John Dickinson Writes the First of the “Farmer's Letters”
John Dickinson's "Farmer's Letters," first published on November 5, 1767, mark a significant moment in American colonial resistance to British authority. These essays arose in response to the Townshend Acts, which imposed new import duties on goods and threatened colonial autonomy. Dickinson, a conservative businessman and political figure, articulated a moderate yet compelling argument against these acts, emphasizing the need for peaceful protest rather than violent rebellion. He asserted that while Parliament had the right to regulate trade, it should not impose taxes primarily for revenue. His writings quickly gained popularity, being published in numerous colonial newspapers and even reaching European audiences. The letters not only solidified Dickinson's reputation as a respected political theorist but also galvanized colonial unity against perceived injustices. While he initially sought reconciliation with Britain, his contributions laid the groundwork for the eventual push towards independence. Dickinson's legacy extended beyond his writings, influencing the early governance of both Delaware and Pennsylvania after the Revolutionary War.
John Dickinson Writes the First of the “Farmer's Letters”
John Dickinson Writes the First of the “Farmer's Letters”
On November 5, 1767 John Dickinson wrote the first of the series of his famed “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies.” According to the 19th -century literary historian Moses Coit Tyler, publication of the “Farmer's Letters” was “the most brilliant event in the literary history of the [American] Revolution.” Aside from their literary merit, the essays are also important because they set forth strong arguments for the colonists' opposition to the hated Townshend Acts of 1767.
In the years following the Treaty of Paris of 1763, the British government tried repeatedly to force the American colonies to bear some of the expense of their own defense. In 1764 Parliament passed the Sugar Act, which increased the duties on foreign refined sugar and other non-British goods. The next year Parliament passed the Stamp Act, levying the first direct tax on the American colonies by requiring tax stamps to be affixed to various articles, including newspapers, pamphlets, almanacs, legal documents, and playing cards.
The colonies protested the Sugar Act by pledging to not import the goods subject to the additional duties specified by that legislation, and their resistance to the Stamp Act was even stronger. Secret organizations, most notably the Sons of Liberty, forced the resignation of all stamp agents in America. The Stamp Act Congress, meeting in October 1765, prepared resolutions demanding the repeal of the act. Colonial merchants refused to import European goods until the stamp tax was ended. The last measure was the most effective: British merchants whose businesses suffered because of the nonimportation agreements appealed to Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act. In March 1766 Parliament agreed to their demands.
Just over a year after the repeal of the Stamp Act, the British government again tried to raise revenue from the American colonies. Persuaded by Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend that the Americans might accept taxation if it was an “external” levy on trade, in June 1767 Parliament approved import duties on glass, lead paints, paper, and tea. To enforce the collection of these duties, the so-called Townshend Acts set up an American Board of Commissioners of Customs in Boston and established vice-admiralty courts whose judges were to be paid from the fines and judgments collected from the colonials violating the new legislation. These acts also suspended the New York Assembly until that body agreed to comply with the Quartering Act of 1765, which required colonial governments to provide barracks and other necessities for the British troops garrisoned in America.
In the autumn of 1767, after the American colonists refused to accept the Townshend Acts, the major Atlantic seaports implemented nonimportation procedures in order to force Parliament to rescind the new duties. As the major colonial cities agreed to ban foreign goods, John Dickinson took up his pen on November 5, 1767, to warn his fellow colonists of the dangers of the Townshend Acts.
Dickinson, who was born on November 8, 1732, was fairly typical of the conservative businessmen and other people who led the opposition to the Townshend Acts. The son of a gentleman farmer, he studied law in Philadelphia and London, served in the Assembly of the Lower Counties (the lower legislative house of Delaware) and then won election to the Pennsylvania legislature.
Reflecting the substantial position and conservative nature of their author, the “Farmer's Letters” firmly opposed the Townshend Acts but did not advocate any radical or violent measures to force their repeal. Dickinson recognized force as the ultimate avenue of redress, but he stated eloquently that “the course of Liberty is a cause of too much dignity to be sullied by turbulence and tumult.” Instead he urged the colonists to “behave like dutiful children, who have received unmerited blows from a beloved parent. Let us complain to our parent; but let our complaints speak at the same time the language of affliction and veneration.”
Although Dickinson counseled his fellow Americans to use moderate means to oppose the Townshend Acts, his “Farmer's Letters” were an important step in the colonists' efforts to set forth the exact nature of their relationship with Great Britain. Dickinson agreed that Parliament had the authority to impose import duties on the colonies for the purpose of regulating the trade of the British Empire, but he argued that Parliament had no right to pass legislation such as the Townshend Acts that were intended primarily to raise revenue. Dickinson also took Parliament to task for suspending the New York Assembly, and he warned the Americans that this action was a threat to the liberties of all the colonies.
Printed anonymously in the Pennsylvania Chronicle from the end of November 1767 through January 1768, the “Farmer's Letters” were quickly recognized to be the work of Dickinson. Moreover, the cogent arguments against the Townshend Acts presented in the essays made Dickinson's work extremely popular. They were published in all but four of the 25 newspapers then printed in the colonies, and as a pamphlet that went through at least eight editions. The “Farmer's Letters” were also published and circulated throughout Europe.
So popular were the “Farmer's Letters” that colonial town meetings, grand juries, and other groups voted Dickinson public thanks. The College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) granted him the degree of doctor of laws. The “Farmer's Letters” made Dickinson one of the most respected political theorists in the 1760s and 1770s. He was a member of the First and Second Continental Congresses. In 1776 Dickinson, believing conciliation with Great Britain might still be possible, refused to sign the Declaration of Independence. However, once the colonies decided to separate from Britain, he joined in the fight for independence. He served in Congress during the American Revolution, was elected president of the Supreme Executive Council of Delaware in 1781, held a similar post (equivalent to governor) in Pennsylvania from 1782 to 1785, and represented Delaware at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. Dickinson was also influential in securing the adoption of the new federal Constitution in his two home states: Delaware and Pennsylvania, respectively, were the first two states to ratify the new form of government.
He published two volumes of his writings in 1801, the The Political Writings of John Dickinson, Esq., Late President of the State of Delaware and of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, chartered in 1783, was named in his honor. He died in Wilmington, Delaware, on February 14, 1808.