John Dickinson (1732–1808) was the “penman of the revolution” who in 1768 published Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies, a pamphlet that opposed the Townshend Duties of 1767. Dickinson served as a member of the First and Second Continental Congresses. While he opposed oppressive acts of the British government, for a time he also advocated peaceful reconciliation with the Crown. He later served as president of the Annapolis Convention and as a delegate to to the Constitutional Convention...