our  aim  to  show  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ters how  the  influence  of  Mr.  Dickinson  as  a  political 
writer  was  in  a  great  measure  due  to  his  advocacy  at 
an  opportune  time  of  great  ideas  which  seemed  to 
meet  the  needs  of  an  important  crisis  in  the  history 
of  the  country.  The  "  Farmer's  Letters"  might  have 
produced  but  little  effect  had  they  appeared  when  men 
were  happy  and  contented  with  the  system  of  govern- 
ment under  which  they  lived.  People  would  probably 
at  such  a  time  have  taken  but  little  interest  in  a  series 
of  treatises  defending  certain  abstract  propositions  in 
regard  to  the  relations  between  the  metropolis  and  the 
Colonies.  But  when  they  appeared  all  men  knew  that 
a  crisis  had  arrived,  and  they  welcomed  with  extrava- 
gant joy  the  man  who  could  best  interpret  its  lessons. 
It  has  always  been  in  this  way,  by  a  certain  instinct  of 
genius,  that  men  who  rule  their  fellows  acquire  their 
control  over  them.  They  know  by  a  certain  prescience 
when  danger,  which  others  have  not  perceived,  is  at 
hand  ;  they  are  bold  enough  to  propose  at  once  a 
remedy  which  their  own  minds  have  long  brooded  over 
in  anticipation  of  the  event,  and  they  are  strong  and 
skilful  enough  to  make  those  who  listen  to  them  feel 
that  they  have  chosen  the  appropriate  one  for  the 
emergency.  This,  fortunately  for  the  fame  of  Mr. 
'  302 


DICKINSON'S  INDEPENDENCE.  303 

Dickinson,  was  the  position  he  occupied  nearly  always 
in  the  political  controversies  of  his  time.  Whether  he 
was  denouncing  the  tyrannical  abuse  of  power  in  the 
enactment  of  the  tax  acts,  or  showing  how  resistance 
might  be  effectual  and  yet  constitutional,  or  whether  he 
was  advocating  with  equal  earnestness  the  policy  of 
maintaining  the  political  connection  with  Great  Britain, 
because  that  connection,  under  constitutional  restraints, 
was  the  surest  guarantee  of  good  government,  his  in- 
terposition seemed  always  opportune,  and  his  motives 
for  the  course  he  advocated  reasonable,  in  the  opinion 
of  those  whom  he  sought  to  influence. 

On  such  questions  his  position  was  always  the  same. 
He  was  never,  as  he  said  time  and  again,  a  volunteer 
writer.  He  wrote  because  he  thought  he  had  some- 
thing to  say  which  would  be  useful  to  those  who 
listened  to  him  at  a  particular  time,  and  because  he  felt 
earnestly  that  it  was  his  duty  to  point  out  to  his  coun- 
trymen what  seemed  to  him  the  only  way  out  of  the 
perils  by  which  they  were  surrounded.  His  influence 
was  due  in  a  great  measure  to  his  reputation  for  inde- 
pendence. He  was  nbt,  either  in  his  party  principles 
or  in  his  social  surrounding's,  affiliated  with  those  called 

o    ' 

"  Proprietary  men."  Although  he  thought  in  1764  that 
the  government  of  the  Penns,  with  all  its  evils,  was,  on 
the  whole,  to  be  preferred  to  a  royal  government  under 
the  direct  control  of  the  ministry,  with  none  of  the 
special  privileges  guaranteed  by  Penn's  charter,  yet  he 
never  held  any  office  under  the  Penns,  and  certainly 
disapproved  of  much  of  their  policy,  especially  that  in 
regard  to  taxation  and  military  service.  The  Penn 
family,  indeed,  had  nothing  to  offer  which  could  tempt 


3°4      A   QUAKER  FAVORING  DEFENSIVE    WAR. 

him  from  the  independent  position  he  occupied  in  the 
Province.  He  was  not,  as  he  is  sometimes  misrepre- 
sented, a  stupid  Tory,  resisting  any  change  which  might 
be  required  in  the  political  relations  of  the  mother- 
country  with  the  Colonies  ;  still  less  was  he  a  blind  ad- 
vocate of  Proprietary  government,  but  rather  in  many 
respects  an  English  Constitutional  Whig,  who,  while  he 
believed  that  the  monarchy  under  which  he  had  been 
born  was,  on  the  whole,  the  best  government  which  the 
wit  of  man  had  yet  contrived,  nevertheless  felt  that  one 
of  the  great  advantages  of  such  a  system  was  that  it 
not  only  permitted  but  encouraged  opposition  to  usur- 
pations of  lawful  authority,  whether  by  the  king  or  by 
the  Parliament.  He  was  not,  strictly  speaking,  even  a 
Quaker;  for  although  of  Quaker  ancestry  and  bred  in 
the  customs  of  that  society,  he  showed  himself  too 
large  a  man  to  be  bounded  in  his  opinions  by  their 
practices.  As  has  been  seen,  he  always  advocated 
defensive  warfare  ;  and  although  his  opinions  on  this 
subject  never,  it  is  believed,  made  him  amenable  to 
their  discipline,  it  is  very  clear  that  he  did  not  hold  the 
opinions  of  those  gentle  sectaries  on  this  important 
point.  In  short,  Mr.  Dickinson  was  not,  in  the  modern 
sense,  in  the  least  degree  a  revolutionist,  and  in  all 
his  acts  he  never  showed  any  ambitious  desire  to  place 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  revolutionary  movement. 

It  was  the  general  belief  in  his  moral  earnestness 
and  his  absolute  independence  which  was  the  secret  of 
his  commanding  influence.  Men  might  disagree  with 
him  in  the  conclusions  he  reached  concerning  the  proper 
course  to  be  adopted,  but  no  one  could  doubt  his  in- 
telligence or  the  depth  and  sincerity  of  his  patriotic 


HIS    TRUSTWORTHINESS.  305 

motives.  There  was  nothing  of  the  self-seeking  modern 
politician  about  him,  and  hence  we  are  presented  with 
the  curious  spectacle  in  our  political  history  of  a  man 
who,  in  a  great  crisis,  was  hardly  in  accord  with  any 
one  of  the  party- leaders,  yet  who  was  nevertheless,  to 
a  certain  extent,  the  guide  of  all  parties,  for  oftentimes 
he  was  trusted  by  all.  Mr.  Dickinson  was  known,  of 
course,  to  be  opposed  to  an  immediate  Declaration  of 
Independence,  yet  he  was  at  that  very  time  the  man 
chosen  by  Congress  to  prepare  such  papers  in  anticipa- 
tion of  the  event  as  the  Articles  of  Confederation  and 
the  form  of  treaties  with  foreign  powers  which  it  might 
be  advisable  to  adopt.  So  when,  three  years  after- 
wards, the  fate  of  the  war  seemed  to  depend  very 
much  upon  our  making  Spain  our  ally  as  well  as 
France,  Mr.  Dickinson  was  called  from  his  retirement 
in  Delaware,  sent  by  that  State  as  a  delegate  to  Con- 
gress, and  there  conducted,  in  conjunction  with  Mr. 
Jay,  the  most  experienced  man  in  foreign  affairs  then 
in  Congress,  the  important  negotiation  which  resulted 
in  sending  Jay  as  our  Commissioner  to  Madrid  in  the 
autumn  of  1779.  It  seems  that  in  this  resort  to  Mr. 
Dickinson's  services  there  was  a  recognition  not  only 
of  his  ability  as  a  diplomatist  but  also  of  his  perfect 
independence  and  trustworthiness  as  a  public  man. 

On  the  whole,  then,  although  he  had  nothing  to  gain, 
and  much  to  lose,  personally,  by  the  adoption  of  violent 
measures,  yet  it  would  seem  to  have  been  the  general 
opinion  of  his  contemporaries  that  his  political  course 
was  not  affected  by  considerations  such  as  these.  His 
large  fortune,  his  family  connections,  and  his  profes- 
sional reputation  no  doubt  helped  to  deepen  the  im- 


20 


3°<5  HJS  DOMESTIC  VIRTUES. 

pression  upon  people  of  his  perfect  independence  in 
urging  the  opinions  which  he  had  maintained  as  a  stu- 
dent and  as  a  lawyer,  while  they  contributed  to  foster 
that  sentiment  of  trust  in  him  which  is  the  indispensable 
condition  of  any  one's  success  as  a  statesman. 

Any  sketch  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  career  would  be  im- 
perfect which  did  not  bring  into  prominent  notice  some 
of  the  characteristic  traits  of  his  private  and  domestic 
life.  He  conformed  to  that  high  standard  of  simplicity 
in  manners  and  purity  in  morals  which  was  not  the 
least  remarkable  peculiarity  of  many  prominent  men 
of  the  Revolutionary  era.  Throughout  his  career  he 
seems  to  have  been  a  model  of  zeal  and  industry  in 
the  exemplary  performance  of  the  private  as  well  as 
the  public  duties  which  devolved  upon  him.  As  a  son, 
as  a  husband,  as  a  devoted  friend,  he  was  loved  and 
venerated  by  the  innermost  circle  of  those  of  whom 
he  formed  the  central  figure.  His  letters  to  his  mother 
in  his  early  manhood  are  characteristic  of  his  temper 
throughout  life.  His  mother  had  become  a  widow 
shortly  before  he  had  established  himself  in  Philadel- 
phia, her  husband  having  died  in  1760.  Of  this  lady, 
whose  kind  and  unremitting  care  of  him  in  his  child- 
hood he  never  ceased  to  regard  with  the  most  grateful 
affection,  Mrs.  Deborah  Logan  says,  "  Mr.  Dickinson's 
mother  was  Mary  Cadwalader,  daughter  of  John  and 
Martha  Cadwalader,  of  Merion,  near  Philadelphia.  She 
was  married  to  Samuel  Dickinson  on  the  4th  of  No- 
vember, 1731,  O.  S.  She  was  a  distinguished  woman, 
of  fine  understanding  and  graceful  manners,  and  it  is 
probable  that  he  early  imbibed  from  her  a  taste  for 
literature,  for  her  mind  was  well  educated,  and  his 


STRONG  FAMILY  FEELING.  3°7 

education  was  domestic,  the  late  Chief  Justice  Killen, 
of  Delaware,  having  been  his  tutor.  His  proficiency  in 
his  studies  filled  the  minds  of  his  parents  with  delight, 
and  was  an  anticipation  of  their  future  satisfaction  in 
possessing  such  a  son,  for  his  filial  attentions  were  most 
exemplary."  Some  of  his  letters  to  his  mother,  written 
after  he  had  settled  upon  his  course  in  life,  are  quite 
characteristic,  and  a  few  extracts  from  them  may  not 
be  unwelcome. 

John  Dickinson  to  his  Mother. 

PHILADELPHIA,  January  15,  1763. 

HONORED  MOTHER, — I  should  have  been  very  happy  in  seeing 
my  dear  brother  last  Thursday  was  a  week,  if  he  had  not  informed 
me  that  you  have  got  a  cold.  I  must  declare  that  apprehensions  of 
your  exposing  yourself  too  much  to  the  weather  make  me  almost  con- 
stantly uneasy.  Let  me  entreat  you  to  take  the  same  tender  care  of 
yourself  that  you  have  always  done  of  children  too  little  deserving 
it.  This  will  be  infinitely  the  most  grateful  manner  to  them  of  your 
taking  care  of  them.  Preserve  a  life  that  will  be  a  perpetual  incite- 
ment of  us  to  worthy  actions.  Preserve  to  us  the  highest  delight 
that  earth  can  afford  us  next  to  a  sense  of  the  Divine  approbation, 
the  inexpressible  joy  of  a  parent's  applause. 

May  indulgent  Providence  grant  me  the  blessing  of  rendering  your 
life  happy,  and  I  shall  believe  I  have  not  existed  in  vain. 

I  speak  for  the  Fellow  as  well  as  myself,  for  he  has  an  honest,  gen- 
erous heart. 

He  is  too  much  engaged  to  write,  but  desires  his  duty  may  be  pre- 
sented. He  is  very  hearty. 


Same  to  Same. 

September  I4th,  1763. 

HONORED  MOTHER, — In  answer  to  what  you  mention  concerning 
the  disposal  of  our  family,  I  can  only  say  that  whatever  is  agreeable 
to  you  will  be  perfectly  so  to  me.  I  believe  our  sentiments  with 
respect  to  selling  are  the  same.  I  would  by  no  means  approve  of  it 


3°8  BECOMES  A    VISITOR  AT  FAIRHILL. 

unless  the  people  desire  it.  In  such  case  I  would  sell,  taking  care  to 
get  them  good  masters. 

If  we  sell,  I  think  it  would  be  proper  to  advertise,  as  prodigious 
prices  are  given  in  New  Castle  County  and  in  this  Province. 

I  should  expect  seventy  or  eighty  pounds  at  least  for  women  and 
children  on  an  average. 

I  shall  be  quite  happy  when  you  are  disencumbered  from  the 
fatigues  of  such  a  family  and  settled  in  peace  and  ease  among  your 
friends  here.  I  think  you  will  be  much  pleased  with  the  situation  and 
conveniences  of  this  house.  There  is  a  fine  open  passage  for  the  air 
backwards,  a  large,  pleasant  garden,  and  the  rooms  very  good.  I  am 
charmed  with  the  place ;  so  is  Aunt  Cadwalader ;  and  she  says  you 
will  be  so.  Money  flows  in,  and  my  vanity  has  been  very  agreeably 
flattered  of  late.  I  have  not  been  so  hearty  these  many  years  as  I 
have  been  this  summer ;  quite  free  from  the  complaint  in  my  breast 
and  the  headache. 

******** 

I  have  sent  a  pound  of  fine  powdered  bark.  Pray  take  care  of  your 
health.  Do  not  fatigue  yourself  by  all  kinds  of  business,  nor  expose 
yourself  in  all  kinds  of  weather.  Prefer  ease  to  everything.  Your 
age  and  tenderness  require  it — demand  it.  You  say,  and  I  sincerely 
believe  it,  that  your  most  anxious  wish  and  prayer  is  for  my  brother's 
happiness  and  mine.  Be  assured,  most  honored  mother,  that  the 
preservation  of  your  own  health  will  be  the  most  effectual  means  to 
promote  the  happiness  of  your  most  dutiful  and  most  affectionate  son, 

JOHN  DICKINSON. 

Mr.  Dickinson  had  probably  not  been  long  a  resident 
of  Philadelphia  without  becoming  a  visitor  at  Fairhill, 
the  country  house  of  the  venerable  Speaker  of  the  As- 
sembly, Isaac  Morris.  The  Norris  family  at  that  time 
was  among  the  most  conspicuous  and  wealthy  of  the 
Quaker  inhabitants.  It  had  given  to  the  public  service 
two  men,  father  and  son,  each  bearing  the  same  name, 
Isaac  Norris,  whose  career  in  the  Assembly  of  the 
Province  for  more  than  half  a  century  had  been  identi- 
fied with  its  wonderful  prosperity.  Those  were  days 


ISAAC  NORRIS   THE  SPEAKER.  309 

in  which  great  confidence  was  placed  in  men  in  office 
whose  large  private  estates  seemed  a  guarantee  of  their 
interest  in  the  good  government  of  the  country,  and 
these  two  men  were  as  widely  known  for  their  intelli- 
gence and  probity  as  they  were  for  their  wealth  and 
public  spirit.  They  pursued,  as  leading  members  of 
the  Assembly,  a  policy  in  the  administration  of  Provin- 
cial affairs  which  made  good  government  and  Quaker 
government  convertible  terms.  Isaac  Norris  the  elder, 
who  died  in  1739,  had  been  for  many  years  prominent 
in  public  life.  He  had  been  Speaker  of  the  Assembly 
many  times,  mayor  of  the  city,  chief  justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  at  all  times  one  of  the  leaders 
who  shaped  the  policy  of  the  Province. 

Isaac  Norris  the  younger  (died  1769),  or  the 
Speaker,  as  he  is  commonly  called,  followed  very  much 
the  same  course  as  his  father.  He  is  known  in  the 
history  of  the  Province  for  the  efforts  which  he  made 
to  conduct  the  affairs  of  a  populous  community  without 
sanctioning  war  or  warlike  measures.  In  advocating 
this  policy  he  and  his  friends  were  forced  to  adopt  a 
system  of  administration  till  then  untried  in  any  of  the 
English  colonies,  namely,  absolute  humanity  and  justice 
in  the  treatment  of  the  Indians  and  a  continual  protest 
against  the  doctrine  that  as  an  English  colony  Penn- 
sylvania should  take  an  active  part  in  the  wars  in  which 
England  might  be  involved,  although  as  a  Province  it 
had  no  conceivable  interest  in  their  settlement.  We 
may  perhaps  smile  at  the  casuistry  which  they  some- 
times employed  to  justify  appropriations  for  warlike 
purposes  when  there  was  no  escape  from  such  a  neces- 
sity. But,  after  all,  their  opposition  taught  them  a 


310  SYMPATHY  WITH  DICKINSON. 

. 

much  broader  philosophy  than  they  dreamed  of,  and 
no  one  can  read  the  proceedings  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Assembly  previous  to  and  during  the  Revolution  with- 
out observing  how  enlightened  public  sentiment  here 
had  become  by  the  discussion  of  the  nature  and  extent 
of  the  political  rights  of  the  Province  in  the  Quaker 
Assemblies  of  which  these  two  Norrises,  father  and 
son,  had  been  so  long  leaders. 

Another  Colonial  grievance  which  the  Assembly  was 
called  upon  to  redress  in  his  time  was  the  obstinate 
pretension  of  the  Penn  family,  as  has  been  already 
explained,  to  an  exemption  from  the  common  burden 
of  taxation.  Unanimously  the  Assembly  had  voted 
that  this  claim  of  exemption  was  unfounded  in  law  or 
in  equity,1  but  the  venerable  Speaker  and  his  young 
friend  and  colleague  Dickinson  were  almost  the  only 
members  of  the  Assembly  who  refused  to  believe  that 
the  condition  of  the  Province  would  be  improved  by 
the  remedy  which  was  suggested,  namely,  the  substitu- 
tion of  a  royal  government  for  that  of  the  Proprietary 
under  the  charter.  When  the  Assembly  had  deter- 
mined to  present  a  petition  to  the  king,  praying  that 
such  a  change  should  be  made,  and  Dr.  Franklin  and 
Mr.  Norris  were  appointed  to  go  to  England  and 
advocate  its  adoption,  Mr.  Norris  felt  that  the  time 
had  arrived  for  his  retirement  from  public  life.  He 
declined  a  re-election  to  the  Assembly  and  refused  the 
appointment  of  Commissioner  to  England. 

Under  these  circumstances,  bound  together  by  a 
community  of  political  opinion  at  least,  Mr.  Dickinson 

1  Galloway's  Resolutions  of  1764. 


LIFE  AT  FAIRHILL.  311 

was  no  doubt  a  welcome  visitor  at  Fairhill.  He  was, 
indeed,  soon  drawn  there  by  a  powerful  attraction  of  a 
different  kind.  His  host's  family  consisted  of  himself 
and  his  two  daughters.  To  the  elder  of  these  ladies 
Mr.  Dickinson  soon  became  strongly  attached. 

It  seems  proper  to  give  here  some  account  of  Fair- 
hill,  not  only  as  the  place  where  the  happiest  days 
of  Mr.  Dickinson's  life  were  passed,  but  as  a  typical 
country  residence  of  that  time,  resembling  many  of  the 
places  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city,  half  farm  and 
half  country-seat,  where  such  families  among  the 
Quaker  aristocracy  as  the  Logans,  the  Pembertons,  the 
Cadwaladers,  the  Lloyds,  the  Whartons,  the  Fishers, 
and  others  passed  the  greater  portion  of  their  lives. 

For  this  purpose  we  cannot  do  better  than  borrow 
the  account  of  Mrs.  Deborah  Logan,  who,  from  having 
been  born  and  reared  at  Fairhill,  was  able  to  give  a 
characteristic  description  of  the  house  and  its  sur- 
roundings, as  well  as  of  the  style  of  living  maintained 
there  : 

"Fairhill,  built  by  Isaac  Norris  upon  the  same  plan  as  Dolobran 
(a  seat  from  long  antiquity  possessed  by  the  Lloyd  family  in  Mont- 
gomeryshire, North  Wales),  at  least  as  to  the  ground  floor,  was 
finished  in  1717,  and  was  at  that  time  the  most  beautiful  seat  in 
Pennsylvania.  The  sashes  for  the  windows  and  much  of  the  best 
work  were  imported  from  England.  The  entrance  was  into  a  hall 
paved  with  black  and  white  marble,  two  large  parlors  on  each  side, 
and  an  excellent  staircase,  well  lighted.  The  courts  and  gardens  were 
in  the  taste  of  those  times,  with  gravel  walks  and  parterres.  Many 
lofty  trees  were  preserved  round  the  house,  which  added  greatly  to  its 
beauty,  and,  at  the  time  of  my  remembrance,  the  out-buildings  were 
covered  with  festoons  of  ivy  and  scarlet  bignonia.  Isaac  Norris  had 
been  very  prosperous  in  trade,  which  at  that  period  offered  un- 
common facilities.  His  son  Isaac  Norris  the  Speaker  succeeded  his 


312  SAME  SUBJECT  CONTINUED. 

father  in  the  possession  of  Fairhill,  as  he  did  in  his  talents,  abilities, 
and  public  usefulness.  As  he  was  learned  and  fond  of  literature,  he 
collected  together  a  very  good  and  extensive  library.  It  was  placed 
in  a  low  building,  consisting  of  several  rooms,  in  the  garden,  and 
was  a  most  delightful  retreat  for  contemplative  study ;  the  windows 
curtained  with  ivy;  the  sound  of  'bees'  industrious  murmur'  from 
a  glass  hive  which  had  a  communication  from  without,  and  where 
their  wonderful  instinct  could  be  viewed.  Beautiful  specimens  of  the 
fine  arts  and  many  curiosities  were  also  collected  there,  the  shelves 
were  filled  with  the  best  authors,  and  materials  for  writing  and  draw- 
ing at  hand.  In  this  place  Isaac  Norris  the  Speaker  spent  all  the 
time  that  his  health  would  permit  which  was  not  devoted  to  public 
business.  He  had  lost  an  amiable  wife  after  a  few  years  of  marriage 
(he  married  Sarah  Logan J  at  Germantown,  Wednesday,  4th  day  of  the 
week,  June  6,  1739).  She  left  him  two  daughters,  whose  education 
he  carefully  superintended  at  home,  and  they  grew  up  such  women  as 
realized  his  fondest  wishes. 

'*  His  house  was  kept  by  his  eldest  single  sister  Elizabeth,  who  was 
a  woman  of  exemplary  piety  and  virtue,  of  an  affectionate,  frank 
disposition,  kind  and  hospitable  in  no  common  degree.  A  cousin 
of  the  Lloyd  family  constituted  another  member  of  his  family.  Her 
parents  had  been  unfortunate,  but  she  found  at  Fairhill  an  asylum 
like  a  father's  house.  She  took  the  active  part  in  the  care  of  the 
family,  knew  how  to  prepare  every  delicacy  for  the  table,  and  was 
uncommonly  good-tempered  and  cheerful.  Another  inmate  of  this 
society,  and  who  still  lives,  though  in  her  ninetieth  year,  is  the 
daughter  of  his  sister  Grifrltts,  a  woman  of  uncommon  natural  abil- 
ities, improved  by  reading  and  the  conversation  of  her  uncle,  of 
sincere  and  ardent  piety,  and  who  held  the  '  pen  of  a  ready  writer. ' 
Her  poetical  pieces,  though  never  collected,  were  sometimes  pub- 
lished, and  many  of  them  had  great  merit. 

"The  family  frequented  a  little  meeting-house  built  on  a  lot  of 
ground  which  William  Penn  had  given  to  George  Fox,  which  he 
bequeathed  to  the  Society  of  Friends  in  Philadelphia.  Close  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Fairhill,  it  was  called  after  its  name,  and  all  the 
decent  strangers  who  frequented  it  on  a  First-day  morning  (the  only 
time  on  which  it  was  held)  were  sure  of  an  invitation  to  dine  at  that 

1  Eldest  child  of  James  Logan. 


HE  MARRIES  MARY  N ORRIS.  3*3 

hospitable  mansion,  where  an  excellent  dinner  and  the  kindest  wel- 
come awaited  them. 

"When  I  said  that  the  fondest  wishes  of  Isaac  Norris  the  Speaker 
with  respect  to  his  daughters  were  realized,  I  meant  a  great  enco- 
mium, for  no  man  had  higher  ideas  of  female  excellence  than  him- 
self. To  describe  more  particularly :  my  cousin  Mary  (Mrs.  Dick- 
inson) had  a  very  sweet  and  benevolent  expression  of  countenance, 
a  solid  judgment,  good  sense,  a  most  affectionate  disposition,  the 
tenderest  sensibility  of  heart,  and  elevated  piety.  The  love  that 
subsisted  between  herself  and  her  sister  was  such  a  perfect  union  of 
hearts  that  they  both  seemed  to  be  actuated  but  by  one  soul.  Sally 
was  nearly  four  years  younger  than  Mary,  and  so  beautiful  and  of 
such  an  uncommon  character  that  I  am  fearful  the  language  of  truth 
will  be  thought  that  of  panegyrick.  .  .  . 

"  Charles  Norris  died  January  15,  1766.  Isaac  Norris  the  Speaker, 
who  was  many  years  older  and  in  infirm  health,  did  not  long  survive 
the  shock,  but  followed  his  brother  in  about  six  months. 

"  He  was  born  the  23d  of  October,  1701,  about  seven  in  the  even- 
ing, at  Sam  Carpenter's  house  in  the  bank,  the  5th  day  of  the  week, 
and  died  at  Fairhill,  July  13,  1766.  He  made  no  will,  but  left  his 
daughters  heiresses  to  a  very  large  fortune.  After  his  decease  they 
fulfilled  all  his  intentions  by  settlements  and  legacies,  and  by  a  deed 
of  gift  entailed  the  great  estates  of  Fairhill  and  Sepviva  upon  my 
brothers  as  heirs  male  of  the  family. 

"  Sarah  Norris  died  the  24th  of  June,  1769,  of  the  small-pox.  .  .  . 
The  grief  of  her  sister  was  indescribable,  and  produced  a  deep  and 
settled  gloom  upon  her  mind  which  her  friends  feared  would  termi- 
nate in  entire  melancholy. 

"At  last  a  most  accomplished  gentleman  who  had  long  loved  her, 
who  had  possessed  her  father's  esteem  and  her  sister's  kindness,  but 
who  had  in  her  sister's  lifetime  received  a  respectful  rejection  from 
her,  again  renewed  his  suit,  and  was  more  successful.  This  was  the 
excellent  John  Dickinson,  Esq.  His  character  will  long  be  remem- 
bered by  the  wise  and  good  and  held  in  deserved  estimation  by  his 
grateful  country.  (Mary  Norris  married  J.  Dickinson  July  19,  1770.) 

"They  had  not  long  been  married  and  settled  at  Fairhill,  where 
they  lived  in  great  elegance,  when  the  threatening  cloud  which  had 
for  several  years  hovered  over  these,  then,  colonies,  became  more 


THOMSON  SECRETARY  OF  CONGRESS. 


dense,  and  was  apparently  filled  with  the  lightning  of  royal  and  par- 
liamentary vengeance. 

11  The  part  which  my  cousin  Dickinson  took  in  the  struggle  is  well 
known.  It  became  necessary  fully  to  ascertain  the  sentiments  of  the 
people  in  the  interior  of  the  Province  before  a  daring  opposition 
could  be  made  by  those  on  the  sea-coast  and  the  calling  of  a  general 
Congress  determined  on.  For  this  purpose  a  party  of  pleasure  was 
devised  :  Hannah  Harrison  (afterwards  the  wife  of  Charles  Thomson) 
accompanied  her  cousin  Mary  Dickinson  ;  and  Charles  Thomson,  his 
friend  John  Dickinson,  General  Mifflin,  and  his  pleasing  wife,  were 
likewise  of  the  party.1 

"  What  was  then  called  the  interior  did  not  go  beyond  Reading, 
Bethlehem,  Lancaster,  York,  and  Carlisle.  The  travellers  found  the 
public  sentiment  favorable  to  their  purpose. 

"On  second  day1  after  Charles  Thomson  and  Hannah  Harrison 
were  married  he  came  to  Philadelphia  with  an  intention  of  paying 
his  respects  to  my  mother,  as  the  near  relation  of  his  bride  ;  but  he 
had  scarce  alighted  when  he  heard  himself  accosted  by  the  door- 
keeper (or  a  messenger)  of  Congress,  then  just  convened  for  the  first 
time  in  Philadelphia,  who  informed  him  that  they  requested  his  im- 
mediate attendance.  He  followed  the  messenger  into  a  building 
near  at  hand  (the  Carpenters'  hall,  now  the  custom-house)  where  they 
held  their  first  session,  and,  advancing  in  front  of  this  truly  august 
assembly,  he  bowed  and  awaited  their  pleasure.  When  the  Speaker 
informed  him  that  Congress  requested  his  services  as  their  secretary, 
he  immediately  took  his  seat  at  the  table  ;  nor  did  he,  having  put 
his  hand  to  the  plough,  ever  look  back.  His  heart  was  in  the  cause, 
and  he  continued  in  this  station  of  unremitting  fatigue  and  re- 
sponsibility till  the  perilous  war  was  ended,  and  the  sun  of  empire, 
emerging  from  its  troubled  waves,  grew  into  broad  refulgence  and 

1  I  have  heard  that  in  most  of  the  other  States  influential  characters  made  sim- 
ilar experiments  on  the  situation  of  the  public  mind.  In  Pennsylvania  it  was 
proper  to  know  how  the  Germans  would  act.  The  party  made  a/Me  in  the  woods 
near  Reading,  to  which  many  of  the  farmers  were  invited,  who  assured  them 
that  their  countrymen  were  almost  unanimous  in  the  cause.  One  old  man  said 
that  his  father  had  fled  from  great  oppression  in  Germany,  and  on  his  death-bed 
charged  his  sons  to  defend  the  liberties  they  enjoyed  in  this  country,  if  it  should 
be  necessary,  with  their  lives. 

1  Monday. 


THE  NORRIS  FAMILY.  315 

dissipated  with  its  invigorating  beams  the  mists  of  error  and  confu- 
sion. But,  before  this  was  effected,  the  situation  of  the  good  people 
of  these  States  was  hazardous  and  doubtful  in  the  extreme;  pri- 
vations were  endured,  scenes  of  anxiety  and  alarm  as  well  as  actual 
suffering  were  witnessed  and  experienced,  which,  contrasted  with  our 
former  ease  and  security,  were  certainly  hard  to  bear.  At  different 
periods  of  the  war  expectations  of  the  approach  of  the  enemy's 
army  towards  Philadelphia  caused  all  that  had  been  active  in  oppo- 
sition to  seek  safety  in  flight,  and  both  Fairhill  and  Summerville1 
were  abandoned  by  their  inhabitants,  neither  of  the  families  ever 
returning  to  inhabit  them  again,  for  Fairhill2  was  burned  to  the 
ground  by  the  depredations  of  the  British  forces  when  possessed  of 
Philadelphia,  and  Summerville,  though  left  standing,  was  but  little 
better  than  a  ruin. 

The  circle  to  which  the  Norris  family  belonged  was 
a  somewhat  exclusive  one,  as  those  of  their  own  re- 
ligious and  political  principles  formed  something  of  a 
caste  in  Provincial  society.  These  families  were  usu- 
ally wealthy,  according  to  the  standard  of  those  days, 
but,  retaining  the  strict  principles  of  the  Friends,  they 
were  profuse  in  their  hospitality,  and  lived  without 
ostentation.  They  had  very  decided  opinions,  how- 
ever, about  what  was  becoming  their  station,  and  we 
read  in  Mr.  Adams's  Diary  of  his  having  been  visited 
by  Mr.  Dickinson  "  in  his  carriage  and  four  beautiful 
horses,"  and  "that  his  residence  was  very  fine,  with  its 

1  Residence  of  Charles  Thomson   after  his  second  marriage.      The  property 
belonged  to  Mrs.  Harrison  through  the  kindness  of  Isaac  Norris  the  Speaker. 

2  Fairhill  and  sixteen  other  seats  and  houses  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city  were 
fired.     It  was  alleged  that  persons  concealed  in  these  houses  fired  on  the  English 
pickets.     A  person  who  was  present  at  head-quarters  heard  Colonel  Twistleton 
(afterwards  Lord  Say  and  Sele)  exultingly  tell  General  Howe  that  he  had  burned 

that  d rebel  Dickinson's  house,  meaning  Fairhiil.     Galloway,  who  was  also 

there,  told  him  he  was  mistaken,  that  Mr.  Dickinson  had  indeed  resided  there, 
but  it  was  the  property  of  a  minor.  .  .  .  Fairhill  was  burned  November  22,  1777. 
The  interference  of  Galloway,  it  was  said,  prevented  any  more  orders  to  burn 
houses. 


775  PUBLIC  SERVICES. 


beautiful  prospect  of  the  city,  the  river,  the  country, 
fine  gardens,  and  a  very  grand  library,"  etc. 

This  family  was  a  type  of  many  which  had  risen  to 
wealth  and  importance  during  the  first  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  During  that  period  the  excellence 
of  its  soil,  the  variety  of  its  productions,  and  its  ex- 
tensive commerce  had  made  Pennsylvania  the  most 
prosperous  of  all  the  English  settlements  in  America. 
As  the  inhabitants  grew  in  wealth  their  ideal  type  of 
civilization  and  culture  may  not  have  been,  according 
to  our  present  standard,  a  very  lofty  one,  yet  it  must 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  true  governor  of  the  Province 
during  that  time  was  James  Logan,  the  most  learned 
man  in  America  outside  the  theological  domain.  Frank- 
lin followed  in  his  footsteps,  and  in  1743  felt  sufficient 
encouragement  to  found  here  public  institutions  which 
still  exist  and  flourish,  and  which  were  designed  to  pro- 
mote useful  and  experimental  knowledge,  such  as  the 
"Junto,"  the  parent  and  forerunner  of  the  American 
Philosophical  Society,  the  Public  Library,  and  the  Col- 
lege of  Philadelphia.  Isaac  Norris,  inheriting  from  his 
father-in-law,  James  Logan,  a  library  of  extraordinary 
value,  enlarged  its  treasures,  and  passed  on  to  his  son- 
in-law,  John  Dickinson,  that  key  of  knowledge  which 
enabled  him  to  unlock  for  the  benefit  of  the  suffering 
Colonies  the  secrets  of  state-craft. 

Mr.  Dickinson  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Norris,  as 
stated  by  Mrs.  Logan  in  her  narrative,  on  the  igth  of 
July,  1770.  On  this  occasion  two  of  his  characteristic 
traits,  his  independence  and  his  contempt  for  the  vulgar 
display  common  at  weddings  in  those  days,  became, 
according  to  tradition,  conspicuous. 


DICKINSON  MARRIES  MISS  MARY  NORRIS.     3' 7 

William  Logan  (the  son  of  James)  writes  to  his 
brother-in-law,  John  Smith,  of  Burlington,  under  date 
of  July  20,  1770,  "Should  this  be  the  first  account 
thou  receivest,  thou  wilt  be  greatly  surprised  to  hear 
that  our  niece,  Polly  Norris,  was  married  last  night  to 
John  Dickinson.  Polly  informed  my  brother  James  of 
it  last  First  Day,  when  he  was  at  Fairhill,  but  enjoined 
the  strictest  secrecy.  He  and  wife  were  asked  to  the 
wedding.  She  went,  but  not  Jemmy.  She  was  mar- 
ried at  the  Widow  Norris's  by  George  Bryan  (one  of 
the  magistrates).  Very  few  present.  John  Dickin- 
son's mother  and  his  brother,  Dr.  Cadwalader,  wife, 
and  his  son  Lambert,  Hannah  Harrison,  and  some  of 
Sam.  Morris's  children,  with  my  sister  Logan,  were 
the  chief.  I  am  greatly  concerned  for  the  example 
Polly  has  set  by  this  her  outgoing  in  marriage."  (Re- 
ferring to  her  not  having  been  married  at  the  Friends* 
Meeting.)  "  I  fear  she  has  slipped  from  the  top  of  the 
hill  of  the  reputation  she  had  gained  in  the  Society 
and  among  her  friends,  and  that  it  will  be  a  long  time 
before  she  gains  it  again,  if  ever.  I  wish  she  may  not 
repent  it." 

Mr.  Dickinson's  modest  shrinking  from  public  notice 
on  such  an  occasion  has  not,  unfortunately,  many  imi- 
tators in  these  days.  In  anticipation  of  his  marriage 
he  wrote  to  the  publishers  of  every  newspaper  in  this 
city  the  following  note  : 

"  GENTLEMEN, — I  earnestly  entreat  as  a  favor  of  great  weight  with 
me  that  you  will  not  insert  in  your  newspaper  any  other  account  of 
my  marriage  than  this :  '  Last  Thursday,  John  Dickinson,  Esquire, 
was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Norris.'  An  account  of  the  expressions 
of  joy  shown  on  the  occasion  will  give  me  inexpressible  pain,  and 
very  great  uneasiness  to  a  number  of  very  worthy  relations. 


HIS   CHARACTERISTIC  MODESTY. 


No  doubt  Mr.  Dickinson's  good  taste,  as  well  as  his 
sensibility,  was  shocked  by  the  prospect  of  being  forced 
to  pass  the  ordeal  usual  on  the  occasion  of  a  public 
marriage  in  those  days.  No  wonder  he  disliked  the 
house  of  the  parents  filled  with  company  at  dinner,  the 
company  remaining  to  tea  and  to  supper,  punch  dealt 
out  with  profusion  for  two  days,  the  gentlemen  escorting 
the  groom  to  his  chamber,  where  they  all,  sometimes 
a  hundred  in  number,  claimed  the  privilege  of  "  kissing 
the  bride."  No  wonder  he  revolted  at  vulgarity  like 
this.  These  are  small  matters,  but  they  indicate  a  cer- 
tain delicacy  and  propriety  which  were  characteristic  of 
the  man.1 

1  Two  more  instances  of  his  characteristic  modesty  may  be  given. 
He  was  asked  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  for  a  copy  of  the  ad- 
dress made  to  him  by  the  Schuylkill  Fishing  Club  concerning  the 
"  Farmer's  Letters."  The  following  is  his  answer  : 

"  I  have  no  copy  of  the  address  of  the  St.  David's  Society  and 
answer  ;  and  if  I  had,  I  should  be  sorry  to  see  them  republished.  The 
address  was  the  act  of  a  private  club  of  friends.  The  approbation 
exceeded  all  bounds  of  propriety.  It  ought  not  to  have  been  pub- 
lished ;  and,  when  it  was,  drew  upon  me  a  charge  of  vanity,  from 
which  I  hope  my  heart  is  free  ;  but  there  was  an  indelicacy  in  its 
appearance  that  wounded  my  mind,  and  for  which,  in  my  opinion, 
the  regret  of  a  whole  life  cannot  sufficiently  atone." 

The  other  is  addressed  to  an  artist,  who  desired  to  paint  his 
portrait,  to  be  placed  in  a  picture  of  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence : 

"  SIR,  —  I  have  again  considered  your  very  earnest  and  obliging 
request  that  you  may  draw  my  picture  in  your  piece  representing  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  am  much  concerned  that  I  find 
myself  compelled  to  adhere  to  my  former  opinion. 

"As  for  my  '  then  being  a  member  of  Congress,'  it  was  an  acci- 
dental circumstance.  As  to  the  '  advantages  I  have  procured  you  for 
executing  your  plan  of  painting  the  illustrious  scenes  of  the  late 


HIS    GENEROUS  SELF-SACRIFICE.  3*9 

No  marriage,  as  we  shall  see,  ever  proved  a  truer 
union.  In  all  the  vicissitudes  of  a  life  checkered  by 
various  fortunes,  in  triumph  or  in  disaster,  whether  he 
was  suffering  under  misrepresentations  of  his  acts  and 
motives,  or  whether  he  was  at  last  vindicated,  honored, 
and  revered,  his  wife  was  always  his  helpmate  and  best 
friend.  He  willingly  sacrificed  his  own  private  inter- 
ests to  enable  her  to  do  honor  to  the  memory  of  her 
father ;  and  in  all  the  benevolent  acts  which  distin- 
guished the  latter  part  of  his  life  particularly,  she  gladly 
joined  her  husband  in  making  the  contributions  which 
endowed  them.  The  following  letters,  the  one  written 
two  months  after  his  marriage,  and  the  other  some 
years  later,  amidst  all  the  anxieties  and  uncertainties 
of  the  Revolutionary  War,  seem  to  me  to  give  a  very 

Revolution,'  respect  for  the  State,  for  the  Union,  and  for  the  arts 
commanded  me  to  procure  them.  As  for  '  the  reflections  that  may  be 
made  upon  the  omission,'  I  shall  not  care  for  them,  because  they  will 
be  unjust. 

"  The  truth  is,  that,  as  I  opposed  making  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence at  the  time  it  was  made,  I  cannot  be  guilty  of  so  false  an 
ambition  as  to  seek  for  any  share  in  the  fame  of  that  council. 

"Enough  it  will  be  for  me  should  my  name  be  remembered  by 
posterity,  if  it  is  acknowledged  that  I  cheerfully  staked  everything 
dear  to  me  upon  the  fate  of  my  country,  and  that  no  measure,  how- 
ever contrary  to  my  sentiments,  no  treatment,  however  unmerited, 
could,  even  in  the  deepest  gloom  of  our  affairs,  change  that  determi- 
nation, and  that  though  I  resigned  the  favors  of  my  fellow-citizens  by 
endeavoring,  as  I  judged,  to  promote  their  happiness,  I  continued 
inflexibly  attached  to  their  cause. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  esteem,  sir,  your  most  obe- 
dient humble  servant, 

"JOHN  DICKINSON. 

"  PHILADA.,  July,  1785. 

"ROBERT  E.  PINE,  ESQ." 


