About the Book
The Complete Writings and Selected Correspondence of John Dickinson, vol. 1 inaugurates a multivolume documentary edition that will, for the first time ever, provide the complete collection of everything Dickinson published on public affairs over the course of his life. The documents include essays, articles, broadsides, resolutions, petitions, declarations, constitutions, regulations, legislation, proclamations, songs and odes. Among them are many of the seminal state papers produced by the first national congresses and conventions. Also included are correspondences between Dickinson and some of the key figures of his era. This edition should raise Dickinson to his rightful place among America?s founding fathers, rivaled in reputation only by Benjamin Franklin before 1776. Dickinson was celebrated throughout the colonies, as well as in England and France, as the great American spokesman for liberty, and the documents in this edition evidence his tireless political work and unmatched corpus.
Table of Contents:
CONTENTSACKNOWLEDGMENTSINTRODUCTIONTHE LEGAL PAPERS AND THEIR CONTEXTEDITORIAL METHODOLOGYSAMPLE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTABBREVIATIONS AND SHORT TITLESCHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE OF JOHN DICKINSON1. To Nicholas Ridgely, September 62. To George Read and Samuel Wharton, [October]The London Letters3. To Samuel Dickinson, December 184. To Samuel Dickinson, January 185. To Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, January 196. To [Richard Peters], January 227. To Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, March 88. To Samuel Dickinson, March 89. To Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, March 2910. To Samuel Dickinson, March 2911. To Samuel Dickinson, April 2212. Bond for John Dickinson, May 313. To Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, May 2514. To Samuel Dickinson, May 2515. Middle Temple Expenses, January 11–May 2816. Bond for William Hicks, June 1217. To Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, August 118. To Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, August 1519. To Samuel Dickinson, August 1520. To Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, September 621. To Samuel Dickinson, September 622. To Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, October 2923. To Samuel Dickinson, January 2124. To Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, January 2225. To Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, February 1926. To Samuel Dickinson, February 1927. To Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, April 828. To Samuel Dickinson, June 2829. To Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, August 1230. To Samuel Dickinson, August 1231. To Samuel Dickinson, September 3032. To Samuel Dickinson, January 833. Transcription of a Hearing "Before the Lords of Trade & Plantations," February 2634. To Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, March 1735. To Samuel Dickinson, April 136. To Samuel Dickinson, May 1037. To Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, June 638. To Samuel Dickinson, June 639. To Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, August 240. To Samuel Dickinson, August 242. To Thomas McKean, October 2043. Notes for Elizabeth Taylor v. William Empson, [1757–1758]Documents from the William Smith Libel Trial44. Timeline Notes of Pennsylvania Constitutional Historyfor the Smith Libel Trial, [c. January 17]45. Initial Notes for Opening Arguments in the Smith Libel Trial,[c. January 17]46. Expanded Rough Notes for Opening Arguments in theSmith Libel Trial, [January 17]47. Notes on Thomas Bond's Deposition in the Smith LibelTrial, [January 17]48. Draft Transcript of Opening Arguments in the SmithLibel Trial, [January 17]50. Notes on Depositions in the Smith Libel Trial, [January18–19]51. Preliminary Notes for Closing Arguments in the SmithLibel Trial, [January 20]52. Rough Draft and Notes for Closing Arguments in theSmith Libel Trial, [January 20]53. Draft Closing Arguments in the Smith Libel Trial,[January 20, 1758]54. Draft Transcript of Closing Arguments in the Smith LibelTrial, [January 21]55. Fragment of Draft Transcript of David Hall's Depositionin the Smith Libel Trial, [January 21]56. Draft Summary of the Smith Libel Trial, [January 25]57. Edited Summary of the Smith Libel Trial, [January 25]Documents on the Flag-of-Truce Trade58. Notes on a Flag-of-Truce Case, [n.d.]59. "On a Libel against Flag of Truce Beaux Enfants"60. Notes on a Flag-of-Truce Case, [n.d.]61. Notes for Levy & Hart v. Unknown, [n.d.]62. Draft One of Notes for Spring & Kemp v. Ospray & Elizabeth63. Draft Two of Notes for Spring & Kemp v. Ospray & Elizabeth64. Notes for John Campbell v. The Owners of The Spry65. Depositions for John Campbell v. The Owners of The Spry66. Notes on the Plaintiffs' Arguments in John Campbell v. The Owners of The Spry67. Arguments for John Campbell v. The Owners of The Spry68. Interrogatories in the Vice Admiralty Court on Behalfof Captain John MacPherson, et al.69. To Robert McKeanAPPENDIX: SECONDARY WORKS ON JOHN DICKINSONINDEX
About the Author :
JANE E. CALVERT is Associate Professor of History at the University of Kentucky and author of Quaker Constitutionalism and the Political Thought of John Dickinson.JOHN DICKINSON (November 8, 1732–February 14, 1808) is known as the "Penman of the Revolution." He served as a delegate for Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress (1774–1776) and later as a delegate from Delaware in the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
Review :
This edition of the works of John Dickinson represents long overdue scholarly and critical attention to one of the truly pivotal figures in the early history of the United States. The significance of this project is very great, both for attention to Dickinson and for the quality of the edition itself. The introduction to this edition, which covers the critical years when Dickinson's Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania made him a much-noticed public figure, shows that he was much more than only a significant political thinker and controversial political actor. The range of additional venues or spheres in which he exerted his influence and which are illuminated by this critical edition of his works is astonishing. Currently, the 'Founding Fathers' are far too often artificially limited. Among the other significant 'founders' who have not received nearly as much historical attention as they deserve, Dickinson stands foremost.
--Mark Noll, Notre Dame, author of In the Beginning Was the Word: The Bible in American Public Life
