Penman of the Revolution: as the author of many of our nation's most fundamental documents, including the Articles of Confederation, John Dickinson was one of America's greatest Founding Fathers.

On Wednesday, August 15, 1787, I the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia began debating what would become Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution. James Madison (a man whose service before, during, and after the Convention inarguably earned him the moniker "Father of the Constitution") initiated the deliberations on this point by proposing the following language: "Every bill which shall have passed the two houses, shall, before it become a law, be severally presented to the President of the United States, and to the judges of the Supreme Court for the revision of each...."

With this motion, the ever-vigilant Madison intended to protect the people from the scourge of a despotic legislature that appeared so often in the annals of history. John Dickinson listened as Madison and the equally eminent James Wilson of Pennsylvania encouraged passage of the proposed amendment. In the face of such venerable advocates, Dickinson rose to boldly oppose the amendment and to warn his fellow delegates of the danger of mixing executive, legislative and judicial responsibility. He asserted that judicial power to set aside laws should not exist. Furthermore, he exhorted the convention that judicial tyranny was not unknown to history, reminding them that "the judiciary of Aragon became, by degrees, the lawgiver."

The "judiciary of Aragon" was Dickinson's euphemism for the court also known as the Spanish Inquisition, a court that began as a guard against heresy, but became a de facto legislature, regulating trade and levying taxes. Dickinson's admonition rang loudly in the ears of Benjamin Franklin and John Francis Mercer, so they united with him (and others) in defeating the motion, thus preserving the crucial and delicate balance of power by permitting only an executive check (the presidential veto) on legislative acts.

Given Dickinson's firm devotion to the principles of checks and balances and the separation of powers, especially regarding the potential for judicial excess, it is certain that he would loathe the modern judiciary's overwhelming predilection for haughtily and habitually disregarding constitutional restrictions on their power. Dickinson's warning that judges who disregard constitutional fetters would eventually attempt to take judicial notice of every controversial socio-political issue of the day has been proven prescient. The modern court's conversion of every question into a legal cause of action is in fact unconstitutional and enervates the Constitution by eroding the barriers meant to divide and separate the three branches of government.

Defender of Liberty

Among the appellations history has be stowed upon the men of the founding generation, few are as noble or as fitting as that given to John Dickinson--"Penman of the Revolution." In light of the caliber of statesmen with whom Dickinson associated, it is a high honor indeed to have earned such a title. Many able men put nib to parchment in the days of our nation's struggle for independence, but few were as capable, prolific or influential as John Dickinson.

When the clouds of discontent darkened on the Atlantic's western shore, Dickinson skillfully penned the colonial response to the burdensome Stamp Act of 1765 in a pamphlet entitled, The Late Regulations Respecting the British Colonies. Therein he exhorted colonial Americans to resist the oppressive parliamentary mandate by exerting pressure on British merchants. The pamphlet was so widely distributed and read that Dickinson was propelled by the Pennsylvania legislature into service in the Stamp Act Congress, where he authored many of that body's resolutions.

Dickinson continued his defense of American liberty in 1767 in a series of letters submitted to the Pennsylvania Chronicle under the pseudonym "Farmer." In these impressive missives, Dickinson criticized Britain's economic subjugation of her American colonists and encouraged his readers to defy the obligations of the Stamp Act, the Townshend Act, and all acts of Parliament known collectively--and most appropriately--as the "Intolerable Acts." He warned:

   Indeed we ought firmly to believe,
   what is an undoubted truth, confirmed
   by the unhappy experience of many
   states heretofore free, that unless the
   most watchful attention be exerted, a
   new servitude may be
   slipped on us, under
   the sanction of usual
   and respectable terms.

In his third Farmer letter, Dickinson continued his urgent call to action to his countrymen: "Are these men ignorant, that usurpations, which might have been successfully opposed at first, acquire strength by continuance, and thus become irresistible'?" Dickinson also explained his purpose:

   I will now tell the gentlemen,
   what is, "the
   meaning of these letters."
   The meaning of
   them is, to convince the
   people of these
   colonies, that they are
   at this moment exposed
   to the most imminent
   dangers; and to persuade
   them immediately, vigorously,
   and unanimously,
   to exert themselves, in
   the most firm, but most
   peaceable manner, for
   obtaining relief.

