John Dickinson (delegate)

Infobox Officeholder
honorific-prefix =
name = John Dickinson
honorific-suffix =


imagesize =
small

office = President of Pennsylvania
term_start = November 7 1782
term_end = October 18 1785
predecessor = William Moore
successor = Benjamin Franklin
office2 = President of Delaware
term_start2 = November 13 1781
term_end2 = November 7 1782
predecessor2 = Caesar Rodney
successor2 = John Cook
office3 = Continental Congressman
from Delaware
term_start3 = January 18 1779
term_end3 = February 10 1781
predecessor3 =
successor3 =
office4 = Continental Congressman
from Pennsylvania
term_start4 = August 2 1774
term_end4 = November 7 1776
predecessor4 =
successor4 =
birth_date = birth date|1732|11|2|mf=y
birth_place = Talbot County, Maryland
death_date = death date and age|1808|2|14|1732|11|2
death_place = Wilmington, Delaware
spouse = Mary (Polly) Norris
party = Democratic-Republican
residence = Kent County, Delaware
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Wilmington, Delaware
alma_mater =
occupation =
profession = lawyer
religion = Quaker (associated)

John Dickinson (November 8 1732 – February 14 1808) was an American lawyer and politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, Delaware. He was a militia officer during the American Revolution, a Continental Congressman from Pennsylvania and Delaware, a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, President of Delaware, President of Pennsylvania and served from 1782 to 1785 as an ex officio member and president of the board of trustees of the University of Pennsylvania. Among the wealthiest men in the British American colonies, he is known as the "Penman of the Revolution," for his "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania," where he eloquently argued the cause of American liberty. Although refusing to vote in favor of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he supported the establishment of the new government during the American Revolution and afterward in many official capacities.

Family history

Dickinson was born November 2 1732 [Various sources indicate a birth date of November 8, November 12 or November 13, but his most recent biographer, Flower, offers November 2 withahalalalalalsdfhsdofnsdfovgert|400|acre|km2|1] on the banks of the Choptank River he began a plantation, "Croisadore," meaning "cross of gold." He also bought convert|800|acre|km2|1 on St. Jones Neck in what became Kent County, Delaware.

Croisadore passed through Walter's son, William, to his grandson, Samuel, the father of John Dickinson. Each generation increased the landholdings, so that Samuel inherited 2500 acres (10 km²) on five farms in three Maryland counties and over his lifetime increased that to 9000 acres (36 km²). He also bought the Kent County property from his cousin and expanded it into a massive domain of some 3000 acres (12 km²) stretching along the St. Jones River from Dover to the Delaware Bay. There he began another plantation and called it “Poplar Hall.” These plantations were large, profitable agricultural enterprises worked by slave labor, producing tobacco in Talbot County and wheat and corn in the more sandy soil of Kent County. As a result the family was enormously wealthy.

Samuel Dickinson first married Judith Troth and they had nine children. As was often the case, four died as children, but tragically Judith herself died in 1729, and the three eldest sons died while in England seeking their education. Widowed, with two young children, Henry and Betsy, Samuel married Mary Cadwalader in 1731. She was the daughter of the prominent Quaker, John Cadwalader of Philadelphia. Their sons, John and Philemon, were born in the next few years.

For three generations the Dickinson family had been devout members of the Third Haven Friends Meeting in Talbot County and the Cadwaladers were equally devout members of the Meeting in Philadelphia. But in 1739, John Dickinson's half-sister, Betsy, was married in an Anglican Church to Charles Goldsborough in what was called a "disorderly marriage" by the Meeting. This event hurt Samuel Dickinson in such a way that he never participated in the Meeting again.

It may have also been one of the reasons for Samuel’s decision to move the family to "Poplar Hall" in 1740. Leaving "Croisadore" to elder son, Henry Dickinson, they made the trek to their new home, where Samuel had already taken a leading role in the community as Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Kent County. The move also placed Mary nearer her Philadelphia relations, and young John was to grow up under the growing attraction of that great metropolis.