320  FAMILY  LETTERS. 

pleasant  picture  of  his  domestic  happiness  at  different 
periods  : 

John  Dickinson  to  Mrs.  Mary  Norris. 

MY  DEAR  AUNT, — We  arrived  here  yesterday  at  dusk,  pretty  well 
tired  and  in  pretty  good  spirits.  Tuesday  we  dined  with  your  worthy 
tenant  at  Norrington,  who,  with  his  wife,  gave  us  a  very  kind  recep- 
tion. That  night  we  got  to  the  Yellow  Springs.  We  brought  some 
of  the  water  away  with  us,  but  Polly  complains  that  it  makes  her  eyes 
smart,  so  that  I  believe  she  will  not  use  it  any  more. 

Yesterday  we  set  off  for  this  place.  Part  of  the  way  afforded  us 
most  delightful  prospects,  with  which  my  dear  companion  was  ex- 
tremely pleased.  Some  part  of  the  road  was  hilly,  crooked,  stony, 
stumpy.  She  bore  all  the  jolts  like  a  philosopher.  We  dined  at 
Pottsgrove,  and  among  "  memorable  things"  it  may  be  put  down  as 
one,  that  after  proper  respect  paid  to  a  beefsteak,  somebody  desired 
an  egg  to  be  poached.  Cousin  H.  may  add  as  another  remarkable 
fact  that  yesterday  completed  two  months  of  marriage  without  one 
quarrel. 

We  are  in  good  quarters  here,  and  therefore  have  stopt  here  this 
day;  I  can't  say  rested,  for  at  one  we  went  in  the  carriage  about 
half-way  up  a  mountain  (some  people  call  it  a  hill)  near  this  town, 
but  the  road  becoming  very  rough,  we  undertook  the  remainder 
of  the  jaunt  on  foot.  Steep  and  stony  the  ascent, — a  mere  type  of 
a  virtuous  life,  and  that,  everybody  knows,  is  grievous  enough  to  our 
frail  natures  for  a  while,  but  most  charming  to  the  happy  folks  who 
persevere  to  the  top.  In  this  the  similitude  still  held,  for  when  we 
had  clambered  up  to  a  great  height  a  mere  Paradise  presented  itself 
to  our  eyes.  We  wished  for  you,  Cousin  H.,  and  Cousin  H.  G.  to 
enjoy  the  prospect,  the  last  to  describe  it.  When  we  return  we  will 
be  more  particular  ;  at  present  we  cannot,  for  though  I  verily  believe 
it  is  as  high  and  as  pleasant  as  Parnassus,  yet  we  did  not  find  a  single 
Muse  sauntering  upon  it. 

To-morrow  we  proceed  for  Carlisle,  which  I  expect  to  reach  on 
Saturday.  I  told  Polly  my  design  to  go  there  to-day.  She  cheer- 
fully consented.  In  short,  she  is  a  most  excellent  traveller.  With 
her  every  disagreeable  thing  in  travelling  is  tolerable,  and  everything 
not  disagreeable  is  pleasing. 

She  is  now  lolling,  and  I  am  writing  in  a  great   hurry,  every 


FAMILY  LETTERS.  321 

moment  expecting  a  gentleman,  who  left  his  compliments  while  I 
was  out,  and  promised  to  call  again. 

Please  to  present  my  love  to  all  at  Fairhill,  Somerville,  and  Bell- 
ville,  and  to  your  dear  little  [blank].  My  Polly  presents  her  love  to 
you  and  all  those  just  mentioned. 

I  am,  my  dear  aunt, 

Your  very  affectionate  nephew 

And  most  obedient  servant. 
READING,  Septr.  2oth,  1770. 

Polly  desires  this  letter  may  be  sent  forward  to  Bellville.  Witness 
her  hand  the  day  and  year  aforesaid.  J.  D. 

MY  EVER  DEAR  POLLY, — I  arrived  in  Philadelphia  this  day  was  a 
week,  about  one  o'clock,  very  hearty,  after  a  very  pleasant  journey, 
and  am  truly  sorry  I  cannot  return  to  you  and  our  precious  one  as 
soon  as  I  intended.  Business  prevents  me.  I  have  settled  a  great 
deal,  and  expect  shortly  to  settle  the  rest  to  my  highest  satisfaction. 
But  this  and  all  the  kindness  of  our  friends  here,  which  seems  to  re- 
vive and  expand  with  the  spring,  cannot  compensate  for  absence  from 
those  in  Kent,  whom  I  so  tenderly  love.  I  propose  to  be  at  home 
about  the  end  of  this  month.  You  may  be  assured  I  will  not  stay  a 
moment  longer  than  is  necessary.  I  am  so  selfish  as  almost  to  wish 
the  time  may  be  as  tedious  to  you  as  to  me ;  though  I  am  afraid,  to 
wish  that,  would  be  too  cruel.  However,  if  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
is  proportioned  to  the  anxiety  of  separation,  perhaps  it  would  not  be 
very  unkind.  For  my  part,  I  believe  there  is  some  such  sort  of  a 
proportion.  I  will  trust  to  our  prudence  while  distant,  and  to  our 
hearts  when  we  meet. 

Not  to  part  too  suddenly,  though,  from  the  subject,  give  my  most 
affectionate  love  to  our  little  one.  Tell  her  from  papa  to  be  very 
good ;  to  be  sure  to  say  her  prayers  morning  and  evening,  and  take 
care  of  herself,  which  I  also  earnestly  entreat  her  mamma.  Make  as 
many  visits  as  you  can,  but  never  stay  out  so  late  as  to  get  home  after 
dark.  I  beg  you  to  observe  this  my  request,  and  tell  Jo  to  rival 
Joseph  in  carefulness  of  driving.  My  compliments  to  Miss  Polly 
and  Mr.  Ridgely.  I  hope  they  will  be  so  obliging  as  to  entertain 
you.  Keep  up  your  spirits.  Heaven,  through  its  infinite  goodness, 
may  have  more  happiness  in  store  for  you  in  this  world  than  you  have 
any  prospect  of.  Let  us  strive  to  render  ourselves  as  little  unworthy 

21 


322  PUBLIC   OFFICE  A    TRUST. 

as  possible  of  favors  received  or  to  be  received.  You  can  imagine 
how  I  have  been  visited  and  invited.  Kind  inquiries,  etc.,  etc. 
But  the  budget  must  not  be  opened  till  the  meeting  of  the  three 
States.  Ask  Sally  if  that  expression  is  not  a  riddle,  and  let  her  in- 
genuity be  exerted  to  solve  it.  I  must  think  of  leaving  off,  for  my 
paper  is  almost  finished.  In  answer  to  the  Athenian  question,  if  you 
are  inclined  to  ask  it,  there  is  nothing  worth  mentioning.  If  you 
hear  anything,  do  not  believe  it,  unless  it  is  agreeable.  That  every- 
thing in  this  life  may  be  so  to  you,  if  it  may  be  without  prejudicing 
you  in  another,  is,  my  love,  as  warm  a  wish  as  ever  glowed  in  the 
heart  of 

Your  affectionate 

JOHN  DICKINSON. 
PHILADELPHIA,  May  ipth,  1781. 

Mr.  Dickinson,  having  been  happily  married  in  1770, 
and  occupying  a  high  position  as  a  lawyer,  and  having 
gained  a  reputation  which  placed  him  as  a  political 
writer  at  the  head  of  the  opponents  of  the  ministry, 
would,  had  he  been  the  timid  politician  he  is  sometimes 
represented,  have  retired,  for  the  time  at  least,  from  the 
political  arena.  He  had  no  fondness  for  the  excitement 
of  the  struggle,  and  he  was  not  long  in  discovering 
that  he  had  taken  the  unpopular  side.  It  became  more 
and  more  apparent  every  day  that  revolutionary  passions 
which  he  could  not  control  would  sooner  or  later  drag 
the  country  into  a  position  in  which,  according  to  his 
theory,  he  could  not  defend  her.  But  this  discovery 
neither  changed  his  convictions  nor  led  him  to  deviate 
from  the  path  he  had  marked  out  for  himself.  Every 
one,  of  course,  is  entitled  to  his  own  judgment  as  to 
the  wisdom  of  his  political  opinions  and  acts,  but  no 
one  who  watches  his  career  can  doubt  the  courage,  the 
sincerity,  and  the  disinterestedness  with  which  he  main- 
tained them.  He  was  not  spoiled  by  the  flattery  with 


ABOLITION  OF  SLAVERY  IN  DEL  A  WARE.       323 

which  his  Farmer's  Letters  had  been  received,  and  he 
probably  was  not  greatly  surprised  when  he  found  his 
wise  and  temperate  counsels  so  soon  forgotten.  Pre- 
vious to  the  Declaration  of  Independence  he  must 
have  felt  that  he  was  leading  the  "forlorn  hope"  of 
the  American  Revolution,  but  when  independence  was 
determined  upon  he  at  once  became  as  sincere  and 
earnest  an  advocate  and  defender  of  the  country  in  its 
new  conditions  as  he  had  been  in  its  old.  He  was  no 
"  Achilles,  sulking  in  his  tent,"  no  mere  student  look- 
ing with  cynical  contempt  alike  upon  the  aspirations 
and  the  errors  of  those  who  differed  with  him  and  re- 
fused to  follow  his  advice  or  example.  To  men  of  the 
fine  temper  of  Dickinson,  action  is  essential  when  duty 
calls.  He  followed  no  leader  at  any  time  but  his  con- 
science, and  that  pointed  to  the  thorny  path  in  which 
he  was  beset  by  popular  abuse  and  misconception. 
Esse  quam  videri  was  his  family  motto,  and  the  senti- 
ment which  it  embodied  guided  him  through  life. 

Mr.  Dickinson's  humanity  and  philanthropy  were  ex- 
hibited shortly  after  his  return  to  Delaware,  in  1785,  by 
his  strenuous  advocacy  of  a  measure  for  the  abolition 
of  slavery  in  that  State.  He  had  himself  been  a  slave- 
holder in  his  early  days,  but,  like  many  slave-holders  of 
that  period,  his  experience  had  only  taught  him  more 
clearly  the  necessity,  on  every  ground,  of  ridding  the 
State  of  such  an  incubus.  The  journals  of  the  As- 
sembly of  Delaware  tell  us  that  leave  was  given  in 
October,  1785,  for  the  introduction  of  a  bill  for  the 
gradual  abolition  of  slavery,  and  that  such  a  bill  was 
presented  in  the  following  January,  was  carefully  con- 
sidered, and  then  was  replaced  by  a  bill  for  furthering 


324         SLAVERY  IN  THE  NEW  TERRITORIES. 

emancipation,  which,  in  turn,  was  deferred  in  June  for 
consideration,  which  it  seems  never  to  have  received. 
(See  Jameson's  "Essays  on  the  Constitutional  History 
of  the  United  States,"  p.  300.) 

Among  Mr.  Dickinson's  papers  was  found  a  copy 
of  a  draft  of  a  bill  of  the  character  referred  to.  (See 
Appendix  VIII.)  It  may  have  been  one  of  the  many 
propositions  which  were  not  at  that  time  uncommon 
among  far-seeing  statesmen  in  the  Southern  States, 
preparing  the  way  for  a  general  emancipation  of  the 
slaves.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  horror  of  perpetuating 
slavery  grew  deeper  and  stronger  with  Mr.  Dickinson 
as  he  advanced  in  years.  Here  is  a  letter,  written  in 
1804,  protesting  against  the  introduction  of  slavery 
into  the  newly-acquired  territories  : 


John  Dickinson  to  George  Logan,  Senator  in  Congress. 

MY  DEAR  COUSIN, — Thy  letter  of  the  i8th,  with  the  inclosure,  is 
received. 

As  Congress  is  now  to  legislate  for  our  extensive  territory  lately 
acquired,  I  pray  to  Heaven  that  they  may  build  up  the  system  of  the 
government  on  the  broad,  strong,  and  sound  principles  of  freedom. 
Curse  not  the  inhabitants  of  those  regions,  and  of  the  United  States 
in  general,  with  a  permission  to  introduce  bondage. 

Slaves  are  deeply,  deeply  injurious  to  the  morals  of  the  masters 
and  their  families,  and  are  internal  enemies  always  to  be  watched  and 
guarded  against. 

As  standing  armies  are  justly  abhorred  among  us,  our  liberty  must 
depend  on  our  being  an  armed  nation ;  and  considering  the  power 
of  those  with  whom  we  may  have  to  contend,  we  must  be  a  populous 
nation. 

The  labor  of  slaves  must  in  a  certain  proportion  exclude  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  earth  by  freemen,  and  thereby  diminish  our  internal 
safety  and  external  security. 


PROJECTS   OF  BENEVOLENCE.  325 

The  theme  is  inexhaustible.  Let  the  pernicious  project,  the 
detestable  precedent,  never  be  sanctioned  by  votes  of  sons  of 
liberty. 

I  am  thy  truly  affectionate  kinsman, 

JOHN  DICKINSON. 
WILMINGTON,  the  3oth  of  the  First  Month,  1804. 

We  should  form,  however,  a  very  inadequate  con- 
ception of  Mr.  Dickinson's  character  and  influence  and 
of  his  well-rounded  life  did  we  confine  ourselves  merely 
to  a  review  of  his  career  as  a  statesman.  He  seems  to 
have  been  deeply  impressed,  as  was  Franklin,  in  his 
early  life,  with  the  great  destiny  which  the  future  had 
in  reserve  for  his  country.  Amidst  all  his  anxieties  and 
labors  for  the  establishment  here  of  political  institutions 
suited  to  our  condition,  he  never  ceased  his  efforts 
for  the  encouragement  and  support  of  those  voluntary 
associations  for  the  promotion  of  education  and  charity 
which  form  the  true  strength  and  glory  of  free  States. 
He  well  knew  that  such  associations  in  a  country  like 
this  must  be  the  outgrowth  of  private  benevolence 
and  enterprise,  and  that  they  must  depend  upon  the 
State  for  encouragement  only,  and  not  for  complete 
support.  He  was  one  of  the  first  in  this  country  to 
perceive  how  vast  a  development  it  was  possible  to  give 
to  this  voluntary  system  as  a  means  of  promoting  the 
work  of  education  and  benevolence.  From  the  close 
of  the  Revolution  he  showed  the  greatest  zeal  in 
strengthening  the  hands  of  those  benevolent  persons 
who  were  engaged  in  work  of  this  kind.  In  1782  he 
gave  to  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  at  Princeton,  one 
hundred  pounds,  the  income  of  which  was  to  be  per- 
petually appropriated  as  a  prize  for  the  best  essay 


326  DICKINSON  COLLEGE. 

prepared  by  a  student  of  the  college  upon  one  of  sev- 
eral topics,  political  and  social,  which  he  designated.  In 
1783  a  strong  effort  was  made  by  several  enlightened 
men  in  the  State  to  establish  a  college  west  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna.  The  need  of  a  provision  for  the  supply  of 
a  liberal  education  to  young  men  in  the  western  part 
of  this  State  was  then  indeed  very  apparent,  and  had 
impressed  itself  strongly  upon  those  who  best  knew  its 
value.  Among  these  men  Mr.  Dickinson  and  Dr.  Rush 
were  the  most  conspicuous.  The  special  cause  which 
awakened  public  interest  on  this  subject  at  that  time 
was  no  doubt  the  deplorable  condition  into  which  col- 
lege education  in  this  State  had  fallen  after  the  Revo- 
lution. The  old  College  of  Philadelphia,  which  had 
during  twenty  years  gained  a  high  reputation,  was  (as 
we  have  seen)  robbed  of  its  endowments  in  1779  by 
an  act  of  the  Legislature,  under  the  false  pretext  that 
its  management  was  sectarian.  The  new  establishment 
to  which  its  endowments  were  transferred,  the  "  Uni- 
versity of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,"  although  its 
resources  were  increased  by  the  State  bounty,  never 
secured  either  public  confidence  or  support  during  its 
short-lived  career.  Such  was  the  opportunity  seized 
upon  by  the  friends  of  college  education  to  establish 
a  new  college.  Accordingly,  in  September,  1783,  Dick- 
inson College,  at  Carlisle,  was  incorporated.  It  was 
called  "  Dickinson  College,"  we  are  told  in  the  pream- 
ble of  the  act  by  which  it  was  chartered,  "  in  memory 
of  the  great  and  important  services  rendered  to  his 
country  by  His  Excellency  John  Dickinson,  Esquire, 
President  of  the  Supreme  Executive  Council,  and  in 
commemoration  of  his  very  liberal  donation  to  the 


CONTRIBUTIONS   TO    CHARITIES, 


institution."  Very  large  contributions  (for  that  day) 
were  made  by  many  prominent  men  in  the  State,  of  all 
shades  of  party  and  religious  feeling,  but  that  of  Mr. 
Dickinson  was  the  largest  of  all.  He  gave  the  college 
two  plantations,  as  they  were  called,  one  of  three  hun- 
dred acres,  in  Adams  County,  and  the  other  of  two 
hundred  acres,  in  Cumberland.  He  also  presented  to 
the  college  library  the  books  which  were  saved  from 
the  burning  of  the  Norris  library  at  Fairhill  by  the 
British  army  in  1777,  amounting  in  number  to  about 
fifteen  hundred  volumes.  If  we  are  right  in  ascribing 
the  training  and  knowledge  of  political  principles  which 
distinguished  two  generations  of  the  Norris  family,  as 
well  as  that  of  Mr.  Dickinson  himself,  in  a  great  meas- 
ure to  the  wealth  of  learning  contained  in  those  books, 
that  gift  to  the  college  must  have  been  a  priceless  one. 
Mr.  Dickinson  continued  to  be  president  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  and  the  col- 
lege was  in  constant  receipt  of  his  benefactions.  He 
became  the  intimate  friend  of  its  first  president,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Nisbet,  a  Scotch  Presbyterian  clergyman  of 
rare  ability,  and  aided  greatly  in  his  support  by  an 
annuity  which  he  granted  him. 

In  1786  he  and  his  wife  (and  she  seems  to  have  been 
always  associated  with  him  in  his  benevolent  under- 
takings) gave  to  the  Monthly  Meeting  of  Friends  in 
Wilmington  two  hundred  pounds,  to  facilitate  the  edu- 
cation of  poor  children  and  the  children  of  those  not 
in  affluent  circumstances,  without  any  distinction  of 
religious  profession. 

In  the  same  year  he  writes  to  his  cousin  James  Pem- 
berton,  one  of  the  elders  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 


328  RELIEF  OF  SICK  PRISONERS. 

"  My  mind  has  been  frequently  and  deeply  concerned 
in  observing  how  very  negligent  I  have  been  in  doing 
good,  and  has  been  particularly  engaged  in  a  desire 
of  attending  to  the  duties  of  humanity  so  strongly  dic- 
tated by  reason  and  conscience,  and  the  performance 
of  which  is  so  remarkably  enjoined  by  our  Saviour  as 
indispensably  necessary.  At  present  my  intention  is 
to  make  provision  for  the  relief  of  those  poor  who 
may  be  'sick  and  in  prison,'  under  the  direction  of 
Friends  in  Philadelphia."  For  that  purpose  he  sends 
him  two  hundred  pounds.  "  One  objection,"  he  adds 
characteristically,  "  respecting  myself  has  given  me 
pain.  Acts  of  this  sort  ought  to  be  done  in  secret. 
But  I  am  convinced  that  the  benefits  will  be  much  fur- 
ther extended  under  the  management  of  Friends  than 
by  any  personal  efforts  or  private  regulations  which  it 
is  in  my  power  to  make  ;  and  perhaps  its  establishment, 
once  begun,  may  stir  up  others  to  contribute  to  its 
promotion.  Above  all,  I  humbly  trust  that  I  am  moved 
to  this  proceeding  by  a  love  of  my  Maker  and  of  my 
fellow-creatures,  and  that  He  in  His  mercy  will  pardon 
the  imperfection  of  its  execution." 

It  may  be  said  that  this  benevolent  project  was  not 
undertaken  by  the  Friends  as  a  society,  and  that  the 
fund  was  consequently  transferred  to  a  society  then 
newly  created,  which  still  does  its  benevolent  work, 
composed  of  the  most  charitable  persons  of  all  the 
denominations  in  the  city,  called  "The  Society  for 
Alleviating  the  Miseries  of  Public  Prisons." 

But  the  benevolent  enterprise  which  at  that  time 
Mr.  Dickinson  and  his  wife  had  most  at  heart  seems  to 
have  been  the  establishment  of  a  free  boarding-school 


PROPOSES  A    QUAKER  BOARDING-SCHOOL.     3*9 

under  the  care  of  Friends.  In  1789  he  offered  to  the 
Yearly  Meeting  of  Friends  in  Philadelphia  a  consider- 
able sum  towards  the  endowment  of  a  school  under 
their  care,  in  which  the  pupils  should  be  instructed  in 
"  the  most  advantageous  branches  of  literature"  and  in 
certain  practical  subjects.  The  Meeting  for  a  number 
of  years  hesitated  to  assume  this  trust,  partly  owing  to 
doubts  of  the  possibility  of  raising  among  its  members 
a  sufficient  sum  to  complete  the  endowment,  and  partly 
because  some  of  them  doubted  the  wisdom  and  ex- 
pediency of  undertaking,  as  a  religious  body,  to  en- 
courage too  much  the  acquisition  of  worldly  learning 
by  their  young  people.  Mr.  Dickinson's  proposition 
led  to  a  long  correspondence  between  himself  and  the 
authorities  of  the  Meeting  upon  the  relations  of  learn- 
ing to  religion.  In  these  letters  he  maintained  with 
great  force  what  are  now  to  all  self-evident  truths,  but 
what  in  those  days  were  new  and  unwelcome  doctrines 
to  many  sincere  religionists.  The  result  was  that  he 
finally  convinced  the  Meeting  of  the  wisdom  and  pro- 
priety of  the  measure  he  had  proposed,  and  in  1794 
the  Yearly  Meeting  agreed  to  establish  the  school  at 
West-town,  which  still  flourishes,  and  the  benefaction 
of  Mr.  Dickinson  and  his  wife  was  transferred  to  that 
body  towards  its  support. 

As  a  curious  illustration  of  the  character  of  the 
obstacles  which,  a  hundred  years  ago,  a  proposition  to 
extend  popular  education  met  with,  it  is  worth  while  to 
transcribe  a  portion  of  one  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  letters 
on  this  subject : 

"I  wish  to  be  well  understood  on  this  interesting 
business,  and  therefore  beg  leave  to  insert  part  of  a 


330     RELATIONS  OF  RELIGION  AND  LEARNING. 

letter  written  on  behalf  of  my  wife  and  myself  to 
cousin  James  Pemberton  at  the  beginning  of  the  last 
year :  '  Another  trust  we  earnestly  desire  to  commit  to 
the  care  of  Friends,  and  that  is,  a  permanent  pro- 
vision for  the  proper  education  of  poor  orphan  children. 
A  temporary  or  uncertain  relief  in  the  manner  pro- 
posed to  us  may  be  in  some  degree  beneficial,  but 
where  a  regular  attention  is  had  to  the  mind  as  well 
as  to  the  body  there  seem  to  be  better  prospects  of 
advantage  to  the  individual  and  to  the  public.  We  are 
inclined  to  think  that  these  views  would  be  most  effect- 
ually promoted  by  some  establishment  in  the  country 
similar  to  that  at  Glaucka,  near  Halle,  in  Saxony,  or  to 
that  at  Ackworth,  in  England.  We  have  not,  however, 
any  decided  opinion  as  to  the  mode,  being  very  desirous 
of  receiving  information.  Our  ideas  at  present  are 
that  the  objects  should  be  ascertained,  and  the  whole 
plan,  with  regard  to  situation,  buildings,  and  other 
particulars,  so  regulated  that  every  needless  expense 
may  be  avoided/  .  . 

"  Some  worthy  persons  slight  learning  too  much 
because  wonderful  acts  have  been  done  by  illiterate 
men.  It  should  be  always  recollected  that  these  men 
were  particularly  called  and  qualified  for  particular 
purposes.  No  general  inference  can  be  justly  drawn 
from  such  instances.  So  assured  am  I  that  learning 
and  religion  will  be  found  to  agree  together,  that  I 
think  it  the  indispensable  duty  of  those  who  revere 
religion  to  cultivate  learning  in  order  to  counteract  the 
mischiefs  flowing  from  its  perversions  and  apply  it  to 
its  proper  use.  Hypotheses  or  counterfeits,  substituted 
in  the  place  of  truths,  have  done  irreparable  injury,  and 


FAIRHILL   AND  SEPVIVA   ENTAILED.          33* 

by  these  vanities  the  world  is  still  deluded.  '  Foolish 
questions,'  fables,  and  endless  genealogies,  profane  and 
vain  babblings,  oppositions  of  science  falsely  so  called, 
and  winds  of  doctrine  the  apostle  Paul  has  justly  con- 
demned, and  these,  to  be  sure,  should  be  consigned  to 
perpetual  oblivion." 

There  was  another  act  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  (in  anti- 
cipation of  his  marriage)  which  showed  him  to  possess 
the  unselfish  nature  of  a  thoroughbred  gentleman,  and 
confirmed  the  general  impression  of  the  nobleness  and 
generosity  of  his  character.  Miss  Mary  Norris  was, 
after  the  death  of  her  sister,  the  sole  surviving  child 
and  heiress  of  Isaac  Norris  the  Speaker,  who  had  died 
without  making  a  will.  He  left  considerable  personal 
property  and  two  adjoining  estates  on  the  borders  of 
the  city,  called  "  Fairhill"  and  "Sepviva,"  containing 
between  six  and  seven  hundred  acres.  These  estates 
became,  of  course,  absolutely  vested  in  Miss  Norris 
by  operation  of  law.  They  were  even  then  of  great 
value,  and  it  was  perfectly  well  understood  by  Mr. 
Dickinson  and  by  all  concerned  that,  owing  to  their 
nearness  to  the  city,  they  would  produce  in  the  course 
of  time  a  princely  revenue  to  their  owners,  an  antici- 
pation, we  may  say,  which  has  been  fully  justified  by 
the  result.  Miss  Norris  was  convinced  that  it  had 
been  the  wish  and  intention  of  her  father  that  these 
estates  should  be  preserved  as  long  as  possible  in  the 
male  line  of  the  Norris  family,  and  that  his  intention 
had  been  defeated  by  his  sudden  and  unexpected 
death.  By  her  and  by  her  intended  husband  this  inten- 
tion was  regarded  as  a  sacred  obligation,  having  for 
them  the  same  force  as  a  legal  duty.  They  accordingly 


332  DICKINSON'S  DECLINING    YEARS. 

joined  in  a  deed,  in  1769,  conveying  these  estates  in 
tail-male  to  the  sons  of  Charles  Norris,  the  brother 
of  the  Speaker,  reserving  to  Mrs.  Dickinson  the  power 
to  designate  one  of  his  sons  as  tenant-in-tail.  In  1790 
she  appointed  Joseph  Parker  Norris  as  tenant-in-tail, 
and  he  soon  afterwards,  by  a  process  well  known  to 
lawyers,  called  a  common  recovery,  became  the  owner 
of  these  estates  in  fee  simple. 

The  excuse  for  this  reference  to  a  matter  of  private 
family  history  is  that  it  serves  as  an  illustration  of  the 
lofty  principles  of  right  by  which  at  all  times  Mr. 
Dickinson's  life  was  guided.  Acts  such  as  these,  both 
as  to  the  motive  which  prompted  them  and  the  self- 
denial  which  they  involved,  reveal  the  character  of  the 
man  both  in  private  and  in  public  life.1 

The  declining  years  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  life  were 
passed  in  a  dignified  retirement,  in  which  he  had  all  the 
satisfactions  which  can  surround  a  serene  old  age, — 
"honor,  love,  obedience,  troops  of  friends."  To  all 
he  seemed  a  Christian  philosopher,  his  heart  full  of 
love  of  his  country  to  the  last,  and  wholly  free  from 
the  arts  of  the  restless  politician,  who  seeks  to  gain 
selfish  ends  by  unworthy  means.  He  never  ceased  to 
manifest  his  deep  interest  in  public  affairs,  and  his  cor- 

1  Mr.  Dickinson's  town-house,  before  the  Revolution,  was  in  Chest- 
nut Street,  below  Seventh.  It  had  been  originally  the  Carpenter 
Mansion,  and  was  afterwards  occupied  by  Dr.  Graeme  and  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  Ferguson.  Mr.  Dickinson  moved  into  it  in  1774. 
It  was  used  in  the  early  part  of  the  Revolution  as  a  hospital,  and 
afterwards  was  occupied  by  the  French  minister,  who  gave  there  a 
famous  entertainment  to  the  officers  of  the  allied  armies.  Later  it 
was  the  residence  of  Chief-Justice  Tilghman,  and  still  later  the 
"Arcade"  was  built  on  the  site. 


CONSTANT  INTEREST  IN  PUBLIC  AFFAIRS.     333 

respondence  with  Mr.  Jefferson  and  with  his  kinsman 
Dr.  George  Logan,  at  that  time  one  of  the  Senators 
from  Pennsylvania,  shows  how  his  counsel  was  valued 
by  them  and  how  readily  men  in  power  trusted  to  his 
experience  as  a  guide.  Happily  for  Mr.  Dickinson's 
repose,  the  dangers  to  his  country  which  he  had  appre- 
hended from  the  ambitious  designs  of  France  were 
averted  for  the  time  by  the  "  happy  accident"  of  the 
willingness  of  Napoleon  to  sell  to  us  the  vast  terri- 
tory of  Louisiana,  and  with  it  all  the  French  claims  to 
territorial  possessions  on  this  continent.  Napoleon  was 
in  the  zenith  of  his  power  when  Mr.  Dickinson  died, 
and,  although  no  man  looked  with  greater  horror  on 
his  schemes  of  universal  conquest,  yet  Mr.  Dickinson 
could  feel  that  we  had  at  least  escaped  the  calamities 
with  which  the  progress  of  the  French  arms  had  over- 
whelmed western  Europe. 

He  lost  his  wife  in  1803,  and  although  this  affliction 
can  be  rightly  measured  only  by  those  who  know  what 
his  married  life  was,  still,  one  of  its  results  which  was 
very  apparent  was  the  increased  tenderness  of  his 
sympathies  for  those  who  were  suffering  and  needed 
his  aid.  Among  other  illustrations  of  his  genuine  kind- 
ness and  generosity,  we  may  venture  to  speak  of  his 
conduct  towards  the  family  of  Chief-Justice  Read,  who 
died  leaving  his  family  in  a  somewhat  dependent  con- 
dition. The  Chief-Justice  and  Mr.  Dickinson  had  been 
friends  in  boyhood.  They  had  been  students  together 
in  the  same  law-office  in  Philadelphia,  and  for  nearly  fifty 
years  of  life  together  in  most  stormy  times  their  friend- 
ship had  never  wavered  nor  been  diminished.  Immedi- 
ately upon  the  death  of  Judge  Read,  Mr.  Dickinson  sent 


334  GIFT  TO  JUDGE  READ'S  FAMILY. 

his  widow  a  deed  conveying  to  her  a  valuable  farm  in 
Delaware,  which  might  serve  as  a  home  for  the  family 
and  aid  in  the  support  of  those  members  of  it  who 
were  unable  to  help  themselves.  Well  may  the  son 
of  the  Chief- Justice  (who  was  his  father's  biographer) 
say  of  Mr.  Dickinson,  of  whom  he  was  one  of  the  bene- 
ficiaries, "  I  have  a  vivid  impression  of  the  man,  tall  and 
spare,  his  hair  white  as  snow,  his  face  uniting  with  the 
severe  simplicity  of  his  sect  a  neatness  and  elegance 
peculiarly  in  keeping  with  it ;  his  manners  a  beautiful 
emanation  of  the  great  Christian  principle  of  love, 
with  that  gentleness  and  affectionateness  which,  what- 
ever may  be  the  cause,  the  Friends,  or  at  least  individ- 
uals among  them,  exhibit  more  than  others,  combining 
the  politeness  of  a  man  of  the  world  familiar  with 
society  in  its  most  polished  forms  with  conventional 
canons  of  behavior.  Truly  he  lives  in  my  memory  as 
the  realization  of  my  beau-ideal  of  a  gentleman." 

To  this  may  be  added  the  impressions  of  one  who 
knew  him  well  (Mrs.  Deborah  Logan),  and  who  seems 
at  all  times  to  have  regarded  him  with  the  utmost  affec- 
tion and  veneration  : 

"I  have  spoken  of  his  eloquence,  but  it  is  not  easy 
to  do  justice  to  the  charms  of  his  conversation,  nor  to 
the  many  excellent  qualities  and  virtues  that  adorned 
his  life.  His  mind  was  a  rich  casket  of  all  the  various 
knowledge  which  history  contains,  for  he  had  read  the 
most,  and  brought  his  judgment  to  bear  upon  his  read- 
ing the  best,  of  any  person  that  I  ever  knew,  and  he 
would,  in  his  instructive  converse,  draw  from  this 
casket  the  ample  stores  which  it  contained  in  such  a 
fit  and  beautiful  setting  of  words  that  the  minds  of  his 


M£S.    DEBORAH  LOGAN'S  SKETCH.  335 

auditors  followed  him  with  unmixed  delight:  a  high 
intellectual  gratification  indeed  ! 

"  But  there  were  so  many  useful  and  pleasing  traits 
in  his  character  that  I  cannot  yet  stop  my  pen.  He 
was  a  true  republican,  sincerely  attached  to  the  free 
institutions  of  our  country,  simple  and  unostentatious 
in  his  habits  and  manners,  claiming  no  pre-eminence 
over  his  fellow-citizens,  but  remarkably  kind  and  atten- 
tive to  his  poorest  neighbors  and  acquaintance,  dif- 
fusing all  the  help  and  comfort  and  blessing  in  his 
power  to  those  around  him,  his  whole  conduct  being  a 
practical  comment  upon  the  divine  truths  of  religion 
with  which  his  mind  was  deeply  imbued.  I  never 
visited  him  but  I  thought  myself  in  some  sort  better, 
and  my  love  for  whatever  was  good  and  excellent  was 
revived  and  strengthened. 

"  Some  are  fond  of  showing  the  acuteness  of  their 
intellect  by  readily  detecting  in  the  conversation  and 
writings  of  others  whatever  is  faulty  or  susceptible 
of  ridicule  ;  he,  on  the  contrary,  disliked  to  look  at 
faults,  unless  the  interest  of  virtue  or  a  correct  taste 
required  their  exposure,  but  was  delighted  to  set  in 
the  fairest  point  of  view  the  beauties  and  excellencies 
which  came  under  his  observation.  His  person  and 
manners  were  eminently  graceful  and  pleasing,  and 
fair  indeed  would  rise  the  edifice  of  human  society,  if, 
planned  and  proportioned  like  the  rectitude  of  his 
mind,  all  its  columns  were  adorned  with  capitals  of  the 
order  to  which  he  belonged.  It  might  justly  be  said 
of  him  as  it  was  of  Fenelon,  that  'Virtue  herself 
became  more  beautiful  from  his  manner  of  being  vir- 
tuous/ 


336  MR.    DICKINSON'S  DEATH. 

In  February,  1808,  Mr.  Dickinson  was  prostrated  by 
a  fever,  which  it  was  soon  seen  must  prove  fatal  to 
one  of  his  advanced  years.  During  his  last  illness  his 
mind  seemed  constantly  to  dwell  upon  the  terrible  sac- 
rifice of  life  with  which  the  great  Continental  wars  of 
that  period  were  attended,  and  upon  the  danger  to  his 
own  country  if  it  should  be  exposed  to  similar  calamities. 
Almost  his  last  words  were,  "  I  wish  happiness  to  all 
mankind,  and  the  blessings  of  peace  to  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  and  these  are  the  constant  subjects  of  my 
prayers."  He  died  on  the  I4th  of  February,  1808, 
having  nearly  reached  his  seventy-seventh  year.  He 
was  buried  in  the  graveyard  attached  to  the  meeting- 
house in  Wilmington,  and  his  grave,  as  is  the  custom 
among  Friends,  is  marked  by  a  simple  head-stone  only. 

When  the  news  of  his  death  reached  Washington, 
both  houses  of  Congress,  then  in  session,  adopted  reso- 
lutions recalling  his  services  during  the  Revolution  and 
lamenting  his  death  as  a  national  loss.  Mr.  Jefferson, 
then  President,  wrote  the  following  letter  to  a  friend 
of  Mr.  Dickinson  who  had  sent  him  intelligence  of  his 
death : 

"  WASHINGTON,  Feb.  24,  1808. 

"SiR, — I  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the 
1 6th  ;  it  gave  me  the  first  information  of  the  death  of  our  distinguished 
fellow-citizen,  John  Dickinson.  A  more  estimable  man  or  truer 
patriot  could  not  have  left  us.  Among  the  first  of  the  advocates  for 
the  rights  of  his  country  when  assailed  by  Great  Britain,  he  con- 
tinued to  the  last  the  orthodox  advocate  of  the  true  principles  of 
our  new  government,  and  his  name  will  be  consecrated  in  history  as 
one  of  the  great  worthies  of  the  Revolution.  We  ought  to  be  grate- 
ful for  having  been  permitted  to  retain  the  benefit  of  his  counsel  to 
so  good  an  old  age;  still  the  moment  of  losing  it,  whenever  it 
arrives,  must  be  a  moment  of  deep-felt  regret.  For  himself  perhaps 


MR.  JEFFERSON'S  LETTER.  337 

a  longer  period  of  life  was  less  important,  alloyed  as  the  feeble  en- 
joyments of  that  age  are  with  so  much  pain ;  but  to  his  country, 
every  addition  to  his  moments  was  interesting.  A  junior  companion 
of  his  labors  in  the  early  part  of  our  Revolution,  it  has  been  a  great 
comfort  to  me  to  have  retained  his  friendship  to  the  last  moments 
of  his  life.  Sincerely  condoling  with  his  friends  on  this  affecting 
loss,  I  beg  leave  to  tender  my  salutations  to  yourself,  and  assurances 
of  my  friendly  respects. 

"THOMAS  JEFFERSON. 
"MR.  JOSEPH  BRINGHURST." 


The  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania  proposes  now 
to  do  what  Mr.  Jefferson  fourscore  years  ago  said 
would  be  done  by  a  grateful  posterity, — viz.,  "  to  con- 
secrate his  name  in  history  as  one  of  the  great  wor- 
thies of  the  Revolution."  Why  so  obvious  and  natural 
a  duty  as  that  of  keeping  alive  the  memory  of  this 
illustrious  man  in  the  city  where  most  of  his  great 
deeds  were  done  has  been  so  long  delayed,  it  is,  perhaps, 
not  difficult  to  account  for.  Perhaps  one  reason  for 
this  neglect  may  be  found  expressed  in  the  reproachful 
words  of  the  late  Horace  Binney,  a  man  who  filled  the 
measure  of  his  country's  fame  as  he  did  that  of  the  city 
of  his  birth,  and  who,  when  referring  to  the  attitude  of 
Philadelphia  to  her  great  men,  says,  "  She  has  been 
,  "  hitherto,  and  perhaps  immemorially,  indifferent  or  in- 
"  sensible  to  the  abilities  of  her  sons  who  have  gained 
"their  first  public  consideration  elsewhere.  She  is 
"wanting  in  civic  personality,  or,  what  is  perhaps  a 
"  better  phrase  for  the  thought,  a  family  unity  or  iden- 


22 


338  THE  DUTY  OF  PHILADELPHIA. 

"tity.  She  does  not  take,  and  she  never  has  taken, 
"  satisfaction  in  habitually  honoring  her  distinguished 
"  men  as  her  men,  as  men  of  her  own  family.  It  is  the 
"  city  that  is  referred  to  as  distinguished,  perhaps,  from 
"  the  rest  of  the  State.  She  has  never  done  it  in  the 
"  face  of  the  world,  as  Charleston  has  done  it,  as  Rich- 
"mond  has  done  it,  as  Baltimore  has  done  it,  as  New 
"  York  has  done  it,  or  at  least  did  it  in  former  times, 
"  and  as  Boston  has  done  it,  and  would  do  it  forever. 
"  She  is  more  indifferent  to  her  own  sons  than  she  is 
"to  strangers. " 


APPENDIX   I.— (/><**  73.) 

RESOLUTIONS  OF  PENNSYLVANIA   IN  REGARD  TO  THE   STAMP  ACT, 
AS    DRAFTED    BY   MR.    DICKINSON. 

Resolved — Ist — That  the  Constitution  of  Government  in  this 
Province,  is  founded  on  the  natural  Rights  of  Mankind,  and  the 
noble  Principles  of  English  Liberty,  and  is  therefore  perfectly 
free. 

Resolved — 2ly — That  in  the  opinion  of  this  House,  it  is  in- 
separably essential  to  a  free  Constitution  of  Government,  that 
all  internal  Taxes  be  levied  upon  the  People  with  their  Consent. 

Resolved— jly — That  the  sole  Power  and  authority  to  levy 
Taxes  upon  the  Inhabitants  of  this  Province,  is  vested  in  the 
Crown  or  its  Representative,  and  in  the  Assembly  for  the  Time 
being,  elected  according  to  Law. 

Resolved — ft — That  the  People  of  this  Province  have  con- 
stantly from  its  first  settlement  exercised  &  enjoyed,  and  ought 
to  the  latest  Posterity  to  exercise  &  enjoy,  this  exclusive  Right 
of  levying  Taxes  upon  themselves. 

Resolved — $ly — That  the  levying  Taxes  upon  the  Inhabitants 
of  this  Province  in  any  other  manner,  being  manifestly  sub- 
versive of  public  Liberty,  must  of  necessary  Consequence  be 
utterly  destructive  of  public  Happiness. 

Resolved — 6ly — That  a  Trial  by  Jury  on  every  accusation  in 
a  Court  of  Justice,  is  the  inherent  and  inestimable  Priviledge 
of  every  Freeman  of  this  Province,  which  cannot  be  violated 
without  breaking  down  the  sacred  Bulwark  erected  by  the 
Virtue  and  Wisdom  of  our  ancestors,  for  the  Protection  of 
Life,  and  of  every  Blessing  that  renders  it  valuable. 