The Farmer letters were widely distributed and highly influential. A young James Madison, for example, considered them some of the most well-crafted defenses of American liberty. The Farmer letters brought hero status to Dickinson: Paul Revere, erstwhile equestrian, patriot and silversmith, engraved Dickinson's likeness; Patience Wright made a wax model of him; Du Simitiere drew his profile as one of the American celebrities of the Revolution; and the College of New Jersey (Princeton) bestowed the degree of LL.D. honoris causa upon him. It can be said without hyperbole that the name of John Dickinson was known to all men with interest in politics on both sides of the Atlantic.

Principled Patriot

John Dickinson's fame might have surprised his father Samuel, the owner of a thriving farm in Talbot County, Maryland. In 1740, Samuel moved his family to the "Lower Counties" (Delaware), where John began his formal education under private tutors employed by his father. In 1750, John began the study of law under John Moland in Philadelphia. In 1753, he journeyed to England to further his academic endeavors at London's Middle Temple, an institution with origins in the 15th century.

At this ancient and prestigious London law school the formal training of one of our Republic's grandest patriot fathers began. John Dickinson was not the first illustrious American to attend the Middle Temple, for on its roster of alumni were found the names of five men who would sign the Declaration of Independence: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton, Thomas Heyward, Jr., and Thomas McKean. After four years, Dickinson returned to Philadelphia, where he married and began his professional life as a prominent and successful member of the Pennsylvania bar.

As was the case with many of his contemporaries, Dickinson's attention turned to politics. Dickinson's efforts in this arena were aided by his reputation as a champion of the cause of American liberty. In 1760, Dickinson was elected Speaker of the Assembly of the three Lower Counties, and in 1762 and 1764 he was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly. While a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly, Dickinson became the leader of the conservative side of the colony's political debate. This stance, favoring peacefully reconciling differences with England, put him at odds with the bulwark of Pennsylvania politics, Ben Franklin, and ultimately cost him his legislative seat.

The renown and respect Dickinson earned as the reputed author of the Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, however, helped him regain his seat in the assembly, where he authored a petition of redress to the king that was accepted unanimously. But Dickinson's resistance to a call for forceful (i.e., armed) resistance to the royal decrees left him outside the majority bloc and dealt a near fatal blow to his popularity.

In the aftermath of the battles in Lexington and Concord, Dickinson was still undaunted in his belief that peace was the best solution to the problems between America and Great Britain. As a member of the Second Continental Congress, he wrote the "Declaration of the Causes of Taking Up Arms" wherein he urged peaceful resistance and an end to hostilities. But he did not stop there. Elegantly and rationally, he juxtaposed historical fact and contemporary grievances to illustrate England's heavy-handed dealings with her American colonies. Through the skillful use of questions and statement, Dickinson drove home his points:

   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
   whatsoever." What is to defend us
   against so enormous, so unlimited a
   power? Not a single man of those
   who assume it is chosen by us, or is
   subject to our control or influence ....

Such declarations, regardless of their persuasive power, failed to convince Great Britain to restrain her lust for absolute power over her colonies' resources.

In 1776, as the din of war grew louder, Dickinson, once again a member of the Pennsylvania legislature, authored the resolution authorizing delegates to be sent from Pennsylvania to the Congress, to zealously seek redress from the Crown, but with the proviso that they also oppose every call for separation from England. By this time in the progress of the War for Independence, Dickinson's adherence to conservative politics left him in the minority, not only in Pennsylvania but throughout the American colonies. He ultimately refused to sign the Declaration of Independence.

