Giving Dickinson His Due

Back in 2012 I compared the number of books lately published about Thomas Paine, supposedly a neglected Founder, with the much smaller number published about John Dickinson.

That will probably change after the John Dickinson Writings Project starts to publish the projected eight volumes of The Complete Writings and Selected Correspondence of John Dickinson in late 2019. The leaders of the project state:

John Dickinson (1732–1808), America’s first political celebrity, wrote more for the Founding than any other figure, including many issuances from the national congresses and conventions from 1764 to 1786. He also wrote prolifically for ordinary Americans with the intent to educate them about their rights and how to resist tyranny peacefully.

In addition to being one of the foremost legal scholars of the era, he was also the only leading founder who was an abolitionist, an advocate of women’s rights, and a champion of other subordinated peoples, including Indians, the poor, and prisoners. As a fellow traveler with the Quakers, though not a member of their society, he brought his religious beliefs to bear on his legal and political work with the goal of “defending the innocent & redressing the injurd.” . . .

For a number of reasons, including illegibility, complexity, and lack of archival identification and processing, Dickinson’s papers have never before been fully accessible. These factors, combined with misperceptions about Dickinson’s role in the Founding, mean there is very little extant scholarship on this central figure. Yet the Dickinson material is a rich resource on almost every aspect of 18th-century American society, including:

• London/Middle Temple in the 1750s
• The William Smith libel trial of 1758
• The flag-of-truce trade of the 1750s–60s
• Pennsylvania royal government controversy
• Resistance to Britain from 1764 to 1776
• Military 1775 to 1783
• Resistance to 1776 Pennsylvania constitution
• Peace negotiations in 1779
• Presidency of Delaware, 1781–82
• Presidency of Pennsylvania, 1782–85
• Mutiny of 1783
• Celebrations for the birth of the Dauphin
• Wyoming controversy
• Res Publica v. Longchamps
• Res Publica v. Doan
• Creation/Ratification of the Federal Constitution, 1786–1788
• Delaware constitutional convention of 1792
• Jay Treaty Protest of 1795
• Abolitionism/slavery
• Agrarianism
• Books and book ownership
• Democracy
• Democratic Republican party politics
• Celebrity
• Education
• Federal power v. states’ rights
• Foreign relations
• Indian rights/diplomacy
• Jurisprudence
• Peace activism
• Philanthropy
• Political moderation
• Religion—Quakerism and “nature religion”
• Religious liberty
• Taxation and economic policy
• Westward expansion/land and property rights
• Virtue and corruption in government

In April 2020, in connection with the first volumes of Dickinson’s collected writings, the American Philosophical Society, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and Library Company of Philadelphia will host a day-long symposium about the man in Philadelphia. The organizers hope to feature eight to ten papers, the best of which will be published in an essay collection, the first ever devoted to Dickinson.

There’s a two-stage process for scholars to propose papers for that symposium. First, “Preliminary proposals of ca. 250 words accompanied by a CV” are due on 15 Nov 2018. The organizers will consider those “initial ideas and interests…based on their substance and viability considering the sources.”

The scholars whose projects show potential will then receive access to the server that contains the transcriptions, document images, and secondary sources being used to create the print edition. After consulting those materials, the researchers can then submit “Final proposals of ca. 500 words” by 15 Jan 2019. The organizers will choose the projects for the symposium. Final papers will be due on 1 Mar 2020. Symposium speakers will be reimbursed for travel and lodging.

The director of the John Dickinson Writings Project is Jane E. Calvert, Associate Professor of History at the University of Kentucky. Questions, requests for extensions on the preliminary proposal deadline, and proposals should go to her at jane.calvert@uky.edu.