Resolved — 7^ — That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  House  that  the 
Restraints  imposed  by  several  late  acts  of  Parliament  on  the 
Trade  of  this  Province,  at  a  Time  when  the  People  labour 

339 


340  APPENDIX. 


under  an  enormous  Load  of  Debt,  must  of  necessity  be 
attended  with  the  most  fatal  Consequences. 

Resolved— 8* — That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  House;  That  the 
Prosperity  of  this  Province  depends  on  the  Preservation  of  its 
just  Rights,  and  the  Continuance  of  an  affectionate  and  advan- 
tageous Intercourse  with  Great  Britain  which  must  prove 
equally  beneficial  to  that  Kingdom. 

Resolved — p^ — That  therefore  it  is  the  indispensable  Duty  of 
this  House  to  the  best  of  Sovereigns,  whose  truly  paternal  Ten- 
derness ever  interests  itself  in  the  Welfare  of  his  subjects,  to 
the  Mother  Country  and  to  this  Province,  with  all  Loyalty, 
Respect  &  Zeal,  by  every  prudent  Measure  firmly  to  en- 
deavour to  procure  a  Repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act,  &  of  the  late 
Acts  for  the  Restriction  of  American  Commerce — 


APPENDIX     I  {.—(Page  105.) 

CHARLES  THOMSON'S  ACCOUNT  OF  MR.  DICKINSON'S  ATTITUDE 
DURING  THE  REVOLUTION,  FURNISHED  TO  HON.  W.  H.  DRAYTON 
FOR  HIS  PROPOSED  HISTORY  OF  THAT  PERIOD. 

SIR, 

I  have  run  over  your  manuscript,  &  as  I  perceive  you 
must  have  had  your  information  from  some  person  who 
judged  only  from  appearance,  without  being  acquainted  with 
the  secret  springs  and  reality  of  actions,  I  find  myself  obliged 
in  justice  to  a  character,  which  is  not  represented  in  a  true 
point  of  light,  to  unfold  the  scene  &  give  you  a  scetch  of 
things  as  they  really  happened. 

It  is  generally  known  what  an  early  part  Mr.  D —  took  in  the 
American  disputes.  His  first  piece  in  favour  of  America  was 
written  in  the  year  1765  during  the  Stamp  Act.  The  sudden 
repeal  of  the  stamp  act  rendered  a  farther  continuation  of  his 


THOMSON'S  LETTER    TO  DRAYTON.  34i 

labours  at  that  time  unnecessary.  But  the  tea,  paper,  &  glass 
act,  called  him  forth  again  in  the  year  1767 — or  1768,  when  he 
published  his  Farmers  letters  which  had  the  effect  to  rouse 
America  to  a  sense  of  its  danger  &  to  adopt  measures  for 
preventing  the  evils  threatened  &  obtaining  a  redress  of 
grievances.  The  partial  repeal  of  this  Act  in  the  Year  1770 
— in  a  great  measure  put  an  end  to  the  apprehensions  of  the 
Americans,  &  peace  &  good  humour  seemed  to  be  again  re- 
stored. During  all  this  time  Mr.  D —  was  considered  as  the 
first  Champion  for  American  liberty.  His  abilities  exercised 
in  defence  of  the  rights  of  his  Country  raised  his  Character 
high  not  only  in  America  but  in  Europe  &  his  fortune  & 
hospitality  gave  him  great  influence  in  his  own  State. 

When  the  controversy  was  again  renewed  between  Great 
Britain  &  America  in  the  Year  1772,  the  Merchants  of  Philada. 
who  first  took  alarm  at  the  attempt  of  introducing  tea  to 
America  through  the  medium  of  the  East  India  Company, 
were  anxious  to  engage  him  in  the  dispute.  But  from  this  he 
was  dissuaded  by  one  of  his  most  intimate  friends,  who  seemed 
to  be  persuaded  that  this  new  attempt  of  the  ministry  would 
lead  to  most  serious  consequences  &  terminate  in  blood  & 
who  therefore  wished  him  to  reserve  himself  till  matters  became 
more  serious.  For  this  reason  he  was  not  publickly  concerned 
in  the  measures  taken  for  sending  back  the  tea.  But  in  the 
spring  of  1774  as  soon  as  the  news  of  the  Boston  port  bill 
&c.  arrived  his  friend  who  had  taken  an  active  part  in  the 
measures  for  sending  back  the  tea,  immediately  communicated 
to  him  the  intelligence  &  gave  his  opinion  that  now  was  the 
time  to  step  forward.  The  measures  proper  to  be  pursued  on 
this  occasion  were  secretly  concerted  between  them.  And  to 
prepare  the  minds  of  the  people  D —  undertook  to  address  the 
public  in  a  series  of  letters.  The  next  day  the  letters  arrived 
from  Boston,  &  it  was  judged  proper  to  call  a  meeting  of  the 
principal  inhabitants,  to  communicate  to  them  the  contents 
of  the  letter  &  gain  their  concurrence  in  the  measures  that 
were  necessary  to  be  taken.  As  the  quakers,  who  are  prin- 


342  APPENDIX. 


cipled  against  war  saw  the  storm  gathering  &  therefore  wished 
to  keep  aloof  from  danger,  were  industriously  employ'd  to 
prevent  anything  being  done  which  might  involve  Penna. 
farther  in  the  dispute,  &  as  it  was  apparent  that  for  this 
purpose  their  whole  force  would  be  collected  at  the  ensuing 
meeting,  it  was  necessary  to  devise  means  so  to  counteract 
their  designs  as  to  carry  the  measures  proposed  &  yet  pre- 
vent a  disunion,  &  thus  if  possible  bring  Penna.  with  its 
whole  force  undivided  to  make  common  cause  with  Boston. 
The  line  of  conduct  Mr.  D —  had  lately  pursued  opened  a 
prospect  to  this.  His  sentiments  were  not  generally  known. 
The  quakers  courted  &  seemed  to  depend  upon  him.  The 
other  party  from  his  past  conduct  hoped  for  his  assistance, 
but  were  not  sure  how  far  he  would  go  if  matters  came  to  ex- 
tremity, his  sentiments  on  the  present  controversy  not  being 
generally  known.  It  was  therefore  agreed  that  he  should  at- 
tend the  meeting  &  as  it  would  be  in  vain  for  Philada.  or 
even  Penna.  to  enter  into  the  dispute  unless  seconded  &  sup- 
ported by  the  other  Colonies,  the  only  point  to  be  carried  at 
the  ensuing  meeting  was  to  return  a  friendly  and  affectionate 
answer  to  the  people  of  Boston,  to  forward  the  news  of  their 
distress  to  the  Southern  Colonies  &  to  consult  them  &  the 
eastern  colonies  on  the  propriety  of  calling  a  congress  to  con- 
sult on  the  measures  necessary  to  be  taken.  If  divisions 
ran  high  at  the  meeting  it  was  agreed,  to  propose  the  calling 
together  the  Assembly  in  order  to  gain  time. 

To  accomplish  this  it  was  agreed  that  his  Friend  who  was 
represented  as  a  rash  man  should  press  for  an  immediate  decla- 
ration in  favour  of  Boston  &  get  some  of  his  friends  to  support 
him  in  the  measure,  that  Mr.  D —  should  oppose  and  press  for 
moderate  measures,  &  thus  by  an  apparent  dispute  prevent  a 
farther  opposition  &  carry  the  point  agreed  on.  For  this  pur- 
pose R —  and  M —  were  sounded  &  an  invitation  given  to  dine 
with  Mr.  D —  on  the  day  of  the  meeting.  After  dinner  the  four 
had  a  private  conference  at  which  D —  was  pressed  to  attend  the 
meeting  which  was  to  be  in  the  evening.  D —  offered  sundry 


THOMSON'S  LETTER    TO  DRAYTON.          343 

excuses,  but  at  last  seemed  to  consent  provided  matters  were  so 
conducted  that  he  might  be  allowed  to  propose  &  carry  mod- 
erate measures.  T —  who  was  on  the  watch,  &  who  thought 
he  saw  some  reluctance  in  one  of  the  Gentlemen  to4be  brought 
to  act  a  second  part  prevented  a  farther  explanation  by  pro- 
posing that  R —  should  open  the  meeting  M —  second  him,  that 
T —  should  then  speak  &  after  him  D —  And  that  afterwards 
they  should  speak  as  occasion  offered.  After  this  the  conver- 
sation was  more  reserved,  &  soon  after  R —  and  M —  returned 
to  town.  At  parting  they  pressed  T —  to  bring  D —  with  him  & 
T —  assured  them  he  would  not  come  without  him.  The  car- 
riage was  ordered  up  &  after  they  had  been  some  time  gone 
so  that  all  might  not  seem  to  have  been  together  D — 
and  T —  stept  into  the  carriage  &  drove  down  to  the  city 
tavern  the  place  of  meeting.  The  meeting  was  held  in  the  long 
Room.  The  letter  reed:  from  Boston  was  read  after  which 
R —  addressed  the  assembly,  with  temper,  moderation,  but  in 
pathetic  terms.  M —  spoke  next  &  with  more  warmth  &  fire. 
T —  succeeded  &  pressed  for  an  immediate  declaration  in 
favour  of  Boston  &  making  common  cause  with  her.  But 
being  overcome  with  the  heat  of  the  room  and  fatigue,  for  he 
had  scarce  slept  an  hour  two  nights  past,  he  fainted  &  was 
carried  out  into  an  adjoining  room.  Great  clamour  was  raised 
against  the  violence  of  the  measures  proposed.  D —  then  ad- 
dressed the  company  and  in  what  manner  he  acquitted  himself 
I  cannot  say.  After  he  had  finished,  the  clamour  was  renewed, 
voices  were  heard  in  different  parts  of  the  room  &  all  was 
in  confusion.  A  chairman  was  called  for  to  moderate  the 
meeting  &  regulate  debate,  still  the  confusion  continued.  As 
soon  as  T —  recovered  he  returned  into  the  room.  The  tu- 
mult and  disorder  was  past  description.  He  had  not  strength 
to  attempt  opposing  the  gust  of  passion  or  to  allay  the  heat  by 
any  thing  he  could  say.  He  therefore  simply  moved  a  question 
That  an  answer  should  be  returned  to  the  letter  from  Boston. 
This  was  put  &  carried.  He  then  moved  for  a  committee  to 
write  the  answer.  This  was  agreed  to,  &  two  lists  were  im- 


344  APPENDIX. 


mediately  made  out  &  handed  to  the  Chair.  The  clamour  was 
then  renewed  on  which  list  a  vote  should  be  taken.  At  length 
it  was  proposed  that  both  lists  should  be  considered  as  one  and 
compose  the  committee.  This  was  agreed  to  &  the  company 
broke  up  in  tolerable  good  humour  both  thinking  they  had  in 
part  carried  their  point.  At  what  time  D —  left  the  room  I 
cannot  say,  as  a  great  many  withdrew  when  the  tumult  raged. 
— The  next  day  the  Committee  met  &  not  only  prepared  & 
sent  back  an  answer  to  Boston  but  also  forwarded  the  news  to 
the  southern  colonies  accompanied  with  letters  intimating  the 
necessity  of  a  congress  of  delegates  from  all  the  colonies  to  de- 
vise measures  necessary  to  call  a  general  meeting  of  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  City  at  the  State  House.  This  required  great 
address.  The  quakers  had  an  aversion  to  town  meetings  & 
always  opposed  them.  However  it  was  so  managed  that  they 
gave  their  consent  &  assisted  .in  preparing  the  business  for 
this  public  meeting,  agreed  on  the  persons  who  should  preside 
&  those  who  should  address  the  inhabitants.  The  presidents 
agreed  on  were  Dickinson  Willing  &  Pennington,  and  the 
speakers  Smith,  Reed  &  Thomson  who  were  obliged  to  write 
down  what  they  intended  to  say  &  submit  their  several  speeches 
to  the  revision  of  the  presidents.  The  meeting  was  held  at 
which  it  was  among  other  things,  resolved  to  make  common 
cause  with  Boston.  The  resolutions  passed  at  this  meeting  are 
published  in  the  news  papers  of  the  time  prefaced  with  Smith's 
speech  at  full  length.  In  the  mean  while  it  was  judged  proper 
to  address  the  governor  to  call  the  assembly.  Tho  it  was 
hardly  expected  the  governor  would  comply,  yet  it  was  neces- 
sary to  take  this  step  in  order  to  prevent  farther  division  in  the 
City  &  to  convince  the  pacific  that  it  was  not  the  intention  of 
the  warm  spirits  to  involve  the  province  in  the  dispute  without 
the  consent  of  the  representatives  of  the  people.  The  address 
was  drawn  up  &  signed  by  the  leading  men  of  both  parties 
and  presented  to  the  Governor.  The  answer  was  such  as  was 
expected  That  he  could  not  call  the  assembly  for  the  purpose 
mentioned  &  he  added  that  he  was  sure  the  gentlemen  did 


THOMSON'S  LETTER    TO  DRAYTON.  345 

not  expect,  considering  his  situation  that  he  would  comply 
with  their  request.  His  answer  was  considered  as  calculated 
for  the  meridian  of  London. — Whether  the  Governor  wished  to 
gratify  the  inhabitants  &  favour  the  cause  of  America  by  con- 
vening the  assembly,  or  whether  thereby  from  the  sentiments 
supposed  to  prevail  in  the  members  of  the  house,  he  hoped  to 
counteract  the  views  of  those  who  wished  to  bring  Penna. 
into  the  dispute  is  uncertain.  But  from  whatever  motives  he 
acted,  certain  it  is  that  he  immediately  summoned  his  council 
&  in  a  very  few  days  took  occasion  from  a  report  of  Indian 
disturbances  to  convene  the  assembly. — The  refusal  of  the 
Governor  to  call  the  assembly  was  far  from  being  disagreeable 
to  the  advocates  for  America.  They  had  no  confidence  in  the 
members  of  the  assembly  who  were  known  to  be  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Galloway  &  his  party,  and  they  had  another  object 
in  view.  When  the  merchants  led  the  people  into  an  op- 
position to  the  importation  of  the  East  India  Company's  tea, 
those  who  considered  that  matter  only  as  a  manoeuvre  of  the 
ministry  to  revive  the  disputes  between  G.  B.  &  America  & 
who  were  firmly  persuaded  that  the  disputes  would  terminate 
in  blood,  immediately  adopted  measures  to  bring  the  whole 
body  of  the  people  into  the  dispute  &  thereby  put  it  out  of 
the  power  of  the  merchants  as  they  had  done  before  to  drop 
the  opposition,  when  interest  dictated  the  measure.  They 
therefore  got  committees  established  in  every  County  through- 
out the  province.  A  constant  communication  was  kept  up 
between  those  committees  &  that  of  Philada.  Upon  the  Gov- 
ernor's refusal  to  call  the  assembly  it  was  resolved  to  procure 
a  meeting  of  delegates  from  these  committees.  And  when 
the  Governor  agreed  to  call  the  assembly,  still  it  was  thought 
proper  to  convene  a  convention  of  the  committees  in  order 
to  draw  up  instructions  to  their  representatives  in  assembly. 
In  all  these  measures  D —  was  consulted  &  heartily  concurred, 
&  so  earnestly  did  he  interest  himself  that  he  prepared  the  in- 
structions &  had  them  ready  for  publication  previous  to  the 
meeting  of  the  convention. 


346  APPENDIX. 


After  the  meeting  of  the  Inhabitants  of  Philada.  &  the 
resolutions  passed  at  the  State  House,  D —  M —  &  T —  under 
colour  of  an  excursion  of  pleasure  made  a  tour  through  two 
or  three  frontier  counties  in  order  to  discover  the  sentiments 
of  the  inhabitants  &  particularly  the  Germans.  The  Conven- 
tion of  committees  met  some  days  before  the  assembly  & 
having  agreed  to  the  state  of  American  grievances  drawn  up 
by  D —  presented  them  to  the  assembly  in  the  form  of  in- 
structions in  order  to  engage  them  to  pursue  measures  in 
concert  with  the  other  colonies  for  obtaining  redress.  And 
as  a  Congress  was  now  agreed  on  they  pressed  the  assembly 
to  appoint  delegates  to  represent  this  province  in  Congress 
resolving  at  the  same  time,  in  case  the  Assembly  refused, 
to  take  upon  themselves  to  appoint  deputies.  To  prevent 
this  the  Assembly  agreed  to  appoint  the  delegates,  but 
confined  the  choice  to  their  own  members  thereby  excluding 
Mr.  D —  &  Wilson  whom  the  Convention  had  in  view.  At 
the  ensuing  election  on  the  first  Octbr.  Mr.  D —  was  chosen 
a  member  of  the  Assembly  &  on  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly 
was  added  to  the  number  of  Delegates.  His  election  was  on 
Saturday  the  I5th.  &  on  Monday  the  i/th.  Octbr.  he  took 
his  seat  in  Congress  &  immediately  entered  deeply  into  the 
business  then  under  deliberation.  He  was  appointed  one  of 
the  Committee  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  people  of  Canada. 
The  first  draught  of  the  petition  to  the  King  not  meeting 
the  approbation  of  Congress  was  recommitted.  Dickinson  was 
added  to  the  comee.  &  had  a  principal  hand  in  drawing  up 
that  which  was  sent.  After  Congress  broke  up  he  attended 
the  Assembly  &  there  exerted  himself  to  obtain  an  approba- 
tion of  the  proceedings  of  Congress,  which  was  carried  in  spite 
of  Galloway's  efforts  to  the  contrary.  During  the  winter 
sessions  he  frequently  had  occasion  which  he  always  improved 
to  call  the  attention  of  the  House  to  the  danger  that  threat- 
ened, to  rouse  them  to  a  sense  of  it,  &  to  stimulate  them  to 
adopt  measures  for  their  defence  &  security,  in  which  he  was 
supported  by  Mifflin,  Biddle,  Ross  and  Thomson,  who  were  all 


THOMSON'S  LETTER    TO  DRAYTON.          347 

in  the  Assembly.  The  part  they  had  to  act  was  arduous  and 
delicate.  A  great  majority  of  the  Assembly  was  composed 
of  men  in  the  proprietary  &  quaker  interest  who  though  here- 
tofore opposed  to  each  other  were  now  uniting  the  one  from 
motives  of  policy,  the  other  from  principles  of  religion.  To 
press  matters  was  the  sure  way  of  cementing  that  union  & 
thereby  raising  a  powerful  party  in  the  state  against  the  cause 
of  America.  Whereas,  by  prudent  management  &  an  im- 
provement of  occurrences  as  they  happened,  there  was  reason 
to  hope  that  the  Assembly  &  consequently  the  whole  province 
might  be  brought  into  the  dispute  without  any  considerable 
opposition.  And  from  past  experience  it  was  evident  that 
though  the  people  of  Penna.  are  cautious  &  backward  in 
entering  into  measures,  yet  when  they  engage,  none  are  more 
firm  resolute  &  persevering.  A  great  body  of  the  people  was 
composed  of  Germans  the  principal  reliance  was  on  them  in 
case  matters  came  to  extremities.  And  it  is  well  known  these 
were  much  under  the  influence  of  quakers.  For  this  reason 
therefore  it  was  necessary  to  act  with  more  caution  &  by 
every  prudent  means  to  obtain  their  concurrence  in  the  opposi- 
tion to  the  designs  of  Great  Britain.  And  had  the  Whigs  in 
Assembly  been  left  to  pursue  their  own  measures  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  they  would  have  effected  their  purpose,  pre- 
vented that  disunion  which  has  unhappily  taken  place  & 
brought  the  whole  province  as  one  man  with  all  its  force  & 
weight  of  government  into  the  common  cause. 

Danger  was  fast  approaching.  The  storm  which  had  been 
gathering  began  to  burst.  The  battle  of  Lexington  was  fought. 
Many  of  the  members  then  in  Assembly  had  long  held  seats 
there  &  were  fond  of  continuing.  They  had  hitherto  joined 
with  very  little  opposition  in  defensive  measures,  &  it  was 
evident  that  rather  than  give  up  their  seats  in  Assembly  & 
the  importance  derived  from  thence  they  would  go  still  farther 
&  thus  might  be  led  on  step  by  step  till  they  had  advanced 
too  far  to  retreat.  Their  past  &  future  conduct  justified  this 
conclusion  in  the  Winter  sessions  they  voted  a  sum  of  money 


348  APPENDIX. 


to  purchase  Ammunition.  And  in  the  summer  of  1775  though 
a  majority  of  the  Assembly  were  of  the  people  called  quakers 
they  agreed  to  arm  the  inhabitants  &  ordered  five  thousand 
new  muskets  with  bayonets  &  other  accoutrements  to  be 
made.  And  as  they  had  not  money  in  the  treasury,  &  could 
not  have  the  concurrence  of  the  Governor  in  raising  money  to 
pay  for  them,  they,  by  a  resolve  of  their  own  to  which  there 
was  only  three  dissenting  voices,  ordered  35,000  pounds  to  be 
struck  in  bills  of  credit  &  pledged  the  faith  of  the  province 
for  the  redemption  of  it,  thus  virtually  declaring  themselves 
independent  &  assuming  to  themselves  the  whole  power  of 
government. 

The  original  constitution  of  Penna.  was  very  favorable  & 
well  adapted  to  the  present  emergencies.  The  Assembly 
was  annual ;  the  election  fixed  to  a  certain  day  on  which  the 
freemen  who  were  worth  50  pounds  met,  or  had  a  right  to 
meet  without  summons  at  their  respective  County  towns  & 
by  ballot  chuse  not  only  representatives  for  Assembly,  but 
also  sheriff,  coroners,  commissioners  for  managing  the  affairs 
of  the  County  &  assessors  to  rate  the  tax  imposed  by  law 
upon  the  estates  real  &  personal  of  the  several  inhabitants 
of  their  County.  The  members  of  the  House  of  Assembly 
when  chosen  met  according  to  law  on  a  certain  day  &  chose 
their  Speaker,  provincial  treasurer,  &  sundry  other  officers. 
The  House  sat  on  its  own  adjournments ;  nor  was  it  in  the 
power  of  the  Governor  to  prorogue  or  dissolve  it.  Hence  it  is 
apparent  that  Penna.  had  a  great  advantage  over  the  other 
colonies  which  by  being  deprived  by  their  Governors  of  their 
legal  assemblies  or  houses  of  representatives  constitutionally 
chosen  were  forced  into  conventions.  The  Assembly  of 
Penna.,  if  they  could  be  brought  to  take  a  part,  supplied  the 
place  of  a  convention  with  this  advantage  that  being  a  part  of 
the  legislature  they  preserved  the  legal  forms  of  government, 
&  had  consequently  more  weight  &  authority  among  the 
people.  No  man  could  refuse  to  attend  the  election  of  assem- 
bly men  without  taking  upon  himself  the  consequences  of  what 


THOMSON'S  LETTER    TO  DRAYTON.  349 

might  follow  by  his  not  attending  &  giving  his  vote.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  he  attended  &  the  men  of  his  choice  were  not 
elected,  he  had  no  right  to  complain  as  the  majority  of  votes 
decided.  The  cause  of  America  was  every  day  gaining  ground, 
and  the  people  growing  more  &  more  determined.  The  timid 
were  acquiring  courage  &  the  wavering  confirmed  in  the 
opposition.  Hence  it  was  apparent  the  election  would  soon 
be  wholly  in  the  power  of  the  patriots  &  whig  party.  For 
these  reasons  the  whigs  who  were  then  members  wished  to 
temporise  and  make  use  of  the  Assembly  rather  than  a  con- 
vention. But  unhappily  for  the  province  they  were  thwarted 
in  their  measures  by  a  body  of  men  from  whom  they  expected 
to  derive  the  firmest  support. 

The  Committee  of  Philada.  which  was  elected  for  the  pur- 
pose of  superintending  &  carrying  into  execution  the  non 
importation  agreement  recommended  by  the  Congress  in  1774, 
&  of  which  Mr.  Reed  was  president  was  for  the  purpose  of 
giving  them  more  weight  &  influence  encreased  to  the  number 
of  100.  Many  members  of  this  body  who  were  suddenly 
raised  to  power  &  who  exercised  an  uncontrolled  authority 
over  their  fellow  citizens  were  impatient  of  any  kind  of  op- 
position. The  cautious  conduct  of  the  patriots  in  the  Assem- 
bly, they  attributed  to  lukewarmness,  &  the  backwardness  of 
others  which  was  owing  partly  to  a  natural  timidity  of  temper, 
partly  to  the  influence  of  religious  principles  &  old  prejudices 
they  construed  into  disaffection.  Instead  therefore  of  co- 
operating to  keep  down  parties,  they  were  labouring  to  raise 
&  foment  them.  And  at  the  very  moment  when  the  Assembly 
were  giving  the  most  solid  proofs  of  their  attachment  to  the 
cause  &  gradually  encroaching  on  the  powers  of  the  governor 
in  order  to  arm  &  put  the  province  into  a  state  of  defence,  the 
Comee.  were  adopting  measures  to  dissolve  them  and  substitute 
a  convention  in  their  stead  &  proceeded  so  far  as  to  vote  a 
convention  necessary  &  appointed  a  special  meeting  in  order 
to  devise  the  means  of  bringing  the  other  county  committees 
to  a  like  determination.  D—  M—  &  T —  who  were  of  the 


35°  APPENDIX. 


assembly,  &  who  were  also  members  of  the  committee  attended 
the  special  meeting,  &  by  pointing  out  the  ill  timed  policy  of 
the  measure  &  the  fatal  consequences  that  might  &  would  in- 
evitably ensue  prevailed  upon  them  to  desist.  And  thus  for 
a  time  the  province  was  saved  from  being  rent  to  pieces.  D — 
and  M —  were  also  members  of  congress.  The  Battle  of  Lex- 
ington had  drawn  together  a  tumultuous  army  around  Boston, 
&  that  had  brought  on  the  Battle  of  Bunkerhill.  Much  blood 
was  now  shed.  And  it  was  evident  that  the  sword  must  de- 
cide the  contest.  It  was  necessary  therefore  to  organise  the 
Army  &  appoint  a  continental  commander  in  chief  &  other 
general  Officers.  A  declaration  was  deemed  necessary  to  jus- 
tify the  Americans  in  taking  up  Arms.  D —  who  still  retained 
a  fond  hope  of  reconciliation  with  Great  Britain  was  strenuous 
for  trying  the  effects  of  another  petition  to  the  King.  And 
being  warmly  seconded  the  measure  was  agreed  to  &  D —  had 
a  considerable  hand  in  drawing  up  both  the  petition  &  decla- 
ration which  were  both  sent  at  the  same  time  to  England. 
The  subject  of  the  petition  as  well  as  the  declaration  occasioned 
long  &  warm  debates  in  congress,  in  which  D —  took  a  dis- 
tinguished part,  which  was  circulated  about  in  whispers  to  his 
disadvantage.  However  he  maintained  his  ground  among  the 
generality  of  the  people  of  his  own  province  &  particularly 
among  those  who  still  wished  &  hoped  to  see  a  reconciliation 
take  place.  And  it  must  be  allowed  that  if  his  judgment  had 
not  quite  approved  the  measure  yet  on  account  of  the  people 
of  Penna.  it  was  both  prudent  &  politic  to  adopt  it.  With- 
out making  an  experiment  it  would  have  been  impossible 
even  to  have  persuaded  the  bulk  of  Penna.  but  that  an  humble 
petition  drawn  up  without  those  clauses  against  which  the 
ministers  &  parliament  of  Great  Britain  took  exceptions  in  the 
former  petition,  would  have  met  with  a  favorable  reception  and 
produced  the  desired  effect.  But  this  petition  which  was 
drawn  up  in  the  most  submissive  &  unexceptionable  terms, 
meeting  with  the  same  fate  as  others  obviated  objections  that 
would  have  been  raised  &  had  a  powerful  effect  in  suppressing 


THOMSON'S  LETTER    TO  DRAYTON.  35 1 

opposition,  preserving  unanimity  &  bringing  the  province  in 
a  united  Body  into  the  contest.  Whatever  hand  therefore 
D —  had  in  promoting  it  ought  to  have  redounded  to  his 
credit  as  a  politician.  At  the  annual  election  in  October  1775 
some  change  was  made  in  Assembly  some  old  members  were 
left  out,  &  some  new  ones  chosen,  among  the  latter  Mr.  Reed. 
As  the  Governor  had  withdrawn  himself  in  a  great  degree 
from  the  affairs  of  Government,  the  Assembly  at  their  first 
meeting  appointed  a  Council  or  Committee  of  Safety  &  in- 
vested them  with  the  executive  powers  of  government  reserving 
to  themselves  the  legislative  authority  which  they  exercised  by 
resolves. 

In  Novr.  the  Assembly  returned  among  other  delegates  to 
represent  the  province  of  Penna.  in  Congress  Mr.  Willing  one 
of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  &  Mr.  Allen  the  attor- 
ney General  of  the  province  &  Brother  in  law  of  the  governor. 
So  that  there  was  yet  no  appearance  of  disunion  in  the  Prov- 
ince. Except  among  some  few  of  the  most  rigid  quakers  who 
kept  aloof  &  refused  to  be  concerned  in  elections  for  Assembly 
men,  under  pretence  that  their  religious  principles  forbad  their 
countenancing  War.  But  neither  influence,  persuasions  or 
Church  discipline  could  restrain  a  considerable  number  of  their 
young  Men  from  taking  an  active  part.  A  distinction  was 
taken  between  offensive  and  defensive  War  which  might  easily 
have  been  improved  to  divide  the  society  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  have  rendered  every  opposition  from  that  quarter  weak 
and  contemptible. 

NOTE. — This  most  valuable  statement  of  the  condition  of 
affairs  in  Pennsylvania  between  the  summer  of  1774  and  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1776  is  taken  from  a  copy  of  a  letter  (in 
his  own  handwriting)  of  Charles  Thomson,  Secretary  of  Con- 
gress, to  W.  H.  Drayton.  The  original  was  in  the  possession  of 
Mr.  Thomson's  nephew.  Its  accuracy  is  attested  by  Miss  Sarah 
N.  Dickinson,  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Dickinson.  The  initial  T. 
designates  Charles  Thomson.  M.  refers  to  General  Mifflin. 


35 2  APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX     I  II.— (.Page  125.) 

THE   MORAVIAN    INDIAN    CONVERTS   AND   THE   QUAKERS. 

As  doubts  have  been  expressed  in  regard  to  the  arming  of 
certain  Quakers  in  Philadelphia  in  the  defence  of  the  Indian 
Moravian  converts,  the  following  testimony  of  eye-witnesses 
is  reproduced : 

"  It  seemed  almost  incredible  that  sundry  young  and  old 
Quakers  formed  companies  and  took  up  arms,  particularly  so 
to  the  boys  in  the  streets,  for  a  whole  crowd  of  boys  followed 
a  distinguished  Quaker  and  in  astonishment  cried  out,  '  Look 
here !  a  Quaker  with  a  musket  on  his  shoulder.'  It  was  by 
many  old  people  looked  upon  as  a  wonderful  sign  to  see  so 
many  old  and  young  Quakers  marching  about  with  sword  and 
gun,  or  deadly  weapons,  so  called.  What  increased  the  won- 
der was  that  the  pious  lambs,  in  the  long  French,  Spanish,  and 
Indian  wars,  had  such  tender  consciences,  and  would  sooner 
die  than  raise  a  hand  in  defence  against  these  dangerous  ene- 
mies ;  and  now  at  once,  like  Zedekiah  the  son  of  Chenaanah 
(Kings,  22  chap.),  with  iron  horns  rushing  upon  a  handful  of 
our  poor  distressed  and  ruined  fellow-citizens  and  inhabitants 
of  the  frontier." — March  of  the  Paxton  Boys  against  Philadelphia 
in  1 764.  From  the  Diary  of  Rev.  H.  M.  Muhlenberg.  Collec- 
tions of  the  Historical  Society  of  Penna.,  vol.  i.  p.  95,  Phila.,  1853. 

To  the  same  effect  is  the  testimony,  written  at  the  time  and 
on  the  spot,  in  reference  to  the  Quakers  of  Philadelphia  taking 
up  arms  during  the  Paxton  insurrection,  in  the  month  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1764.  Translated  from  the  German  originals  preserved 
in  the  archives  of  the  Moravian  church  at  Bethlehem,  Pa. : 

I.  An  extract  from  the  "  Diary  of  the  Indian  Congregation 
in  the  Barracks  at  Philadelphia,"  said  diary  being  a  record  of 
events  from  day  to  day  officially  furnished  the  authorities  of 
the  Moravian  church  at  Bethlehem  by  the  Moravian  mission- 
aries who  were  with  the  Indians  in  the  barracks, — viz.,  David 
Zeisberger,  Bernhard  Adam  Grube,  and  John  Jacob  Schmick : 


QUAKERS  BEAR  ARMS.  353 

"  FEB.  6. — At  midnight  a  general  alarm  was  sounded  and  all 
rushed  to  arms.  The  bells  in  the  city  were  rung.  The  citizens 
were  awakened  and  summoned  to  the  state  house,  for  word 
had  come  that  the  insurgents  would  be  on  hand  at  daybreak. 
Our  Indians  slept  quite  peacefully  and  took  little  notice  of  the 
uproar.  During  the  day  several  Brethren  from  the  city  visited 
us.  The  day  was  passed  amid  the  utmost  confusion.  Two 
companies  of  citizens,  among  whom  were  many  Quakers  in  arms, 
came  in  here"  [i.e.,  into  the  barracks]. 

2.  Extract  from  a  letter  of  Grube   to   Bishop   Nathanael 
Seidel,  of  Bethlehem,  dated  February  9,  1764: 

"  We  have  seen  on  this  occasion  that  we  yet  have  many 
hundred  friends  in  the  city  who  are  not  willing  that  we  should 
be  put  to  death.  Even  many  Quakers  armed  were  with  the  com- 
pany here  in  the  Barracks" 

3.  Extract  from  a  letter  of  the  Rev.  George  Neisser,  at  the 
time  pastor  of  the  Moravian  church  in  Philadelphia,  to  Fred- 
erick W.  de  Marschall,  then  at  Bethlehem,  dated  February  6, 
1764: 

"  They  [i.e.,  the  Messrs.  Hamilton  and  Chew]  had  so  much 
influence  [i.e.,  in  their  efforts  to  arouse  the  people  against  the 
insurgents]  that  about  500  men  formed  in  companies,  and  even 
Quakers,  especially  young  men,  took  up  arms'' 


APPENDIX    IV.— (/><**  161.) 

DECLARATION   OF   THE   CAUSES   OF   TAKING   UP   ARMS. 

THE  paper  from  which  the  following  extracts  are  taken  was 
prepared  in  1882  by  Dr.  George  H.  Moore,  of  the  Historical 
Society  of  New  York,  and  read  at  one  of  its  meetings.  By 
his  kind  permission  they  are  reprinted  here. 

Dr.  Moore  had  found  among  the  original  papers  in  the 
possession  of  the  Society  a  document  which  proved  to  be  a 

23 


354  APPENDIX. 


draft  of  the  "  Declaration  of  the  Causes  of  taking  up  Arms," 
adopted  by  Congress  in  July,  1775.  From  his  familiarity  with 
the  handwriting  of  men  conspicuous  in  Revolutionary  history 
he  was  soon  able  .to  identify  that  used  in  this  paper  with  the 
handwriting  of  John  Dickinson.  Having  been  confirmed  in 
his  opinion  by  a  careful  comparison  of  this  paper  with  au- 
thentic writings  of  Mr.  Dickinson,  he  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  he,  and  not  Mr.  Jefferson  (as  had  been  claimed  by  himself 
and  by  his  numerous  biographers),  was  the  true  author  of 
every  part  of  the  famous  "  Declaration  of  the  Causes  of  taking 
up  Arms."  He  prepared  and  read  before  the  Society  in  whose 
possession  this  precious  document  was  found  a  complete  and 
satisfactory  vindication  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  claim  to  the  author- 
ship of  this  paper. 

Dr.  Moore's  paper  treats  of  many  events  in  Mr.  Dickinson's 
life  which  have  been  referred  to  in  the  text,  and  therefore  those 
portions  are  not  reproduced  here.  His  paper  is  accompanied 
by  a  fac-simile  of  the  draft  of  the  "  Declaration."  It  has  been 
found  practicable  to  insert  here  only  a  portion  of  that  fac- 
simile, the  portion  chosen  being  the  famous  last  four  and  a  half 
paragraphs,  which  Mr.  Jefferson  seems  to  have  had  a  peculiar 
pride  in  claiming  as  his  own. 

Statement  of  Dr.  George  H.  Moore. 

We  have  the  positive  statement  of  Mr.  Dickinson  that  the 
Declaration  on  taking  up  Arms  in  1775,  like  all  the  other 
papers  included  in  the  publication  of  his  political  writings,  was 
composed  by  him.  We  find  no  other  claimant  for  it  or  any 
part  of  it,  during  his  lifetime.  And  he  had  rested  with  his 
life's  best  companion  in  the  quiet  Friends'  burying  ground  in 
Wilmington  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  before  the  first 
and  probably  last  and  only  interference  with  his  title  began  to 
be  bruited  abroad. 

In  1829,  the  Memoirs,  Correspondence  and  Private  Papers 
of  Thomas  Jefferson,  were  first  published  from  the  original 
MSS.  under  the  editorial  supervision  of  his  nephew,  the  late 


DR.   MOORE'S  ADDRESS.  355 

Thomas  Jefferson  Randolph.  The  Memoir,  contained  in  the 
first  volume,  gives  circumstantial  notices  of  his  earliest  life; 
and  is  continued  to  his  arrival  in  New  York,  in  March,  1790, 
when  he  entered  on  the  duties  of  Secretary  of  State,  under 
Washington.  Its  first  sentence  indicates  the  time  and  circum- 
stances in  which  it  was  written. 

"  JANUARY  6,  1821.  At  the  age  of  seventy-seven,  I  began  to 
make  some  memoranda,  and  state  some  recollections  of  dates 
and  facts  concerning  myself,  for  my  own  more  ready  reference, 
and  for  the  information  of  my  family." 

Mr.  Jefferson's  life  and  career  are  too  familiar  to  need  any 
recapitulation  here  of  the  events  which  preceded  his  entry 
into  Congress,  in  which  he  was  destined  to  hold  so  conspicuous 
a  place.  I  shall  therefore  have  occasion  to  quote  those  pas- 
sages only  from  his  autobiography  which  record  his  entrance 
there  and  happen  to  be  those  which  chiefly  concern  the  subject 
and  the  object  of  the  present  paper.  Mr.  Jefferson  says  : 

"  I  took  my  seat  with  them  on  the  2ist  of  June.  On  the 
24th,  a  committee  which  had  been  appointed  to  prepare  a  dec- 
laration of  the  causes  of  taking  up  arms,  brought  in  their  re- 
port (drawn  I  believe  by  J.  Rutledge)  which,  not  being  liked, 
the  House  recommitted  it  on  the  26th,  and  added  Mr.  Dickin- 
son and  myself  to  the  committee.  .  .  .  I  prepared  a  draught  of 
the  Declaration  committed  to  us.1  It  was  too  strong  for  Mr. 
Dickinson.  He  still  retained  the  hope  of  reconciliation  with 
the  mother  country,  and  was  unwilling  it  should  be  lessened 
by  offensive  statements.  He  was  so  honest  a  man,  and  so  able 
a  one,  that  he  was  greatly  indulged  even  by  those  who  could 
not  feel  his  scruples.  We  therefore  requested  him  to  take  the 
paper,  and  put  it  into  a  form  he  could  approve.  He  did  so,  pre- 
paring an  entire  new  statement,  and  preserving  of  the  former  only 

1  It  would  be  an  interesting  feature  of  this  discussion,  if  a  comparison  could 
be  made  between  the  draft  which  Mr.  Jefferson  says  he  prepared,  too  strong  for 
Mr.  Dickinson,  and  the  stirring  periods  of  the  document  we  have!  Certainly 
nothing  which  Mr.  Jefferson  had  written  before  that  time  has  anything  like  the 
tone  and  ring  of  this  Declaration,  and  I  do  not  think  it  can  ever  suffer  in  any  just 
comparison  with  the  much  more  famous  Declaration  of  Independence  a  year  later. 


356  APPENDIX. 


the   LAST    FOUR    PARAGRAPHS  AND    HALF  OF  THE   PRECEDING  ONE. 

We  approved  and  reported  it  to  Congress,  who  accepted  it." 

Such  is  Mr.  Jefferson's  own  account  of  his  share  in  the 
composition  of  the  Declaration  of  17/5. 

Mr.  Tucker,  in  his  life  of  Jefferson,  published  in  1837,  a  few 
years  later,  reasserts  the  claim  thus  made  in  the  Autobiogra- 
phy, and  quotes  entire  "  the  part  furnished  by  Mr.  Jefferson" 
.  .  .  "  as  a  specimen  of  his  sentiments  and  diction  at  the  time." 
He  states  as  a  fact,  derived  from  anecdotes  related  in  the  same 
autobiography,  that  "  the  pride  of  authorship  relative  to  the  sev- 
eral public  addresses  which  emanated  from  that  body,  mingled 
with  their  grave  and  momentous  deliberations." 

Mr.  Tucker  does  not  fail  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
portion  claimed  by  Jefferson  is  "  precisely  that  part  of  Mr. 
Dickinson's  paper  which  annalists  have  commonly  quoted,"  and 
adds — "  It  probably  owes  its  distinction  not  wholly  to  its  in- 
trinsic superiority,  but  in  part  also  to  its  harmonizing  better 
with  the  issue  of  the  contest." 

Mr.  Jefferson's  reputation  as  a  writer,  which  is  said  to  have 
preceded  him  in  the  Congress,  was  that  of  the  author  of  "  A 
Summary  View  of  the  Rights  of  British  America" — the  pro- 
posed instructions  to  the  Virginia  delegates  in  1774.  It  must 
have  been  not  a  little  enlarged  by  his  answer  to  the  conciliatory 
propositions  of  Lord  North  presented  by  Lord  Dunmore  to 
the  Virginia  Assembly  in  June,  1775, — which  as  the  result  of 
their  action  he  brought  with  him  to  Philadelphia. 