By contemporary standards "Poplar Hall" was itself a busy place, situated on a now straightened bend of the St. Jones River. There was plenty of activity delivering the necessities, and shipping the agricultural products produced. Much of this product was wheat, an especially soft, fine wheat, that along with other wheat from the region, was milled into the famous “superfine” flour. But the people were largely servants and slaves, employed by, or doing business with the Dickinsons. Neighbors were a long way away over the marshy hinterland, and even those that were there were not close friends, separated psychologically by differences in wealth and religion. The land itself was a vast, damp, mosquito ridden domain, acquired because it was cheaper to buy than to improve, and therefore quickly worn out and abandoned. It had a subtle, quiet beauty, fully appreciated by John Dickinson and his father, but less so by others in the family, and not at all by his wife in the years to come.Fact|date=April 2008

Early life and education

Dickinson was educated at home, largely by doting parents, but also by recent immigrants employed for that purpose. Included among them was the Presbyterian minister Francis Alison, who later began the well known New London Academy in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Most important was William Killen, who became a life-long friend, and himself had a distinguished career as Delaware’s first Chief Justice and Chancellor. Dickinson was precocious and energetic, and in spite of his love of "Poplar Hall" and his family, was himself irresistibly drawn to the larger stage up river in Philadelphia.

Recognizing all this, his father sent him, at the age of 18, to begin studying the law under John Moland in Philadelphia. There he made friends with fellow students George Read and Samuel Wharton, among others, and enjoyed the new experience of urban life. By 1753 it was apparent that the place he really needed to study was London, and in spite of having already lost three sons while making similar trips, Samuel Dickinson agreed to send John for what ended up as three years of study at the Middle Temple. He spent those years studying the works of Edward Coke and Francis Bacon among others, at the Inns of Court, and by early 1757 was admitted to the Bar. After returning to "Poplar Hall" for a lengthy visit, he was back in Philadelphia by the fall, having begun his career as barrister and solicitor.

Philadelphia lawyer

Dickinson quickly rose to a respectable position at the Philadelphia Bar. Joined for a time by his brother, Philemon Dickinson, he was articulate and self-assured and carried a “dogmatic certainty about his actions and opinions.” This and a hypersensitivity to criticism led him into rivalry with the likes of Benjamin Chew and Joseph Galloway. But it also led him into long friendships with George Read and Thomas McKean of New Castle, Delaware, even if his political views often clashed with McKean. [ cite book |title=John Dickinson- Conservative Revolutionary |last=Flower |first=Milton E. ]

The areas now called Pennsylvania and Delaware were never one colony, although it had been the desire of the common Proprietor, William Penn, to make them so. While they continued to share the same executive, usually a Deputy Governor, since 1704 they had completely separate legislatures, one meeting in Philadelphia and the other in New Castle. Mid-eighteenth-century politics in Delaware, or the Lower Counties, as they were known, divided along the lines of a largely Anglican, Kent and Sussex County based, "Court Party" that worked well with the Proprietary, and a largely Ulster-Scot, Presbyterian, New Castle County based "Country Party" that opposed them.

Even though a resident of Philadelphia, Dickinson was elected to his first political office in October 1759, serving as one of six persons representing Kent County in the 1759/60 Assembly of the Lower Counties at New Castle. Elected again to the 1760/61 session, he was selected Speaker. In 1761 he failed to be elected to the Assembly of the Lower Counties, and later to the Pennsylvania General Assembly as well. But in the following year he won a special election for a seat from Philadelphia, and served in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, during the 1762/63 and 1764/65 sessions.

