You may know John Dickenson as a man whose writings helped unite a patchwork arrangement of colonies 3,000 miles away from England into a protonation. Dickinson was one of the nation’s founding sages - a man who was a part of the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, state legislatures, and even was the governor (then known as Presidents) of two states. He was arguably as instrumental to America’s beginnings as most of our more well-known founding fathers. Jane E. Calvert’s Penman of the Founding: A Biography of John Dickinson is a well-written, well-researched biography of one of the important thinkers in 18th Century America.
Calvert chronicles Dickinson’s life and political career from Philadelphia, where he was involved in Pennsylvania government in the 1760’s and 1770’s. In addition, he helped Delaware earn its motto as “The First State” for ratifying the Constitution that Dickinson himself was involved in putting together. He also served in the Continental Army during the Revolution at various ranks and helped defend Wilmington from the British. Despite all of these accomplishments, Dickinson was dogged by the fact that he did not sign the Declaration of Independence, believing it to be too violent of a document because of his increasingly strong Quaker beliefs of pacifism.
Dickinson was a man of varying levels of moderation and driven to compromise. Some of the frames of American government, such as a bicameral legislature, were ideas Dickinson promoted at various points in his life. Dickinson, a one time slave owner, also gradually evolved into an abolitionist and tried to more strongly limit slavery in Delaware in later years. Calvert’s biography of one of our nation’s early statesmen is a timely example of how leaders can lead not with absolute ideology but on principle and with the conviction of helping their fellow state and nation improve.
MY RATING: 4.5