I  think  no  one  will  question  the  opinion  that  the  diction  of 
this  document  is  altogether  different  and  manifestly  inferior  to 
the  Declaration.  It  was  reported  to  the  House  on  the  I2th 
of  June,  and  was  adopted  "  with  a  few  softening  touches." 

In  this  paper  the  Burgesses,  after  professing  their  wish  for  a 
reconciliation  with  the  mother  country,  as,  next  to  the  profes- 
sion of  liberty,  "  the  greatest  of  all  human  blessings,"  declare, 
that  they  cannot  accept  the  proffered  terms,  and  refer  the  sub- 
ject to  the  General  Congress  then  sitting.  They  conclude  in 
the  following  animated  strain  : 


DR.   MOORE'S  ADDRESS.  357 

"  For  ourselves,  we  have  exhausted  every  mode  of  applica- 
tion which  our  invention  could  suggest,  as  proper  and  prom- 
ising. We  have  devoutly  remonstrated  with  Parliament ;  they 
have  added  new  injuries  to  the  old.  We  have  wearied  our 
King  with  supplications ;  he  has  not  deigned  to  answer  us. 
We  have  appealed  to  the  native  honor  and  justice  of  the  British 
Nation  ;  their  efforts  in  our  favor  have  hitherto  been  ineffectual. 
What  then  remains  to  be  done  ?  That  we  commit  our  injuries 
to  the  even-handed  justice  of  that  Being  who  doth  no  wrong, 
earnestly  beseeching  him  to  illuminate  the  Councils,  and  pros- 
per the  endeavors  of  those  to  whom  America  hath  confided 
her  hopes ;  that  through  their  wise  direction  we  may  again  see 
reunited  the  blessings  of  liberty  and  property,  and  the  most 
permanent  harmony  with  Great  Britain." 

Neither  this  document,  nor  the  still  more  important  amplifi- 
cation of  it  which  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote  in  the  following  month, 
indicates  any  of  those  unmistakable  features  in  common  with 
the  concluding  paragraphs  of  the  Declaration  of  1775 — the 
family  resemblance  which  might  stamp  them  as  the  offspring 
of  the  same  parent. 

As  we  read  them  in  order,  even  if  we  could  recognize  the 
step  of  the  march  as  taken  in  similar  time,  the  changes  seem 
like  those  of  the  military  parades  with  which  we  are  all  familiar, 
in  which  the  monotonous  though  noisy  drums  and  fifes  fill  up 
the  intervals  of  far  grander  music. 

A  later  biographer  of  Mr.  Jefferson  enlarges  on  this  theme 
with  much  greater  enthusiasm,  but  no  more  knowledge : — He 
says  of  his  idol — 

"  He  had  not  a  particle  of  the  vanity  of  authorship,  of  being 
at  the  head  of  committees,  or  of  bearing  the  name  of  leader- 
ship. In  three  cases  out  of  four,  where,  in  his  various  writings, 
he  mentions  his  participation  in  the  action  of  any  celebrated 
committee  of  which  he  was  really  chairman,  he  places  his 
name  last — and  this,  oftentimes,  in  instances  where  it  is  not 
easy  to  find  the  records  which  assign  him  his  true  position. 
We  scarcely  recollect  an  example  of  a  contrary  kind,  where  a 


35 8  APPENDIX. 


positive  effort  had  not  been  made  (not  to  leave  the  thing  in  a 
state  of  equality  where  he  left  it)  but  to  directly  take  credit 
from  him  to  give  it  to  another.  And  his  reclamations,  then, 
were  usually  something  of  the  latest,  as  in  the  instance  just 
given  in  regard  to  the  Address  on  the  Causes  of  taking  up 
Arms. 

"  That  production  was  one  of  the  most  popular  ones  ever 
issued  by  Congress.  It  was  read  amid  thundering  huzzas  in 
every  market  place,  and  amid  fervent  prayers  in  nearly  every 
pulpit  in  the  Colonies.  The  commanders  read  it  at  the  head 
of  our  armies.1  On  the  heights  of  Dorchester  (we  think  it 
was)  amid  booming  cannon  and  under  the  folds  of  the  banner 
bearing  the  ever-green  pine  tree  and  the  sternly  confident 
motto  'Qui  transtulit,  sustinet,'  Putnam  proclaimed  it  to  the 
applauding  yeomanry  of  New  England  under  his  command. 
It  was  quoted  again  and  again  admiringly  in  history.  It  will 
not  probably  be  denied  that  this  celebrated  production  owed 
most  of  its  popularity  to  '  the  last  four  paragraphs  and  half  of 
the  preceding  one.'  It  would  have  been  a  very  ordinary  affair 
without  these.  This  was  the  only  part  the  admiring  historians 
quoted.  Yet  '  the  youngest  member  but  one  in  Congress* 
never  gave  even  a  hint  (we  believe)  of  its  authorship,  suffering 
all  the  reputation  of  it  to  rest  with  Mr.  Dickinson,  until  he  men- 
tioned it  in  a  paper  (the  Memoir)  destined  never  to  see  the  light 
until  Mr.  Dickinson  and  himself  had  gone  down  to  the  grave. 
Of  this,  as  of  various  other  reclamations  which  he  really  owed 
to  himself,  he  made  no  memoranda  until  he  was  seventy-seven 
years  old,  showing  how  little  precaution  he  took,  or  anxiety  he 
felt,  on  the  subject.  And  many  of  them,  like  this,  seem  rather 
accidentally  or  incidentally  made  in  his  simple  narration  of 
facts,  than  set  down  for  any  special  purpose.  It  may  be  truly 
said,  and  the  remark  is  thrown  out  here  somewhat  in  advance 
— that  the  reader  may  make  it  a  standard  to  try  Mr.  Jefferson 

1  Bancroft :  viii.  47.  Declaration  read  "  on  Prospect  Hill  amidst  such  shouts 
that  the  British  on  Bunker  Hill  put  themselves  in  array  for  battle"  on  the  i8th 
July,  1775. 


DR.   MOORE'S  ADDRESS.  359 

by  on  all  occasions — that  a  conspicuous  public  man  more 
utterly  destitute  of  vanity  than  he  was,  never  existed.  .  .  ." 
Randall:  vol.  ii.,  1 14-116. 

Such  is  Mr.  Randall's  estimate  of  what  he  elsewhere  de- 
scribes as  "  the  first  purely  popular  address  prepared  by  Mr. 
Jefferson,"  and  that  gentleman's  self-denying  modesty.  It  is 
hardly  necessary  to  add  Mr.  Parton's  vivacious  and  lively 
periods  on  this  topic.  He  improves  on  all  his  predecessors, 
and  illuminates  for  the  moment  by  his  brilliant  persiflage  the 
shadows  he  aims  to  deepen  over  any  part  which  Mr.  Dickinson 
or  anybody  else  but  Mr.  Jefferson  might,  could,  would  or 
should  claim,  in  the  Declaration  of  1775. 

Here,  permit  me  to  pause  a  moment  and  return  to  Mr.  Jef- 
ferson's memoranda — in  which  his  story  of  the  Declaration  is 
supplemented  by  a  still  more  extraordinary  account  of  the 
second  Petition  to  the  King,  of  which,  it  will  be  noticed,  he 
does  not  claim  any  share  in  the  composition.  I  must  ask  your 
close  attention  to  every  word  of  this  studied  depreciation  of 
Mr.  Dickinson  and  its  dramatic  finish  in  the  final  anecdote. 

"  Congress  gave  a  signal  proof  of  their  indulgence  to  Mr. 
Dickinson,  and  of  their  great  desire  not  to  go  too  fast  for  any 
respectable  part  of  our  body,  in  permitting  him  to  draw  their 
second  petition  to  the  King  according  to  his  own  ideas,  and 
passing  it  with  scarcely  any  amendment.  The  disgust  against 
its  humility  was  general,  and  Mr.  Dickinson's  delight  at  its 
passage  was  the  only  circumstance  which  reconciled  them  to 
it.  The  vote  being  passed,  although  further  observation  on  it 
was  out  of  order,  he  could  not  refrain  from  rising  and  express- 
ing his  satisfaction,  and  concluded  by  saying,  '  there  is  but  one 
word,  Mr.  President,  in  the  paper  which  I  disapprove,  and  that 
is  the  word  Congress;'  on  which  Ben  Harrison  rose  and  said, 
'  there  is  but  one  word  in  the  paper,  Mr.  President,  of  which  I 
approve,  and  that  is  the  word  Congress'  ' 

The  official  record  of  proceedings  on  this  subject  is  as  fol- 
lows : 

On  the  3d  of  June,  1775,  it  was  resolved  that  a  committee 


360  APPENDIX. 


of  five  be  appointed  to  draught  a  petition  to  the  King — and 
when  the  Congress  proceeded  to  the  choice,  which  was  by 
ballot,  the  following  gentlemen  were  elected : 
Messrs.  DICKINSON 

JOHNSON 

J.  RUTLEDGE 

JAY  AND 

FRANKLIN. 

On  the  I  pth  June,  the  Committee  appointed  to  prepare  a 
petition  to  the  King,  reported  a  draught  of  one,  which  was 
read.1 

On  the  4th  July,  the  petition  to  the  King  being  again  read, 
after  some  debate,  the  further  consideration  of  it  was  deferred 
till  the  next  day,  when  Congress  resumed  its  consideration  and 
being  debated  by  paragraphs,  was  agreed  to,  and  ordered  to  be 
engrossed. 

On  the  8th  July,  having  been  engrossed,  it  was  compared  at 
the  table  and  signed  by  the  members  present. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  this  paper  which  Mr.  Jefferson 
would  have  us  believe  was  reluctantly  and  barely  tolerated  by 
an  impatient  Congress  was  drawn  by  the  same  hand  and  under 
consideration  at  the  same  time  with  the  Declaration,2  a  share 
in  whose  composition  is  claimed  by  Mr.  Jefferson  himself.  He 
emphasizes  the  contrast  between  the  general  disgust  at  the  hu- 
mility of  the  one  and  the  universal  admiration  of  the  other  by 
his  picture  of  the  delight  of  Mr.  Dickinson — but  the  absurdity 

1  Washington  was  appointed  Commander-in-chief  on  the  I5th  of  June,  1775- 

2  "  As   to  matters  of  fact,  the   Proclamation  ;  which   you   ascribe  to  General 
Washington  upon  his  first  taking  the  command  of  the  Army,  was  drawn  up  by 
Congress.     The  consideration  of  it  proceeded  pari passu  with  the  Petition  to  the 
King,  and  was  passed  by  Congress  while  the  Petition  was  engrossing.     The  truth 
is  there  was  a  considerable  opposition  to  the  sending  another  petition  considering 
the  manner  in  which  the  former  had  been  treated.     But  several  members  were 
warm  in  favour  of  it.     The  matter  was  compromised,  and  the  petition  and  decla- 
ration were  both  ordered  and  passed  in  a  manner  together."     C.  T.  to  D.  Ramsay. 
New  York:  Nov.  4,  1786.     Coll.  N,  Y.  H.  S.  1878 :  pp.  215-16. 


DR.   MOORE'S  ADDRESS.  361 

of  his  narrative  reaches  its  climax  in  the  anecdote  about  the 
word  Congress. 

That  word  appears  but  once  in  the  entire  document ;  in  the 
opening  sentence,  which  is  precisely  similar,  indeed  in  almost 
the  identical  words  of  the  first  petition.  Nobody  can  read  the 
document  itself  and  believe  for  one  moment  that  either  Mr. 
Dickinson  or  Mr.  Harrison  could  by  any  possibility  have 
wasted  their  breath  in  such  empty  talk  on  any  occasion,  much 
less  in  a  scene  of  such  momentous  interest  to  themselves  and 
their  country. 

Yet  ridiculous  as  it  must  appear  to  any  well  ordered  intellect, 
after  a  moment's  attention,  this  worthless  tale  has  been  em- 
balmed in  some  of  the  most  carefully  written  periods  of  our 
ablest  historians — like  a  dead  fly  in  the  precious  ointment  of 
the  apothecary.  They  seem  to  have  thought  the  word  "  Con- 
gress" a  word  to  charm  with — a  word  of  mysterious  power  and 
significance — instead  of  a  harmless  necessary  word  of  descrip- 
tion in  that  place,  and  one  absolutely  colorless  and  void  of 
offence.  It  would  hopelessly  puzzle  the  most  diligent  critic 
to  find  anything  hidden  in  that  simple  combination  of  eight 
letters  of  the  alphabet,  where  it  is  used  in  that  document. 

If  any  man  can  discover  any  good  honest  reason  why  Mr. 
Jefferson  wrote  such  a  story  in  his  autobiography — he  will 
render  a  seasonable  and  important  service  to  the  much  exalted 
reputation  of  its  author. 

Mr.  Jefferson  himself  has  furnished  a  formula  for  stating 
with  due  respect  any  doubts  of  the  accuracy  of  his  recollec- 
tions. Referring  to  a  letter  of  Governor  McKean,  written  in 
July,  1807,  on  the  circumstances  attending  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  he  says,  that  the  Governor,  "  trusting  to  his 
memory  chiefly,  at  an  age  when  our  memories  are  not  to  be 
trusted,  has  confounded  two  questions  and  ascribed  proceed- 
ings to  one  which  belonged  to  the  other."  x 

1  In  a  letter  to  Madison,  Aug.  30,  1823,  Mr.  Jefferson  says:  "  Mr.  Adams's 
memory  has  led  him  into  unquestionable  error.  At  the  age  of  eighty-eight  and 
forty-seven  years  after  the  transactions  .  .  .  this  is  not  wonderful.  Nor  should 


362  APPENDIX. 


Now  Governor  McKean  had  then  reached  his  seventy-third 
year.  Mr.  Jefferson's  Memoirs  were  begun,  as  he  has  himself 
told  us,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven.  To  complete  them,  he 
seems  to  have  not  only  trusted  his  memory  but  taxed  his 
invention. 

I  have  quoted  the  performances  of  Mr.  Jefferson's  biogra- 
phers, who  have  adopted  his  statements  without  any  hesitation. 
It  is  needless  to  multiply  examples  of  the  facility  with  which 
the  pen  of  the  ready  writer  contributes  to  the  currency  of 
errors  of  fact,  which  become  inveterate  by  repetition. 

"  Addictus  jurare  in  verba  magistri,"  if  not  the  motto,  de- 
scribes the  active  principle  of  the  great  mass  of  hasty,  care- 
less, indifferent,  and  uncritical  writers  of  what  they  or  their 
publishers  call  history. 

But  these  are  not  all.  The  greatest  is  behind — for  the  hon- 
ored name  of  Mr.  Bancroft  must  be  cited  as  having  accepted 
without  criticism  these  statements  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  That 
great  historian,  whose  work  is  at  once  the  monument  of  his 
own  fame  and  that  of  his  country,  is  not  to  be  mentioned  here 
or  by  me  without  becoming  reverence.  The  patriarch  of  Ameri- 
can Letters,  he  has  just  added  to  the  permanent  literature  of 
the  world  two  volumes  on  the  History  of  the  Formation  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  which  will  doubtless  increase  his  exalted 
reputation.  His  reference  in  the  beginning  of  his  last  volume 
to  his  old  and  his  new  friends  is  touching  in  its  pathetic  inter- 
est :  "  Scarcely  one  who  wished  me  good  speed  when  I  first 
essayed  to  trace  the  history  of  America  remains  to  greet  me 
with  a  welcome  as  I  near  the  goal.  Deeply  grateful  as  I  am 
for  the  friends  who  rise  up  to  gladden  my  old  age,  their  en- 

I,  at  the  age  of  eighty,  on  the  small  advantage  of  that  difference  only,  venture  to 
oppose  my  memory  to  his,  were  it  not  supported  by  written  notes,  taken  by  my- 
self at  the  moment,  and  on  the  spot."  Works  :  vii.  304. 

In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Wirt  (Aug.  5,  1815),  he  says  of  the  same  period:  "the 
transaction  is  too  distant,  and  my  memory  too  indistinct  to  hazard  as  with  precision 
even  what  I  think  I  heard  from  them  [other  contemporaries].  In  this  decay  of 
memory,  Mr.  Edmund  Randolph  must  have  suffered  at  a  much  earlier  period  of 
life  than  myself."  Works :  vi.  486. 


^ 

*     ^s\ 


4      ^  V     , 

c      V^' 

&  *& 

^Kl| 


\ 
^ 


rr 


' 


'•? 

:« 


^ 


30   JL 

^x*2  #"<'/'  <+**</:&-* 


•s£rr<ft  ~^*jSf*SsS 


M&m 

f-it  —  rrr    c  —  «. .^**  <Tr*yZi  f?r*M  Ji~n~>  *'x^  x^*  ^  **"  ' 

/T  /sAjfKt*-*'*  £**  *-*~*f&  ^f^%/^^V'  /-«r-y*  /V,  x^i  <r  rft-» 

'^i5K5*/j£  /'»&?l^Cm<fas*'*2&'yy&~> 

'S'j'^'^^ffr'jf  *  tg^~^tr:^  ^       ^ *TT « ««^/ ' r&S&ii 

'^^^stf/Z**^/^^***^    l*—f^*.^^^  4^ 
'<***    ,  J^~'"'r,?'jg^ 


% 


^,2&£ 


?%£££%.?' 

\»jff**t!&& 

t  //"•/£* 


^fe^^^ 

•^^^^7    ^- 


DR.   MOORE'S  ADDRESS.  363 

couragement  must  renew  my  grief  for  those  who  have  gone 
before  me." 

At  an  age  when  most  men  seek  repose  and  rest  on  their 
laurels,  he  is  challenging  new  labors,  and  achieving  new  tri- 
umphs. Yet,  Homer  sometimes  nods,  and  although  accustomed 
to  deal  with  every  form  of  the  materials  of  history,  with  a  keen- 
ness of  critical  faculty  and  skill  unrivalled,  yes,  unapproached 
by  any  of  his  fellows — in  this  case,  Mr.  Bancroft  seems  to  have 
been  overpowered  in  the  presence  of  the  great  chief  of  Ameri- 
can Democracy.  He  could  not  question  the  authority  of 
Thomas  Jefferson. 

We  have  then  Mr.  Dickinson's  positive  statement  that  he 
was  the  author  of  the  document.  Mr.  Jefferson  himself  con- 
firms it  as  to  all  but  the  "  last  four  paragraphs  and  half  of  the 
preceding  one." 

The  original  manuscript  draft,  to  which  I  now  call  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Society,  proves  that  the  author  of  any  part  was  the 
author  of  every  part — that  there  was  but  one  hand  in  the  work, 
and  that  the  hand  of  John  Dickinson. 

I  am  well  aware  of  the  danger  of  attempting  to  determine 
the  authorship  of  a  paper,  intended  for  the  public,  from  the 
handwriting  in  which  the  manuscript  appears — unless  the 
proofs  are  patent  that  it  came  from  the  hand  of  him  whose 
thoughts  and  expressions  it  records.  In  this  case  there  is  no 
room  whatever  for  doubt  The  suggestion  of  imitation  or  for- 
gery is  excluded.  No  person  but  the  author  himself  ever 
had  any  hand  in  the  preparation  of  this  document.  It  is  in 
the  handwriting  of  John  Dickinson,  and  these  corrections, 
additions,  interlineations,  revisions,  in  number,  extent,  position 
and  character,  forbid  the  supposition  that  he  copied  any  portion 
of  this  paper  from  a  draft  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  or  any  other  person. 
It  is  the  original  first  draft  of  the  whole,  and  the  proof  of  it  is 
in  no  portion  of  the  whole  more  conspicuous  and  certain  than 
in  the  "  last  four  paragraphs  and  half  of  the  preceding  one" 
claimed  as  his  own  by  Mr.  Jefferson — in  his  old  age — and 
accorded  to  him  without  doubt  or  hesitation  ever  since. 


3^4  APPENDIX. 


For  the  use  of  original  papers  for  comparison  which  enabled 
me  to  determine  positively  the  fact  of  authorship  by  identifying 
the  handwriting  of  this  document,  and  its  author's  method  of 
composition,  I  was  indebted  to  the  late  Dr.  John  Dickinson 
Logan  of  Baltimore,  who  became  interested  in  my  purpose, 
and  was  gratified  by  the  results  of  my  examination.  Had  he 
lived  to  this  day,  he  would  have  been  still  more  gratified  by 
the  knowledge  that  I  should  have  this  opportunity  to  present 
them  to  the  New  York  Historical  Society. 

His  kindness  and  confidence  enabled  me  to  place  side 
by  side  with  these  sheets — the  similar  drafts  of  one  of  the 
Petitions  to  the  King,  and  the  Address  to  the  Inhabitants  of 
Quebec,  dated  October  26th,  1774,  all  indicating  the  same 
methods  of  composition  and  all  unquestionably  in  the  same 
handwriting.  I  have  had  ample  opportunity  to  acquire  the 
knowledge  of  an  expert  in  these  and  similar  examinations, 
and  I  have  no  hesitation  in  speaking  positively,  and  without 
fear  of  cavil  or  contradiction  from  any  one  who  is  qualified 
to  give  an  opinion  in  the  case.  My  position  cannot  be  suc- 
cessfully assailed.  I  am  sure  of  it. 

And  now  my  task  is  ended — my  purpose  is  accomplished. 
Permit  me  however  to  say  that  I  will  not  disguise  the  pleasure 
I  have  felt  in  paying  such  tribute  as  I  could  to  the  memory  of 
John  Dickinson — the  grand  old  Quaker  Farmer  on  the  Dela- 
ware! 


APPENDIX    V.— 

MR.    DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION    OF    HIS    CAREER    DURING   THE 

REVOLUTION. 

{Freeman's  Journal,  Wednesday,  Jan.  i,  1783.) 

MR.  BAILEY, — I  shall  be  obliged  to  you,  if  you  will  be 
pleased  to  give  the  following  piece  a  place  in  your  paper.  Its 
being  writ  in  fragments  of  evenings,  after  attention  to  the  public 


DICKINSON'S   VINDICATION. 


and  private  duties  of  the  day,  will,  I  hope,  be  admitted  as  a 
sufficient  apology  for  its  defects.     I  am,  Sir,  with  great  respect 
Your  very  humble  servant, 

JOHN  DICKINSON. 

To  my  Opponents  in  the  late  Elections  of  Councillor  for  the  County 

of  Philadelphia,  and  of  President  of  the  Supreme  Executive 

Council  of  Pennsylvania. 

GENTLEMEN,  —  I  address  you  as  men  of  sense,  candour  and 
integrity.  If  I  hereby  over-rate  the  characters  of  some  of  you, 
they,  no  doubt,  will  undervalue  mine.  Such  a  kind  of  retalia- 
tion will  correct  the  favour  shewn  them  ;  and  while  it  gratifies 
them  I  shall  not  repine,  for  it  will  give  me  much  less  pain  to 
be  traduced  by  them,  than  to  fail  in  the  respect  due  to  any 
man  of  merit  among  you. 

The  persons  first  described  will  regard  truth  and  reason  and 
will  be  pleased  to  find  themselves  furnished  with  facts  and  argu- 
ments, enabling  them  to  disengage  their  minds  from  the  preju- 
dices arising  out  of  erroneously  combined  ideas,  of  which,  thro' 
the  frailty  of  our  nature,  party  zeal  is  too  frequently  composed. 

Before  the  late  elections,  I  was  diligent  in  affording  you  every 
advantage  for  carrying  on  your  operations.  I  stood  still  — 
cast  away  all  defence  —  and  bared  my  breast  to  receive  every 
blow,  either  openly  or  covertly  aimed  at  me,  and  you  yourselves 
could  not  complain,  that  "  I  declined  receiving  your  whole 
weapon  into  my  body."  I  wrote  to  the  printers  of  this  city,1 

I  Oct.    2,    1782. 

SIR, 

An  attack  upon  my  character  having  lately  been  made  in  your  paper,  which 
probably  will  be  repeated,  I  most  chearfully  consent  to  your  publication  of  every 
piece  written  against  me,  that  shall  be  offered  to  you  ;  but  I  desire  that  nothing 
may  be  published  in  my  defence  or  favour 

I  am,  Sir,  your  very  humble  servant 

JOHN  DICKINSON. 
MR.  BAILEY. 

Oct.    2,    1782. 

GENTLEMEN, 

An  attack  having  lately  been  made  from  the  press  upon  my  character,  which 
probably  will  be  repeated,  I  beg  leave  to  inform  you,  that  I  am  perfectly  willing- 


366  APPENDIX. 


requesting  them  to  publish  every  piece  that  should  be  offered 
them  against  me,  but  nothing  for  me,  and  I  entreated  my  friends 
to  rely  on  the  votes  that  should  be  dictated  by  the  judgment 
and  consciences  of  a  discerning  and  virtuous  people.  As  to 
myself,  I  never  at  any  time  stepped  out  of  my  house,  for  the 
purpose  of  electioneering :  and  upon  the  morning  of  the  elec- 
tion for  the  county,  I  went  into  the  Delaware  state,  where  I 
staid  several  weeks,  and  till  within  four  days  of  the  election  of 
a  president. 

You  might  have  perceived  by  this  conduct,  that  I  defied, 
beyond  expression,  all  your  efforts  against  me.  Indeed  I  did. 
What  was  my  support  amidst  the  unprovoked  war  you  waged 
upon  me,  or,  what  would  have  been  my  consolation,  if  you  had 
succeeded,  perhaps  you  may  at  some  favourable  opportunity 
hereafter  discover.  Certain  it  is,  that,  if  you  had  succeeded,  I 
should  not  have  attempted  to  comfort  myself,  by  asking  for 
your  attention. 

In  that  case,  the  reputation  of  one  of  her  private  citizens 
might  have  been  of  little  consequence  to  Pennsylvania.  Now, 
a  desire  of  being  useful  to  her,  in  the  station  she  has  assigned 
me,  and  of  vindicating  those  who  have  honoured  me  with  their 
votes,  call  upon  me  to  shew,  that  I  am  not  the  man  I  have  been 
by  some  of  you  so  laboriously  represented. 

As  these  motives  will,  I  hope,  even  in  your  opinion,  justify 
the  measures  I  am  taking,  permit  me  to  expect  from  your  sin- 
cerity, that  you  will  of  course  forgive  my  compliance  with  the 
necessity,  which  you  have  imposed  upon  me  of  making  myself 
the  subject  of  this  address. 

every  piece  written  against  me,  and  offered  to  you  for  publication,  should  be  in- 
serted in  your  paper ;  but  I  desire  that  nothing  may  be  published  in  my  defence 
or  favour,  Your  compliance  with  this  request  will  exceedingly  oblige,  Gentlemen, 

Your  very  humble  servant, 

JOHN  DICKINSON. 
MESS.  HALL  AND  SELLERS. 

A  similar  letter  was  sent  to  Messieurs  Bradford  and  Hall,  Messieurs  Dunlap 
and  Claypoole,  and  Mr.  Oswald. 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION. 


Many  of  you,  gentlemen,  were  children,  many  of  you 
strangers  to  this  land,  during  a  considerable  period,  in  which 
I  was  rendering  to  it  all  the  services  within  my  power.  Let 
those  who  were  witnesses  of  my  behaviour  declare,  whether, 
throughout  my  whole  life  I  have  been  the  warm,  disinterested 
friend  of  the  people  the  zealous  and  industrious  asserter  and 
maintainer  of  their  rights  and  liberties,  or  the  artful  pursuer  of 
private  advantages. 

I  challenge  my  enemies  to  point  out  a  single  instance,  where, 
either  as  a  lawyer  or  as  a  member  of  assembly,  I  ever  took 
a  part  in  the  least  degree  unfavourable  to  those  rights  and 
liberties.  I  go  farther.  I  challenge  them  to  point  out  the 
instances,  while  I  practised  at  the  bar,  or  had  a  seat  in  legisla- 
tion, where  questions  of  moment  to  the  public  arose,  and  I  was 
not  found  on  the  side  of  my  country. 

How  long,  how  fervently,  have  numbers  of  you  commended 
and  loved  me  for  my  exertions,  such  as  they  were,  in  the  cause 
of  freedom?  How  lately,  and  violently,  you  have  endeavoured 
to  disgrace  and  ruin  me,  is  sufficiently  known.  With  what 
justice  remains  to  be  enquired. 

Four  charges  are  brought  against  me. 

First.  That  I  opposed  the  declaration  of  independence  in 
Congress. 

Secondly.  That  I  highly  disapproved  the  constitution  of  this 
state. 

Thirdly.  That  I  deserted  my  battalion,  when  it  went  into  the 
field  in  December  1776,  and  the  American  cause,  till  the  treaty 
with  France,  or,  as  some  say,  till  the  convention  of  Saratoga. 

Fourthly.  That  I  injured,  or  endeavoured  to  injure  the  con- 
tinental money,  particularly,  by  writing  a  letter  to  my  brother^ 

The  first  charge,  as  it  is  made,  I  deny  :  but  I  confess  that" 
I  opposed  the  making  the  declaration  of  independence  at  the 
time  when  it  was  made.  The  right  and  authority  of  Congress 
to  make  it,  the  justice  of  making  it,  I  acknowledged.  The 
policy  of  then  making  it  I  disputed. 

To  render  this  charge  criminal,  it  should  be  shewn  that  I 


368  APPENDIX. 


was  influenced  by  unworthy  motives.  It  will  not  be  enough 
to  prove  that  I  was  mistaken  :  so  far  from  it,  that  if  it  appears 
I  was  actuated  by  a  tender  affection  for  my  country,  I  know 
my  country  will  excuse  the  honest  error. 

When  that  momentous  affair  was  considered  in  Congress, 
I  was  a  member  of  that  honourable  body  for  this  state.  I 
thereby  became  a  trustee  for  Pennsylvania  immediately,  and  in 
some  measure  for  the  rest  of  America.  The  business  related 
to  the  happiness  of  millions  then  in  existence,  and  of  more 
millions  who  were  unborn.  I  felt  the  duty  and  endeavoured 
faithfully  to  discharge  it. 

Malice  and  envy  must  sigh  and  confess,  that  I  was  among 
the  very  first  men  on  this  continent,  who  by  the  open  and  de- 
cided steps  we  took  staked  our  lives  and  fortunes  on  our  coun- 
try's cause.  This  was  done  at  an  sera  of  the  greatest  danger, 
as  it  was  unknown  how  far  we  should  be  supported.  In  this 
point,  no  reserve,  no  caution  was  used  by  me ;  and,  tho' 
marked  out  by  peculiar  circumstances  for  the  resentment  and 
vengeance  of  our  enemies,  if  they  had  succeeded,  I  frankly 
pledged  my  all  for  her  freedom. 

Thus  far  I  had  a  right  to  go,  whatever  I  ventured,  for  I  was 
risking  only  my  own.  But  when  I  came  to  deliberate  on  a 
point  of  tfie  last  importance  to  you  and  my  other  fellow  citi- 
zens, and  to  your  and  their  posterity,  then,  and  not  till  then,  I 
became  guilty  of  reserve  and  caution — if  it  was  guilt  to  be  more 
concerned  for  you  and  them  than  I  had  been  for  myself.  For 
you  and  them  I  freely  devoted  myself  to  every  hazard.  For 
you  and  them  I  exerted  all  my  cares  and  labours,  that  not  one 
drop  of  blood  should  be  unnecessarily  drawn  from  American 
veins,  nor  one  scene  of  misery  needlessly  introduced  within 
American  borders. 

My  first  objection  to  making  the  declaration  of  indepen- 
dence, at  the  time  when  it  was  made,  arose  from  this  considera- 
tion :  It  was  acknowledged  in  the  debate,  that  the  first  cam- 
paign would  be  decisive  as  to  the  final  event  of  the  controversy. 
I  insisted  that  the  declaration  would  not  strengthen  us  by  one 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  369 

man,  or  by  the  least  supply — on  the  contrary,  it  might  be 
construed  to  manifest  such  an  aversion  on  our  part,  as  might 
inflame  the  calamities  of  the  contest,  and  expose  our  soldiers 
and  inhabitants  in  general  to  additional  cruelties  and  outrages 
— We  ought  not,  without  some  prelusory  trials  of  our  strength, 
to  commit  our  country  upon  an  alternative,  where,  to  recede 
woiild  be  infamy,  and  to  persist  might  be  destruction. 

No  instance  was  recollected  of  a  people,  without  a  battle 
fought  or  an  ally  gained,  abrogating  forever  their  connection 
with  a  great,  rich,  warlike,  commercial  empire,  whose  wealth 
or  connections  had  always  procured  allies  when  wanted,  and 
bringing  the  matter  finally  to  a  prosperous  conclusion. 

It  was  informing  our  enemies  what  was  the  ultimate  object 
of  our  arms,  which  ought  to  be  concealed  until  we  had  con- 
sulted other  powers,  and  were  better  prepared  for  resistance — 
It  would  too  soon  confirm  the  charges  of  those  in  Great 
Britain  who  were  most  hostile  to  us,  and  too  early  contradict 
the  defences  made  by  those  who  were  most  friendly  towards 
us.  It  might  therefore  unite  the  different  parties  there  against 
us,  without  our  gaining  any  thing  in  counterbalance. — And  it 
might  occasion  disunion  among  ourselves,  and  thus  weaken  us. 

With  other  powers,  it  might  rather  injure  than  &vail  us — 
There  was  a  certain  weight  and  dignity  in  such  movements, 
when  they  appeared  to  be  regulated  by  prudence,  that  would 
be  lost,  if  they  were  attributed  to  the  emotions  of  passion.  If 
politicians  should  be  induced  to  ascribe  the  measure  to  the 
violence  of  this  dictator,  we  might  be  deprived  in  their  judg- 
ment of  the  merit  of  what  they  thought  we  had  well  done 
before,  and  of  a  just  credit  with  them  in  future  for  our  real 
force  and  fixed  intentions — How  such  a  judgment  would 
operate  was  obvious. 

Foreign  aid  would x  not  be  obtained  by  the  declaration,  but 
by  our  actions  in  the  field,  which  were  the  only  evidences  of 
our  union  and  vigour  that  would  be  respected, — and  by  the 

*  This  was  confirmed  by  the  conduct  of  France. 
24 


3?o  APPENDIX. 


sentiments  statesmen  should  form  upon  the  relative  conse- 
quences of  the  dispute.  This  opinion  was  confirmed  by  many 
similar  instances  particularly  in  the  war  between  the  United 
Provinces  of  the  Low  Countries  and  Spain,  in  which  France 
and  England  assisted  the  former,  before  they  declared  them- 
selves independent,  which  they  did  not  do  till  the  ninth  year  of 
the  war.  If  it  was  the  interest  of  any  European  kingdom  or  state 
to  aid  us,  we  should  be  aided  without  such  a  declaration.  If  it 
was  not  we  should  not  be  aided  with  it — On  the  sixth  day  of 
July,  1775,  a  year  within  two  days  before  the  declaration,  Con- 
gress assured  the  people  of  America  in  an  address,  that,1 
u Foreign  assistance  was  UNDOUBTEDLY  attainable"  FACTS  SUB- 
SEQUENT TO  THAT  DATE,  WITH  WHICH  EVERY  MEMBER  WAS 
ACQUAINTED  IT  WAS  NEEDLESS  TO  MENTION. 

We  ought  to  know  the  disposition  of  the  great  powers,  be- 
fore such  an  irrevocable  step  should  be  taken  ;  and,  if  they  did 
not  generally  chuse  to  interfere,  how  far  they  would  permit 
any  one  or  more  of  them  to  interfere.  The  erection  of  an  In- 
dependent Empire  on  this  continent  was  a  phenomenon  in  the 
world — Its  effects  would  be  immense,  and  might  vibrate  round 
the  globe — How  they  might  affect,  or  be  supposed  to  affect 
old  establishments,  was  not  ascertained — It  was  singularly  disre- 
spectful to  France,  to  make  the  declaration  before  her  sense  was 
known,  as  we  had  sent  an  agent  expressly  to  enquire,  "  whether 
such  a  declaration  would  be  acceptable  to  her;"  and  we  had 
reason  to  believe  he  was  then  arrived  at  the  court  of  Versailles — 
Such  precipitation  might  be  unsuitable  to  the  circumstances  of 
that  kingdom,  and  inconvenient — The  measure  ought  to  be 
delayed,  till  the  common  interests  should  be  in  the  best  manner 
consulted,  by  common  consent.  Besides,  the  door  to  accom- 
modation with  Great  Britain  ought  not  to  be  shut,  until  we 
knew  what  terms  could  be  obtained  from  some  competent 
p0wer — Thus  to  break  with  her,  before  we  had  compacted  with 
another,  was  to  make  experiments  on  the  lives  and  liberties  of 

1  Journals  of  Congress,  Vol.  I.    Page  147. 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  37* 

my  countrymen,  which  I  would  sooner  die  than  agree  to 
make;  at  best,  it  was  to  throw  us  into  the  hands  of  some 
other  power,  and  to  lie  at  mercy ;  for  we  should  have  passed 
the  river,  that  was  never  to  be  repassed — If  treated  with  some 
regard,  we  might  yet  be  obliged  to  receive  a  disagreeable  law 
tacked  to  a  necessary  aid.  This  was  not  the  plan  we  should 
pursue.  We  ought  to  retain  the  declaration,  and  remain  as 
much  masters  as  possible  of  our  own  fame  and  fate — We  ought 
to  inform  that  power,  that  we  were  filled  with  a  just  detestation 
of  our  oppressors;  that  we  were  determined  to  cast  off  for 
ever  all  subjection  to  them ;  to  declare  ourselves  independent ; 
and  to  support  that  declaration  with  our  lives  and  fortunes — 
provided  that  power  should  approve  the  proceeding;  would 
acknowledge  our  independence,  and  enter  into  a  treaty  with  us 
upon  equitable  and  advantageous  conditions. 

True  it  is,  that  we  have  happily  succeeded,  without  observing 
these  precautions ;  and  let  my  enemies  triumph  in  this  conces- 
sion, when  they  shall  have  produced  an  example  from  history 
to  equal  the  justice,  wisdom,  benevolence,  magnanimity,  and 
good  faith,  displayed  by  his  most  Christian  majesty,  in  his  con- 
duct towards  us.  Till  then,  at  least,  let  me  be  pardoned  for 
having  doubted — whether  there  was  such  a  monarch  upon 
earth. 

Other  objections  to  making  the  declaration,  at  the  time  when 
it  ivas  made,  were  suggested  by  our  internal  circumstances.  To 
me  it  seemed,  that,  in  the  nature  of  things,  the  formation  of  our 
governments,  and  an  agreement  upon  the  terms  of  our  confed- 
eration, ought  to  precede  the  assumption  of  our  station  among 
sovereigns.  A  sovereignty  composed  of  several  distinct  bodies 
of  men,  not  subject  to  established  constitutions,  and  those 
bodies  not  combined  together  by  the  sanction  of  any  confirmed 
articles  of  union,  was  such  a  sovereignty  as  had  never  appeared. 
These  particulars  would  not  be  unobserved  by  foreign  king- 
doms and  states,  and  they  would  wait  for1  other  proofs  of 

1  See  this  confessed  in  the  French  "  Observations  on  the  Justificative  Memorial 
of  the  Court  of  London." 


372  APPENDIX. 


political  energy,  before  they  would  treat  us  with  the  desired 
attention. 

With  respect  to  ourselves,  the  consideration  was  still  more 
serious. 

The  forming  of  our  governments  was  a  new  and  difficult 
work.  They  ought  to  be  rendered  as  generally  satisfactory  to 
the  people  as  possible — When  this  was  done,  and  the  people 
perceived  that  they  and  their  posterity  were  to  live  under  well- 
regulated  constitutions,  they  would  be  encouraged  to  look  for- 
ward to  confederation  and  independence,  as  compleating  the 
noble  system  of  their  political  happiness — The  objects  nearest 
to  them  were  now  enveloped  in  clouds,  and  therefore  those 
more  distant  must  appear  confused.  That  they  were  indepen- 
dent, they  would  know ;  but  the  relation  one  citizen  was  to 
bear  to  another,  and  the  connection  one  state  was  to  have  with 
another,  they  did,  could  not  know.  Mankind  were  naturally 
attached  to  plans  of  government,  that  promised  quiet  and 
security  under  them. — General  satisfaction  with  them,  when 
formed,  would  be  indeed  a  great  point  attained ;  but  persons 
of  reflection  would  perhaps  think  it  absolutely  necessary,  that 
Congress  should  institute  some  mode  for  preserving  them  from 
the  misfortune  of  future  discords. 

The  confederation  ought  to  be  settled  before  the  declaration 
of  independence.1  Foreigners  would  think  it  most  regular — 
The  weaker  states  would  not  be  in  so  much  danger  of  having 
disadvantageous  terms  imposed  upon  them  by  the  stronger — 
If  the  declaration  was  first  made,2  political  necessities  might 
urge  on  the  acceptance  of  conditions,  that  were  highly  dis- 
agreeable to  parts  of  the  union.  The  present  comparative  cir- 
cumstances of  the  3  states  were  now  tolerably  well  understood  ; 
but  some  states  had  very  extraordinary  claims  to  territory,  that 
if  admitted  in  a  future  confederation,  as  they  might  be,  the 

1  This  has  been  since  proved,  by  France  urging,  as  she  has  done,  the  completion 
of  the  confederation. 

3  This  has  since  actually  happened. 

3  The  word  "States"  is  used  here  as  most  familiar,  tho'  not  used  in  the  debate. 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  373 

terms  of  it  not  being  yet  adjusted  all  idea  of  the  present  com- 
parison between  them  would  be  confounded — Those  states, 
whose  boundaries  were  acknowledged,  would  find  themselves 
sink  in  proportion  to  the  elevation  of  their  neighbours.  Be- 
sides, the  unlocated  lands,  not  comprehended  within  acknowl- 
edged boundaries,  were  deemed  a  fund  sufficient  to  defray  a 
vast  part,  if  not  the  whole,  of  the  expences  of  the  war.  These 
ought  to  be  considered  as  the  property  of  all  the  states, 
acquired  by  the  arms  of  all.  For  these  reasons  the  boundaries 
of  the  states  ought  to  be  fixed  before  the  declaration,  and  their 
respective  rights  mutually  guarantied ;  and  the  unlocated  lands 
ought  also,  previous  to  that  declaration,  to  be  solemnly  appro- 
priated to  the  benefit  of  all  the  states:  for  it  might  be  ex- 
tremely difficult,  if  not  impracticable,  to  obtain  these  decisions 
afterwards.  Upon  the  whole,  when  things  should  be  thus 
deliberately  rendered  firm  at  home,  and  favourable  abroad,  then 
let  America 

"  Attollens  humeris  FAMAM,  et  FATA  nepotum" 

advance  with  majestic  steps,  and  assume  her  station  among  the 
sovereigns  of  the  world. 