Mid-eighteenth-century Pennsylvania politics divided along the lines of a "Proprietary Party" and a "Popular or Quaker Party," led at first by David Lloyd and later by Benjamin Franklin. The minority Proprietary Party was strongly in support of the now Anglican Penn family's political and property interests. But it was also in favor of providing an adequate military effort to protect the colony. In order to gain seats it supported giving representation in the General Assembly to western areas. For both reasons it enjoyed strong support in the west. The main interest of the majority Popular Party was in limiting the proprietary authority, taxing the proprietary lands, and increasing the amount of locally printed paper currency in circulation. Ultimately they sought to end the apostate proprietorship and establish Pennsylvania as a royal colony. Dickinson associated with the Court faction in the Lower Counties and the Proprietary Party in the Province, as Pennsylvania was known. This was perhaps because of his concern for the inviolability of personal property, but also because he feared the possible loss of liberties that might accrue with an assumption of royal government. In the Lower Counties there was also a belief that the Proprietary was needed to finalize the favorable Mason-Dixon boundary of 1767 with Maryland and to keep the Lower Counties from being swallowed up by Pennsylvania.

This political issue brought Dickinson into a bitter conflict with Benjamin Franklin and his protégé, Joseph Galloway. A lengthy exchange of published pamphlets containing highly personal attacks eventually brought Dickinson and Galloway to blows on the floor of the General Assembly. The 1764 elections ousted Franklin and Galloway from the Assembly, but Franklin recovered with an appointment as Pennsylvania’s agent to Great Britain and Dickinson gained no respect from the brawling affair. He did not stand for election in 1765.

Personal affairs

In 1770 Dickinson married Mary Norris, also known as Polly, the daughter of another wealthy Philadelphia Quaker, and Speaker of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, Isaac Norris. They had two daughters, Sally and Maria. Dickinson never formally joined the Quaker Meeting, because, as he explained, he believed in the "lawfulness of defensive war." However, now married to another devout Quaker, he was always strongly influenced by the beliefs of the Society of Friends.

He was already among the wealthiest of men, and this marriage only increased that. In Philadelphia, he preferred to live at the family estate of his wife, called "Fairhill", near Germantown. Meanwhile he built an elegant mansion on Chestnut Street but never lived there as it was confiscated and turned into a hospital during his 1776-77 absence in Delaware. It then became the residence of the French ambassador, and still later the home of his brother, Philemon Dickinson. "Fairhill" was burned by the British during the Battle of Germantown. While in Philadelphia as State President, he lived at the confiscated mansion of Joseph Galloway at Sixth and Market Streets, now established as the State Presidential mansion.

As an adult Dickinson lived at his family home, "Poplar Hall", on the Jones Neck, in Kent County, for extended periods only in 1776-77 and 1781-82. In August 1781 it was sacked by Loyalists, and after being restored, was badly burned in 1804. This home is now owned by the State of Delaware, is undergoing restoration and is open to the public. After his service as President of Pennsylvania, he returned to live in Wilmington, Delaware in 1785 and built a mansion at the northwest corner of 8th and Market Streets.

Revolutionary politics

When delegates were picked to go to the Stamp Act Congress of 1765 in New York, New York, the General Assembly chose John Dickinson along with John Morton and George Bryan. There they approved a 14-point Declaration of Rights and Grievances, formulated largely by Dickinson.

During this time Dickinson had taken the leadership of a new faction in Pennsylvania politics known as the "Half and Half Whigs," because half came from the Proprietary Party and half from the Quaker Party. They were the first opponents in Pennsylvania of the new British taxation policies. Compared to their colleagues in other colonies they were moderates, satisfied to make requests to Parliament. It took the passage of the Townshend Acts in 1767 to move Dickinson to write his series of "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania". These were published first in the "Pennsylvania Chronicle" and became a central set of positions for American colonists resisting the new British policies of colonial taxation. In them Dickinson wrote that once Parliament established the right to levy these taxes "the several colonial legislatures would...before long fall into disuse" and "nothing would be left for them to do, higher than to frame by-laws for the impounding of cattle and the yoking of hogs." The fame of these letters would earn Dickinson the title of the "Penman of the Revolution." Of course, the farm to which reference is made was in Kent County, Delaware.