Dickinson's initial opposition to the Declaration of Independence might lead some to question his dedication to the cause of American liberty. But it must be remembered that once Dickinson recognized that England had sealed her own fate by rejecting American attempts to peacefully resolve their disputes, he became one of only two contemporary members of Congress to enlist in the army (the other soldier-legislator was Thomas McKean, also of Delaware). Perhaps he should have recognized prior to July 1776 that war was the only recourse available for sloughing off the chains of despotism--but he came to this painful realization by the end of the year and when he did he freely placed his life in jeopardy to aid in the cause of America's fight for liberty.

Dickinson's next act of public service came in 1777 where he served on a committee to draft the Articles of Confederation, America's first attempt at political union. The words of the articles were almost entirely Dickinson's, as there was no other on that committee with his authority, knowledge or erudition. Although the articles failed to solidify the American union, they did serve as temporary adhesive until the Constitution of 1787 could be hammered out and ratified.

America's Fabius

Although Dickinson made an invaluable contribution to the Constitutional Convention, where he ardently advocated judicial restraint and strict separation of powers, illness prevented him from being present at the signing of the document on September 17, 1787. So he authorized his friend, George Read, to do so on his behalf. Dickinson's support of the Constitution did not end at the close of the convention in Philadelphia. Beginning in April 1788, he penned a series of essays under the pseudonym Fabius, urging ratification.

Dickinson's experience in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 convinced him that the establishment of the new Constitution was critical to the perpetuation of the American union. He firmly held that those who felt likewise must speak out boldly in favor of the document, or its enemies would win the day. As Fabius, Dickinson urged all Americans, those for and against the new Constitution, to speak their minds openly and freely:

   What concerns all, should be considered
   by all; and individuals may injure
   a whole society, by not declaring
   their sentiments. It is, therefore, not
   only their right, but their duty, to declare
   them.... Before this tribunal of
   the people, let every one freely speak,
   what he really thinks, but with so sincere
   a reverence for the cause he ventures
   to discuss, as to use the utmost
   caution, lest he should lead any into
   errors, upon a point of such sacred
   concern as the public happiness.

Dickinson, like Madison in The Federalist, realized that all of the checks and balances contained in the Constitution were merely "parchment barriers" and of no efficacy in the protection and maintenance of republican liberty if the people themselves failed to vigilantly guard their freedom and zealously uphold high standards of virtue:

   All the foundations before mentioned,
   of the federal government, are
   by the proposed system to be established,
   in the most clear, strong, positive,
   unequivocal expressions, of
   which our language is capable.
   Magna charta [sic], or any other law,
   never contained clauses more decisive
   and emphatic. While the people
   of these states have sense, they will
   understand them; and while they have
   spirit, they will make them to be
   observed.

He continued by frankly reminding his fellow Americans of their "duty to watch, and their right to take care, that the constitution be preserved"--advice that we the recipients of liberty's bounty must heed in order to protect and preserve the Constitution.

Although not nearly so well known as the letters published under the name Publius, the Fabius letters received high praise from the Father of our Country:

   I must beg you to accept my best
   thanks for your polite attention in forwarding
   those papers to me. The
   writer of those pieces, signed Fabius,
   whoever he is, appears to be master
   of his subject; he treats it with dignity,
   and at the same time expresses
   himself in such manner as to render it
   intelligible to every capacity. I have
   no doubt but that 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 proposed constitution,
   and would afford desirable
   information upon the subject to those
   who sought for it.

Few men made as many practical contributions to the cause of American liberty as John Dickinson. He was the author of many of the nascent nation's most fundamental documents, including the Call to Arms and the Articles of Confederation. What's more, John Dickinson served with integrity and courage in the Stamp Act Congress, the Continental Congress, the Confederation Congress, and the Constitutional Convention of 1787.

In light of all these remarkable contributions to America's struggle for independence and lasting union, John Dickinson's legacy perhaps is understood best by considering the pseudonym he chose for his letters in favor of ratification of the Constitution--Fabius. The full name of this great Roman general was Quintus Fabius Maximus Concatur. According to historian Forrest McDonald, Fabius Maximus "saved the Roman Republic through caution, prudence, patience, and persistence"--qualities applied just as accurately to John Dickinson, the Penman of the Revolution. And they are qualities which he would assuredly admonish his ideological heirs to emulate today.