Thus  to  have  thought,  and  thus  to  have  spoke,  was  my 
offence,  gentlemen,  on  the  subject  of  independence.  Do  you 
condemn  me  for  thinking  as  I  did,  or  for  speaking  as  I  thought  ? 
Could  the  former  be  a  crime  ?  and  was  not  the  latter  a  duty  ? 
What  title  of  infamy  would  have  been  adequate  to  my  guilt,  if, 
entertaining  the  sentiments  I  did,  and  entrusted  as  I  was,  any 
consideration  could  have  prevailed  upon  me  to  suppress  those 
sentiments  on  a  point  of  such  eventful  moment  to  my  country? 
Was  I  by  her  placed  in  Congress,  to  re-echo  the  words  of 
others,  or  to  exercise  my  judgment  and  obey  my  conscience,  in 
deciding  upon  the  common  welfare  ? 

A  powerful  consideration  was  not  wanting,  to  tempt  me  into 
a  swerving  from  the  rule  ever  prescribed  to  myself — that  of 
regarding  the  general  good  with  singleness  of  heart. 

It  was  my  misfortune  to  have  acquired  some  share  of  repu- 


374  APPENDIX. 


tation ;  for  the  injuries  done  my  country  had  occasioned  it. 
Her  love  I  valued  as  I  ought,  but  not  as  much  as  I  valued 
herself.  I  knew,  and  told  Congress,  that  I  was  acting  an  un- 
popular part  in  the  debate  upon  the  declaration  ;  and  I  desired 
that  illustrious  assembly  to  witness  the  integrity,  if  not  the 
policy  of  my  conduct. 

What  other  motive  can  you  suspect  that  I  had  for  this  beha- 
viour ?  Compare  it  with  my  preceding  and  following  actions. 
Though  I  spoke  my  sentiments  freely,  as  an  honest  man  ought 
to  do,  yet,  when  a  determination  was  made  upon  the  question 
against  my  opinion,  I  received  that  determination  as  the  sacred 
voice  of  my  country,  as  a  voice  that  proclaimed  her  destiny,  in 
which,  by  every  impulse  of  my  soul,  I  was  resolved  to  share, 
and  to  stand  or  fall  with  her  in  that  plan  of  freedom  which  she 
had  chosen.  From  that  moment,  it  became  my  determination  ; 
and  I  cheerfully  contributed  my  endeavours  for  its  perpetual 
establishment. 

Have  you  forgot,  gentlemen,  this  remarkable  circumstance, 
that  within  a  few  days,  to  the  best  of  my  remembrance, 
within  a  week,  AFTER  tlie  declaration  of  independence,  I  was  the 
only  member  of  Congress  that  marched  with  my  regiment  to 
Elizabeth  Town  against  our  enemies,  then  invading  the  state 
of  New  York,  and  continued  in  actual  service  there,  daily  in 
sight  of  them,  every  moment  exposed,  and  frequently  expect- 
ing upon  intelligence  received  to  be  attacked,  during  the  whole 
tour  of  duty  performed  by  the  militia  of  this  city  and  neigh- 
bourhood.1 

Be  pleased  to  decide,  what  was  my  motive  for  this  conduct. 
Be  pleased  also  to  consider  what  is  the  reason,  why  none  of 
your  writers,  in  the  multitude  of  their  publications  against  me, 
have  ever  mentioned,  or  even  given  the  least  hint  of  this  fact. 
Don't  you  really  believe,  that,  if  it  was  thought  by  them  only  a 
trifling  circumstance  in  my  favour,  they  would  have  taken  some 
notice  of  it,  and,  with  one  of  their  witty  turns,  have  consigned 

1  [Mr.  Dickinson  was  in  error:  Colonel  McKean  commanded  a  regiment  at 
the  same  time  while  delegate  from  Delaware.  C.  J.  s.] 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  375 

it  over  to  contempt  ?  Don't  you  really  believe,  it  was  thought 
by  them  a  strong  proof  of  my  devotion  to  the  independence  of 
America  when  once  it  became  the  resolution  of  America — a 
proof  which  they  wish  never  to  be  remembered  in  Pennsylvania 
— and  a  clear  demonstration  that  all  my  arguments,  concerning 
the  time  of  making  the  declaration,  were  in  my  judgment  and 
conscience  done  away,  and  were  of  no  more  use,  after  it  was 
made,  than  the  rubbish  caused  in  erecting  a  palace  ?  Reasons 
that  were  proper  in  a  debate,  were  useless  after  a  decision  ;  and 
the  nature  of  tfiese  evinces  that  they  opposed  only  the  time  of 
the  declaration,  and  not  independence  itself. 

That  event  has  proved,  that  the  national  council  was  right ; 
and  may  others  learn,  by  my  instance,  to  venerate  the  wisdom 
collected  in  that  august  body,  as  they  ought  to  do.  There 
is  a  light  in  that  constellation,  sufficient  to  direct  the  vessel 
freighted  with  the  fortunes  of  America,  through  the  tempes- 
tuous ocean  upon  which  she  sails,  safe  in  the  wish'd  for  port — 
if  the  people  will  but  be  guided  by  it. 

Is  it  an  incredible  thing  with  you  gentlemen,  that  a  man 
might  desire  the  declaration  to  be  deferred,  and  yet  heartily 
maintain  it  after  it  was  made !  If  so,  what  do  you  think  of 
those  men,  who  opposed  the  declaration  in  Congress  as  earn- 
estly as  I  did,  and  now  hold  the  highest  posts  under  the  United 
States,  or  some  of  them,  are  possessed  of  their  utmost  confi- 
dence, and  discharge  their  respective  duties  with  distinguished 
honour  to  themselves,  and  advantage  to  America?  What  do 
you  think  of  numbers  of  brave  officers  in  our  army,  who  wished 
the  declaration  to  be  deferred,  and  yet,  from  the  instant  it  was 
made,  and  ever  since  have,  under  a  load  of  difficulties,  traversed 
different  regions  of  this  continent,  freely  to  proffer  their  blood 
for  its  support  ? 

'The  second  charge  brought  against  me  is,  that  I  highly  dis- 
approved the  Constitution  of  this  state.  So  I  did ;  for  I  thought 
it  unnecessarily  expensive,  and  not  as  well  calculated  as  it  might 

1  Freeman 's  Journal,  Wednesday,  January  8,  1783. 


37^  APPENDIX. 


have  been,  for  permanently  securing  and  advancing  the  hap- 
piness of  the  people.  I  confess  my  anxiety  was  extreme,  that 
such  a  constitution  should  be  framed  as  would  be  most  likely 
to  secure  and  advance  that  happiness.  The  observations  that 
have  been  made  to  shew  that  I  was  bound  by  obligations  of 
honesty  and  love  of  country,  to  speak  my  real  sentiments  on 
the  declaration  of  independence,  are  applicable  here  also  ; — for 
this  was  a  business  too  of  vast  importance  to  Pennsylvania. 
Would  you,  gentlemen,  have  advised  me  to  observe  a  timid, 
contemptible  silence,  or  a  base,  treacherous  advocation  of  the 
opinions  of  others,  while  the  affair  was  open  to  deliberation, 
discussion  and  dispute  ?  Would  you  have  had  me  to  disgrace 
the  uniform  tenor  of  a  life  employed  in  opposing,  without  dis- 
tinction, under  the  victorious  banners  of  truth  and  freedom, 
the  most  formidable  parties  that  this  country  ever  beheld, 
whether  headed  by  factious  leaders  in  assembly,  by  proprieta- 
ries or  by  kings — when  in  my  judgment  the  measures  tended 
to  the  detriment  of  the  public  ?  No.  Men  of  sense,  candour 
and  integrity,  would  not  have  required  so  humiliating  a  prosti- 
tution. On  this  account  I  thank  my  accusers  for  this  charge. 
I  thank  them  for  it  on  another  account.  Dont  you  perceive 
that  this  charge  is  utterly  inconsistent  with  the  foregoing  one — 
of  my  not  being  a  true  friend  to  the  independence  of  America  ? 
If  I  was  an  enemy  to  our  independence,  as  my  accusers  repre- 
sent me,  why  my  great  concern  about  a  constitution  for  Penn- 
sylvania ?  If  I  was  the  enemy  to  independence  I  have  been  de- 
scribed, my  views  and  thoughts  must  have  been  engaged,  and 
my  hopes  extended  to  a  totally  different  purpose,  that  is,  the 
subversion  of  independence.  The  constitution  of  Pennsylva- 
nia would,  in  that  case,  have  been  an  object  of  no  consequence 
with  me.  If  I  had  been  under  the  infatuation  my  accusers 
impute  to  me,  I  must  have  flattered  myself  that  the  constitu- 
tion, let  it  be  what  it  might,  would  be  of  short  duration, 
and  therefore  of  little  moment — and  of  course,  that  I  need 
not  trouble  myself  about  it. 

On  the  contrary,  no  man  gave  plainer  proofs  than  I  did,  that 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  377 

I  looked  upon  the  framing  a  constitution,  as  a  work  of  perpe- 
tuity, and  therefore  of  prodigious  moment.  No  man  gave  plainer 
proofs  than  I  did,  that  I  considered  the  happiness  of  myself 
and  my  posterity,  as  involved  in  the  happiness  of  Pennsylva- 
nia, and  the  whole  deeply  interested  in  the  constitution  that 
was  then  to  be  formed.  Yet  these  proofs  of  these  sentiments 
are  thundered  in  the  ears  of  Pennsylvania  as  crimes,  against 
her  affectionate,  faithful  and  dutiful  son,  citizen  and  servant. 
How  shall  I  defend  myself  against  adversaries,  the  magic  of 
whose  malice  thus  converts  those  actions,  which  I  hope  and 
humbly  trust,  Heaven  itself  approves,  into  transgressions? 
Poor  is  my  chance  indeed!  if,  as  they  insultingly  suppose, 
the  people  of  Pennsylvania  are  grown  such  wild  enthusiasts 
as  to  receive  their  AL-CORAN  for  the  gospel  of  truth.  Diffi- 
cult to  be  sure  must  be  my  contest  with  combatants  who,  not 
only  like  Proteus  "  others  and  yet  the  same"  attack  me  in  a 
variety  of  forms,  but  with  superior  dexterity  shift  my  charac- 
ter too,  as  they  please.  One  week  they  declare  my  life  to  be 
blameless.  The  next,  even  an  expression  of  reverence  for  re- 
ligion becomes  reproachful.  One  day  they  generously  adorn 
me  with  a  brilliant  cluster  of  virtues.  The  next,  they  frugally 
revoke  the  liberal  donation :  and  as  their  powerful  pens  pre- 
scribe, my  reputation  is  alternately — to  shine  or  fade.  Let 
their  inconsistencies  be  farther  examined. 

I  have  been  charged  with  speaking  against  the  sense  of 
America,  on  the  subject  of  independence.  Now  I  am  charged 
with  speaking  the  sense  of  America.  For — I  spoke  the  sense  of 
America  respecting  constitutions  of  government,  when  I  disap- 
proved the  constitution  of  this  state.  Compare  this  with  the 
constitutions  formed  by  the  other  states,  and  with  the  senti- 
ments delivered  by  Congress  in  their  address  to  the  inhabitants 
of  the  province  of  Quebec,  and  you  cannot  fail  to  observe  the 
remarkable  distinctions. 

Another  inconsistency  in  the  proceedings  of  my  accusers  is 
this — That  though  they  treat  the  disapprobation  I  expressed 
of  the  constitution,  as  an  inexpiable  offence  in  me,  yet  other 


378  APPENDIX. 


gentlemen  who  have  committed  the  same  offence,  have  not 
only  been  forgiven,  but  have  been  thought  worthy  of  the 
highest  offices  in  the  state,  and  now  possess  your  entire  confi- 
dence. The  honourable  messieurs  M'Kean,  Reed  and  Bayard, 
will,  I  am  persuaded,  excuse  my  using  their  names  on  this  oc- 
casion, they  all  highly  disapproved  the  constitution  of  this 
state,  and  presided  or  spoke  against  it,  at  public  meetings  held 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  alterations  in  it.  If  that  impairs 
not  your  favour  towards  them,  let  it  not  impair  your  favour 
towards  me.  Be  assured,  that  if  I  cannot  serve  you  as  well 
as  they  have  done,  I  will  with  the  strictest  fidelity,  try  to  serve 
you  as  well :  and  your  kind  acceptance  of  my  actions,  as  it  will 
be  a  valuable  reward,  so  it  will  be  a  great  encouragement  to 
the  utmost  exertions  I  can  possibly  bear  for  promoting  your 
welfare. 

Let  us  revere  our  common  parent,  Pennsylvania,  whose 
name  has  gone  forth  with  distinguished  honours  into  the  world 
— Honours  which  it  is  our  duty  to  maintain.  Let  us  abhor  to 
disturb  her  peace  by  notes  of  discord,  or  to  violate  her  fame  by 
a  war  of  reproaches.  Let  us  forbear  to  wound  one  another : 
and  brethren  as  we  are,  let  us  pour  all  our  combined  resent- 
ments, where  justice  and  policy  so  plainly  point  them — upon 
the  heads  of  our  common  foes.  Let  our  harmony  be  their 
confusion,  and  our  wisdom  prove  their  folly. 

Let  us  return  to  our  old  good  humour,  and  benevolent  inter- 
course of  social  offices  among  ourselves.  Let  us  comply  with 
the  spirit  as  well  as  with  the  letter  of  the  constitution ;  and  not 
brand  each  other  with  opprobrious  epithets,  for  thinking  dif- 
ferently on  forms  of  government,  any  more  than  we  do  for 
thinking  differently  on  forms  of  religion.  Let  there  be  no  dis- 
tinction among  us,  but  between  those,  on  the  one  hand,  who 
generously  contend  for  the  freedom,  independence,  and  pros- 
perity of  our  country,  and  such  on  the  other,  as  weakly  wish 
or  wickedly  seek  for  a  dangerous  and  dishonourable  connec- 
tion with,  or  submission  to  the  enemies  of  America,  and  the 
sacred  rights  of  humanity. 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  379 

Upon  the  whole,  I  beg  leave  to  conclude  this  point  with  ob- 
serving, that  the  present  constitution  is  now  universally  agreed 
to.  If  any  alterations  are  ever  made  in  it,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
but  they  will  be  made  in  a  constitutional  way ;  and  I  hope  they 
will  be  only  such  as  will  be  agreeable  to  all  parties.  Whether 
any  are  made  or  not,  it  is  unquestionably  the  interest  of  all  the 
citizens  of  Pennsylvania,  that  the  business  should  be  transacted 
in  a  calm,  prudent  manner.  This  is  my  wish ;  and  if  I  live  to 
have  any  concern  in  it,  shall  be  my  endeavour :  for  I  am  per- 
fectly convinced,  it  will  contribute  more  to  our  happiness,  to 
join  cordially  together  in  supporting  the  present  constitution, 
and  deriving  all  the  advantages  from  it  which  it  can  afford, 
than  to  be  involved  in  civil  dissentions,  by  attempts  to  obtain 
another,  though  the  wisest  men  in  the  world  should  pronounce 
it  to  be  a  better. 

1  The  third  charge  brought  against  me  is,  That  I  deserted  my 
battalion  when  it  went  into  the  field  in  December  1776,  and  the 
American  cause,  till  the  treaty  with  France,  or,  as  some  say,  till 
the  Convention  of  Saratoga. 

This  charge  I  totally  deny. 

When  the  associated  militia  of  Pennsylvania  was  formed,  for 
the  defence  of  the  liberties  of  America,  it  was  agreed,  that  the 
battalions  should  be  numbered  and  arranged  in  a  particular 
manner,  and  this  arrangement  was  approved  by2  the  general 
assembly.  I  had  the  honour  of  being  elected  colonel  of  the 
first  battalion,  and  thereby  the  indisputed  honour  of  command- 
ing the  whole  militia.  Though  sufficiently  employed  in  the  civil 
line,  I  cheerfully  accepted  this  station  of  dignity  and  danger, 
and  valued  it  at  its  high  worth. 

1  Freeman's  Journal,  Wednesday,  January  15,  1783. 

I  am  much  obliged  to  the  honourable  Mr.  Reed  for  giving  me  an  early  oppor- 
tunity of  rectifying  a  mistake  respecting  him  in  your  paper  of  the  8th  inst.  that 
gentleman  having  since  assured  me,  "  that  he  never  highly  disapproved  the  con- 
stitution, nor  presided  or  spoke  at  any  public  meetings  against  it." 

J.  DICKINSON. 

a  April  5th,  1776.     Votes  of  the  Assembly,  Vol.  vi.  page  706,  &c. 


38°  APPENDIX. 


How  I  valued  it,  this  fact  will  prove.  The  Journals  of  Con- 
gress contain  these  minutes  : 

"  Monday,  February  12,  1776. 

"  A  letter  from  General  Lee,  dated  the  Qth.  instant  being  re- 
ceived, was  read,  wherein  he  informs,  that  a  transport  with 
troops  was  arrived  at  New  York,  that  more  might  be  expected, 
and  therefore  that  a  farther  reinforcement  was  necessary  to  se- 
cure and  defend  that  place ;  whereupon, 

"Resolved,  That  it  be  recommended  to  the  convention  or 
committee  of  safety  of  New  Jersey,  immediately  to  send  de- 
tachments of  their  minute  men  equal  to  a  battalion,  under 
proper  officers,  to  New  York,  there  to  be  under  the  command 
of  major  general  Lee. 

"  That  it  be  also  recommended  to  the  committee  of  safety 
for  Pennsylvania,  immediately  to  send  detachments  of  the  four 
battalions  of  associators  in  Philadelphia  to  New  York,  there  to 
put  themselves  under  the  command  of  general  Lee." 

"  Tuesday,  February  13,  1776. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  detachments  marching  from  Philadel- 
phia to  New  York,  under  the  command  of  colonel  Dickinson, 
be  allowed  for  subsistence  while  on  their  march  the  sum  of  one 
dollar  and  one  third  of  a  dollar  per  week,  for  each  of  the  privates 
and  non-commissioned  officers,  and  that  the  commissioned  offi- 
cers be  allowed  in  proportion  according  to  the  rations  allotted 
to  them,  and  that  they  receive  the  same  pay  as  the  four  Penn- 
sylvania battalions,  from  the  time  they  begin  their  march. 

"  That  a  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  consider  the 
best  method  of  subsisting  the  troops  in  New  York ;  and  what 
sum  of  money  it  will  be  necessary  to  send  thither,  and  also 
what  sum  ought  to  be  advanced  to  colonel  Dickinson. 

"  The  members  chosen,  Mr.  Sherman,  Mr.  Duane  and  Mr. 
Wilson." 

"  Thursday,  February  15,  1776. 

"  Information  being  received  that  general  Clinton  was  gone 
from  New  York,  the  Congress  came  to  the  following  resolution  : 


DICKINSON'S   VINDICATION.  381 

"  The  Congress  have  a  proper  sense  of  the  spirit  and  patriot- 
ism of  the  associators  of  the  city  and  liberties  of  Philadelphia, 
in  cheerfully  offering  and  preparing  to  march,  in  order  to  as- 
sist in  the  defence  of  New  York ;  but  as  the  danger,  which 
occasioned  an  application  for  their  service,  is  at  present  over, 
Resolved,  That  their  march  to  New  York  be  suspended." 

On  this  occasion,  I  had  it  in  my  choice  as  the  first  officer,  to 
go  to  New  York.  I  would  not  upon  any  consideration  wave 
it,  though  it  was  only  a  command  of  detachments.  I  was  at 
that  time  a  member  of  Congress,  and  also  of  the  general  ASSEM- 
BLY, which  last  body  was  x  then  meeting  upon  business  of  great 
importance ;  and  I  was  solicited  in  the  most  pressing  manner 
by  many  gentlemen  of  the  committee  of  safety,  to  decline 
going  with  the  detachments,  as  they  were  pleased  to  think  it 
would  be  more  proper  I  should  be  in  the  assembly  when  it  met. 
Their  repeated  applications  could  not  prevail  upon  me  to  alter 
the  resolution  I  had  taken.  I  appeal  to  the  members  of  the 
committee,  and  particularly  to  Mr.  Robert  Morris,  who  was 
present,  and  earnest  that  I  should  attend  the  assembly,  for  the 
truth  of  what  I  now  say. 

I  well  remember  what  the  brave,  venerable  conqueror  of 
Kittaning  said  to  me  at  the  Indian  Queen,  for  having  thus  used 
my  right  "  on  the  approach  of  danger." — But  the  expressions 
were  so  favourable,  that  I  would  chuse  they  should  be  repeated 
by  him,  rather  than  by  me. 

At  this  period,  and  for  a  long  time  before,  you  know  gen- 
tlemen that  I  was  honoured  with  the  esteem  and  confidence  of 
Pennsylvania,  in  a  very  extraordinary  manner.  But,  soon 
afterwards,  some  men,  moved  either  through  the  warmth  of 
their  zeal,  provoked  by  personal  disputes  which  had  happened 
in  the  course  of  affairs,  or  persuaded  that  my  ruin  might  afford 
some  advantage  in  raising  themselves,  began  to  sow  suspicions 
concerning  me,  as  averse  to  independence,  and  never  gave  me 
the  least  credit  for  THAT  FIRM  BUT  TEMPERATE  PLAN  OF  CONDUCT 

1  It  was  adjourned  to  the  1 2th  of  February,  and  a  Quorum  met  on  the  I4th  of 
that  month.  Votes  of  the  assembly,  Vol.  vi.  page  662. 


382  APPENDIX. 


that  had  been  absolutely  necessary  for  bringing  Pennsylvania, 
under  her  singular  circumstances,  undivided  into  the  opposition 
against  Great  Britain,  and  that  was  still  expedient  for  bringing 
her,  without  the  *  appearance  of  division,  into  ulterior  measures. 
What  that  plan  was,  and  what  my  share  in  forming  and  exe- 
cuting it,  Mr.  Charles  Thomson,  the  worthy  secretary  of  Con- 
gress, can  fully  declare. 

By  whatever  motives  my  adversaries  were  influenced,  they 
were  indefatigable  and  successful.  A  new  mode  was  found  out 
for  degrading  me  from  the  command  of  the  militia  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. A  meeting  of  officers  and  privates  was  held  in  July  at 
Lancaster;  and  while  I  was  consulting  with  a  committee  of 
Congress,  the  committee  of  safety,  and  some  officers,  and 
forming  plans  for  the  public  defence,  two  brigadiers  general 
were  put  over  my  head. 

You  have  seen,  gentlemen,  how  I  valued  this  post,  while 
possessed  of  it ;  and  do  you  imagine  I  could  be  thus  deprived 
of  it,  without  feeling  some  pangs  ?  I  had  indubitably  mani- 
fested my  readiness  to  meet  the  danger  annexed  to  it.  Why, 
then,  was  the  honour  annexed  to  it,  and  unsullied  by  me,  to 
be  torn  from  me?  As  to  sufficiency — I  was  learning,  and 
willing  to  learn,  how  to  acquit  myself  in  the  office  with  advan- 
tage to  my  country.  Here  I  wish  to  be  perfectly  understood. 
I  am  not  contending  for  the  meed  of  military  merit.  Enough 
it  is  for  me,  if,  when  acting  in  that  line,  I  have  done  my  duty 
as  I  ought  to  have  done. 

I  felt  the  stroke,  as,  I  believe,  it  was  designed  I  should.  Im- 
mediately afterwards,  upon  a  field  day,  I  took  the  opportunity 
of  speaking  to  my  battalion  on  the  situation  of  public  affairs  ; 
and  in  my  address  mentioned  the  undeserved  indignity  that 
had  been  offered  me,  and  my  sense  of  it — But  added,  that  as 
we  were  soon  to  go  into  service,  my  affection  for  them,  and  my 
attachment  to  the  common  cause,  should  prevail  over  other 

1  It  was  considered  as  a  point  of  vast  importance,  at  that  critical  period,  to 
avoid  the  appearance  of  divisions  in  Pennsylvania;  as  such  a  circumstance  would 
greatly  encourage  our  enemies  to  persist  in  their  oppressive  measures. 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  383 

sentiments,  and  I  would  perform  with  them  the  expected  tour 
of  duty. 

The  call  into  service  was  made  on  the  day  of  the  declaration 
of  independence,  in  the  following  manner : 

"In  CONGRESS,  Thursday ,  July  4,  1776. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  delegates  of  New  York,  New  Jersey, 
and  Pennsylvania,  be  a  committee  to  confer  with  the  committee 
of  safety  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  committee  of  inspection  and 
observation  for  the  city  and  liberties  of  Philadelphia,  and  the 
field  officers  of  the  battalions  of  the  said  city  and  liberties,  on 
the  best  means  of  defending  the  colonies  of  New  Jersey  and 
Pennsylvania ;  and  that  they  be  impowered  to  send  expresses, 
where  necessary." 

I  attended  on  this  important  occasion,  the  state  of  New 
York  being  then  invaded,  and  that  of  New  Jersey  expecting  to 
be  invaded ;  and  I  appeal  to  the  members  of  Congress,  the 
officers  and  other  gentlemen,  who  met  in  the  conference  held  in 
the  State  House,  if  I  did  not  urge  the  prudence  and  necessity 
of  making  the  call  GENERAL — So  ready  was  I  tho'  treated  in 
the  manner  that  has  been  mentioned,  to  meet  danger  in  support 
of  independence. 

The  idea  of  a  general  call  was  adopted,  and  the  committee 
of  Congress  made  the  following  report : 

"/«  CONGRESS,  Thursday ;  July  4,  1776. 

"  The  committee  of  Congress  appointed  to  confer  with  the 
committee  of  safety  of  Pennsylvania,  the  committee  of  inspec- 
tion and  observation  for  the  city  and  liberties  of  Philadelphia, 
and  the  field  officers  of  five  battalions  of  the  said  city,  reported, 
that  they  have  had  a  meeting  with  the  committee  and  officers 
aforesaid,  and  have  agreed  to  the  following  resolutions,  viz. 

"  That  all  the  associated  militia  of  Pennsylvania  (excepting 
the  counties  of  Westmoreland,  Bedford  and  Northumberland) 
who  can  be  furnished  with  arms  and  accoutrements,  be  forth- 
with requested  to  march,  with  the  utmost  expedition,  to  Tren- 
ton, (except  the  militia  of  Northampton  county,  who  are  to 


APPENDIX. 


march  directly  for  New  Brunswick)  in  New  Jersey ;  and  that 
the  said  militia  continue  in  service,  until  the  flying  camp  of 
ten  thousand  men  can  be  collected  to  relieve  them,  unless  they 
shall  be  sooner  discharged  by  Congress."  &c. 

The  militia  immediately  prepared  themselves  and  began  their 
march,  some,  and  among  the  rest  my  battalion,  for  Elizabeth 
Town. 

I  marched  with  them,  though  in  such  a  weak  state  of  health, 
that  when  I  reached  Trenton  I  was  obliged  to  rest  there  a  day, 
and  then  get  a  carriage  to  finish  the  journey,  being  unable  to 
travel  further  on  horseback.  My  brother,  and  colonel  Jacob 
Morgan  who  accompanied  me,  are  witnesses  to  these  circum- 
stances. 

Soon  after  I  arrived  at  Elizabeth  Town,  the  command  at  that 
post  devolved  upon  me,  which  I  retained  during  all  the  time  I 
was  there,  general,  then  colonel  Smallwood  politely  declining 
to  accept  it  when  he  came,  as  he  expected  to  remain  only  a 
little  while  with  us.  Except  during  his  short  stay,  I  had  only 
militia  and  some  riflemen  with  me.  Part  of  the  British  army,1 
composed  of  regular  veteran  regiments,  was  then  in  force  on 
Staten  Island,  directly  opposite  to  the  place  where  we  lay. 

My  persecutors  in  Philadelphia  remembered  me  at  Elizabeth 
Town  Point.  I  had  not  been  but  ten  days  in  camp,2  when  I 
was  turned  by  them  out  of  Congress,  into  which  I  had  been 
brought  at  the  beginning  of  the  contest,3  October  the  i/th, 
1774,  in  OPPOSITION  to  the  efforts  of  those  men,  who,  then  and 
always  my  foes,  have  since  avowed  their  enmity  to  America. 
So  MUCH  ALIKE  do  traytors  to  their  country,  and  some  sort  of 
patriots,  think  of  me. 

1  The  rest  of  the  army  and  their  fleet  lay,  I  believe,  about  twelve  or  fourteen 
miles  further  off. 

2  July  20th,  1776. 

3  I  had  been  unanimously  recommended  by  the  committee  that  met  at  Carpen- 
ters Hall,  for  Pennsylvania,  to  the  general  assembly,  to  be  by  them  appointed  a 
deputy  in  Congress;  but  had  been  kept  out,  by  the  influence  above  mentioned, 
from  its  meeting  on  the  5th.  of  September,  till  October,  when  the  demands  of  the 
people  prevailed  over  all  further  opposition. 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION. 


Yes  !  while  I  was  exposing  my  person  to  every  hazard,  and 
lodging  every  night  within  half  a  mile  of  hostile  troops  that  the 
members  of  the  convention  at  Philadelphia  might  slumber  and 
vote  in  quiet  and  safety,  they  ignominiously  voted  me,  as  un- 
worthy of  my  seat,  out  of  the  national  senate. 

VIRTUE  !  Thou  art  not  but  a  name.  —  For  thou  wert  my  com- 
forter in  that  severe  season  of  private  and  public  afflictions, 
when  my  country  re-wounded  a  bleeding  heart,  frowned  on  my 
humbly-faithful  love,  —  and  spurned  me  into  the  dust.  One 
dreadful  kindness,  Providence  was  pleased  to  mingle  with  my 
distresses.  The  best,  —  the  tenderest  of  parents,  did  not  live 
-  to  behold  her  dishonoured  son. 

This  shock  I  also  bore  —  and  "  faultered  not  on  the  approach 
of  danger"  to  face  my  "  foreign  enemies,"  for  the  protection  of— 
my  "  domestic  enemies."  x 

So  satisfied  was  I  with  this  duty,  that  I  TOOK  UNCOMMON 
PAINS,  and  MADE  STRENUOUS  EXERTIONS  that  I  might  CONTINUE 
in  immediate  danger. 

2  To  their  excellencies  the  president  of  Congress  and  the 
governor  of  New  Jersey,  to  generals  Smallwood  and  Gist, 
colonels  3  Swoope,  Grub,  Donaldson,  and  every  other  officer 
who  was  present  in  that  tour  of  duty,  I  appeal  for  their  decla- 
ration what  was  my  behaviour  during  that  whole  period.  One 
defect  I  labour  under,  in  recollecting  which,  some  of  you,  gen- 
tlemen, will,  I  doubt  not,  drop  a  tear.  I  cannot  appeal  to  —  a 
Mercer.  Neither  can  I  appeal  to  a  Piper,4  who  would  have 

1  The  temper  of  my  mind,  at  this  period,  may  perhaps  appear  from  a  letter 
written  to  me  by  the  secretary  of  Congress,  in  answer  to  one  from  me.     In  this 
letter,  now  before  me,  dated  August  16,  1776,  and  addressed  to  me,  at  Elizabeth 
Town,  are  these  expressions  :  —  "  I  know  the  uprightness'  of  your  intentions;  and 
may  that  Divine  Providence,  which  has  hitherto  so  signally  appeared  in  favour  of 
our  cause,  and  in  which  I  know  you  place  your  confidence,  protect  and  preserve 
you  from  danger,  and  restore  you,  not  to  your  '  books  and  fields,'  but  to  your 
country,  and  to  the  honours  of  your  country,  to  correct  the  errors  which  I  fear,"  &c. 

2  Freeman's  Journal,  Wednesday,  January  22,  1783. 

3  The  names  of  many  other  officers  are  not  remembered,  and  therefore  omitted. 

4  Colonel  James  Piper,  of  Shippensburg,  in  Cumberland  county,  Pennsylvania, 
and  afterwards  of  Hopewell  township  in  the  county  of  Bedford. 

25 


386  APPENDIX. 


been  as  ready  a  witness  in  support  of  truth,  as  he  was  of 
freedom. 

To  the  two  first  distinguished  characters,  whom  I  then 
almost  daily  saw,  and  to  the  colonels  abovementioned,  I  partic- 
ularly appeal,  as  able  to  testify  the  earnest  and  repeated  efforts 
made  by  me  to  appease  the  dissatisfactions  of  the  militia,  and 
persuade  them  to  maintain  their  post,  or  march  forward,  as 
exigencies  required — and  with  what  success  those  efforts  were 
made,  even  after  part  of  the  militia  at  a  neighbouring  post  had 
broke  up  and  returned  home. 

I  have  every  reason  to  believe,  that  many  inhabitants  in  our 
sister  state  of  New  Jersey,  whose  cause  I  particularly  pleaded 
on  those  affecting  occasions,  preserve  to  this  day  a  grateful 
remembrance  of  my  cares  and  labours  for  their  welfare. 

Let  those  gentlemen — let  every  officer  and  private  who  were 
there,  say — What  was  my  behaviour,  when,  upon  intelligence 
received  by  governor  Livingston,  and  credited  by  us  all,  "  that 
we  were  to  be  attacked  early  in  the  morning" — our  troops  were 
several  times  formed  before  day  break  to  receive  our  enemies. 

If  any  of  you,  gentlemen,  still  doubt  whether  I  was  willing 
to  face  danger  in  your  defence  and  for  the  promotion  of  your 
happiness,  turn  to  the  records  of  the  last  Convention,  where 
you  will  find  these  entries : 

"Monday,  August  12,  1776. 

"  A  letter  from  colonel  Dickinson,  informing  of  the  desertion 
of  two  soldiers  of  his  battalion,  was  read,  and  ordered  to  be 
referred  to  the  council  of  safety. 

"  Letters  from  general  Mercer  and  colonel  Dickinson,  relative 
to  the  desertions  of  the  militia,  were,  by  order  of  Congress,  laid 

before  this  house." 

"Friday,  August  16,  1776. 

"  A  letter  was  read,  from  colonel  Dickinson,  at  the  camp, 
complaining  of  the  desertion  of  some  of  the  associators,  and 
praying  that  the  convention  would  provide  some  remedy  in 
that  case :  Whereupon  the  house  agreed  to  the  following  reso- 
lutions, viz. 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  387 

"  Whereas  this  convention  hath  received  information,  that 
several  associators  of  this  state  have  deserted  the  camp  in  the 
face  of  the  enemy,  and  returned  home  before  the  formation  of 
the  flying  camp,  and  without  the  leave  of  the  commanding 
officers,  to  the  great  danger  of  the  public,  and  evil  example 
to  others  :  It  is  therefore 

"  Resolved  ist.  That  all  such  associators  as  shall  join  their 
respective  corps,  at  the  camp  from  whence  they  came,  in  eight 
days  from  this  date,  with  such  arms  and  accoutrements  as  they 
may  have  brought  away  with  them,  shall  be  exempted  from  any 
punishment ;  and  those  who  neglect  so  to  do,  shall  be  appre- 
hended, and  sent  under  a  guard  to  the  camp,  there  to  be  tried ; 
and  in  case  of  absconding,  or  concealing  their  arms,  that  they 
be  advertised  in  the  public  news  papers,  and  the  reward  of 
Three  Pounds  offered  for  apprehending  every  such  person. 
And  every  associator,  who  shall  hereafter  desert  his  colours, 
shall  be  treated  as  those  who  have  already  deserted,  and  neg- 
lect to  join  their  respective  corps,  agreeable  to  this  resolve. 

"  Resolved  2d.  That  the  commanding  officers  of  the  com- 
panies or  battalions  of  the  militia  of  this  state,  who  are  now  on 
their  march  to  New  Jersey,  do  apprehend  all  deserters  they 
meet  on  the  road,  and  convey  them  under  a  guard  to  the  camp. 

"  Resolved  3d.  That  notwithstanding  the  foregoing  resolu- 
tions, it  is  not  the  intention  of  this  convention  to  detain  the 
militia  unnecessarily  from  home :  The  associators  are  therefore 
assured,  that  as  soon  as  the  flying  camp  is  formed,  and  the 
public  safety  will  admit,  they  shall  be  permitted  to  return 
home." 

Thus  careful  and  diligent  was  I  in  watching  over  and  guard- 
ing "the  public  safety,"  from  "the  great  danger"  that  then 
threatened  it.  Great  indeed  it  was ;  and  it  is  impossible,  but 
that  many  of  you  must  perfectly  well  remember  to  what  a 
critical  situation  our  affairs  were  thereby  reduced.  Let  every 
man  of  you,  gentlemen,  not  in  taverns  or  at  the  corners  of 
streets,  amidst  the  circulating  curses  of  disappointment,  but 
in  his  closet,— lay  his  hand  upon  his  heart,  and  seriously  ask, 


388  APPENDIX. 


what  it  thinks  of  me  ?  You  have  brave  men,  sensible  men 
amongst  you.  Several  such,  of  you,  were  then  in  service.  Is 
it  not  remarkable,  that  I,  degraded  and  insulted  as  I  was, 
should  be  the  only  man  of  Pennsylvania,  who  pursued  and 
procured  effectual  measures,  to  remedy  the  evil  that  was 
destroying  "  the  public  Safety,"  and  to  keep  the  militia,  and  of 
course  himself,  still  longer  in  a  place  of  evident  danger. 

Look,  if  you  please,  at  the  Journals  of  Congress,  of  "Mon- 
day August  12,  1776,"*  and  you  will  find  that  my  letter,  laid 
before  the  Convention  as  above  mentioned  by  order,  was 
directed  to  general  Mercer,  and  by  him  inclosed  in  his  letter  to 
Congress ;  so  that  I  had  the  honour  of  co-operating  with  him 
in  the  steps  taken  to  retain  the  militia  in  service,  till  the  flying 
camp  could  be  formed.  Let  malevolence  itself  sit  judge,  and 
allot  rne  my  share  in  the  2  most  honourable  dismission,  which 
that  brave  man  afterwards  gave  us.3 

1  Vol.  II.  Page  306. 

2  "  GENERAL  ORDERS. 

"  HEAD  QUARTERS,  ELIZABETH  TOWN,  igth.  August,  1776. 

"  General  Mercer  desires  his  most  grateful  acknowledgements  may  be  signified 
to  the  gentlemen  associators  of  Pennsylvania,  for  the  great  attention  they  have 
paid  to  every  part  of  military  duty,  while  under  his  command — He  is  happy  to 
have  it  in  his  power  to  relieve  them,  agreeable  to  order  of  convention,  and  hopes 
the  quota  of  men  to  be  furnished  by  such  battalions  will  be  speedily  made  up,  in 
proportion  to  the  numbers  on  duty  here,  that  no  delay  may  be  given  to  the  most 
honourable  dismission  of  the  remainder." 

*  Perhaps  the  zeal  with  which  I  acted  for  the  service  of  my  country,  throughout 
this  tour  of  duty,  may  be  further  evidenced  by  the  following  extracts,  from  some 
of  a  great  number  of  original  papers  now  in  my  possession,  and  all  relating,  to 
the  business  during  that  tour. 

"  SIR, — In  consequence  of  your  favour  to-day,  I  have  ordered  ammunition  for 
the  troops  at  Elizabeth  Town,  also  two  pieces  of  cannon,  with  their  arrangement 
of  necessary  articles.  They  will  be  with  you  to-morrow,  and  I  will  do  myself  the 
pleasure  of  then  paying  you  my  respects.  I  am  very  sorry  you  do  not  find  people 
actuated  with  such  a  spirit  as  you  wish.  General  Washington,  under  the  dread 
of  leaving  this  part  of  the  country  naked,  through  the  desertion  of  such  numbers, 
has  directed  me  to  send  no  more  men,  after  colonel  Alice's,  to  New  York. 

Signed  H.  MERCER. 

To  colonel  John  Dickinson,  commanding  at  Elizabeth  Town." 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  389 

I  remained  with  the  militia  to  the  end  of  our  tour.  To  you, 
gentlemen,  I  appeal,  if  my  conduct  during  that  tour  was  not 

"  PERTH-AMBOY,  July  29,  1776. 

"  SIR, — We  have  to-day  had  a  court  of  enquiry  of  the  commanding  officers 
of  battalions,  to  rectify,  if  possible,  the  disorders  in  the  management  of  the  com- 
missary's branch  of  business. — I  have  wrote  to  general  Washington. — It  will  give 
me  pleasure  to  remove  the  discontents. — In  the  mean  time  take  what  method 
appears  to  you  most  likely  to  answer  that  purpose. 

Signed  and  addressed  as  before  .  .  .  and  thus  endorsed  by  myself  soon  after 
receiving  it.  .  .  . 

"  Procured  the  troops  stationed  here  to  be  satisfied  with  their  provisions. 

"J.  D." 
"  PERTH-AMBOY,  July  30,  1776. 

