Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania - wikipedia Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania is a series of essays written by the Pennsylvania lawyer and legislator John Dickinson ( 1732 -- 1808 ) and published under the name `` A Farmer '' from 1767 to 1768. The twelve letters were widely read and reprinted throughout the thirteen colonies and were important in uniting the colonists against the Townshend Acts. The success of his letters earned Dickinson considerable fame. While acknowledging the power of Parliament in matters concerning the whole British Empire, Dickinson argued that the colonies were sovereign in their internal affairs. He thus argued that taxes laid upon the colonies by Parliament for the purpose of raising revenue, rather than regulating trade, were unconstitutional. In his letters, Dickinson foresees the possibility of future conflict between the colonies and Great Britain, but cautions against the use of violence until `` the people are fully convinced '' : If at length it becomes undoubted that an inveterate resolution is formed to annihilate the liberties of the governed, the English history affords frequent examples of resistance by force. What particular circumstances will in any future case justify such resistance can never be ascertained till they happen. Perhaps it may be allowable to say generally, that it never can be justifiable until the people are fully convinced that any further submission will be destructive to their happiness. -- Letter III According to Mel Bradford, `` The manner of Dickinson 's twelve letters is well suited to their matter. In form they belong to the ' high ' or ' sober ' tradition of English political pamphleteering -- as does Common Sense to its ' rough and ready ' but popular counterpart. '' Bradford argued that the letters had antecedents in the writings of `` Milton, Swift, Addison, and Burke, '' as well as the authors of Cato 's Letters and the Roman statesman Cicero. References Jump up ^ Early History of the Falls of Schuylkill, Manayunk, Schuylkill and Lehigh Navigation Companies, Fairmount Waterworks, Etc., by Chrles V. Hagner, 1869, reprinted by the University of Michigan, 2010 ^ Jump up to : McCarthy, Daniel ( 2010 - 01 - 08 ) Right Rhetoric, The American Conservative External links Full text of letters Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania public domain audiobook at LibriVox John Dickinson 5th President of Pennsylvania, 1782 -- 1785 5th President of Delaware, 1781 -- 1783 Second Continental Congress, 1775 -- 1776, 1779 -- 1781 First Continental Congress, 1774 Stamp Act Congress, 1765 Founding of the United States Declaration of Rights and Grievances ( 1765 ) Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania ( 1767, 1768 ) `` The Liberty Song '' ( 1768 United we stand, divided we fall ) Petition to the King ( 1774 ) Signee, Continental Association ( 1774 ) Pennsylvania Committee of Correspondence ( 1774 -- 1776 ) Letter to the inhabitants of the Province of Quebec ( 1774 ) Olive Branch Petition ( 1775 ) Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms ( co-wrote, 1775 ) Committee of Secret Correspondence ( 1775 -- 1776 ) Model Treaty committee ( 1776 ) Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union ( 1776 ) President, Annapolis Convention ( 1786 ) Delegate, Constitutional Convention ( 1787 ) Other events Brigadier General, Pennsylvania militia Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 Delaware Constitution of 1792 Life and homes Mary Norris Dickinson ( wife ) Philemon Dickinson ( brother ) Early life Poplar Hall home Fair Hill estate Friends Burial Ground Legacy Dickinson College Dickinson School of Law, Pennsylvania State University John Dickinson High School 1776 ( 1969 musical, 1972 film ) John Adams ( 2008 miniseries ) Sons of Liberty ( 2015 miniseries ) Related Claymont Stone School American Revolution patriots Origins of the American Revolution : writings American resolves, declarations, petitions, essays and pamphlets prior to the Declaration of Independence ( July 1776 ) Following the Stamp Act ( 1765 ) Virginia Resolves ( May 1765 ) Braintree Instructions ( September 1765 ) Declaration of Rights and Grievances ( October 1765 ) An Inquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies ( 1766 ) Following the Townshend Acts ( 1767 ) Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania ( 1767, 1768 ) Massachusetts Circular Letter ( February 1768 ) Journal of Occurrences ( 1768, 1769 ) Virginia Association ( May 1769 ) Boston Pamphlet ( 1772 ) Sheffield Declaration ( January 1773 ) Following the Coercive Acts ( 1774 ) Maryland Chestertown Resolves ( May 1774 ) Bush River Resolution ( March 1775 ) Massachusetts Suffolk Resolves ( September 1774 ) New York Orangetown Resolutions ( July 1774 ) A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress ( December 1774 ) The Farmer Refuted ( February 1775 ) North Carolina Mecklenburg Resolves or Declaration ( May 1775 ) Liberty Point Resolves ( June 1775 ) Tryon Resolves ( August 1775 ) Halifax Resolves ( April 1776 ) Virginia Fairfax Resolves ( July 1774 ) Fincastle Resolutions ( January 1775 ) Virginia Declaration of Rights ( June 1776 ) 1st Continental Congress Declaration and Resolves ( October 1774 ) Continental Association ( October 1774 ) Petition to the King ( October 1774 ) 2nd Continental Congress Olive Branch Petition ( July 1775 ) Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms ( July 1775 ) May 15 preamble ( May 1776 ) Lee Resolution ( July 1776 ) Essays and pamphlets `` Letters to the inhabitants of Canada '' ( 1774, 1775, 1776 ) A Summary View of the Rights of British America ( 1774 ) Novanglus ( 1775 ) Common Sense ( January 1776 ) Thoughts on Government ( Spring, 1776 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Letters_from_a_Farmer_in_Pennsylvania&oldid=802520196 '' Categories : Documents of the American Revolution Pennsylvania in the American Revolution 1767 in the Thirteen Colonies 1768 in the Thirteen Colonies American political philosophy literature 1768 documents 1767 documents Hidden categories : Articles with LibriVox links Talk About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 26 September 2017, at 17 : 50. 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Question: what was the major idea of dickinson’s letters from a farmer in pennsylvania
Answer: taxes laid upon the colonies by Parliament for the purpose of raising revenue, rather than regulating trade, were unconstitutional