John Dickinson is especially known for his Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania (1768), which were among the most influential and popular writings of the American Revolutionary era.

Dickinson, son of Samuel and Mary Cadwalader Dickinson, was born on the family estate on the eastern shore of Maryland. The family moved in 1740 to Kent County, near Dover, Delaware, where he was educated privately. In 1750 he began studying law in the office of John Moland in Philadelphia. After undertaking further study at the Middle Temple in London from 1753 to 1757, he returned to Philadelphia to practice law. Dickinson kept close ties to his Delaware home, however, and throughout his life served in public office alternately in Delaware and Pennsylvania. He was elected to the Delaware Assembly in 1759 and became speaker. In 1762 he was elected to represent Philadelphia in the Pennsylvania Assembly, where he and Benjamin Franklin argued opposite sides on such...