"  SIR, — I  enclose  you  a  copy  of  what  the  officers  determined  on  yesterday, 
relative  to  the  rations. — I  have  this  morning  received  instructions  from  head 
quarters,  to  have  proper  boats  built,  for  the  purpose  of  transporting  troops  with 
safety  and  expedition. — I  am  told  that  captain  Manuel  Eyres,  of  your  regiment, 
would  be  a  very  proper  person  to  direct  this  business. — We  should  have  at  least 
twenty  of  them  prepared. — The  service  requires  that  we  should  as  speedily  as 
possible  set  about  this  matter. — After  consulting  with  captain  Eyres,  you  will  be 
able  to  furnish  me  with  such  hints  as  may  greatly  expedite  the  service. 

"  I  am,  Sir,  your  most  respectful  and  your  obedient  servant, 

"HUGH  MERCER." 

Directed  as  before. 

Thus  endorsed  by  me. — "July  30,  1776,  I  took  all  the  necessary  steps  on  this 
letter — collected  a  dozen  of  the  most  proper  persons — conferred  with  general  Liv- 
ingston and  them, — procured  all  the  information  I  could  and  sent  captain  Eyres 

and  Mr.  Joshua  Mercereau,  July  3 1st,  to  general  Mercer  for  his  final  orders 

Wrote  so  to  him  at  large,  some  material  intelligence  I  had  received  concerning 
the  weak  guard  on  Newark  Bay — Sent  him  the  best  map  of  Staten  Island  that  has 
yet  been  made,  which  I  procured  Mr.  Mercereau  to  make. 

"  The  design  was,  an  attack  on  Staten  Island."  "J.  D." 

"  WOODBRIDGE,   AugUSt  3,    1776. 

«  SlR, — The  account  you  gave  me  of  the  disposition  of battalion  hath 

appeared,  the  more  I  think  of  it,  the  more  alarming. — That  no  inconsiderate  step 
may  be  taken,  I  have  had  the  opinion  of  the  field  officers  and  others  here,  on  the 
occasion — they  join  unanimously  in  opinion  with  me,  that  the  orders  issued  last 
week,  relative  to  such  of  the  associators  as  should  presume  to  desert  the  service 
of  their  country  at  this  critical  time,  ought  to  be  enforced." 

Signed  and  directed  as  before. 

"PERTH-AMBOY,  August  n,  1776. 

"  SIR,— I  received  your  favour  by  Mr.  Brown,  and  in  consequence  of  your 
intelligence  have  sent  off  an  express  with  letters,  one  to  the  convention  of  New 


39°  APPENDIX. 


universally  approved.  I  confide  in  your  candor,  for  the  substi- 
tution of  another  expression. 

I  retained  my  post  of  colonel  for  some  time  after  my  return, 
at  the  solicitation  of  the  officers,  who  were  in  hopes  that  a 

Jersey,  acquainting  them  of  the  desertion  of  numbers  of  the  Pennsylvania 
militia,  and  desiring  them  to  order  out  their  militia,  to  guard  the  ferries  and  take 
other  effectual  steps  to  secure  the  deserters — the  other  to  Congress  advising  them 

of  the  unhappy  condition  of  the militia,  and  desiring  them  to  take  such 

steps  as  might  seem  necessary  on  the  occasion,  as  these  parts  were  like  to  be  left 
exposed  to  the  enemy. 

In  consequence  of  a  requisition  from  general  Washington,  I  have  ordered  a 
number  of  troops  to  New  York — Colonel  Miles  with  about  700  riflemen,  marches 
this  day — Colonel  Atlee,  with  his  battalion  and  a  number  more,  will  march 
tomorrow. — To  facilitate  their  march,  I  have  thought  some  might  be  passed  over 
in  boats  from  Crane's  ferry  to  Brown's  ferry,  on  Hackinsack — therefore  all  the 
boats  that  can  be  had  up  the  river  should  be  collected." 

Signed  and  directed  as  before. 

Thus  endorsed  by  me — "  This  letter  was  received  on  the  loth,  of  August,  1776, 
therefore  dated  wrong — consulted  the  committee  on  the  measure  proposed,  who 
disapproved  it. — Acquainted  general  Mercer  jwith  the  reasons." 

"  PERTH-AMBOY,  August  n,  1776. 

"  SIR, — I  had  intended  to  have  ordered  col.  Grubs  battalion  of  Lancaster 
county,  to  New  York — but  I  have  ordered  him  to  Elizabeth  town.  You  will  use 
your  utmost  address  to  induce  the  militia  to  perform  their  duty  at  this  critical  time, 
when  the  fate  of  America  is  so  near  being  determined. — Col.  Grub  is  very  willing 
to  go  anywhere. — I  have  desired  him  to  consult  with  you  on  the  defence  of  the 
Jersey  shore. — Be  so  good  to  point  out  to  him  the  necessity  of  strong  guards  on 
Bergen  Neck." 

Signed  and  directed  as  before. 

"  PERTH-AMBOY,  August  n,  1776. 

«  SIR, — I  wrote  to  you  a  few  hours  ago,  that  Colonel  Grub,  would  march  with 
his  battalion  for  Elizabeth  Town,  tomorrow  morning,  which  I  hope  will  be  time 
enough  to  reinforce  your  post. — This  morning  I  wrote  to  your  brother,  the  gen- 
eral, to  take  the  most,  effectual  measures  to  co-operate  with  us." 

Signed  and  directed  as  before. 

«SiR, — The company  seemed  determined  to  go  off  tomorrow  morning. — 

Their  going  will,  in  my  opinion,  be  followed  by  the  first  battalion,  and  the  rest. — 
The  present  is  a  matter  of  infinite  consequence. — If  colonel  Dickinson  will  give 
his  sentiments  to  the  battalion  this  afternoon,  I  am  convinced  it  would  be  effectual 
in  quieting  the  present  disturbance." 

Letter  from  an  officer  to  me. 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  39* 

better  disposition  towards  me  would  succeed.  At  length,  on 
the  28th  of  September,  1776,  the  Convention  that  had  been 
summoned  for  the  *  express  purposes  of  forming  a  new  govern- 
ment, appointing  delegates  in  congress,  and  a  council  of  safety," 
stepped  unnecessarily  beyond  the  purposes  marked  out  for 
them,  by  those  who  called  them,  and  confirmed  the  two  brig- 
adiers over  me.  The  next  day  but  one,  I  resigned  in  writing 
my  command  of  the  first  battalion. 

Even  after  this  resignation,  I  would  still  have  accepted  the 
command  again,  If  I  could  have  perceived  any  symptoms  of  a 
relaxation  in  my  favour.  But  it  was  evident  that  too  many2 
minds  were  inflamed  and  hardned.  Public  affairs  were  managed, 
and  in  my  opinion  were  likely  to  be  managed,  in  this  state,  in 
such  a  manner,  that  I  thought  I  saw  a  fierce  authority  impend- 
ing over  it.  Such  a  command,  under  rulers  in  such  a  temper, 
was  a  "  danger"  I  did  not  chuse  to  encounter.  My  honour 
had  been  repeatedly  wounded  by  them.  They  might  destroy 
it.  An  error,  or  even  a  misfortune  in  my  military  capacity, 

1  Minutes  of  the  conference  of  committees,  held  at  Carpenter's  Hall — Pages  36 
and  41. 

3  I  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  first  assembly  after  the  constitution  was  formed, 
and  in  compliance  with  the  declared  sense  of  the  county  of  Philadelphia,  which 
had  done  me  the  honour  of  electing  me,  I  made  the  following  proposal  in  behalf 
of  myself  and  others,  to  the  members  who  were  met  on  Wednesday,  the  27th.  of 
November  1776 — "We  will  consent  to  the  choice  of  a  speaker,  to  sit  with  the 
other  members,  and  to  pass  such  acts  as  the  emergency  of  public  affairs  may  re- 
quire, provided,  that  the  other  members  will  agree  to  call  a  free  convention  for  a 
full  and  fair  representation  of  the  freemen  of  Pennsylvania,  to  meet  on  or  before 
the  day  of  January  next  for  the  purposes  of  revising  the  constitution  formed 
by  the  late  convention,  and  making  such  alterations  and  amendments  therein  as 
shall  by  them  be  thought  proper — and  making  such  ordinances,  as  the  circum- 
stances of  affairs  may  render  necessary ;  provided,  also,  that  no  part  of  the  said 
constitution  be  carried  into  execution  by  this  assembly — and  provided,  that  this 
assembly  shall  be  dissolved  before  the  day  to  be  appointed  for  the  meeting  of  the 
convention." 

This  proposal  was  rejected. — The  behaviour  of  some  persons  on  that  day,  and 
the  disagreeable  circumstance  of  entering  into  contests  scarcely  to  be  avoided 
with  gentlemen  I  had  for  a  long  time  esteemed,  added  to  what  had  passed  before, 
induced  me  to  decline  any  further  opposition  to  the  constitution— and  I  retired 
from  the  assembly. 


39 2  APPENDIX. 


might  have  drawn  down  upon  me  the  vengeance  of  those,  who 
were  sufficiently  incensed  and  fixed  in  dominion  to  wreak  it 
upon  me  with  impunity,  perhaps  with  applause  to  themselves. 
I  had  reason  to  be  convinced,  that  it  was  determined  to  drive 
me  into  desperation  and  perdition.  My  enemies  were  now  in 
full  possession  of  power  in  Pennsylvania,  and  her  former 
favourite  was  reduced  to  a  disregarded  thing,  fit  only  to  sig- 
nalize their  military  and  political  sagacity,  or  to  receive  orders 
from  lately  inspired  patriots,  or  their  full-faith'd  disciples.  Ex- 
cuse me,  gentlemen,  if  I  did  not  foresee  that  I  should  be  treated 
with  the  justice  and  humanity,  which  they  have  since  manifested 
towards  me. 

I  could  not  consent  to  stand  like  a  chopping-block  before 
them,  to  be  hack'd  by  their  tomahawks  into  such  shape  as 
might  gratify  their  capricious  fancy.  I  resolved,  in  the  first 
place,  never  to  be  accountable  to  such  men  for  any  military 
command — secondly,  to  seek  my  fortune  and  a  kinder  usage  in 
another  state — and  thirdly,  to  serve  as  a  volunteer  in  the  next 
call  of  the  militia  of  the  city  and  neighbourhood,  if  it  should 
happen  before  my  departure. 

Several  unhappy  events  afterwards  took  place,  that  hastened 
the  execution  of  the  second  resolution.  The  British  army, 
after  manceuvering  some  time  in  New  Jersey,  advanced  to  the 
Delaware. 

On  the  tenth  day  of  December,  1776,  it  was  generally  ap- 
prehended they  would  immediately  take  possession  of  Phila- 
delphia. I  knew  that  Congress  would  adjourn  to  some  other 
place,  and  on  the  twelfth  they  did  adjourn  to  Baltimore.  I 
thought  it  necessary  to  remove  my  wife  and  child  farther  from 
town  ;  and  that  it  was  most  advisable  that  they  should  go  to 
my  farm  in  Kent,  about  eighty  miles  from  this  city.  They 
being  thus  placed  out  of  immediate  danger,  I  should  be  at 
liberty,  and  my  mind  relieved  from  so  much  of  my  anxiety  on 
their  account,  that  I  could  join  the  militia  in  the  manner  be- 
fore mentioned.  In  pursuance  of  this  plan,  I  wrote  to  a  rela- 
tion in  Philadelphia,  requesting  him  to  ride  up  to  my  house  at 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  393 

Fair-Hill,  and  attend  his  cousin,  and  the  child,  in  their  journey. 
He  was  so  kind  as  to  come  up  directly.  The  carriage  was  at 
the  door,  and  nothing  remained,  but  to  part.  A  scene  ensued, 
that  may  be  better  imagined  than  described. 

Any  person  of  humanity  will  easily  conceive,  what  I  felt  in 
such  circumstances.  I  yielded.  The  accounts  received  of  the 
behaviour  of  the  enemy,  in  their  progress  through  the  state  of 
New  Jersey,  were  so  shocking  and  so  x  true,  that  I  should  have 
been  guilty  of  inexpressible  cruelty,  in  exposing  a  wife  and 
infant  to  the  outrages  of  a  soldiery  intoxicated  with  success — 
more  especially,  as  the  part  I  had  taken,  from  the  very  be- 
ginning of  the  controversy,  might  have  drawn  distinguishing 
insults  and  injuries  on  those  who  were  connected  with  me.  I 
believe  there  was  not  one  man  in  or  near  Philadelphia  at  that 
time,  that  had  acted  as  publicly  in  the  common  cause  as  I  had 
done,  who  did  not  think  himself  indispensably  bound  to  re- 
move to  some  place  of  greater  security,  those  dear  and  helpless 
persons,  who  looked  to  him  alone  for  care  and  protection,  and 
whose  danger  was  increased  by  his  own  conduct.  I  owed  it 
to  my  country — to  involve  them  in  such  a  danger.  I  owed  it 
to  them — to  make  a  reasonable  provision  for  their  safety.  I 
made  the  only  one  which  I  could  then  devise. 

We  left  home  that  afternoon,  and,  as  I  expected  the  direct 
road  and  the  ferry  between  this  city  and  Chester,  would  be 
much  crowded,  I  passed  the  Schuyl-kill  about  a  mile  above  the 
falls.  The  next  day  but  one  I  reached  Chester,  and  lodged 
there,  where  the  president  of  Congress  also  staid  that  night, 
with  his  lady,  and  an  infant  not  a  fortnight  old — a  circumstance, 
that  so  evidently  shewed  the  necessity  of  quitting  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Philadelphia  expeditiously,  even  in  the  judgment 
of  one  of  those  who  best  knew  the  situation  of  our  affairs,  as 
sufficiently  justifyed  the  care  I  was  taking  of  my  family. 

On  the  sixteenth  of  December,  I  arrived  at  my  house  in  Kent, 
where  my  tenant  spared  me  two  rooms;  and  I  was  enough 
employed  in  procuring  necessaries  for  those  I  carried  with  me. 

1  Journals  of  Congress.    Vol.  III.  page  143,  &c. 


394  APPENDIX. 


'In  the  year  1777,  I  executed  in  the  Delaware  state,  what  I 
had  intended  to  do  in  Pennsylvania.  I  became  a  private  in 
captain  Stephen  Lewis's  company ;  and  in  that  capacity  served, 
with  my  musket  upon  my  shoulder,  during  the  whole  tour  of 
duty  performed  that  summer  by  the  militia  of  that  state,  when 
the  British  army  landed  at  the  Head  of  Elk,  and  was  advancing 
towards  this  city.  Please  to  recollect  that  the  convention  of 
Saratoga  was  in  the  latter  part  of  October,  1777.  I  served  also 
in  another  manner — in  riding  from  one  place  to  another,  to 
collect  arms  and  ammunition.  For  my  zeal2  and  diligence  on 
those  occasions,  I  appeal  to  major  general  Rodney  and  briga- 
dier general  Collins,  and  for  my  good  conduct  through  the 
campaign,  to  those  gentlemen,  and  to  general  M'Kinley,  who, 
though  not  present  with  that  part  of  the  militia  with  which  I 
served,  was  yet  acquainted  with  facts  ;  and  particularly,  being 
then  president  of  the  state,  was  so  kind,  in  a  letter  to  general 
Rodney,  as  to  mention  my  serving  as  a  private,  after  the  honour 
I  had  borne,  in  very  obliging  terms. 

So  much  pleased  with  my  conduct  was  the  present  honora- 
ble, chief  justice  of  this  state,  that  as  soon  as  the  administra- 
tion, devolved  upon  him,  as  speaker  of  the  house  of  assembly, 
by  the  captivity  of  the  president,  and  the  absence  of  the  speaker 
of  the  legislative  council,  he  immediately,  in  the  beginning  of 
October,  1777,  sent  me  a  commission  of  brigadier  general  of  the 
Delaware  state,  inclosed  in  a  letter  written  in  the  warmest  ex- 
pressions of  approbation,  which  I  now  have  in  my  possession. 

1  Freeman's  Journal,  Wednesday,  January  29,  1783. 

?  A  trifling  circumstance  will  shew  my  zeal  at  that  time.  While  the  militia  lay 
at  Christiana  Bridge,  the  enemy  then  in  possession  of  Wilmington,  the  fort  near 
the  ferry,  and  the  neighbourhood,  we  received  intelligence  that  some  ammunition, 
of  which  we  were  in  great  want,  had  been  left  in  the  ferry-house,  on  the  New 
Castle  side  of  the  river.  I  immediately  went  to  general  Rodney,  and  offered,  if 
he  would  give  me  a  command  of  50  men,  to  bring  off  the  ammunition.  He 
declined  complying  with  the  proposal,  and,  if  I  remember  right,  for  this  reason — 
that,  as  the  enemy  had  been  in  possession  of  Wilmington  for  a  day  or  two,  it  was 
very  probable  they  had  passed  the  river,  and  secured  the  ammunition. — To  gen- 
eral Rodney  I  appeal  for  the  truth  of  this  fact. 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  395 

That  commission  I  afterwards  resigned,  on  account  of  some 
objections  relating  to  the  militia  and  the  militia  laws,  which  I 
mentioned  to  the  gentleman,  who  succeeded  in  the  government. 

But — need  I  mention  any  other  proofs  of  my  behaving  prop- 
erly during  my  residence  in  the  Delaware  state,  than  the  honours 
I  received  there. 

Here,  gentlemen,  gratitude  and  concern  for  the  public  good, 
demand,  that  I  take  some  notice  of  the  ungenerous  attempt  to 
injure  the  dignity  of  a  sovereign  state,  the  ally  of  the  greatest 
king  in  the  world,  for  the  poor  purpose  of  hurting  me. 

Examine  the  conduct  of  that  state,  and  you  will  find  that  it 
has  been,  throughout  the  war,  as  steady  in  the  common  cause 
as  any  other. — That  it  was  exemplarily  punctual  in  furnishing 
its  quota  of  men  and  money,  until  particular  circumstances, 
well  known  to  you,  and  for  which  Congress  themselves,  I  be- 
lieve make  proper  allowances,  would  not  permit  its  exertions 
to  correspond  with  its  inclinations — and  still,  its  exertions  are 
upon  a  par  at  least  with  those  of  some  other  states.  The 
prudence,  vigour  and  integrity  of  its  measures,  you  may  judge 
of  by  these  two  instances.  Early  in  February,  1781,  the  Del- 
aware state  took  the  bold  singular  step,  of  sinking  its  whole 
quota  of  continental  money  by  taxes  in  one  year,  and  accord- 
ingly paid  the  quota  into  the  continental  treasury,  with  a  con- 
siderable overplus,  to  provide  for  allowances  that  might  be 
made  by  Congress  to  any  of  the  southern  states.  By  this 
single  decisive  operation,  that  state  avoided  all  the  embarrass- 
ments and  expences  which  other  states  incurred  by  calling  for 
the  new  money,  founded  on  the  resolutions  of  Congress  in 
March,  1780,  and  exchanging  it  at  great  loss  for  the  old — got 
rid  totally  of  paper  currency — and,  at  the  session  of  the  legis- 
lature in  May  following,  declared,  by  act  of  assembly,  gold 
and  silver  at  their  usual  prices,  therein  ascertained,  to  be  the 
"  lawful  money"  of  the  state. 

The  Delaware  state  was  also  the  first  of  the  union,  I  believe, 
that  introduced  order  into  that  chaos  of  politics  and  morals, 
in  which  strength  and  weakness,  safety  and  ruin,  virtue  and 


396  APPENDIX. 


iniquity,  strangely  met  together,  and  wrought  in  wild  conjunc- 
tion— by  stopping  the  rage  of  tender  laws,  and  instituting 
equitable  modes  of  adjusting,  in  all  cases,  the  confusions  that 
had  been  occasioned. 

Yet  it  has  been  published  to  the  world,  by  some  of  your 
writers,  that  the  state  is  generally  disaffected,  or,  as  others  ex- 
press it,  that  two  of  the  three  counties  of  which  it  consists, 
are  disaffected. 

Such  authors  are  deceived,  or  mean  to  deceive.  There  are 
disaffected  persons  in  the  state ;  and  so  there  is  in  every  state. 
But  a  majority  of  the  people  are  well  affected ;  and  the  powers 
of  legislation  are  now,  and  have  been  for  several  years,  in  the 
hands  of  as  firm  and  determined  friends  to  the  independence  of 
America,  as  any  upon  this  continent.  The  former  leaders  of 
the  disaffected  have  been  expelled  the  state;  and  those  who 
remain  are  in  general  a  poor  ignorant  sett,  and,  in  a  political 
consideration,  totally  contemptible. 

New  Castle  county,  I  understand,  is  graciously  admitted  to 
be  a  well  affected  county,  because  it  bravely  opposed  the 
British  army  in  its  passage  through  it.  So  it  is — and  so  it  has 
proved  itself,  not  only  by  that  gallant  act,  but  by  every  other 
part  of  its  conduct.  But,  unluckily  for  my  detractors,  all  my 
4  honours  in  the  Delaware  state  originated  from  New  Castle 
county.  Honours,  thus  derived,  are,  by  their  own  consession, 
honours  indeed.  The  members  of  that  much  esteemed  county, 
though  I  have  never  yet  had  the  happiness  of  residing  in  it, 
proposed  me  as  a  delegate  to  Congress  in  1779,  and  I  was 
chosen  by  every  vote  of  both  branches  of  the  legislature. 
After  serving  in  Congress,  that  county,  in  1780,  elected  me  a 
councillor ;  and  that  same  year  nominated  me  for  president,  to 
which  office  I  was  raised  unanimously  by  the  two  houses,  in  a 
full  session. 

How  I  behaved  in  that  station — Whether  I  approved  myself 
firmly  attached  to  the  true  interests  of  the  United  States  in 
general,  and  of  that  state  in  particular — Whether  my  measures 
inclined  to  the  support  of  the  active  friends  to  our  liberties — 


DICKINSON'S   VINDICATION.  397 

Whether  I  preferred  the  welfare  of  the  republic  to  every  other 
consideration — or,  whether  I  regarded  my  own  emoluments, 
rather  than  more  generous  considerations  —  are  questions, 
which,  if  your  writers  desire  to  have  answered,  I  should  be 
glad,  if  they  would  be  so  obliging  as  to  apply  to  the  people  of 
the  state. 

Perhaps  some  of  them  are  displeased  at  my  accepting  the 
office  I  hold  in  this  state.  I  am  under  too  many  obligations, 
not  heartily  to  forgive  any  expressions  of  such  displeasure, 
which  they  will  use — and  they  will  pardon  me,  when  they  con- 
sider how  earnestly  I  entreated  to  be  excused  from  taking  the 
presidency  of  that  state,  that  I  served  a  year,  and  that  I  could 
not  avoid,  without  involving  myself  in  exceedingly  disagree- 
able circumstances,  taking  the  presidency  here. 

There  is  another  reflection,  gentlemen,  connected  with  this 
charge  against  the  Delaware  state,  which  is  of  too  serious 
a  nature  to  be  passed  over  in  silence.  That  state  is  a  member 
of  the  union,  and,  though  a  small  one,  yet,  from  its  situation, 
is  of  importance  to  the  union.  Do  you  think  that  your  writers 
discover  a  proper  respect  for  the  common  weal,  when  they 
represent  in  the  newspapers,  and  in  strong  terms,  that  two 
thirds  of  that  state,  and  all  those  in  this  who  differ  from  you  in 
some  of  their  sentiments,  that  is,  a  majority  of  this,  are  de- 
voted to  our  enemies,  are  willing  to  renounce  our  indepen- 
dence, and  desirous  to  return  to  the  former  subjection  under 
Great  Britain  ?  Is  not  this  confirming,  as  much  as  they  can 
confirm,  the  oft-told  tales,  that  have,  with  such  an  odd  vicissi- 
tude, enlightened  and  bewildered  the  house  of  commons  and 
the  British  cabinet?  Is  not  this  attempting  to  realize  the 
ignis  fatuus,  which  their  generals,  chasing  on  northern  moun- 
tains and  on  southern  plains,  have  always  found  to  elude  their 
pursuit,  till  at  last,  tired  with  their  wanderings,  they  have  been 
content,  instead  of  the  flying  meteor,  to  catch — captivity. 

If  the  house  of  commons  and  the  British  cabinet  so  far 
believe  such  writers,  as  to  be  encouraged  to  continue  this 
iniquitous  war  one  year  longer,  or  even  to  continue  it  so  long 


APPENDIX. 


as  to  occasion  the  death  of  one  fellow  citizen  more,  than  would 
otherwise  fall,  what  will  such  writers  deserve  ?  And  it  may  be 
presumed,  that  they  would  think  it  rudeness  to  suppose  they 
are  not  worthy  of  credit.  If  these  men  can  distract  the  affairs 
of  this  state,  or  persuade  our  enemies  that  they  are  distracted, 
is  it  not  worth  considering,  whom  they  mean  thereby  to  serve  ? 
and  whether  they  are  not  inviting  the  war  into  the  bowels  of 
Pennsylvania  ? 

Before  I  conclude  this  part  of  my  address,  permit  me,  gen- 
tlemen, to  ask,  what  is  your  opinion  of  that  gallant,  experienced 
veteran,  major  general  John  Armstrong,  or  of  that  worthy, 
brave  officer,  major  general  James  Irvine?  If  you  will  allow 
me  to  answer,  I  will  say,  it  is  very  high — for  their  merits 
appear  to  me  to  be  universally  acknowledged. 

The  former  was  appointed  a  brigadier  general  by  Congress, 
March  I,  1776,  before,  generals  lord  Stirling,  Mifflin,  St.  Clair, 
and  Stephen.  The  igth.  of  February,  1777,  these  four  last 
mentioned  gentlemen  were  elected  major  generals.  The  4th. 
of  April  following,  General  Armstrong  resigned  his  commis- 
sion, and  on  account  of  these  promotions.  He  remained,  I 
think,  without  any  military  employment,  until  his  country 
called  him  into  an  elevated  rank. 

General  Irvine  was  appointed  a  lieutenant  colonel  by  Con- 
gress, November  25,  1775.  July  29,  1776,  major  Wood  was 
appointed  a  lieutenant  colonel.  September  7,  1776,  lieutenant 
colonel  Wood  was  appointed  a  colonel.  Later  in  the  fall  of 
that  year,  lieutenant  colonel  Irvine  was  appointed  a  colonel, 
and,  after  trying  to  obtain  a  brevet  of  precedence  from  Con- 
gress, and  not  succeeding,  he  resigned  in  June,  1777.  He 
remained,  I  believe,  without  any  military  employment,  until 
his  country  called  him  into  an  elevated  rank. 

The  affairs  of  America  were  then  in  an  infirm  state,  and  it 
was  known  that  the  British  general  and  admiral  meditated  an 
invasion  of  Pennsylvania  with  a  powerful  army  and  fleet.  Yet 
I  have  never  understood,  that  either  of  those  gentlemen  was 
charged  with  "  faultering  on  the  approach  of  danger,"  or  in  the 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  399 

least  censured  by  you,  or  others,  for  his  resignation,  or  for 
continuing  without  military  employment,  until  they  were  pro- 
moted to  their  honourable  and  deserved  commands  of  the 
militia. 

Why  then  was  it  so  criminal  and  shameful  in  me  to  resign  ? 
What  are  the  distinguished  circumstances  that  acquit  them 
with  the  honour  due  to  them,  and  that  condemn  me  to  guilt  and 
infamy  ?  They  will  pardon  me,  I  am  sure,  for  venturing,  in 
refutation  of  this  cruel  attack,  to  form  some  kind  of  comparison 
between  their  cases  and  mine,  and  endeavouring  to  shelter  my 
hunted  fame  under  the  cover  of  their  unblemished  characters. 
I  select  them  from  a  number  of  instances,  because  they  are  so 
well  known,  and  so  much  esteemed  in  Pennsylvania. 

They  both  resigned  BEFORE  the  treaty  with  France,  and 
BEFORE  the  convention  of  Saratoga.  Here  our  cases  are  alike. 
They  remained,  I  believe,  after  their  resignations,  unemployed 
in  a  military  line,  till  their  appointments  to  be  generals.  In  the 
critical  campaign  of  1/77, 1  bore  my  musket  as  a  private.  This, 
I  hope  does  not  make  against  me.  I  had  been  a  member  of 
Congress  from  the  beginning  of  the  controversy — entrusted 
again  and  again  by  that  assembly  with  their  most  important 
affairs — and  I  had  the  command  of  the  whole  militia  of  Penn- 
sylvania from  its  establishment — though,  indeed,  with  the  title 
only  of  first  colonel.  These  circumstances,  I  apprehend,  will 
justify  me  in  an  attention  to  honor,  as  much  as  the  rank  of 
those  gentlemen.  The  promotions  over  them  were  made  in  the 
regular  mode  of  proceeding,  by  the  representative  sovereignty 
of  the  United  States,  under  whom  they  served.  The  promotion 
over  me  was  made  in  a  manner  that  has  never  since  been 
adopted,  and  by  persons  under  whom  I  did  not  serve.  This,  I 
trust,  will  not  operate  against  me.  The  members  of  Congress 
were  not  their  enemies.  Those  who  then  reigned  in  Pennsyl- 
vania mine.  This  seems  to  incline  the  scale  in  my  favour. 
They  were,  indeed,  officers  of  regular  troops — I,  'tis  true,  com- 
manded militia — but  still  our  cases  run  parallel,  unless  my 
accusers  will  say,  that  honour  ought  not  to  be  as  much 


4oo  APPENDIX. 


regarded  by  militia  officers  as  by  regular  officers — which 
they  will  hardly  say.  They  resigned  at  the  first  slight  put 
upon  them.  I  bore  a  first,  and  a  second — and  did  not  resign 
until  the  third.  This  surely  will  not  be  to  my  disadvantage. 
Whether  either  of  these  gentlemen  was  in  actual  service,  in  the 
rank  they  then  respectively  held,  after  the  promotions  they  dis- 
approved, and  after  application  for  redress  had  been  unsuc- 
cessful, I  do  not  know — I  was  in  actual  service — in  the  only 
rank  left  me — for  weeks  after  the  first  and  second  injuries 
done  to  me,  "  in  the  face  of  the  enemy" — and  in  "  great 
danger,"  as  the  x  Convention  that  confirmed  the  brigadiers 
over  me,  and  that  turned  me  out  of  Congress,  have  un- 
guardedly left  upon  record — 

Permit  me  also  to  ask,  gentlemen,  what  is  your  opinion  of 
the  officers  of  our  line,  not  at  present  in  camp,  who  were 
pleased  to  confer  upon  me  the  distinguished  favour  of  the 
address,  that  has  been  lately  published?  Don't  you  think, 
that  they  may  be  admitted  as  good  judges  of  honour?  Don't 
you  believe,  that  they  would  rather  have  perished,  than  have 
stained  their  well-earned  laurels,  by  addressing  me  as  they 
have  done,  if  they  were  not  convinced  that  my  conduct  was 
justifiable  in  the  judgment  of  men  of  honour? 

Your  opinion  is  surely  favourable  to  the  army,  and  to  those 
gentlemen,  who  are  so  respectable  a  part  of  it.  Their  merits, 
you  must  acknowledge.  For — their  labours  gave  you  ease — 
their  wounds  gave  you  safety — their  poverty  gave,  not  a  few  of 
you,  wealth,  and  all  of  you,  conveniences — and  their  valour  gave 
you  that  quiet  which  some  of  you  employ,  so  much  to  the 
advantage  and  reputation  of  your  country, in  abusing  me. 

2  The  fourth  charge  brought  against  me  is,  That  I  injured,  or 
endeavoured  to  injure  the  continental  money,  particularly,  by 
writing  a  letter  to  my  brother. 

This  charge  I  totally  deny.  In  my  journey  to  Kent,  I  left 
Chester  the  thirteenth  of  December,  and  lay  that  night  at 

*  Minutes  of  the  convention,  page  66. 

3  Freeman'1  s  Journal,  Wednesday,  February  5,  1783. 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  401 

New-Castle.  The  next  morning  just  before  I  set  out,  I  wrote 
a  note  to  my  brother,  and  sent  it  to  Philadelphia,  to  be  for- 
warded to  him.  It  was  there  given  to  his  black  servant,  who, 
being  told  he  must  get  a  pass,  applied  to  the  council  of  safety 
for  one,  to  go  to  his  master.  They  understanding  he  had  a 
letter  from  me,  demanded  it — broke  it  open — sent  the  servant 
to  goal,  where  he  was  kept  two  nights — and  my  new  house, 
then  lately  finished,  and  in  which  I  had  not  lived,  was  turned 
a  hospital.  The  letter  was  in  these  words. 

"  Receive  no  more  continental  money  on  your  bonds  and 
mortgages — The  British  troops  have  conquered  the  Jerseys, 
and  your  being  in  camp,  are  sufficient  reasons — Be  sure  you 
remember  this — It  will  end  better  for  you."  Sealed  and 
directed  thus — "  To  Brigadier  General  Philemon  Dickinson,  at 
the  American  camp." 

In  order  to  judge  of  this  advice,  the  circumstances  that  were 
known  to  me,  and  the  motives  that  induced  me  to  think  it 
proper,  should  be  taken  into  consideration. 

I  had  before  my  eyes  a  number  of  facts,  threatning  imme- 
diate ruin  to  a  brother.  His  dwelling  house  and  landed  estate 
were  in  that  part  of  the  country  actually  possessed  by  the 
British  army :  and  he  had  let  out  money  to  persons  residing 
in  that  part.  I  had  seen  a  letter  from  him,  in  which  he  said, 
"  he  expected  to  suffer  several  thousand  pounds  damage  by 
this  event."  A  New  Jersey  gentleman  of  the  first  distinction, 
whose  name  I  mentioned  to  the  council  of  safety,  had  told  me 
at  Chester,  the  day  before  I  wrote  the  letter,  that  he  lodged 
one  night  at  Bristol,  in  which  place  and  its  neighbourhood  our 
army  then  was,  and  that  the  houses  were  so  crouded,  and 
things  in  such  confusion  ;  that  next  morning  almost  every  gen- 
tleman had  lost  his  money,  watch,  hat,  or  some  other  article. 
My  brother  was  then  in  a  small  army,  retreating  before  a 
larger  and  victorious  one.  He  was  necessarily  detained  in  the 
camp  being  the  first  brigadier  general  of  the  Jersey  troops 
then  with  the  army.  His  family  were  driven  from  home. 
First  flying  to  Philadelphia,  they  were  quickly  obliged  to  take 

26 


402  APPENDIX. 


refuge  in  Maryland,  at  a  great  distance  from  him.  He  had 
but  one  servant  with  him,  and  an  improper  one  to  be  trusted 
with  money.  Were  these  circumstances  to  receive  money  in 
— when  he  had  no  way  of  securing  it,  and  the  moment  after 
receiving  it  he  might  be  called  into  action  ? 

But,  why  did  I  mention  "  continental  money"  only  ?  For 
these  reasons — that  debts  were  then  paid  in  no  other — and 
that  his  debtors  resided  in  that  part  of  New  Jersey,  of  which 
the  British  were  then  possessed  in  force,  where  consequently 
that  money  would  sink  in  value,  and  debtors  who  had  submit- 
ted to  the  enemy,  and  renounced  the  American  cause,  might 
have  crossed  the  river,  on  the  banks  of  which  he  then  was, 
and  but  a  few  miles  from  them,  to  pay  off  their  debts  with  it, 
to  a  man  who  was  risking  his  life  in  support  of  that  cause. 
Indubitable  it  is,  that  in  my  letter  I  alluded  to  Jersey  debtors 
only,  where  I  knew  he  had  let  out  money  "  on  bonds  and 
mortgages  ;"  because  I  mentioned  "  the  British  troops  having 
conquered  the  Jerseys,"  and  because  his  other  debtors  resided 
in  Kent  county  on  Delaware,  above  an  hundred  miles  from 
him,  and  there  was  not  the  least  likelihood  that  any  of  them 
would  take  so  long  a  journey  at  such  a  season  of  the  year,  and 
venture  with  sums  of  money  into  a  camp,  in  the  face  of  an 
enemy,  and  in  such  a  situation  of  affairs  as  then  existed. 

These  were  solid  reasons  then,  that  would  have  justified  my 
brothers  refusal  of  continental  money  at  that  time :  reasons, 
that  were  not  applicable  to  people  in  general,  and  therefore 
exempted  him  out  of  the  common  obligation  to  receive  it — 
His  being  in  camp,  so  as  to  be  prevented  from  securing 
it — The  indisputable  superiority  of  the  enemy,  which  was 
momentarily  expected  to  be  exerted  against  our  army — the 
confusion  and  danger  from  some  of  our  own  people. 

Why  did  the  council  of  safety,  by  opening  the  letter,  compel 
me  to  mention  any  other  reason  ?  Little  did  they  know  me, 
if  they  supposed  that  I  could  be  induced,  by  the  difficulties  to 
which  they  subjected  me,  to  swerve  one  tittle  from  the  truth. 
Some  men  wished  the  public  to  believe,  that  I  apprehended, 


DICKINSON'S  VINDICATION.  403 

when  I  wrote  the  letter,  a  great  depreciation  of  the  continental 
money — and  that  this  apprehension  was  the  sole  cause  of  my 
writing  it.  I  might  have  submitted  to  this  construction,  with- 
out detracting  from  my  character  either  in  respect  to  prudence 
or  integrity.  But,  it  was  not  the  fact.  I  acknowledged  that  I 
did  apprehend  such  a  depreciation  ;  and  that  this  apprehension 
had  weight  with  me,  in  inducing  me  to  write  the  letter.  But 
I  totally  denied,  and  still  deny,  that  this  consideration  would 
have  moved  me  to  write,  if  my  brother  had  not  been  in  so 
uncommon  a  situation  as  he  then  was. 

By  the  very  words  of  the  letter,  the  caution  is  temporary, 
and  limited  to  the  case  therein  stated.  If  continental  money 
had  been  offered  to  him  in  that  case,  he  might  have  refused  it, 
for  reasons  that  would  not  have  injured  it. — On  the  other  hand, 
if  I  had  meant  that  he  should  refuse  continental  money  gen- 
erally, I  should  have  given  him  advice,  that  might  not  only 
have  injured  the  money,  but  his  reputation  also. 

Can  any  of  you,  gentlemen,  be  so  prejudiced,  as  to  think  I 
would  ever  give  him  such  advice  ?  Don't  you  believe  the  letter 
was  dictated  by  brotherly  affection  ?  Could  he  have  adopted 
such  advice,  without  the  affair  being  discovered,  and  without 
drawing  of  course  the  public  indignation  upon  him  ?  And  is 
it  credible  that  I  should  have  consented  to  involve  him  in  such 
a  misfortune  ?  Would  this  have  been  to  "  end  the  better  for 
him  ?"  If  I  had  been  capable  of  advising  him  to  a  dishon- 
ourable act,  it  surely  would  have  been  an  act  for  the  safety  of 
his  person,  at  that  instant  exposed  to  most  imminent  danger. 
Why  then  did  I  not  advise  him  to  resign  his  commission,  and 
retire?  The  reason  is  obvious.  I  must  have  thought  it,  in 
his  situation,  dishonourable-  I  must  have  chosen — that  he 
should  have  lost  his  life,  rather  than  his  character.  Yet — my 
enemies  would  persuade  the  world,  that  I  designedly  advised 
my  brother  to  a  dishonourable  action,  that  could  not  be  con- 
cealed— in  order  to  save  a  part  of  his  estate — that  is,  that  I 
was  so  stupid  and  so  base,  as  to  prefer  the  security  of  some  of 
his  property  to  his  reputation. 


404  APPENDIX. 


In  truth,  I  meant  this,  and  no  more — that  my  brother  should 
decline  receiving  continental  money,  while  he  continued  with 
so  much  hazard  in  camp,  alluding  particularly  to  his  Jersey 
debtors ;  being  assured  in  my  own  mind,  that  such  a  conduct, 
under  such  circumstances,  would  not  tend  either  to  the  injury 
of  that  currency  or  of  his  reputation — And  many  of  you,  gen- 
tlemen, I  am  convinced,  will  give  me  credit  for  this  faithful 
adherence  to  the  welfare  of  my  country,  in  thus  carefully  and 
cautiously  limiting  my  advice,  at  a  time  when  I  really  appre- 
hended a  depreciation  of  continental  money.  You  will  see 
other  proofs  of  such  an  adherence,  before  I  finish  this  address, 
that  I  hope  will  satisfy  you  all. 

If  any  injury  was  done  to  the  continental  money  by  opening 
the  letter  I  am  not  to  blame.  I  mean  not  to  reflect  on  the 
council  of  safety.  Several  of  that  body,  who  were  then  heated 
by  the  artifices  that  were  practised,  and  entertained  unfavour- 
able sentiments  of  me,  I  am  persuaded  are  now  my  firm  friends. 
If  any  who  were  of  the  council  still  continue  my  enemies,  I 
forgive  them.  It  is  as  certain  the  money  was  not  injured  by 
opening  the  letter,  as  it  is,  that  I  did  not  endeavour  to  injure 
it.  It  would  be  an  insult  on  your  understandings,  to  suppose 
you  ignorant  of  the  true  causes  of  the  depreciation  of  that 
money. 

Allow  me,  however,  to  trace  the  consequences  that  would 
have  followed,  if  the  letter  had  reached  my  brother,  as  I 
intended. — In  the  first  place,  it  was  not  binding  upon  him — it 
concerned  his  affairs — it  related  to  no  interest  of  my  own — it 
was  only  advice  from  a  brother  to  a  brother — his  judgment 
was  to  pass  upon  it — perhaps  no  such  money  might  have  been 
offered  him — or,  if  it  was,  he  might  have  thought  proper  to 
receive  it — Why  were  not  his  honor  and  discretion  to  be  con- 
fided in  ?  Are  not  his  fidelity  and  meritorious  services  to  his 
country  universally  acknowledged  ?  If  offered  and  refused, 
the  foregoing  reasons  were  sufficient  to  justify  him.  In  short, 
let  the  letter  be  supposed  to  have  operated  in  any  imaginable 
manner,  according  to  its  plain  meaning,  after  coming  to  his 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  405 

hands,  and  it  is  easy  to  perceive  that  the  credit  of  the  conti- 
nental money  could  not  thereby  have  been  drawn  into  ques- 
tion. My  accusers  have  sense  enough  to  understand  these 
observations,  and  to  feel  their  force :  But,  luckily  for  them,  and 
unluckily  to  be  sure  for  me,  one  circumstance  appears  against 
me — "  There  seems  to  be  a  consciousness  that  I  was  writino- 

o 

something  blameable,  from  the  letter  not  being  signed." 