Continental Congress

As events unfolded Dickinson was one of Pennsylvania's delegates to the First Continental Congress in 1774 and the Second Continental Congress in 1775 and 1776. In support of the cause, he continued to contribute declarations in the name of the Congress. Among the most famous is one written with Thomas Jefferson, a "Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms", with Dickinson’s famous conclusion that Americans were "resolved to die free men rather than live slaves." Another was the "Olive Branch Petition," a last ditch appeal to King George III to resolve the dispute. But through it all, agreeing with New Castle County's George Read and many others in Philadelphia and the Lower Counties, Dickinson's object was reconciliation, not independence and revolution. He was a proud devotee of the British Constitution, and felt the dispute was with Parliament only. He was also a product of his Quaker heritage, which insisted that disputes be settled without violence.

When the Continental Congress began the debate on the Declaration of Independence on July 1, 1776, Dickinson reiterated his opposition to declaring independence at that time. Dickinson believed that Congress should complete the Articles of Confederation and secure a foreign alliance before issuing a declaration. He abstained or absented himself from the votes that declared independence (July 2) and approved the wording of the formal Declaration (July 4). Dickinson understood the implications of his refusal to vote, stating, "My conduct this day, I expect will give the finishing blow to my once too great and, my integrity considered, now too diminished popularity." Dickinson refused to sign the Declaration, and since a proposal had been brought forth and carried that stated, "for our mutual security and protection," no man could remain in Congress without signing, Dickinson voluntarily left and joined the Pennsylvania militia.

Following the Declaration of Independence, Dickinson was given the rank of brigadier general in the Pennsylvania militia, known as the Associators. He led some 10,000 soldiers to Elizabeth, New Jersey to protect that area against British attack from Staten Island. Because of his unpopular opinion on independence, two junior officers were promoted above him. He resigned his commission in December 1776 and went to stay at "Poplar Hall" in Kent County. While there he learned that his home on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia had been confiscated and converted into a hospital. Despite these setbacks, Dickinson insisted on always espousing his true feelings, no matter the consequence.

Congressman and President of Delaware

For more than two years Dickinson stayed at "Poplar Hill" in a long depression. The Delaware General Assembly tried to appoint him as their delegate to the Continental Congress in 1777, but he refused. In August 1777 he served as a private with the Kent County Militia at Middletown, Delaware under General Caesar Rodney to help delay General William Howe's march to Philadelphia. In October 1777, Dickinson's friend Thomas McKean appointed him Brigadier General of the Delaware Militia, but again Dickinson declined the appointment. Shortly afterwards he learned that the British had burned down his "Fairhill" property during the Battle of Germantown.

These years were not without accomplishment, however. In 1777, Dickinson, Delaware's wealthiest farmer and largest slaveholder, decided to free his slaves. While Kent County was not a large slave-holding area, like farther south in Virginia, and even though Dickinson had only 37 slaves, this was an action of some considerable courage. Undoubtedly the strongly abolitionist Quaker influences around them had their effect, and the action was all the easier because his farm had moved away from tobacco to the less labor intensive crops like wheat and barley. Furthermore manumission was a multi-year process and many of the workers remained obligated to service for a considerable additional time.

Finally, on January 18 1779, Dickinson was appointed to be a delegate for Delaware to the Continental Congress. During this term he signed the Articles of Confederation, having in 1776 authored their first draft while serving in the Continental Congress as a delegate from Pennsylvania. In August 1781, while still a delegate in Philadelphia he learned that "Poplar Hall" had been severely damaged by a Loyalist raid. Dickinson returned to the property to investigate the damage and once again stayed for several months.

While there, in October 1781, Dickinson was elected to represent Kent County in the State Senate, and shortly afterwards the Delaware General Assembly elected him the President of Delaware. The General Assembly's vote was nearly unanimous, the only dissenting vote having been cast by Dickinson himself. Dickinson took office on November 13 1781 and served until November 7 1782. Beginning his term with a "Proclamation against Vice and Immorality," he sought ways to bring an end to the disorder of the days of the Revolution. It was a popular position and enhanced his reputation both in Delaware and Pennsylvania. Dickinson then successfully challenged the Delaware General Assembly to address lagging militia enlistments and to properly fund the state’s assessment to the Confederation government. And recognizing the delicate negotiations then underway to end the American Revolution, Dickinson secured the Assembly's continued endorsement of the French alliance, with no agreement on a separate peace treaty with Great Britain. He also introduced the first census.

