John Dickinson - Conservative Delegate to Second Continental Congress

John Dickinson of Pennsylvania was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress that eventually considered and voted for independence from Great Britain, but not without significant opposition from Dickinson.

Dickinson, a lawyer, was the son of a wealthy farmer who also married into a wealthy family, a Quaker family with Tory sympathies. In fact, Dickinson frequently received pressure from his wife and mother to pursue a position of moderation and against independence. “Johnny,” his mother warned him, “you will be hanged, your estate will be forfeited and confiscated, you will leave your excellent wife a widow, and your charming children orphans, beggars, and infamous.”

He became the leader in Congress for reconciliation, arguing for the Olive Branch petition to King George III. In this role, Dickinson found himself frequently up against Boston lawyer John Adams who was the unofficial leader of the delegates arguing for independence.

Known as "The Farmer" for his 1768 document "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania," Dickinson was probably one of the better known Americans of the times. He was tall and thin. When Adams first met Dickinson on August 31, 1774 as part of the First Continental Congress, he observed that "One would think at first sight that he could not live a month. Yet upon a more attentive inspection, he looks as if the springs of life were strong enough to last many years."

After one particularly passionate series of speeches before Congress by Dickinson first, pushing for a resolution on reconciliation, followed by Adams plea for independence, Dickinson followed Adams into the hall where he harangued him like a schoolboy. After that confrontation, the two men never again spoke privately to one another.

A month or so later, a private letter that Adams had written to a friend in Massachusetts was captured by the British and published in the newspapers, to Adams’ chagrin. In the letter, Adams, still upset about his confrontation with Dickinson, referred to Dickinson as a “piddling genius.” Thereafter, Dickinson refused to even acknowledge Adams’ existence when they passed on the street.

Dickinson eventually refused to sign the Declaration of Independence, left Congress, and enlisted as a private in the Continental Army where he served with distinction. Years later, he was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 where he made major contributions.