It  was  a  common  way  of  writing  to  my  brother.  The 
writing  proved  the  writer.  In  the  present  case,  it  could  not 
possibly  be  my  intention  to  conceal  my  being  the  author  from 
any  persons  in  Pennsylvania,  if  the  letter  should  get  into  their 
possession ;  for  any  one,  acquainted  with  my  writing,  would 
know,  on  seeing  the  letter,  that  it  was  written  by  me,  as  well  as 
if  my  name  was  subscribed  to  it.  Indeed — I  never  expected 
it  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  my  Pennsylvania  enemies — that  was 
a  strange  event — much  more  probable  was  it,  considering  to 
what  place  it  was  addressed,  that  it  would  have  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  my  British  enemies ;  and  a  very  little  reflection  will 
shew  how  improper  it  was,  that  a  letter  thus  exposed  should 
be  signed  with  my  name. 

You  must  remember,  gentlemen,  how  I  was  treated.1 

1  When  my  letter  was  opened  by  the  council  of  safety,  I  was  in  Kent.  Upon 
hearing  of  their  proceedings,  I  repaired  to  Philadelphia,  went  to  the  council,  and 
demanded  a  public  hearing.  This  I  did  not  obtain.  The  letter  being  produced 
at  the  board,  I  instantly  acknowledged  it,  and  declared,  that  I  would  justify  it. 
I  mentioned  to  them  most,  if  not  all  the  circumstances,  related  in  this  part  of  my 
address,  and  required,  that  "  they  should  declare  as  the  sense  of  their  board,  that 
I  was  clear  from  all  suspicion  of  intentions  unfriendly  to  the  cause  of  America, 
and  that  they  would  publish  to  the  world,  what  they  said  to  me  in  excuse  for 
opening  the  letter,  sending  the  servant  to  jail,  and  turning  my  house  into  a  hospital." 

This  declaration  was  not  made ;  and  I  was  called,  by  a  particular  accident,  to 
return  to  Kent,  from  which  place  I  wrote  to  them,  again  requesting  the  decla- 
ration. The  following  part  of  that  letter,  I  hope,  I  shall  be  pardoned  for  pub- 
lishing, when  such  severe  reproaches  have  been  cast  upon  me. 

"  You  may  observe  that  I  have  not  required  any  reparation  from  you  for  the 
damages,  great  as  they  are,  you  have  done  and  are  now  doing  to  my  property. 
Had  it  been  necessary,  I  would  cheerfully  have  opened  my  best  house,  and  the  best 
rooms  in  it,  for  the  reception,  and  have  cut  down  my  best  woods  for  the  relief  of 
such  unhappy  people  as  I  have  lately  seen.  But  as  fellow  citizens  you  ought  to 


4o6  APPENDIX. 


The  letter  was  kept  out  of  sight.  Part,  but  not  the  whole, 
was  published.  The  limitations  prescribed  in  it  were  concealed 
— But,  it  was  said  that  I  had  advised  my  brother  to  refuse  con- 
tinental money  generally — to  throw  up  his  commission — to 
join  the  enemy — that  I  was  trying  to  pass  the  Delaware  for 
that  purpose,  and  that  I  had  refused  continental  money.  I 
have  been  informed  by  an  officer  of  distinction  that  these 
stories  reached  the  camp — 

have  regarded  me  as  one  of  the  last  persons,  on  whom  in  equity  such  heavy  con- 
tributions should  be  levied  with  indignity,  by  force  :  it  having  been  my  constant 
practice,  during  the  whole  course  of  my  life,  from  the  time  I  was  first  vested  with 
a  public  character  in  Pennsylvania,  to  this  day,  specifically  to  give  to  public  uses 
every  sum  of  money  as  it  became  due  to  me,  either  as  a  member  of  assembly,  a 
delegate  in  Congress,  or  an  officer  of  the  militia,  except  («)  ,£121.8.6,  as  may 
appear  by  tracing  the  applications  of  the  monies  on  the  assignments  in  the  several 
offices.  Nor  can  the  sum  above  particularized  be  said  to  remain  in  my  hands,  if 
other  sums  given  by  me  to  public  uses  should  be  taken  into  the  account,  without 
reckoning  what  I  have  spent  in  the  public  service. 

"  Another  instance  of  the  disinterestedness  and  singleness  of  heart  with  which 
I  have  endeavoured  to  serve  my  country  is,  that  I  never  did,  directly  or  indirectly, 
in  the  whole  course  of  my  life,  ask  or  sollicit  any  post  of  profit  for  myself;  and  in 
the  beginning  of  the  last  month,  upon  some  reflection  being  made  by  a  member 
of  the  meeting  held  in  the  State  House,  on  the  designs  of  those  who  opposed  a 
majority  of  that  body,  I  publicly  declared  to  them,  that  in  whatever  manner  the 
government  should  be  regulated  I  (*>}  never  would  bear  any  office  in  it. 


(a)  This  sum  happened  to  remain  in  my  hands  in  the  following  manner.  A  worthy  person  who 
wanted  his  money,  called  upon  me  with  a  large  account.  I  had  been  disappointed  in  receiving 
cash,  and  in  part  of  payment  I  assigned  to  him  a  certificate  for  ^107.  The  other  case  was  this. 
Having  applied  much  the  greatest  part  of  my  pay  as  colonel,  by  drawing  an  order  in  camp  at 
Elizabeth  Town,  for  a  public  use,  well  known  to  the  officers  of  the  first  battalion,  I  never  called 
for  the  residue.  One  day  colonel  Chevalier  told  me,  he  had  received  for  me  on  that  account 
.£14  18  6,  or  some  such  sum.  I  told  him  I  did  not  intend  to  draw  for  it  ;  but  now  it  was  paid,  I 
should  be  obliged  to  him  if  he  would  be  so  kind  as  to  pay  it  to  the  overseers  of  the  poor  for  the 
Northern  Liberties,  to  be  distributed  among  poor  families  in  that  township.  He  replied,  that  he 
supposed  I  meant  families  that  were  not  chargeable  to  the  township,  and  as  that  care  did  not 
relate  to  the  office  of  overseers,  perhaps  they  would  think  it  too  troublesome.  I  told  him,  I  did 
mean  such  families,  and,  for  the  reason  he  had  mentioned  he  might  pay  the  money  to  me  at  any 
time  that  would  be  most  convenient  to  him.  He  soon  after  sent  it  to  me,  not  many  days  before  I 
left  home.  This  sum  has  been  since  applied  to  the  use  of  the  poor. 

(6)  This  was  my  determination,  having  resolved  to  leave  the  state.  In  refusing  to  act  under  the 
present  constitution  at  that  time,  I  obeyed  the  instructions  of  the  county  of  Philadelphia  :  By  act- 
ing under  it  now,  I  obey  the  commands,  which  in  a  remarkable  manner,  and  with  an  affection  that 
does  me  honour,  that  same  county  has  been  pleased  to  give  me.  I  declined  the  call  into  public 
office  in  this  state  for  some  time  ;  but  at  last  it  grew  so  strong  and  respectable,  that  I  should  have 
incurred  a  kind  of  criminality,  if  I  had  been  disobedient  to  it. 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  407 

The  rest  of  the  charges  you  already  know  to  be  false.  As 
to  the  last,  my  conduct  has  been  so  singularly  exact,  that  I 
hope,  cruelly  attacked  as  I  have  been,  you  will  excuse  me  for 
being  particular  in  my  answer. 

That  money — when  all  my  apprehensions  were  verified — 
issuing  forth  as  an  infection — leading  like  death  weeping 
widows  and  orphans  after  it — while  patriotism  itself  shud- 
dered at  its  success — and  freedom  scarcely  could  compensate 
for  its  injustice — I  never  refused. 

Let  the  clippers  and  counterfeiters  of  truth  come  out  of  the 
holes,  in  which  with  conscious  guilt  they  hide  themselves  to 
work,  and  produce  the  person,  who  will  say  that  I  ever  denied 
or  delayed  to  receive  that  money  when  offered  to  me,  in  any 
stage  of  its  depreciation. 

Not  two  hours  before  I  left  my  home  at  Fair  Hill,  and  not 

"  Being  now  scarcely  able  to  hold  my  pen,  I  shall  conclude,  with  requesting, 
that  these  circumstances  may  be  seriously  considered  by  you  as  additional  evi- 
dence of  the  habitual  purity  of  my  intentions  towards  my  country,  and  may,  with 
those  I  have  already  personally  offered,  persuade  you  to  desist  from  your  (c)  per- 
severance in  an  attempt  to  render  me  an  object  of  public  hatred  and  tumultuary 
violence,  and  thereby  prevent  any  (<*)  further  trouble  to  yourself,  or  to 

"  Your  injured  humble  servant, 

"JOHN  DICKINSON. 

"  KENT,  January  21,  1777." 


(c)  I  have  been  informed  by  a  member  of  the  council  of  safety,  that  though  they  sent  a  copy  of 
my  letter  to  the  commander  in  chief,  he  never  took  any  notice  of  it  in  his  correspondence  with  the 
council.    As  it  has  been  reported  that  the  commander  in  chief  wrote  a  letter  to  Congress,  lamenting 
my  defection  from  the  American  cause,  I  beg  leave  to  say,  that  if  his  excellency  had  written  such 
a  letter,  it  should  naturally  have  been  attributed  to  the  information  received  in  camp  concerning 
my  conduct   and   designs,  the   substance   of   which   information    is   mentioned    in   the  Address. 
Whether,  under  these  impressions,  he  wrote  any  private  letter  mentioning  me,  I  know  not — But  I 
esteem  myself  warranted,  on  proper  enquiry,  in  saying  that  his  excellency  never  did  write  such  a 
letter  to  Congress. 

(d)  This  alludes  to  my  intention,  at  that  time,  of  addressing  the  public,  as  may  appear  by  this 
other  extract  from  my  letter  of  January  21,  1777,  to  the  council  of  safety. 

"  Do  not  believe,  that  I  thus  address  you,  because  I  fear  and  appeal  to  the  public  on  the  conduct 
of  so  formidable  a  body  as  you  are.  You  might  easily  perceive  when  I  saw  you,  that,  confiding 
in  my  innocence,  I  defy  your  power,  and  if  any  of  you  bear  me  malice,  I  would  have  you  assuredly 
to  know,  I  defy  that. 

"  I  am  certain,  that  no  act  of  your  board  can  so  entirely  vindicate  me  to  the  world,  as  a  full 
detail  of  the  whole  affair.  This  advantage  I  am  willing  to  wave  ;  and  would  readily  consent  to 
suffer  something,  though  in  my  just  defence,  of  touching  upon  points  I  wish  to  avoid,  or  even  of 
diminishing  that  respect,  whatever  it  is,  that  is  at  this  time  annexed  to  you." 


4o8  APPENDIX. 


four  days  before  I  wrote  the  letter  to  my  brother,  I  received 
fifty  pounds  in  continental  money  from  Mr.  John  Nice,  of  the 
Northern  Liberties.  Having  appointed  the  tenth  of  Decem- 
ber to  receive  upwards  of  three  hundred  pounds  of  that  money 
from  Samuel  Hudson,  of  this  city,  on  that  day  I  left  my  house. 
That  night  I  was  obliged,  by  the  badness  of  the  roads,  to  stop 
and  lodge  at  Mr.  Norris's,  where  I  found  Col.  Coats,  who  was 
to  return  early  the  next  morning  to  town.  I  mentioned  to  him 
this  circumstance,  and  desired  he  would  be  so  kind  as  to  inform 
Mr.  Hudson,  when  he  should  see  him,  that  I  would  receive  that 
money  from  him  at  any  time,  whatever  might  happen.  The 
colonel  promised  me,  "  that  he  would  make  it  his  business  to 
see  Mr.  Hudson  immediately  on  his  return  to  town,  and  tell 
him  what  I  said."  He  did  so.  Mr.  Hudson  was  perfectly  sat- 
isfied, and  the  next  time  I  saw  him,  which  was  in  the  following 
spring,  I  received  the  money.  I  refer  for  proofs  to  witnesses, 
with  whom  I  have  no  manner  of  connection. 

So  unexceptionable,  so  remarkable,  and  even  zealous  has 
been  my  conduct  with  respect  to  continental  money,  at  that 
very  moment  too,  when  it  was  thought  to  be  in  the  greatest 
danger.  I  persevered  in  this  conduct,  and  have  suffered  ac- 
cordingly. Let  the  most  patriotic  among  you  bring  before 
the  public,  an  instance  of  such  diligence  to  receive  a  large 
sum  of  continental  money,  at  that  time.  Then,  let  him  rail 
— but,  till  then,  don't  you  think,  gentlemen,  he  ought  to  be 
silent  ? 

Facts  are  commonly  called  stubborn  things.  So  they  are. 
My  behaviour  with  regard  to  continental  money,  where  my  own 
interest  was  concerned,  is  the  best  comment  on  my  advice  to 
my  brother  about  it.  If  I  was  so  constant  to  the  cause  of 
America,  in  that  gloomy  period,  as  to  be  thus  industrious  and 
exemplary  in  receiving  continental  money,  it  must  have  been 
with  a  desire  and  design  to  support  its  credit,  whatever  my 
private  losses  might  be  by  that  constancy.  Is  it  to  be  believed, 
then,  that  I  would  give  any  advice  to  my  brother  that  could 
possibly  injure  its  credit  ? 


DICKINSON'S    VINDICATION.  4°9 

1  I  have  now,  gentlemen,  laid  before  you  an  account  of  those 
actions,  for  which  such  torrents  of  reproaches  have  been 
poured  upon  me — Reproaches,  not  to  be  equalled  but  by 
those  British  and  West  Indian  invectives,  with  which  some 
years  ago  the  press  laboured  against  me,  for  having  asserted 
and  maintained  your  rights  and  liberties.  The  worth  of  the 
foreign  articles  has  been  long  since  settled ;  and  the  value  of 
the  home-made  manufactures  is,  I  believe,  by  this  time,  as  well 
ascertained. 

I  have  called  the  late  attacks  upon  me  "  unprovoked"  and 
were  they  not  entirely  so  ?  What  act  of  government  have  I 
done  here  or  in  the  Delaware  state,  that  can  in  the  faintest 
manner  countenance  a  notion  that  my  present  share  of  power 
will  be  dangerous  or  even  injurious  ?  I  defy  all  my  enemies 
united  to  produce  a  single  instance  of  this  kind. 

Which  would  you  chuse,  gentlemen,  that  the  power  I  have, 
should  be  well  used  or  ill  used  ?  The  former,  to  be  sure. 
Then  help  me.  Be  my  associates — I  ask,  I  entreat  your  aid — 
I  invite  you  to  give  me  your  advice  freely  and  fully.  You  can 
do  it,  either  personally,  or  by  letter.  The  first  will  honour  me. 
Either  will  oblige  me.  I  shall  receive  it,  not  only  cheerfully, 
but  gratefully.  Tell  me,  what  I  ought  to  do,  and  what  to  leave 
undone;  and  even  delineate  the  most  expedient  manner  of 
conducting  affairs.  The  best  way  to  promote  the  interest  of 
the  republic,  is  to  prevent  my  errors  ;  not  to  arraign  them  when 
committed.  Don't  lie  in  ambush,  to  start  out  upon  my  frailties 
when  they  appear,  to  whoop  and  rejoice  over  them.  That 
v/ould  be  a  miserable  amusement  indeed !  unworthy  the  abil- 
ities and  virtues  of  many  among  you — I  am  sensible  of  my 
own  weakness,  and  shall  be  glad  to  avail  myself  of  those 
abilities  and  those  virtues,  for  preventing  any  disadvantage 
from  it  to  you  or  my  other  fellow  citizens. 

I  will  only  add  upon  this  point— that,  I  am  acting  a  very 
small  and  a  very  short  part  in  the  drama  of  human  affairs.  I 
wish  to  do  right ;  and  to  give  satisfaction.  The  opinions  of 

'  Freeman's  Journal,  Wednesday,  Feb.  12,  1783. 


4io  APPENDIX. 


men  are  fallible,  and  sometimes  unjust.  There  is  one  supreme 
judge  who  cannot  err;  and  when  I  endeavour,  that  my  de- 
fects may  not,  for  want  of  integrity,  be  displeasing  in  his  sight, 
I  would  have  you  gentlemen,  assuredly  to  know,  that,  not- 
withstanding my  sincere  desire  to  please  you,  I  shall  little 
trouble  myself  how  your  applauses  or  your  censures  are  be- 
stowed. 

Were  not  the  attacks  before  mentioned  "  unprovoked"  in 
another  respect.  Is  there  a  man  among  you,  whom  I  have 
offended  by  a  disrespectful  word  or  action  ?  Not  one.  Is 
there  a  man  among  you,  but  with  whom,  if  known,  I  have  an 
intercourse  of  civilities  ?  Not  one.  Is  there  a  man  among  you, 
that  I  should  not  be  glad  to  serve  ?  Not  one.  Are  not  such 
circumstances,  in  such  times,  tokens  of  a  temper  that  detests 
quarrels  ?  And  may  not  this  conclusion  be  fairly  deduced 
from  them,  that  such  a  temper  sincerely  laments  the  neces- 
sity imposed  of  refuting,  in  proper  and  too  much  deserved 
language  misrepresentations,  however  extravagant  and  dan- 
gerous. 

More  pleasing  beyond  comparison  will  be  the  employment 
to  me,  of  applying  all  my  thoughts  and  labours  to  promote, 
as  much  as  I  am  able,  the  welfare  of  you  and  the  rest  of  my 
fellow  citizens.  This  testimony  of  my  affection  for  you  all  I 
wish  to  give.  I  ardently  desire  that  we  may  live  together, 
under  the  true  principles  of  society,  equal  liberty  and  impar- 
tial justice,  happy,  and  generously  contributing  to  render  each 
other  happy.  Great  are  the  advantages — glorious  are  the 
prospects  of  Pennsylvania,  if  this  be  our  noble  resolution : 
And  this  will  be  our  resolution,  if  we  have  any  wisdom,  or  any 
goodness. 

The  influences  of  these  principles  descend  like  the  rains  and 
dews  of  heaven  upon  the  land,  and  spring  forth  in  a  vegetation 
of  blessings,  nourishing  and  cheering  the  bodies  and  souls 
of  mortals — or  glide  thro'  it  like  gentle  rivers  "  visiting  and 
making  glad"  our  cities,  fields,  and  woods.  To  these  "  living 
waters"  poor  and  rich  have  by  the  patent  of  nature  the  same 


DICKINSON'S   VINDICATION.  4" 

title.  Let  us  strive  to  secure  these  gifts  of  our  most  bountiful 
creator,  against  the  usual  and  dangerous  invasions  of  ambition 
and  avarice.  Let  us  guard  against  those  who  are  out  of  power 
and  against  those  who  are  in  power. 

If  there  are  men,  who  have  such  an  eagerness  for  ruling,  and 
at  the  same  time  such  a  left  handed  method  of  managing,  that 
they  cannot  do  even  a  good  thing,  but  in  a  bad  way — who 
think,  that  they  are  ruined,  if  they  cannot  ruin  others — that 
authority  is  never  well  exercised,  unless  it  be  exercised  by 
them — that  worth  is  totally  despised  by  their  fellow  citizens, 
unless  their  fellow  citizens  will  tamely  submit  to  be  taxed  up 
to  a  full  satisfaction  of  the  over-weening  craving  conceits 
which  they  formed  of  their  own  merits — these  are  men  who 
would  defeat  the  hopes  of  the  innocent,  and  lay  waste  the 
labours  of  the  diligent — these  are  men,  who  would  lord  it  over 
the  industrious  farmers  and  ingenious  tradesmen,  the  justly 
celebrated  strength  and  ornament  of  our  commonwealth,  and 
yet  would  never  think  themselves  enough  paid  for  this  lording 
— these  are  men,  who  would  break  the  close,  civil  relationship 
between  the  mercantile  interest  and  the  other  members  of  the 
community,  and  at  an  enlightened  period,  when  almost  all  the 
rest  of  the  human  race  are  discovering  with  rapture,  and  solicit- 
ing with  ardor,  the  mild  and  immense  benefits  of  trade,  now 
become  of  so  much  moment  to  the  fate  of  empires,  would 
check  the  most  useful  improvements  of  commerce,  or  give  it 
laws  that  might  as  well  be  given  to  its  winds  and  tides — these 
are  men,  who  would  distract  everything,  confound  the  ease, 
security  and  welfare  of  individuals,  and  pervert  all  the  sacred 
ends  of  government  to  their  own  selfish  ends.  If  there  are 
such  men,  let  us  take  care  of  them. 

Let  us  also  take  care  of  every  man  in  office,  and  keep 
watchful  eyes  upon  him.  We  should  be  better  served,  if  this 
vigilance  was  more  general.  Let  his  behaviour  be  publicly 
and  privately  canvassed.  It  is  the  tenure  of  his  office ;  but  let 
this  be  done  with  decency,  not  so  much  for  his  sake,  as  for  the 
sake  of  ourselves  and  of  our  country.  Let  us  demonstrate 


412  APPENDIX. 


that  we  mean  the  common  weal,  and  not  the  gratification  of 
ill  nature.  The  public  is  interested  in  its  servants.  They  may 
be  said  to  belong  to  the  public.  No  virtues,  no  services  should 
exempt  them  from  such  scrutinies.  It  is  not  only  the  right,  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  public  to  make  them.  Liberty  has  been  so 
generally  suppressed  through  the  earth  by  a  disuse  of  this 
right — by  a  neglect  of  this  duty ;  and  those  who  have  been 
guilty  of  the  impious  presumption  and  carelessness,  have  not 
only  debased  themselves,  as  perhaps  they  deserved,  but  have 
also  betrayed  their  posterity.  We  have  not  yet  arrived,  it  is 
true,  at  that  eminence  from  which  society  so  frequently  de- 
scends with  rapidity  to  the  depths  below.  Therefore,  such 
fatal  effects  may  not  be  expected  from  our  inattention.  But 
we  may  be  assured,  that  if  we  fall  into  it,  we  shall  feel  mischiefs 
sufficient  to  convince  us,  how  stupid  and  criminal  it  is. 

Five  and  twenty  years  ago,  I  began  my  walk  of  public  busi- 
ness in  Pennsylvania,  with  asserting  and  defending  this  inesti- 
mable maxim ;  and  for  much  the  greatest  part  of  those  years 
have  practised  upon  it,  by  a  continued  course  of  faithful  and 
laborious  service  in  the  cause  of  American  freedom.  If  my 
life  has  now  reached  its  extremest  verge,  I  cheerfully  consent 
to  take  my  last  leave  of  my  beloved  countrymen,  by  solemnly 
repeating  the  guardian  truth  to  them  from  that  station,  advan- 
tageous at  least  perhaps  for  this  purpose,  which  they  have 
been  pleased  to  assign  me. 

Let  us  not  credulously  listen  to  tales  of  treachery  against 
men,  who  have  disinterestedly  persevered  in  an  opposition  to 
our  enemies.  Such  men  must  act  from  principle.  The  mis- 
erable condition  of  those  who  have  already  deserted  us,  is  well 
known.  Common  sense,  therefore,  forbids  the  mad  enterprise. 
Virtue  forbids  it  more  powerfully.  The  sovereignty  of  the 
United  States,  purchased  by  so  much  blood  and  so  many 
calamities,  has  been  acknowledged  and  fought  for  by  other 
nations.  Their  honor,  their  safety,  their  prosperity,  are  all 
bound  up  in  their  independence.  To  renounce  that,  would  be 
to  renounce  them  all.  It  would  be  to  renounce  the  esteem 


DICKINSON'S   VINDICATION.  413 

and  admiration  of  mankind — and  to  attain  at  once,  by  an 
uncommon  vigour  of  folly  and  baseness,  the  singular  distinc- 
tion of  being  equally  despicable  and  detestable.  It  would  sur- 
render the  liberties  of  America  prisoners  at  discretion  to  Great 
Britain,  and  would  proscribe  all  aid  and  hope  of  aid  from  other 
kingdoms  and  states,  in  a  future  resistance  against  her  op- 
pressors. 

If  any  man  could  possibly  be  in  a  situation,  that  either 
by  force  or  fraud  he  could  have  a  chance  of  re-establishing  the 
former  domination  over  us,  and  should  he  be  wicked  enough 
to  make  the  attempt,  he  must  inevitably  involve  his  country  in 
greater  misfortunes  than  she  has  yet  experienced,  himself  in 
perpetual  infamy  in  this  world,  and  a  just  punishment  in  that 
to  come.  He  would  sin  not  only  against  the  living,  but,  if  it 
even  can  be  done,  against  the  dead  also. 

After  the  slaughter  of  so  many  patriots — After  the  deaths 
of  a  Warren — a  x  Montgomery — a  Mercer — a  Wooster — a  Nash 
— a  Harkemer — a  de  Kalb — and  of  a  Hayne — whom  the  pe- 
culiar circumstances  of  his  case — his  own  eminent  worth — 
petitioning  beauty  and  virtue — the  streaming  tears  and  humble 
heaven  taught  prayers  of  his  helpless,  half-orphan'd  children, 
supplicating  with  artless  agony,  on  their  little,  bended  knees 

for  a  fathers  life could  not  save 

After  so  many  brave  soldiers,  fixed  frozen  together  in  cold 
churches — and  so  many  daring  seamen,  melted  into  putrid 
masses,  in  the  stifling  "  black  holes"  of  prison  ships,  each  of 
their  honest,  dying  hearts,  in  these  circles  of  misery,  still  true 
to  his  country's  cause — After  the  countless  massacres  com- 
mitted on  trembling  old  age,  tender  womanhood,  and  lisping 

1  It  is  impossible  for  me  to  mention  the  death  of  this  general,  without  recol- 
lecting that  of  my  much  esteemed  friend  major  John  Macpherson,  slain  at  Quebec, 
at  the  same  moment,  if  not  by  the  same  ball  that  bereaved  America  of  her 
lamented  Montgomery.  This  gallant  young  gentleman,  in  whom  youth  and  pru- 
dence, gentleness  and  bravery  were  united,  with  all  the  promises  of  a  great  and 
useful  character,  being  slightly  wounded  a  day  or  two  before  he  was  killed,  turned 
to  his  general,  and  said  with  a  smile — "  I  hope,  general,  it  will  be  remembered, 
that  I  lost  some  blood  before  the  walls  of  Quebec." 


4i4  APPENDIX. 


infancy — and  after1 

to    suffer  subjection   on   any  terms  whatever  to  the   authors 
of  such  woes,  would  ensure  to  America  that  certain  earnest 
of  every  other  wretchedness — their  contempt. 
With  great  respect, 

Gentlemen,  I  am, 

Your  very  humble  servant, 

JOHN  DICKINSON. 


APPENDIX     V  I— (Page  222.) 

FROM  THE  SPARKS  MANUSCRIPTS  IN  HARVARD  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 
— DICKINSON'S  DRAFT  OF  INSTRUCTIONS  TO  COMMISSIONERS, 
JULY  22,  1779.  Endorsed.  [Apparently  not  adopted.] 

ENCLOSED  you  will  receive  a  Commission  appointing  you 
Minister  plenipotentiary  for  treating  with  Great  Britain,  to- 
gether with  several  resolutions  of  Congress  on  that  subject. 

This  Treaty,  we  have  reason  to  believe,  will  be  managed 
under  the  Mediation  of  his  most  Catholic  Majesty  [King  of 
Spain].  Immediately  on  the  Receipt  hereof,  you  are  to  apply 
to  his  most  Christian  Majesty  [King  of  France],  desiring,  he 
will  be  pleased  expressly  to  guaranty  to  these  States  the  Exer- 
cise of  the  Right  of  fishing  on  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland 
and  other  the  fishing  Banks  and  in  the  seas  of  North  America, 
at  a  reasonable  Distance  to  be  ascertained  in  the  guaranty, 
from  the  Coasts  of  the  Territories  that  shall  remain  to  Great 
Britain  at  the  Conclusion  of  the  War,  preserving  inviolate  the 
treaties  of  Paris  between  his  Majesty  and  these  States. 

You  are  to  assign  as  Reason  of  this  Request,  the  very  great 
anxiety  of  the  people  of  these  States  to  have  those  fisheries 
assured  to  them  more  plainly  than  they  appear  to  be  by  the 
Treaties  above  mentioned — the  Dependance  of  many  of  them 

1  Modesty  and  humanity  would  be  too  much  wounded  by  compleating  this 
catalogue  of  crimes.  Journals  of  Congress,  Vol.  iii.  page  145. 


INSTRUCTIONS   TO    COMMISSIONERS.          4*5 

thereon  for  their  subsistance — the  Difficulties  to  be  appre- 
hended, if  the  Minds  of  the  Inhabitants  cannot  be  in  some 
manner  quieted  on  this  point — the  Confidence  reposed  in  his 
Majesty's  Magnanimity  and  in  his  Disposition  to  promote  every 
Measure  essentially  necessary  for  the  Happiness  of  these  States. 

Whatever  may  be  the  effect  of  this  application  you  are  to 

******** 
declare,  that  you  are  ready  to  treat  with  Great  Britain  on  her 
Directly  Acknowledging  in  good  Faith  and  Form  the  Liberty, 
Sovereignty  and  Independance  absolute  and  unlimited  of  these 
States  as  well  in  matters  of  Government  as  of  Commerce. 

If  this  acknowledgement  cannot  by  any  Means  be  obtained, 
and  you  find  it  absolutely  necessary  to  admit  some  mezzo-ter- 
mine,  you  may  propose  this  mode  of  expression,  that  "the 
King  of  Great  Britain  agrees  to  treat  with  the  people  of  New 
Hampshire,  Massachusetts  Bay,  Rhode  Island  and  Providence 
plantations,  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina 
and  Georgia,  as  free  and  independant  States  whose  Sovereignty 
is  absolute  and  unlimited  as  well  in  Matters  of  Government 
as  of  Commerce ;"  and  from  insisting  on  this  Mode  of  Expres- 
sion you  are  in  no  Manner  to  recede,  unless  it  be  to  admit 
some  other  more  strong  and  positive  in  favor  of  the  Freedom 
Sovereignty  and  Independance  of  these  States. 

If  the  Treaty  proceeds  on  the  former  or  on  this  footing,  you 
are  then  to  insist  on  the  Form  of  Acknowledgement  that  shall 
be  adopted  being  inserted  in  the  Treaty,  on  the  Limits  of  these 
States  being  ascertained  according  to  the  first  of  the  inclosed 
Resolutions,  an  immediate  evacuation  of  all  places  within  those 
Limits  by  all  the  British  land  and  naval  Forces,  the  full  Enjoy- 
ment thereof  by  these  States,  a  Release  of  all  Prisoners  with- 
out Ransom  and  from  these  points  you  are  in  no  Manner  to 
recede.  You  may  also  insert  such  other  articles  as  are  usual 
in  mere  Treaties  of  peace,  of  which  kind  we  will  send  you 
some  precedents,  if  it  shall  be  thought  necessary. 

You  are  to  observe  that  you  are  not  to  propose  the  last 


APPENDIX. 


mentioned  Mode  of  Expression,  unless  you  are  perfectly 
assured,  that  no  treaty  with  Great  Britain  can  be  had  but  by 
admitting  some  such  Mode,  and  unless  the  French  and  Span- 
ish Courts  shall  solemnly  declare  their  sense  of  the  treaty  of 
Alliance  in  1778  to  be,  that  France  is  not  thereby  bound  to 
contend  for  one  more  strong  and  positive  in  favor  of  these 
States — and  France  will  not  agree  to  contend  for  such  an  one 
— and  unless  you  are  convinced,  that  both  those  Courts  will 
be  highly  disgusted  by  your  refusing  to  admit  some  such 
Mode,  as  before  mentioned. 

In  proceeding,  you  are  to  take  especial  Care  not  only  that 
the  powers  of  the  British  Minister,  or  Ministers  are  sufficiently 
full,  but  that  the  Credentials  for  treating  with  the  States  are 
done  and  expedited  substantially  in  the  manner  usually  prac- 
tised by  Great  Britain  in  treating  with  other  Sovereign  powers 
in  Europe,  and  that  nothing  is  contained  therein  derogating 
from  or  in  any  Manner  denying  the  Freedom  Sovereignty  and 
Independance  of  these  States  absolute  and  unlimited  as  well 
in  Matters  of  Government  as  of  Commerce. 

You  are  to  endeavor  by  all  means  to  procure  the  Treaty  of 
peace  to  be  signed  and  ratified  by  Great  Britain,  before  you 
proceed  to  the  treaty  of  Commerce.  If  the  British  Minister 
shall  positively  decline  the  former,  unless  the  Terms  of  the 
latter  be  in  some  Degree  previously  determined,  and  this  can- 
not be  avoided,  you  are  to  declare,  that  immediately  after  the 
Treaty  of  Peace  shall  be  signed,  and  ratified  on  the  part  of 
Great  Britain  you  will  sign  a  Treaty  of  Commerce  on  just  and 
reasonable  Terms. 

If  an  Explanation  of  these  words  be  urged,  you  may  de- 
clare that  you  are  not  authorized  to  say  anything  more  on  the 
subject,  till  the  treaty  of  peace  shall  be  signed  and  ratified  as 
aforesaid — that  when  that  shall  be  done,  the  Respect  due  to 
the  exalted  Dignity  and  undoubted  Equity  of  the  mediating 
power,  a  Regard  for  the  Honor  of  the  United  States,  to- 
gether with  the  earnest  Desire  they  feel  of  demonstrating  to 
the  whole  world  on  this  signal  occasion  that  Moderation  of 


INSTRUCTIONS   TO    COMMISSIONERS.          4*7 

Temper  by  which  to  be  always  distinguished,  will  forbid  them 
to  advance  propositions  inconsistent  with  the  Sentiments  im- 
pressed by  the  foregoing  consideration,  besides,  that  a  proper 
attention  to  the  well  known  advantages  to  be  expected  from 
the  British  Friendship  and  Commerce,  would  prevent  them 
from  insisting  on  any  points  that  might  justly  cause  an  ob- 
struction to  their  receiving  those  advantages. 

If  the  British  Minister  shall  utterly  refuse  to  sign  the  Treaty 
of  peace  and  to  procure  its  Ratification  aforesaid  without  a 
further  explanation  of  the  Treaty  of  Commerce,  you  are  with 
equal  firmness  to  refuse  such  Explanation,  and  you  may 
alledge,  that  the  two  Treaties  are  distinct  in  their  nature — that 
the  one  is  founded  on  the  Maxims  of  Religion  and  Humanity 
and  calculated  for  putting  an  end  to  the  Effusion  of  Christian 
Blood  and  to  the  Calamities  of  War — the  other  founded  on 
the  Motive  of  Gain — that  to  refuse  an  assent  to  the  first,  unless 
the  Measure  of  the  latter  be  previously  ascertained,  would  be 
to  sacrifice  the  noblest  principles  of  conduct  to  Views  of  a  far 
inferior  value — that  the  Method  proposed  by  you  is  not  unsup- 
ported by  precedents — but  to  mention  no  more,  that  the  Treaty 
of  Commerce  between  Spain  and  the  United  provinces  was  not 
brought  to  a  Conclusion  till  a  considerable  time  after  the 
Treaty  of  peace  at  Munster. 

If  the  Explanation  shall  be  still  insisted  on  by  Great  Britain, 
and  you  find  Reason  to  be  convinced  that  the  Treaty  of  peace 
will  fail  on  your  withholding  it,  you  are  to  endeavor  in  the 
most  prudent  manner  you  can  devise  to  discover  the  Conditions 
on  which  she  will  consent  to  a  Treaty  of  Commerce,  particu- 
larly, whether  she  will  agree  to  insert  an  article  in  it,  not  to 
disturb  the  inhabitants  of  these  States  in  the  Exercise  of  the 
Fisheries  on  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland  and  others  the  fish- 
ing Banks  and  in  the  Seas  of  North  America,  with  a  reciprocal 
one  on  the  part  of  those  States,  limiting  a  reasonable  Distance, 
if  required  by  her,  within  which  neither  party  shall  in  the 
Exercise  of  such  Fisheries  approach  the  Coasts  of  the  other 
whether  of  the  Continent  or  Islands. 


4i  8  APPENDIX. 


If  you  can  be  entirely  assured,  that  Great  Britain  will  agree 
to  insert  such  an  Article,  then,  you  may  proceed  to  an  Expla- 
nation of  the  Terms  on  which  you  will  sign  a  Treaty  of  Com- 
merce— the  Basis  thereof  to  be  an  Equality  and  Reciprocity 
of  Benefits — preserving  inviolate  the  Treaties  of  Paris  in  1778 
— and  taking  Care  that  the  said  Distance  be  so  limited,  as  not 
to  be  less  than  about  three  Leagues,  nor  greater  than  about 
fifteen  Leagues. 

******** 

If  the  insertion  of  the  article  aforesaid  cannot  be  obtained, 
you  are  then  to  propose  this  mode  of  Expression  "  that  Com- 
merce shall  in  every  Respect  be  restored  to  the  same  State 
in  which  it  was  before  the  War,  excepting  every  Exclusion, 
Restriction  and  Regulation  prior  to  the  Treaty  in  preference 
of  Great  Britain  to  any  other  Nation  now  in  or  that  hereafter 
shall  be  in  amity  with  these  States,  or  in  any  Manner  or  by 
any  Construction  implying  a  Dependance  or  Subordination  of 
the  States  on  or  to  Great  Britain  or  the  Crown  thereof — and 
from  this  Mode  of  Expression  you  are  in  no  manner  to  deviate 
unless  it  be  to  admit  some  other  more  strong  and  positive  in 
favor  of  these  States. 

But  you  are  to  observe  that  you  are  not  to  propose  this 
Mode  of  Expression  unless  the  French  and  Spanish  Courts 
shall  solemnly  declare  their  sense  of  the  Treaty  of  Alliance  in 
1778  to  be,  that  France  is  not  thereby  bound  to  contend  for 
one  more  strong  and  positive  in  favor  of  these  States — and 
France  will  not  agree  to  contend  for  such  an  one — and  unless 
you  are  convinced,  that  both  those  Courts  will  be  offended  by 
your  refusing  to  admit  some  such  Mode  as  is  before  men- 
tioned. 

If  this  Mode  or  one  more  favorable  to  these  States  is  ad- 
mitted, yet  if  it  amounts  not  to  the  express  stipulation  afore- 
said, you  are  if  possible  to  procure  the  Delivery  to  you  of  a 
Testimonial  from  the  Mediating  power,  that  the  Exercise  of 
the  Right  of  these  States  to  the  said  Fisheries  was  effectually 
allowed  by  Great  Britain  tho  not  expressly  mentioned  in  the 


INSTRUCTIONS   TO   COMMISSIONERS.          419 

Treaty,  the  said  States  having  declined  at  the  Request  of  the 
Mediating  power  to  insist  on  the  insertion  of  the  said  Article. 

You  are  however  to  understand  that  the  insertion  of  such 
an  article  is  not  to  be  so  far  insisted  on  as  in  the  manner  before 
mentioned,  except  in  the  Case  of  a  Refusal  by  France  to  enter 
into  the  guaranty  aforesaid,  for  if  she  shall  actually  enter  into 
the  same,  you  are  to  endeavour  earnestly  to  procure  the  inser- 
tion of  such  an  article,  but  if  you  find  your  insisting  upon  it 
will  break  ofT  the  Treaty  and  displease  the  French  and  Span- 
ish Courts,  you  are  to  decline  urging  the  motion. 

If  the  Treaty  of  peace  shall  be  signed — and  ratified  on  the 
part  of  Great  Britain  in  the  Manner  before  mentioned  without 
the  suggestion  of  any  Difficulty  concerning  Commerce,  and 
you  then  proceed  to  that,  you  are  to  treat  on  the  Basis  afore- 
said. 

Whenever  in  the  Course  of  the  Conference,  the  Fisheries 
shall  be  mentioned,  you  are  to  propose  for  avoiding  Dispute, 
the  insertion  of  the  article  aforesaid  relating  to  them.  If  this 
proposition  shall  be  objected  to,  you  are  in  support  of  it,  to 
alledge  the  Common  Right  to  such  Fisheries — the  Right  vested 
in  these  States  by  Occupancy  and  the  necessity  of  procuring 
subsistance — and  the  right  of  Compensation  for  the  Expenses 
and  Damages  of  an  unprovoked  defensive  war. 

The  arguments  in  support  of  the  first  and  last  of  these 
topics,  you  may  draw  from  the  Principles  of  Justice  and  the 
Laws  of  Nature  and  Nations,  as  to  the  second,  if  it  shall  be 
said,  that  the  Right  vested  in  these  States,  by  occupancy,  was 
vested  in  the  inhabitants  as  Subjects  of  the  British  Crown,  you 
are  to  observe  thereon — that  these  inhabitants  were  a  part  of 
the  people  of  the  Empire,  and  that  on  a  just  separation  of  the 
people,  a  partition  of  the  Rights  before  exercised  in  Common, 
become  also  just,  as  attached  to  the  persons  of  those  then  sep- 
arating and  before  the  separation  they  exercising  those  Rights 
— otherwise,  the  first  injustice  in  causing  a  separation  would 
become  foundation  for  and  a  sanction  of  a  second  Injustice—- 
which is  a  proposition  operating  too  strongly  against  the 


420  APPENDIX, 


Universal  Sense  of  Mankind  to  be  supportable — that  this 
argument  is  greatly  fortified  by  the  necessity  of  procuring  sub- 
sistance,  a  necessity  that  is  always  growing  more  strait  by  the 
Encrease  of  Inhabitants — that  this  right  is  also  strengthened 
by  this  Circumstance,  that  the  Dominions  in  North  America 
which  may  remain  to  Great  Britain  on  a  Pacification  have  been 
acquired  or  secured  to  her  by  the  Exertions  of  these  States  as 
well  as  her  own — that  a  Right  they  vested  in  them  cannot  be 
justly  impaired  in  any  Manner  by  the  prosecution  of  such  a 
War  as  that  between  Great  Britain  &  them,  or  any  separation 
thereby  occasioned  of  the  Members  of  the  Empire — that  a 
Right  of  Trading  to  the  East  Indes  acquired  only  by  occu- 
pancy and  but  for  a  short  time  and  "  flagrante  Bello"  between 
Spain  and  the  United  provinces,  was  confirmed  toj:hese  at  the 
peace  of  Munster — a  fortiori,  should  this  Right  so  antient  so 
established  before  the  War,  so  continued  and  uninterrupted,  be 
confirmed  to  these  States. 