However, as before, the lure of Pennsylvania politics was too great. On October 10 1782, Dickinson was elected to the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania. On November 7 1782 a joint ballot by the Council and the Pennsylvania General Assembly elected him as president of the Council and thereby President of Pennsylvania. But he did not actually resign as State President of Delaware. Even though Pennsylvania and Delaware had shared the same governor until very recently, attitudes had changed, and many in Delaware were upset at seemingly being cast aside so readily, particularly after the Philadelphia newspapers began criticizing the state for allowing the practice of multiple and non resident office holding. Dickinson’s constitutional successor, John Cook, was considered too weak in his support of the Revolution, and it was not until January 12 1783, when Cook called for a new election to chose a replacement, that Dickinson formally resigned.

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President of Pennsylvania

When the American Revolution began, Dickinson fairly represented the center of Pennsylvania politics. The old Proprietary and Popular parties divided equally in thirds over the issue of independence, as Loyalists, Moderate Whigs who later became Federalists, and Radicals or Constitutionalists. The old Pennsylvania General Assembly was dominated by the Loyalists and Moderates and, like Dickinson, did little to support the burgeoning Revolution or independence, except protest. The Radicals took matters into their own hands, using irregular means to write the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, which by law excluded from the franchise anyone who would not swear loyalty to the document or the Christian Holy Trinity. In this way all Loyalists, Moderate Whigs, and Quakers were kept out of government. This peremptory action seemed appropriate to many during the crises of 1777 and 1778, but less so in the later years of the Revolution, and the Moderate Whigs gradually became the majority.

Dickinson's election to the Supreme Executive Council was the beginning of a counterrevolution against the Constitutionalists. He was elected President of Pennsylvania, on November 7 1782, garnering 41 votes to James Potter's 32. As president he presided over the intentionally weak executive authority of the state, and was its chief officer, but always required the agreement of a majority to act. He was re-elected twice and served the constitutional maximum of three years; his election on November 6 1783 was unanimous, and on November 6 1784 he defeated John Neville, who also lost the election for Vice-President the same day. Working with only the smallest of majorities in the General Assembly in his first two years and with the Constitutionalists in the majority in his last year, all issues were contentious. At first he endured withering attacks from his opponents for his alleged failure to fully support the new government in large and small ways. He responded ably and survived the attacks. He managed to settle quickly the old boundary dispute with Virginia in southwestern Pennsylvania, but was never able to satisfactorily disentangle disputed titles in the Wyoming Valley resulting from prior claims of Connecticut to those lands. An exhausted Dickinson left office October 18 1785. On that day a special election was held in which Benjamin Franklin was unanimously elected to serve the ten days left in Dickinson's term.

Perhaps the most significant decision of his term was the result of his patient, peaceful management of the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783. This was a violent protest of Pennsylvania veterans who marched on the Continental Congress demanding their pay before being discharged from the army. Somewhat sympathizing with their case, Dickinson refused Congress's request to bring full military action against them, causing Congress to vote to remove themselves to Princeton, New Jersey. And when the new Congress agreed to return in 1790, it was to be for only 10 years, until a permanent capital was found elsewhere.

While serving this term he donated 500 acres (2 km²) to Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, an educational institution founded in 1783 by his friend Benjamin Rush.

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1784/85
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###@@@KEYEND@@@###

United States Constitution

After his service in Pennsylvania, Dickinson returned to Delaware, and lived in Wilmington. He was quickly appointed to represent Delaware at the Annapolis Convention, where he served as its President. In 1787, Delaware sent him as one of its delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, along with Gunning Bedford, Jr., Richard Bassett, George Read, and Jacob Broom, There, he supported the effort to create a strong central government, but only after the Great Compromise assured that each state, regardless of size, would have an equal vote in the future United States Senate. Following the Convention he promoted the resulting Constitution in a series of nine essays, written under the pen name, "Fabius."

