The daily gazette., 1882-06-28
..,Al IaANtl4a .a4nL
DIcK1NsoN,s DEoLAnAr1ioN..
Mr.. Moore's Claim TIat he wrote IT.
: Some Account of the Old Delawarean.

Mr.. Moore's Claim T1,at He wrote 1t
Some Account of the Old DelawaFean.
An exchange says Mr.. George II.
Moore, the librarian of the New York His
torical Society, and quite an authority as an
explorer in the field OF old history, read a
paper before the society q fortnight or so
ago, which seems TO have been misunder-
stood. The story went out that he claimed
and proyed--ithat our, good old Delaware
Pennsylvania friend Of the Revolutionary
period, John; Dickinson, was the author Of
the Declaration of Independence. This, of
course, would have been rather q bold claim;
the authorship of the, great document on
which the Fourth Of July's foundations rest
was long ago thoroughly searched out, and
there is no doubt that Thomas jefferson
wrote it, the other members of the com
mitteet suggesting and revising Besides
that, John Dickinson was not III favor OF the
Declaration ut the time 1t was made the
progress Of the revolutionary movement had
rather out-trayeled him, then, though he
caught up very soon. lie urged in the
Congress that the policy of declaring indie
| pendence at that time seemed to him doubt
iul, without some further trials of the
| strength of the colonies, and before the
| terms of confederation were arranged, or
foreign assistance secured. That he wavered
In his deyotion to the struggle the colonists
had undertaken nobody could ever fairly
charge for a moment ~ -<.u1t1
| The declaration which MIR. Moore alluded
| TO was one lees familiar, but well known to
the students of American history adopted
| July 6, 1115, aud setting forth the causes
and necessiVEOf taking up arms 1t will be
| found reterredyto at length in chapter XII
Of Bancroft's history-page II, volume 6, of
the centenary edition. Bancroft does
not say who wrote it, except that the clos
ing statements were Fsin the words Of Jeffer-
SON." But it seems that the whole paper
has been attributed to him, and that in his
advanced age lie spoke Of himself as the
author of all, or nearly all, of it. What
Mr. Moore was at was the demonstration
that John Dickinson wrote III. His paper
set forth that Dickinson claimed the author
ship of it that the style resembled his, but
was unlike ,Ieiierson's; and the original
draft--which Mr. Moore produced and ex-
hibited-is in his handwriting throughout
The fact Is that Dickinson, up to the time
when the Independence declaration was
adopted, had done more of the writing for
the revolutionists than any other man, He
| wrote admirably His 'T4etters OF Pennsyl-
yania Farmer, by which almost more than
anything else he lives III history, were
wonderfully STRONG statements Of the
colonial case. and had agreat effect. They
came out in 1867 in the Philadelphia news
| papers, when the question of Great Britain's
| right to tax America was under discussion
and they were sent, little later inlall ldirec-
| tiops. In a town meeting of Boston people,
| vote of thanks TO him was passed, and
| Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Joseph
Warren were of the committee TO formally
present them. III London, Rraukin coll
lected the lettersand published them Burke
4 4rIf
| French, they were read by all the enthu-
siastic Democrats of high life i'm Paris and
their author was comparedto Ciero, Voltaire
| taking the Farmer pso9denYna ip pprfrrt
seriousness Joined in praise Of the patriot
ism and ability ''the farmers of Pennsyl-
| vania."
John Dickinson, It may be added, was a
Delaware man by nativity, hpviDgbeep born
| down in Kent county, not far from Dover
He was a Friend, ami ili the last years Of
his life, when he dwclt in Wilmington, in
retirement, he was ratheria strict 4smeetihg
man." His family was, rich #; he came TO
Philadelphia when young for his education,
| and studied law there and in London. Be
sides writing his ''Farlner Letters" he ma
| tured the plan, of the first Continental
Congress Which met in Carpenters Hall
in Philadelphia, in l774, He disapproyed
| the Declaration OF Independence, as already
| stated, but he supported 1t subsequently,
with all his heart, and during the military
operations of f71T, about the time of the
BrandyWine battle, and later, he was ap-
pointed brigadier-general of Delaware
troops by Thomas Mexican, who was then
acting as President Of that State. He was
too much of Quaker to take out his
commission, but he took a personal part
in the field, without doubt; and helped
to organize the troops, and make the last
defense possible Later he came again
into Congress from Delaware, and, it, was
he who presided, at Annapolis, over the first
conventions to form the. Federal COnstitu-
tion-the meeting which organized the later
eonvdntion at Philadelphia, over which
Washington presided He was President of
the Supreme Executive Council-i. G. Gov
ernor-of Pennsylvania, from November7,
17S2, until October IS, 11S5, and he subse-
quently filed the corresponding position in
Delaware there being no prejudice in those
days on account of mans changing his
residence across the line. The two States
were, indeed, almost like one, and leading
lawyers practiced in the courts of both, in
discriminatory. Dickinson wrote strong
letters, in 1888, over the signature Of
''Fabias," urging the adoption Of the Con
stitution, He died in February, 1908, at
the age of 7G, in Wilmington, and was
buried in the Friends buryihg ground, !oh /
'Quaker Hill, )" with so modest q grave
stone that his resting place IS now seldom
seen by visitor to that quiet but neat and
well-kept grounds. Dickinson. College, at
Carlisle, founded in 1872, when he was
President of Pennsylvania, was named after
him and he was very liberal in his gift to 1t. 4
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