Today, I’m thankful for steadfast patriots who place the desires of the majority above their own personal ambitions.
In the town where I live with my wife and three sons, one of the main thoroughfares dissecting the town is a road now known as Montgomery Avenue. However, this narrow, busy avenue, previously known as Lancaster Pike in the 18th Century, once served as one of the main roads connecting the town of Philadelphia to the western reaches of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In fact, when railroads were built in the 19th Century, the main line that connected the city of Philadelphia to Pittsburgh ran parallel to this road. Remnants of the original track can be found in towns like Haverford, Bryn Mawr, and Wayne. Along the road one can also find some of the oldest buildings in the Lower Merion Township, including the Merion Friends Meeting House. In 1801, Dickinson deeded the land, consisting of several acres, to the Quaker community so a house of peaceful worship could be built. The property on which that old Quaker church still resides was once the property of man named John Dickinson.
Many people do not know who John Dickinson is. However, if you do know who he is, your memory of him may be marked by one event in his life that has since led many to call him un-American. However, the truth be told that John Dickinson is regarded by many historians as the first true American patriot and has rightfully earned the moniker of ‘Penman of the Revolution.’
Born on this day (Nov 8) in 1732, John Dickinson was the oldest of three sons (John, Thomas, and Philemon) born to a famous, affluent Quaker family in Maryland. Like his father, the honorable Judge Samuel Dickinson, John began studying law in Philadelphia when he was just 18 years of age, after matriculating from the College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton). A few years later, in 1853, he moved to London where he furthered his knowledge of the English court system for the next 4 years. Upon returning to the New World, he prospered as a lawyer and forayed into the world of politics, serving on both the and Pennsylvania Assembly and Delaware Legislature. So, it should come as no surprise that when the British government began to tax the colonies in the aftermath of the Seven Years War, John found himself as a critical figure at the Stamp Act Congress. At that meeting in New York City in 1765, Dickinson drafted the anti-Stamp Act resolution, providing the crucial arguments leading to the law’s repeal by the English Parliament. Similarly, a few years later, when Parliament instituted the Townsend Acts of 1767, John would lead the charge by advocating peacefully for its repeal. Writing under the pseudonym ‘Fabius’, he authored the famous ‘Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies’ wherein he advocated for the peaceful resistance to taxation without representation. The Townsend Acts were also eventually repealed.
With all these successes through peaceful opposition, John Dickinson came to be seen as the first political hero. Not surprisingly, he was invited to serve as a representative from the Pennsylvania colony at both the First and Second Continental Congresses. At these sessions, he petitioned for a peaceful resolution with the British throne. However, as the discontent over the aggressive hostilities in Boston grew, John found himself alone in this position. As July of 1776 approached and efforts towards a vote of independence gained momentum, John found himself at odds with the decision to issue the Declaration of Independence. However, he realized he was one of only two remaining dissenting opinions, so, at the urging of Benjamin Franklin, he abstained himself from that infamous July 2 vote so that a unanimous decision could be reached. Knowing the gravity of his decision would signify that he would not sign the Declaration of Independence, John expressed his own trepidation: ““My conduct this day, I expect, will give the finishing blow to my once too-great and, my integrity considered, now too-diminished popularity.”
As a result of his decision, many today see John Dickinson as some sort of traitor to this nation. However, they are sorely mistaken. In fact, John was only one of two members of the Second Continental Congress to enter military service during the American Revolution War, fighting valiantly as a brigadier general in the Pennsylvania militia and as a general in the Delaware militia. After the war ended, he served as the President of Delaware and the governor of Pennsylvania, garnering the distinction as the only individual to serve as the executive of two separate states. So popular was he that he secured the votes of 25 of the 26 members of the Delaware Assembly – the only dissenting vote was his own. He played a crucial role in authoring the original Articles of the Confederation and the eventual US Constitution (which he signed). He used his wealth to help the needy, educate the poor, and form higher institutions of learning (including Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania). When Thomas Jefferson became president, he chose John Dickinson to serve as his informal advisor.
Some might argue that John Dickinson was not a true patriot because he opted to abstain from the vote for independence. Others might argue differently, including men like John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, who realized his honorable act that day allowed for a unified voice. In fact, upon learning of his demise in 1808, Jefferson wrote of 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 continued to the last the orthodox advocate of the true principles of our new government..”
So, as I pass by the Merion Friends Meeting House today on my way to Wawa, I’ll make sure to wish a happy 288th birthday to the ‘Penman of the Revolution.’
Comments