In 1791, Delaware convened a convention to revise its existing Constitution, which had been hastily drafted in 1776. Dickinson was elected president of this convention, and although he resigned the chair after most of the work was complete, he remained highly influential in the content of the final document. Major changes included the establishment of a separate Chancery Court and the expansion of the franchise to include all taxpayers, except blacks and women. Dickinson remained neutral in an attempt to include a prohibition of slavery in the document, believing the General Assembly was the proper place to decide that issue. The new Constitution was approved June 12 1792.

Once more Dickinson was returned to the State Senate for the 1793 session, but served for just one year before resigning due to his declining health. In his final years he worked to further the abolition movement, donated a considerable amount of his wealth to the "relief of the unhappy," and in 1801 published two volumes of his collected works on politics.

Death and Legacy

Dickinson died February 14, 1808, at Wilmington, Delaware, where he is buried at the Friends Burial Ground. [Ehrlich, Eugene and Gorton Carruth. "The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to the United States". New York: Oxford University Press, 1982: 217. ISBN 0195031865]

Dickinson shares with Thomas McKean the distinction of serving as Chief Executive of both Delaware and Pennsylvania after the Declaration of Independence. Dickinson College and Dickinson School of Law, separate institutions both located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, were named after Dickinson. Along with his "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania", Dickinson also authored "The Liberty Song".

Dickinson is a prominent character in the musical drama "1776", billed fourth after the parts of Adams, Franklin, and Jefferson. He was originally portrayed on stage by Paul Hecht, and in the 1972 film adaptation by Donald Madden. Michael Cumpsty portrayed him in the 1997 revival. His portrayal in this musical differs from reality: instead of abstaining from voting and debating, he acts as John Adams' primary antagonist in the debates over independence, to the point where the two men come to blows. In Part II of the 2008 HBO series John Adams (TV miniseries), based on the book by David McCullough, the part of Dickinson is played by Zeljko Ivanek.

Almanac

Delaware elections were held October 1, and members of the Delaware General Assembly took office on October 20 or the following weekday. Assemblymen had a one-year term. The Legislative Council was created in 1776, and Legislative Councilmen had a three-year term. The Delaware General Assembly chose the State President for a three-year term.

Pennsylvania elections were held in October as well. Assemblymen had a one-year term. The Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council was created in 1776, and counsellors were popularly elected for three-year terms. A joint ballot of the Pennsylvania General Assembly and the Council chose the President from among the twelve Counsellors for a one-year term. Both Assemblies chose the Continental Congressmen for a one-year term as well as the delegates to the U.S. Constitution Convention.

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Legislature
New Castle
1759
October 20 1759
October 20 1760|
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1760
October 20 1760
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1762
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1763
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October 19 1765
Stamp Act Congress
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October 26 1774
Continental Congress
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Legislature
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Continental Congress
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Legislature
Philadelphia|
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November 7 1776
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Philadelphia|
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December 22 1779
Continental Congress
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Delaware
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Philadelphia|
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February 10 1781
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Delaware
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Dover|
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Delaware
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U.S. Constitution
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Delaware
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November 29 1791
June 12 1792
State Constitution
-Party shading/Anti-Jacksonian
State Senator
Delaware
Legislature
Dover
1792
January 6 1793
January 6 1794|
###@@@KEYEND@@@###

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1781/82
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"non-partisan"
Caesar Rodney|
Kent "at-large"
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1793
17th
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Joshua Clayton|
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###@@@KEYEND@@@###

