John Dickinson Autobiography in First Person
This article is an autobiography about John Dickinson in the first person point of view. John Dickinson attended the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787 as a delegate from Delaware and was the President of Delaware and Pennsylvania. Contents in this article include: John Dickinson’s Position on Main Issues at the Constitutional Convention and (a) Personal Background of John Dickinson, (b)Delegates feelings and attitudes towards the issues at the Constitutional Convention, (c) Allies of John Dickinson at the Convention, (d) Enemies of John Dickinson at the Convention.
Delegate John Dickinson
Position on Main Issues
- 1. Our national congress should be a Bicameral Legislature that would consist of two houses.
- 2. When determining state populations slaves should be counted as one person as a whole.
- 3. If we do have a president he should be elected by the legislature and not by the people.
- 4. No, we shouldn’t specifically protect individual rights, because the representative from each state should be enough to represent the people’s view of that specific state.
- 5. Slavery should be left how it is and should not be abolished or tempered with and slave trade is necessary to continue our natural way of life, because we wouldn’t have enough slaves to maintain our crops and lifestyle so in retrospect slave trade should not be abolished.
(a)Personal Background of John Dickinson
I was born in 1732 in Talbot County, Maryland. My mother and father were Mary and Samuel Dickinson. Because my father, Samuel Dickinson was a prosperous farmer, I was able to be tutored privately in my youth. I studied law with John Moland in Philadelphia. When I was 25 years of age I was a prominent lawyer in Philadelphia. Also, because I was one of the debaters over the Stamp Act of 1765, the Pennsylvania legislature appointed me a delegate to the Stamp Act Congress. During the years of 1767-1768 I wrote a series of newspaper articles in the Pennsylvania Chronicle that came to be known together as Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania. The articles attacked British taxation policy and urged resistance to unjust laws, but also emphasized the possibility of a peaceful resolution. I received an honorary LL.D from the College of New Jersey and public thanks from a meeting in Boston, because the Letters were so popular in the colonies. I was president of Delaware in 1781 till 1782 and I was also president of Pennsylvania in 1782 till 1785. I was appointed to represent Delaware in the Annapolis Convention and the Constitutional Convention. Although I missed quite a number of sessions and left early at times, because of illness I made worthwhile contributions, which includes service on the Committee on Postponed Matters. I helped create the Great Compromise and wrote letters supporting the constitutional ratification. Also, I did not actually sign the Constitution but informed my friend and fellow delegate George Read to do so for me.
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Post Commentdavis0
On December 3, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I hope that this article gave you a general understanding about the life of John Dickinson and his involvement in the Constitutional Congress of 1787.