You  may  also  give  up  on  behalf  of  these  States  any  Trade 
to  the  East  Indes  and  to  Africa  while  they  continue  undis- 
turbed by  Great  Britain  in  the  said  Fisheries. 

If  Great  Britain  shall  utterly  refuse  to  treat  of  a  perpetual 
peace,  but  shall  offer  to  treat  of  a  Truce,  and  the  French  and 
Spanish  Courts  shall  solemnly  declare  their  sense  of  the 
Treaty  of  Alliance  in  1778  to  be  that  France  is  not  thereby 
bound  to  contend  for  a  perpetual  peace — if  she  will  not  agree 
to  contend  for  it — and  if  you  are  fully  assured,  that  the  treating 
of  and  agreeing  to  a  Truce  cannot  be  denied  or  delayed  by 
these  States  without  highly  offending  those  Courts,  you  are 
then  to  proceed  to  treat  of  a  Truce,  in  treating  of  which,  you 
are  to  conduct  yourself  in  the  Manner  herein  before  pointed 
out  for  treating  of  a  perpetual  Peace — to  use  all  the  means  in 
your  power  to  procure  as  long  a  Truce  as  can  be  obtained — 
and  as  great  security  as  will  be  agreed  to  against  any  consid- 
erable land  or  naval  Forces  being  kept  by  Great  Britain  in  the 
Dominions  that  may  remain  to  her  in  North  America,  at  the 
Conclusion  of  the  War — on  which  Heads  you  are  to  regulate 


AUTHORSHIP   OF  VALERIUS.  42 1 

Yourself  by  the  necessity  you  shall  find  imposed  upon  you 
of  conforming  to  the  Sentiments  of  their  most  Christian  and 
most  Catholic  Majesties. 

In  the  Course  of  the  Negotiations  you  are  not  to  omit  any 
opportunity  of  sending  to  Congress  the  earliest  advices  of 
every  step  taken  therein,  and  of  every  Difficulty  that  occurs, 
so  as  to  enable  Congress  to  judge  in  the  most  full  and  ample 
Manner  of  all  the  proceedings.  In  sending  these  advices,  you 
will  use  every  precaution  to  prevent  your  Dispatches  falling 
into  the  Hands  of  the  enemy,  and  you  will  also  send  so  many 
Copies  of  each  Letter  as  to  remove  every  probability  of  our 
failing  to  receive  the  Intelligence  designed  for  us. 

JOHN  DICKINSON. 

July  22,  1779. 

The  substance  of  these  papers  was  delivered  by  me  to  Con- 
gress on  Saturday  the  i/th  of  July,  1779,  after  Congress  had 
postponed  the  Resolution  then  under  Consideration. 


APPENDIX     V  I  I  .— (Page  161.) 

LETTERS  OF  VALERIUS  AND  GENERAL  ARMSTRONG. 

[IT  seems  that  there  can  be  at  this  date  no  reason  for  not 
printing  that  portion  of  Mrs.  Deborah  Logan's  diary  which 
shows  that  the  family  tradition  is  that  General  Armstrong 
(Secretary  of  War  in  1814)  was  VALERIUS.  It  must  be  borne  in 
mind,  however,  that  Armstrong  was  secretary  of  the  Council 
before  Mr.  Dickinson  was  elected  President.] 

August  25th  1814.  Our  country  is  now  actually  invaded, 
yesterday's  southern  mail  brought  advices  that  a  large  British 
force  commanded  by  Sir  Thomas  Picton,  who  has  just  served 
in  Spain  with  great  reputation,  (this  was  the  report,  but  General 
Ross  commanded)  is  within  thirteen  miles  of  Washington. 


422  APPENDIX. 


The  President  and  heads  of  the  departments  doubtless  are  gone 
off,  and  the  Government  dispersed  and  disgraced. 

26th — The  alarm  increases,  Philadelphia  is  in  great  agita- 
tion, the  militia  organizing,  and  troops  marching  to  their  ren- 
dezvouses— it  is  now  pretty  certain  that  the  Public  buildings 
and  navy  yard  at  Washington  are  destroyed,  and  some  reports 
say,  the  city  also ;  the  whole  of  that  part  of  the  country  is  in 
the  utmost  consternation,  nobody  here  knows  what  has  become 
of  the  President,  nor  do  they  seem  to  care,  he  is  spoken  of 
without  respect  and  as  the  author  of  these  needless  calamities. 

3Oth — Every  new  account  that  we  receive  from  the  seat  of 
war  appears  fraught  with  yet  untold  disgrace — Philadelphia  is 
greatly  agitated  and  has  been  so  since  the  first  accounts  of  the 
landing  of  the  British  force. — The  most  zealous  democrats  give 
up  the  President  and  his  heads  of  departments  as  wholly  inade- 
quate to  the  direction  of  Public  affairs  in  this  crisis,  which  their 
folly  and  wickedness  have  brought  upon  us.  The  banks  too, 
refusing  to  part  with  their  silver,  have  added  to  the  confusion. 

Walsh  drank  tea  with  me  to  day,  and  told  me  amongst  other 
news  that  Admiral  Cockbourn  went  to  the  Palace  with  a  card 
in  his  hand  and  asked  for  Mrs.  Madison,  saying  at  the  same 
time  if  she  was  there,  that  the  palace  and  all  its  contents 
should  be  safe. — The  President  was  on  horseback  and  had 
General  Mason  and  abundance  of  others  to  escort  him,  but  was 
shaking  with  fear — nothing  was  done  as  it  ought  to  have  been 
done,  the  best  troops  had  but  9  rounds  of  cartridges  and  after 
using  them  had  to  retreat  without  any  rallying  point,  or  any 
system  at  all.  The  President  is  represented  as  deeply  mortified, 
repenting  of  the  confidence  he  has  placed  in  Armstrong,  who, 
it  is  now  said  has  resigned. 

3 1st — Nothing  very  new  today,  but  fuller  accounts  of  the 
disasters  at  Washington,  every  one  appearing  to  wish  to  shift 
the  blame  on  those  public  characters  most  obnoxious  to  their 
party.  Poor  General  Winder  and  the  Secretary  of  War  (most 
justly)  will  perhaps  be  the  political  scapegoats,  on  this  shame- 
ful occasion. 


AUTHORSHIP   OF  VALERIUS.  4*3 

I  find  many  of  the  reports  are  unfounded  which  we  have 
heard  of  the  late  events — many  are  distorted,  and  some  untrue 
— It  is  not  worth  while  to  write  one  day  what  one  must  correct 
or  contradict  the  next,  but  what  I  have  here  set  down  may  at 
least  serve  as  a  memento  of  the  alarm  and  confusion  which 
this  disgraceful  affair  has  occasioned.  And  here  let  me  men- 
tion an  anecdote  of  Armstrong,  given  on  the  best  authority,  as 
true.  He  has  always  displayed  a  love  of  intrigue,  a  dereliction 
of  principle,  and  a  baseness  of  deceit,  which  should  draw  on 
him  the  scorn  of  every  honest  mind,  from  his  first  appearance 
in  public  life  until  this  time.  He  read  law,  when  a  young  man, 
under  my  honoured  cousin  John  Dickinson,  and  had  received 
from  him  polite  and  kind  attentions,  and  when  John  Dickinson 
was  President  of  Pennsylvania,  under  the  first  revolutionary 
constitution,  Armstrong,  applied  for  the  office  of  Secretary 
which  was  granted  to  him,  and  he  was  of  course  much  in 
J.  Dickinson's  family,  receiving  daily  proofs  of  his  confidence 
and  friendship,  yet  at  this  period  he  was  actually  the  writer  of 
all  those  ill-natured  and  detestable  paragraphs  in  some  of  the 
public  prints  which  wounded  the  mind  of  his  patron  but  too 
sensibly,  and  perhaps  caused  him  to  leave  a  state  which  he 
thought  ungrateful  to  him  for  his  best  services. 

Armstrong  has,  since  the  affair  at  Washington  resigned, 
indignant,  as  it  should  seem,  and  has  published  a  letter  on  the 
occasion,  in  which  "  more  is  meant  than  meets  the  ear."  How 
will  what  he  says  of  the  President  coming  to  his  lodgings,  to 
sound  him  about  giving  up  part  of  his  authority  as  Secretary 
of  War,  sound,  in  the  ears  of  Europeans  ? — 

He  has  however  now  retired,  and  I  hope  his  ability  to  do 
mischief  is  curtailed  effectually — The  public  voice  has  been 
much  against  him — 

D.  L. 


424  APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX    VIII. 

DRAFT   OF   AN   ACT    FOR   THE   GRADUAL  ABOLITION   OF  SLAVERY 
IN    DELAWARE. 

(From  the  original  in  the  handwriting  of  John  Dickinson  in  the 
Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania^) 

§  I.  For  the  gradual  abolition  of  Slavery  Be  it  enacted  and 
it  is  hereby  enacted  &c.  That  no  negro,  Mulatto  or  other 
Person,  who  shall  be  born  within  this  State  after  the  passing 
of  this  act  shall  be  a  slave  or  servant  for  life ;  and  that  all 
Slavery  or  servitude  for  life,  in  cases  of  children  who  shall  be 
hereafter  born  within  this  .State  shall  be  and  the  same  is  hereby 
extinguished  and  forever  abolished. 

§  2.  Provided  always  nevertheless  That  every  Negro  and 
Mulatto  who  shall  hereafter  be  born  within  this  State,  and  who 
would  if  this  act  had  not  been  made,  have  been  a  Slave  or  ser- 
vant for  life,  shall  be  the  servant  of  such  Person  as  would  in 
such  case  have  been  entitled  to  the  service  of  such  child,  until 
he  or  she  shall  attain  the  age  of  years,  in  the  like  manner 

and  on  the  same  conditions  as  servants  bound  by  Indenture 
for  term  of  years  are  or  may  be  holden,  and  shall  be  liable  to 
like  correction  and  punishment  and  entitled  to  the  like  relief 
for  any  ill  treatment  from  his  or  her  Master,  Mistress,  or  any 
other  Person  and  to  the  like  freedom  dues  and  other  priviledges 
in  all  respects,  unless  the  master  or  mistress  of  any  such  child 
shall  abandon  his  or  her  claim  to  the  same,  in  which  case  it 
shall  and  may  be  lawful  for  the  overseers  of  the  Poor  of  the 
Hundred  or  county  where  such  child  shall  be  abandoned  as 
afsd,  to  bind  out  the  same  by  Indenture  as  an  apprentice  to 
learn  some  useful  art,  trade,  mistery  or  calling  until  he  or  she 
shall  attain  an  age  not  exceeding  years. 

§  3.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  afsd  That  the 


ABOLITION  OF  SLA  VERY  IN  DEL  A  WARE.       425 

owner  of  every  child  born  after  the  passing  of  this  act  who 
would  by  virtue  hereof  be  liable  to  serve  until  the  age  of 
years  shall  within  six  months  after  the  birth  of  such  child, 
deliver  or  cause  to  be  delivered  in  writing  to  the  Clerk  of  the 
Peace  of  the  County  in  which  he  or  she  shall  reside,  the  name, 
sirname  and  occupation  or  profession  of  such  owner  and  of  the 
hundred  and  county  in  which  he  or  she  resides  and  also  the 
age  (to  the  best  of  his  or  her  knowledge)  name  and  sex  of 
every  such  child  and  in  default  thereof  every  such  child  shall 
immediately  from  and  after  the  expiration  of  the  said  Term  of 
six  months  be  free. 

§  4.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  afsd  that  the 
owner  of  every  Negro  or  Mulatto  Slave  or  Servant  for  life  or 
till  the  age  of  years  now  within  this  State  or  his  lawful 
attorney  shall  on  or  before  the 

deliver  or  cause  to  be  delivered  in  writing  to  the  Clerk  of  the 
Peace  of  the  County  in  which  he  or  she  shall  respectively 
inhabit  the  name  Sirname  and  occupation  or  profession  of  such 
owner  and  the  name  of  the  County  and  hundred  in  which  he 
or  she  resideth  and  also  the  name,  age  and  Sex  of  every  such 
Slave  or  Servant  for  life  or  until  the  age  of  years ;  and  all 
the  returns  or  accounts  in  writing  in  and  by  this  act  required 
to  be  made  as  afsd  shall  be  verified  by  the  Person  making  the 
same  to  the  best  of  his  or  her  knowledge  and  belief  on  his  or 
her  oath  or  affirmation  administered  by  the  said  Clerks  respec- 
tively who  shall  in  books  for  that  purpose  to  be  provided  make 
and  preserve  records  thereof,  copies  of  which  records  certified 
by  the  said  Clerks  respectively  or  by  their  Successors  in  office 
under  the  Seal  of  office  shall  be  good  Evidence  in  all  Courts 
and  elsewhere ;  for  which  oath  or  affirmation  and  entry  the 
said  Clerks  respectively  shall  be  entitled  to  and  the  like 

sum  for  every  copy  thereof  certified  as  afsd  to  be  paid  by  the 
party  making  such  return  or  demanding  such  copy,  and  no 
negro  or  Mulatto  Slave  or  Servant  for  life  or  until  the  age 
of  years  now  within  this  State  whose  name  shall  not  be 
entered  in  the  manner  by  this  act  required  on  or  before  the 


426  APPENDIX. 


said  shall  from  and  after  that  time  be 

a  Slave  or  Servant  for  life  or  until  the  age  of  years  except 
such  Negro  and  Mulatto  Slaves  or  Servants  as  are  herein  after 
excepted  but  shall  be  wholly  free  and  discharged  from  all 
further  service — A 

§  5.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  afsd  That  no 
Man  or  Woman  of  any  Nation  or  Colour  except  the  negroes 
and  Mulattos  who  shall  be  registered  as  afsd  shall  be  deemed 
adjudged  or  holden  within  this  State  as  Slaves  or  Servants  for 
life  or  (except  such  as  are  or  shall  be  bound  by  Indenture  to 
serve  for  any  Term  or  time  not  exceeding  the  age  of  years) 
for  any  term  of  years  and  except  also  the  domestic  Slaves 
attending  upon  Delegates  in  Congress  from  other  States,  on 
Persons  from  such  States  having  business  to  transact  with 
Congress,  on  foreign  Ministers  or  Consuls  or  on  Persons  pass- 
ing through  this  State  and  not  becoming  residents  thereof  and 
Seamen  employed  in  Ships  not  belonging  in  whole  or  in  part 
to  any  Inhabitant  of  this  State ;  Provided  such  domestic  Slaves 
be  not  aliened  or  sold  to  any  Inhabitant  of  this  State  or  other 
Person  nor  (except  in  the  case  of  Members  of  Congress,  Per- 
sons from  other  States  having  Business  to  transact  with  Con- 
gress, foreign  Ministers  and  Consuls)  retained  in  this  State 
longer  than  six  months. 

§  6.  Provided  nevertheless  That  neither  this  act  nor  any 
thing  in  it  contained  shall  give  relief  or  shelter  to  any  runaway 
Negro  Slave  or  Servant  from  any  Master  or  Mistress  residing 
in  any  other  State  or  Country  but  such  Master  or  Mistress 
shall  have  like  right  and  aid  to  demand  claim  and  take  such 
Slave  or  Servant  as  he  or  she  might  have  had  if  this  Act  had 

A — Provided  nevertheless  That  no  Person  in  whom  the  ownership  or  right  to 
the  Service  of  any  Negro  or  Mulatto  of  the  age  of  fifty  years  or  upwards  at  the 
time  of  passing  this  act  is  vested  his  her  or  their  heirs  Executors  administrators 
or  assignes  shall  be  exempted  by  any  thing  herein  contained  from  being  liable  to 
indemnify  the  county  or  Hundred  in  which  any  such  negro  or  mulatto  may  be- 
come chargeable  against  the  Burthen  and  expense  thereof  altho'  such  negro  or 
mulatto  shall  not  have  been  registered  as  is  herein  before  directed.  [Marginal 
note  in  the  original.] 


ABOLITION  OF  SLAVERY  IN  DELAWARE.       W 

not  been  made  and  that  all  Negro  and  Mulatto  Slaves  and 
Servants  until  the  age  of  years  now  owned  and  heretofore 
resident  in  this  State  who  have  absented  themselves  or  been 
wrongfully  carried  away  or  employed  as  Seamen  abroad  and 
who  have  not  returned  or  been  brought  back  to  their  owners 
before  the  passing  of  this  act  may  at  any  time  within  six 
months  after  they  shall  respectively  return  or  be  brought  back 
as  afsd  be  registered  in  manner  afsd  on  producing  such  slave  or 
servant  before  any  two  Justices  of  the  Peace  of  the  proper 
County  and  on  satisfying  them  by  due  proof  of  the  former 
Residence  absconding,  taking  away  or  absence  as  afsd  of  such 
Slave  or  Servant  and  on  an  order  for  that  purpose  being  had 
and  obtained  from  the  sd  Justices. 

§  7.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid 
that  no  Negro  or  Mulatto  Slave  or  Servant  for  Term  of  Years 
(except  those  belonging  to  Members  of  Congress  from  other 
States,  to  persons  from  such  States  having  Business  to  transact 
with  Congress  to  foreign  Ministers  and  Consuls  and  to  persons 
passing  through  the  State  and  not  becoming  residents  thereof 
shall  be  removed  out  of  this  State  with  the  Design  or  Inten- 
tion that  the  place  of  abode  or  Residence  of  such  Slave  or 
Servant  shall  be  altered  or  changed,  or  with  the  Design  or 
Intention  that  such  Slave  or  Servant  (if  a  Female  and  preg- 
nant) shall  be  detained  out  of  this  State  until  her  Delivery  of  the 
child  of  which  she  is  or  shall  be  pregnant  or  with  the  Design 
that  such  Slave  or  Servant  shall  be  brought  again  into  this  State 
after  the  expiration  of  six  months  from  the  time  of  his  or  her 
having  been  first  brought  into  this  State,  without  his  or  her  con- 
sent, if  of  full  age,  testified  on  a  private  Examination  before  two 
Justices  of  the  Peace  of  the  County  in  which  he  or  she  shall 
reside  or  if  under  the  age  of  twenty  one  years  without  his  or 
her  Consent  testified  in  manner  afsd  and  also  without  the  Con- 
sent of  his  or  her  parents  or  Guardians  testified  in  manner  afsd 
whereof  the  sd  Justices  shall  make  a  Record  and  deliver  to  the 
sd  Slave  or  Servant  a  copy  thereof  containing  the  name,  age, 
Term  of  Servitude  and  Place  of  abode  of  such  Slave  or  Servant, 


428  APPENDIX. 


the  reason  of  such  removal  and  the  Place  to  which  he  or  she 
is  about  to  go ;  and  if  any  Person  shall  sell  and  dispose  of  any 
such  Slave  or  Servant  to  any  Person  out  of  this  State  or  whose 
usual  and  settled  Place  of  Residence  is  not  within  it,  or  who  is 
or  shall  be  known  to  be  about  to  remove  therefrom ;  or  shall 
send  or  carry  or  cause  to  be  sent  or  carried  any  such  Slave  or 
Servant  out  of  this  State  for  any  of  the  purposes  afsd  without 
having  obtained  such  consent  as  is  by  this  Act  required  testi- 
fied as  afsd  he  she  or  they  so  offending  and  his  her  or  their 
Aiders  and  Abetters  shall  severally  forfit  and  pay  for  every 
such  offence  the  sum  of  £i$o  to  be  recovered  in  any  Court  of 
Record  by  Action  of  Debt  Bill  Case  or  information  at  the  Suit 
of  any  Person  or  Persons  who  shall  sue  for  the  same  one 
Moiety  thereof  for  the  Use  of  the  Plaintiff  or  Informer  and 
the  other  Moiety  thereof  for  the  use  of  this  Commonwealth, 
and  in  all  such  Cases  every  such  Slave  or  Servant  shall  imme- 
diately be  free. 

§  8.  And  in  order  that  this  Act  may  not  be  evaded  by  intro- 
ducing into  this  State  Negroes  and  Mulattoes,  bound  by  Cov- 
enant to  serve  for  long  and  unreasonable  Terms  of  years.  Be 
it  further  enacted  by  the  Authority  afsd  that  no  Covenant  or 
other  Contract  of  Personal  Servitude  or  Apprentiship  shall  be 
valid  or  binding  on  any  Negro  or  Mulatto  for  any  longer  time 
than  seven  years  unless  such  Servant  or  Apprentice  were  at 
the  Commencement  of  such  Servitude  or  Apprentiship  under 
the  age  of  twenty  years  in  which  Case  such  Negro  or  Mulatto 
may  be  holden  as  a  Servant  or  Apprentice  respectively  accord- 
ing to  the  Covenant  as  the  Case  shall  be  until  he  or  she  shall 
attain  the  age  of  years  and  no  longer. 

§  9.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  Authority  afsd  that 
if  any  Person  or  Persons  shall  build  fit  equip  victual  man  or 
otherwise  prepare  any  Ship  or  Vessel  within  any  Port  or  place 
of  this  State  or  shall  cause  or  procure  any  Ship  or  other  Vessel 
to  sail  from  any  such  Port  or  place  for  the  Purpose  of  carrying 
on  a  Trade  or  Traffic  in  Slaves  to  from  or  between  Europe 
Asia  Africa  or  America  or  any  Places  or  Countries  whatever 


ABOLITION  OF  SLAVERY  IN  DELAWARE.       429 

or  of  transporting  Slaves  to  or  from  one  Port  or  Place  to 
another  in  any  Part  or  Parts  of  the  world  such  Ship  or  Vessel 
her  Tackle  furniture  apparel  and  other  appurtenances  shall  be 
forfeited  one  Moiety  thereof  for  the  Use  of  the  Commonwealth 
and  the  other  Moiety  for  the  Use  of  the  Informer  and  shall 
be  liable  to  be  seized  and  prosecuted  by  any  officer  or  other 
Person  by  Information  in  Rem  in  any  Court  of  Record  within 
this  State  whereupon  such  Proceedings  shall  be  had  as  to  right 
and  Justice  shall  appertain  according  to  the  true  Intent  and 
Meaning  of  this  Act  and  agreeably  to  the  Constitution  and 
Laws  of  this  State  and  moreover  all  and  every  Person  and 
Persons  so  building  fitting  out  manning  equipping  victualling 
or  otherwise  preparing  sending  away  or  employing  on  his  own 
Account  or  that  of  others  any  such  Ship  or  Vessel  knowing 
or  intending  that  the  same  shall  be  employed  in  such  Trade  or 
Business  or  who  shall  in  any  wise  be  aiding  or  abetting 
therein  shall  severally  forfeit  and  pay  the  Sum  of  one  thousand 
pounds  one  Moiety  thereof  to  the  Use  of  the  State  and  the 
other  Moiety  to  the  use  of  him  or  her  or  who  will  sue  for  the 
same  to  be  recovered  with  Costs  of  Suit  by  Bill,  Plaint  or 
Information. 

§  10.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  Authority  afsd  that  if 
any  Person  or  Persons  shall  by  force  or  violence  take  or  carry 
or  cause  to  be  taken  or  carried  or  shall  by  fraud  or  stratagem 
seduce  or  cause  to  be  seduced  any  free  Negro  or  Mulatto  from 
any  Part  or  Parts  of  this  State  to  any  other  Place  within  the 
same  or  elsewhere  with  the  Design  or  Intention  of  selling  or 
disposing  or  of  causing  to  be  sold  or  disposed  or  of  keeping 
or  detaining  or  of  causing  to  be  kept  or  detained  such  Negro 
or  Mulatto  as  a  Slave  or  Servant  for  Term  of  Years  every 
such  Person  or  Persons  so  offending  their  Aiders  and  Abettors 
shall  on  conviction  thereof  in  any  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions 
within  this  State  severally  forfeit  and  pay  the  Sum  of  one  hun- 
dred Pounds  to  the  Overseers  of  the  Poor  of  the  City  or  County 
from  which  such  Negro  or  Mulatto  shall  have  been  taken  or 
seduced  as  afsd  and  shall  also  be  confined  at  hard  Labor  for 


430  APPENDIX. 


any  time  not  less  than  six  months  nor  more  than  years 

and  until  the  Costs  of  Prosecution  shall  be  paid. 

§  II.  And  in  order  to  prevent  the  separating  of  Husbands 
and  Wives  and  of  Parents  and  Children  so  far  as  may  be  done 
without  Prejudice  to  the  Owners  thereof  Be  it  enacted  by  the 
authority  afsd  that  if  any  owner  or  Possessor  of  any  Negro  or 
Mulatto  Slave  or  Servant  shall  from  and  after  the  passing  of 
this  Act  separate  or  remove  or  cause  to  be  separated  or  re- 
moved a  Husband  from  his  Wife,  a  Wife  from  her  Husband  a 
Parent  from  a  Child  or  a  Child  from  a  Parent  of  any  or  either 
of  the  Descriptions  afsd  to  a  greater  distance  than  ten  Miles 
with  the  Design  or  Intention  of  changing  the  Habitation  or 
Place  of  abode  of  such  Husband,  Parent  or  Child  unless  such 
Child  be  above  the  Age  of  four  years  or  unless  the  Consent  of 
such  Slave  or  Servant  shall  have  been  obtained  and  testified  in 
Manner  afsd  such  Person  or  Persons  shall  severally  forfeit  and 
pay  the  Sum  of  fifty  Pounds  for  every  such  offence  to  be  re- 
covered with  Costs  of  suit  by  Action  of  Debt  Bill  Plaint  or 
Information  in  any  Court  of  Record  at  the  Suit  of  any  Person 
who  will  sue  for  the  same. 

§  12.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  Authority  afsd  that 
where  any  Master  or  Mistress  hath  manumitted  or  set  free  or 
hereafter  shall  manumit  or  set  free  any  Negro  or  Mulatto  then 
being  under  the  age  of  years  and  in  no  ways  cripled  or 

rendered  incapable  of  getting  a  living  without  giving  Security 
to  indemnify  the  County  every  such  Negro  and  Mulatto  shall 
be  and  is  hereby  declared  to  be  free  as  fully  and  amply  as  if 
such  Security  had  been  given. 

§  13.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  Authority  afsd  that  the 
Crimes  and  Offences  of  Negroes  and  Mulattoes  as  well  Slaves 
and  Servants  as  freemen  shall  be  enquired  off  adjudged  cor- 
rected and  punished  in  like  manner  as  the  offences  and  crimes 
of  other  Inhabitants  of  this  State  are  and  shall  be  and  not 
otherwise  except  that  a  Slave  shall  not  be  admitted  to  bear 
witness  against  a  Freeman. 

§  14.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  Authority  afsd  that  in 


ABOLITION  OF  SLAVERY  IN  DELAWARE.       43 1 

all  Cases  where  Sentence  of  Death  shall  be  pronounced  against 
a  Slave  the  Jury  by  whom  he  or  she  shall  be  tried  shall  ap- 
praise and  declare  the  Value  of  such  Slave  and  if  such  Sen- 
tence shall  be  executed  the  Court  shall  make  an  Order  on  the 
State  Treasurer  payable  to  the  Owner  for  the  Amount  of  such 
appraised  value. 

§  15.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  Authority  afsd  that 
the  Reward  for  taking  up  runaway  and  absconding  Negro  and 
Mulatto  Slaves  and  Servants  and  the  Penalties  for  enticing 
away  dealing  with  or  harbouring  concealing  or  employing 
Negro  or  Mulatto  Slaves  and  Servants  shall  be  the  Same  and 
be  recovered  in  like  Manner  as  in  the  Case  of  white  Servants. 

I  suppose  a  clause  repealing  former  Laws  respecting  Negroes 
and  Mulattos  should  be  added  but  I  am  not  sufficiently  ac- 
quainted with  the  Laws  of  Delaware  to  be  able  say  whether 
all  such  Acts  should  be  repealed  or  only  particular  ones  by 
Name. 


INDEX. 


Adams,  John,  as  a  lawyer,  33. 

and  popular  government,  113. 
opposes  conciliation,  158. 
and  Dickinson  quarrel,  159. 
resolutions   of    May  10-15,   ' 

179. 
Adams,  Samuel,  as  a  lawyer,  34. 

his  opinion  of  the  Quakers,  103. 
and  Dickinson,  107. 
Allegiance,    nature    of,    according    to 

Dickinson,  164. 
Allen,  James,  account  of  the  Assembly 

of  1776,  207. 
Allison,  Dr.,  his  reputation  as  a  Latin 

scholar,  16. 

Armed  resistance,  obstacles  to,  121. 
Assembly,  Supply  and  Military  Bills  of 

1764,  55- 
petitions  the  king   to  resume  the 

government    of    the    province, 

56. 

petition  to  the  king  in  1764,  60. 
elects  delegates  to  Congress,  118. 
of  1775,  character  of  its  members, 

167. 
struggles  to  preserve  the  charter  in 

1776,  177. 

of  1776  makes  concessions,  179. 
left  without  a  quorum,  June,  1776, 

189. 

Basis  of  instruction  in  the  Inns  of 
Court,  the  English  common  law, 
24. 

Binney,  Horace,  his  opinion  of  the 
treatment  of  her  great  men  by  Phila- 
delphia, 338. 

Boston,  port  closed,  97. 


28 


Boston,  message  to  Philadelphia  in 
*774>  105. 

Charter  privileges,  48. 

strong  atachment  to  its  provisions 

in  1776,  169. 
efforts  to  preserve  it,  170. 

Circular  letter  of  Massachusetts,  94. 

City  Tavern,  meeting  at,  107. 

Clergy,  the,  not  lawyers,  leaders  in 
New  England,  29,  30. 

College  of  Philadelphia  loses  its  endow- 
ments, 225. 

Colleges  in  Colonial  days,  16. 

Colonial  system,  88. 

Common-law  training,  English  and 
American  students,  26. 

Confederation,  Articles  of,  drafted  by 
Dickinson,  necessity  for  their  re- 
vision, 253. 

Congress  of  1774,  measures  adopted  by, 

137- 
favors   conciliation  in  May,  1776, 

172. 
Consistency  of  Dickinson's  views  when 

the  Declaration  was  adopted,  198. 
Constitutional  resistance,  90. 
Constitutionalists    (State)    in   Pennsyl- 
vania, 185. 

Continental  line,  address  of  officers,  227. 
Contributions  to  various  charities,  328. 
Controversies  after  the  Constitution  was 

adopted,  Dickinson's  share  in,  276. 
Convention  called  in  Pennsylvania,  185. 
at  Annapolis,  recommendations  of, 

256. 

Correspondence  with  Jefferson,  290. 
Crosia-dor6,  12. 

433 


434 


INDEX. 


Debates   in  Constitutional    Convention 

secret,  264. 
Delegates  to  Congress  in  1774,  sketch 

of,  119. 
from     Massachusetts,     reputation, 

130. 
reception   of,   in    Philadelphia    in 

1774,  132. 

Democrats,  different  schools  of,  282. 
Dickinson  College  at  Carlisle,  326. 
Dickinson  family,  9. 
DICKINSON,  JOHN,  when  born,  and  who 

were  his  parents,  13,  14. 
great    proficiency   in   his    studies, 

18. 

his  fellow-students,  19. 
studies  law  with  John  Moland,  of 

Philadelphia,  19. 
enters  the    Middle   Temple   as    a 

student  of  law  in  1753,  21. 
and  Samuel  Adams  contrasted,  35. 
his  first  efforts  at  the  bar,  36. 
member  of  the  Assembly  in  1762, 

38. 
opposes  the  petition  to   the   king 

asking  that  he  would  resume  the 

government,  60. 
his  speech,  61. 
views  of  the  Sugar  Act  and  Stamp 

Act,  67,  68. 

views  of  the  nature  of  parliamen- 
tary taxation,  70-74. 
reputation  acquired  by  the  Farm- 
er's Letters,  92. 

becomes  unpopular  in  Boston,  100. 
views  about  paying  for  the  tea,  106. 
and  the  historical  school,  114. 
a  member  of  Congress  of  1774,  140. 
drafts  petition  to  king  and  address 

to  the  people  of  Canada,  142. 
drafts    declaration    of    causes    of 

taking  up  arms,  July,  1775,  161. 
active  in  raising  troops,  163. 
colonel  of  First  Battalion  of  Asso- 

ciators,  175. 


DICKINSON,  JOHN,  his  course  in  the 
Continental  Congress,  190. 

prepares  draft  of  Articles  of  Con- 
federation and  treaties,  July, 
1776,  191. 

supposed  speech  on  the  Declara- 
tion, 193. 

opposes  the  Declaration  as  inop- 
portune, 193-196. 

letter  to  Mercy  Warren,  195. 

his  services  during  the  Jersey  cam- 
paign, 205. 

not  re-elected  as  a  delegate  to  Con- 
gress, 206. 

resigns  his  commission  in  the  army, 
206. 

member  of  the  first  Assembly  under 
the  Constitution,  207. 

withdraws  from  public  service,  209. 

retires  to  Delaware,  212. 

a  private  in  the  Delaware  militia, 
213. 

appointed  brigadier-general,  214. 

serves  in  the  battle  of  the  Brandy- 
wine,  214. 

sent  as  a  delegate  to  Congress  by 
Delaware  in  1779,  217. 

attacked  by  Valerius,  230. 

character  and  defence,  237-240. 

as  an  admiralty  judge,  252. 

at  convention  at  Annapolis,  256. 

at  convention  at  Philadelphia,  258. 
sketch  of  its  work,  258-260. 

drafts  the  original  Articles  of  Con- 
federation, 258. 

proposes  election  of  senators  by 
the  Legislatures  of  the  States, 
260. 

views  on  various  provisions  of  the 
proposed  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  260. 

retires  from  public  life,  278. 

on  Federal  "  delusions,"  285. 

peculiar  democracy,  290. 

marriage,  316. 


INDEX. 


435 


DICKINSON,  JOHN,  dislike  of  publicit3 

at  weddings,  317. 
founds  a  prize  at  Princeton  College 

325- 

his  declining  years,  332. 
kindness   to  the  family  of  Judg< 

Read,  333. 
portrait  of,  by  Mr.  Read  and  Mrs 

Logan,  335. 
his  death,  336. 

vindication  of  his  career,  Appen- 
dix V.  and  VIII. 
Disputes  between  the  Proprietary  family 
and  the  people,  causes  of,  39-45. 

Education,  provincial,  16. 

"  Fabius"  and  the  "  Federalist"  on  the 

Constitution,  268. 
historical  illustrations,  270-272. 
opinion  of  Washington  on,  274. 
second  series,  296. 
Fair    Hill   described   by  Mrs.    Logan, 

3"- 

Fair  Hill  and  Sepviva  estates  conveyed 
to  the  male  heirs  of  the  Norris  family, 
33*. 

Farmer's  Letters,  79. 
Franklin  and  Dickinson,  41. 
their  influence,  81. 
argument,  84. 

Franklin's  position  in  Pennsylvania  be- 
fore the  Revolution,  42. 
French  alliance  and  Spanish  mediation, 

219. 

Revolution,  effect  on  parties  here, 
28. 

Galloway,  resolutions  of  1764,  58. 

proposal  of  federation,  136. 
Germans  in  Pennsylvania,  46. 
Gerry,  Elbridge,  letter  about  destroy- 
ing the  charter,  72. 
opposes  revision  of  the  Articles  of 
Confederation,  264. 


Indian  war  in  Pennsylvania,  53,  54. 
Inns  of  Court,  sketch  of,  22. 
Instructions  to  delegates  rescinded,  188. 

Jav»  John,  his  attitude  towards  inde- 
pendence, 197. 

president  of  Congress  in  1779,  2'7' 

commissioner  to  Spain,  217. 
Jay's  treaty,  294. 
Jefferson  and  Dickinson,  298. 
Jefferson's  dread  of  centralization,  284. 

influence,  284. 

theory  of  government,  289. 

letter  concerning  Mr.  Dickinson's 
death,  336. 

Killen,  William,  private  tutor  of  Dick- 
inson, 18. 

Legal  principles  and  natural  equity,  31. 
Letter  to  McKean,  295. 
Letters  to  Dr.  Logan,  292. 
Logan,  William,  letter  concerning  his 
marriage,  317. 

Martial  law,  224. 

McKean,  Thomas,  member  of  Stamp 

Act  Congress,  72. 
member  of  Continental  Congress, 

121. 

letters  to,  286. 
Mercer,  General  Hugh,  his  command 

at  Elizabethtown,  205. 
Ministry  obdurate,  86. 
Moland,  John,  Dickinson's  preceptor  in 

the  law,  19. 


England,  union  in,  127. 
delegates,  reception    in   Philadel- 

phia, 1774,  132. 
efforts  to  destroy  the  charter, 

171. 

^on-conformists,  II. 
Morris  family,  the,  309. 


436 


INDEX. 


Norris,  Isaac,  the  elder,  308. 
Isaac,  the  Speaker,  309. 

Opposition  to  the  Constitution,  various 

forms  of,  266. 
Otis,  James,  as  a  lawyer,  33. 


Parliamentary  taxation,  different  views 

in  different  parts  of  the  country,  77. 
Pennsylvania,  condition  of,  in  1739,  45. 
controversy  with  the  Penn  family, 

45-52. 
sketch  of  the  history  of,  prior  to 

1755.  45-52. 
taxation,  paper  money,  and  militia, 

50-55- 

Convention  of  July,  1774,  no. 
Convention,  instructions  to  the  As- 
sembly, 112. 
ratifies  the  acts  of  Congress  of  1774, 

149. 

second  Provincial  Convention,  150. 
military  force  raised,  152. 

nature  of,  154. 
"  the  Associators,"  153-156. 
Assembly  of  1775,  instructions  to 

delegates  to  Congress,  165. 
anarchical   condition  of,  in   1783, 

224-226. 
organization   of    the    government, 

228. 
revolt  of  the  troops  at  Lancaster, 

Dickinson's  account  of  the  same, 

246. 
Petition  to  the  king  (first),  authorship 

of  Dickinson  disputed,  143. 
Petition  to  the  king,  July,  1775,  157. 
Philadelphia   students   at  the   Inns  of 

Court,  28. 
nature  of  resistance  to  the  ministry, 

109. 
advises  Boston  to  pay  for  the  tea 

destroyed,  109. 
society  in  1774,  133. 


Pennsylvania  Associators  under  Dick- 
inson's command  in  the  Jersey  cam- 
paign, 204. 

Political  libels  common,  232. 

Pontiac's  war,  53. 

Proprietaries,  deep  discontent  with  their 
government,  56. 

Proprietary  government  in  Pennsylva- 
nia, nature  of,  39. 
estate,  42. 

Puritans  and  Quakers,  124. 

Quaker  resistance,  how  manifested,  126. 
Quakers,  the  king  petitioned  in  1755 

to  render  them  ineligible  for  the 

Assembly,  44,  52. 
their  relations  to  the  revolutionary 

movement,  115. 

Races  in  Pennsylvania,  46. 
Ratification  of  the  Constitution  uncer- 
tain, 265. 
Reed,  Joseph,  105,  106-108. 

his  administration  as  President  of 

Pennsylvania,  224-226. 
Relations    of    religion    and    learning, 

330. 
Removal   from  Virginia  to  Maryland, 

12. 

Revolt  of  troops  at  Lancaster,  244. 
Revolutionary  spirit   in   Pennsylvania, 

181. 

Roberdeau,  Brigadier-General,  205. 
Rodney,  Caesar,  President  of  Delaware, 

214. 

Roman  law  and  the  common  law,  25. 
Rush,  Dr.,  a  violent  partisan,  but  a  friend 

of  Dickinson,  21 1,  278. 

Scotch-Irish  settlers,  characteristics  of, 

44. 
Slavery  in  Delaware,  323. 

in  the  new  Territories,  324. 
Smith,  Dr.,  the  provost,  15. 


INDEX. 


437 


Smith,  Dr.,  John  Adams's  opinion  of, 

1 08. 

writes  the  letter  to  Boston,  108. 
Soldiers  refuse  to  obey  the  Assembly, 

181. 

Spain  offers  mediation,  221. 
Stamp  Act  Congress,  71. 

Act  repealed,  74. 
State    sovereignty,    controversy  about, 

276. 

Suffolk  resolutions,  138. 
Sugar  Act  and  the  proposed  Stamp  Act, 
67. 

Thomson,  Charles,  his  account  of  Dick- 
inson's attitude  during  the  Revolu- 
tion, Appendix  II. 


Tilghman,  Edward,  account  of  the 
meeting  at  the  City  Tavern,  107. 

Tilghman,  Edward,  letters  to  his  father 
about  the  intrigues  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Congressmen,  174. 

Troops  sent  to  Boston,  96. 

Valerius  and  libels  of  that  day,  charges 

made,  236. 

Views  change  in  regard  to  France,  301. 
Virginia    recommends     independence, 

187. 

Wharton,  Thomas,  letters,  115. 
Wilson,  James,  in   Congress,  January, 

1776,  171. 
Wyoming  troubles,  247. 


THE   END. 


PRINTED  BY  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  COMPANY,  PHILADELPHIA. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SANTA  CRUZ 


This  book  is  due  on  the  last  DATE  stamped  below. 
To  renew  by  phone,  call  429-2756 


MAR  1 


7    1978  IEC'0 


DEC  15  1989 
DEC1819898EC'D 


507n-9,'72(Q4585s8)— 3A-1 


3  2106  00063  7