Notes

References

*cite journal |last=Calvert |first=Jane E. |title=Liberty Without Tumult: Understanding the Politics of John Dickinson |journal=The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography |volume=CXXXI |issue=3 |pages=233–262 |publisher=Historical Society of Pennsylvania |location=Philadelphia |month=July |year=2007
*cite book |title=History of the State of Delaware |last=Conrad |first=Henry C. |coauthors= |work= |publisher=Wickersham Company |location=Lancaster, Pennsylvania |pages= |year=1908 |id=
*cite book |title=John Dickinson- Conservative Revolutionary |last=Flower |first=Milton E. |coauthors= |work= |publisher=University Press of Virginia |location=Charlottesville, Virginia |pages= |year=1983 |id=
*cite book |title=Democracy in Delaware |last=Hoffecker |first=Carol E. |coauthors= |work= |publisher=Cedar Tree Books |location=Wilmington, Delaware |pages= |year=2004 |id=ISBN 1-892142-23-6
*cite book |title=History of Delaware Through its Governors |last=Martin |first=Roger A. |coauthors= |work= |publisher=McClafferty Press |location=Wilmington, Delaware |pages= |year=1984 |id=
*cite book |title=Memoirs of the Senate |last=Martin |first=Roger A. |coauthors= |work= |publisher=Roger A. Martin |location=Newark, Delaware |pages= |year=1995 |id=
*cite book |title=Philadelawareans |last=Munroe |first=John A. |coauthors= |work= |publisher=University of Delaware Press |location=Newark, Delaware |pages= |year=2004 |id=ISBN 0-87413-872-8
*cite book |title=Federalist Delaware 1775-1815 |last=Munroe |first=John A. |coauthors= |work= |publisher=Rutgers University |location=New Brunswick, New Jersey |pages= |year=1954 |id=
*cite book |title=Biographical Directory of American and Revolutionary Governors 1607-1789 |last=Racino |first=John W. |year=1980 |publisher=Meckler Books |location=Westport, CT |id=ISBN 0-930466-00-4
*cite book |title=Collected Essays on Early Delaware |last=Rodney |first=Richard S. |coauthors= |work= |publisher=Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Delaware |location=Wilmington, Delaware |pages= |year=1975 |id=
*cite book |title=History of Delaware 1609-1888. 2 vols |last=Scharf |first=John Thomas |coauthors= |work= |publisher=L. J. Richards & Co |location=Philadelphia |year=1888 |id=
*cite book |title=Delaware Continentals, 1776-1783 |last=Ward |first=Christopher L. |coauthors= |work= |publisher=Historical Society of Delaware |location=Wilmington, DE |year=1941 |id=ISBN 0-924117-21-4

External links

*CongBio|D000321
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/dickinson.html#RCG1DO4B3 John Dickinson at the "Political Graveyard"]
*Find A Grave|id=4428
* [http://www.russpickett.com/history/delgov1.htm#dickin John Dickinson at "Delaware's Governors"]
* [http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/B/jdickenson/johnd1.htm John Dickinson atFrom "Revolution to Reconstruction"]
* [http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/RevWar/ss/dickinson.htm John Dickinson at "Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution"]
* [http://nabbhistory.salisbury.edu/resources/wroten/wroten_jdickinson.html John Dickinson - Delmarva Heritage Series]
* [http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/people/dickinson_john.html John Dickinson - University of Pennsylvania Archives]

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* [http://www.state.de.us/research/Tour/information/Governors/govs-02.shtml Hall of Governors Portrait Gallery] , "Portrait courtesy of Historical and Cultural Affairs, Dover."
* [http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/thumbnail55.html Images of American Political History]

Places with more information

* [http://www.hsd.org/ Historical Society of Delaware] , 505 Market St., Wilmington, Delaware [phone]
* [http://www.hsp.org/ Historical Society of Pennsylvania] , 1300 Locust St. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [phone]
* [http://history.delaware.gov/museums/jdp/jdp_main.shtml John Dickinson Plantation] , 340 Kitts Hummock Road, Dover, DE [phone]
* [http://www.lib.udel.edu/ University of Delaware Library] , 181 South College Ave., Newark, Delaware [phone]
* [http://www.wilmingtondefriendsmeeting.org/directions.htm Wilmington Quaker Meeting House (burial site)] , 401 North West St., Wilmington, Delaware [phone]