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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC01790.01 |
| From Archive Folder | Catharine Graham Macaulay papers |
| Title | John Dickinson to Catharine Macaulay discussing the British and American liberty |
| Date | 31 October 1770 |
| Author | Dickinson, John (1732-1808) |
| Recipient | Graham, Catharine Macaulay |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Content Description | Argues that the Freeholders of America are firm in the cause of liberty. Associates the colonial cause with virtue and piety and implicitly identifies Britain with luxury and corruption. It is notable that so many colonists addressed their appeals to an Englishwoman. |
| Subjects | Loyalist Morality and Ethics Freedom and Independence Women's History Literature and Language Arts Global History and Civics Revolutionary War Civil Rights Woman Author |
| People | Dickinson, John (1732-1808) Graham, Catherine Macaulay (1731-1791) |
| Place written | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Theme | Women in American History; Arts & Literature; Foreign Affairs |
| Sub-collection | The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1493-1859 |
| Additional Information | The escalating conflict with Britain after 1763 forced the colonists to define their identity as well as the nature of sovereignty and authority through practical action and philosophic reflection. Republican ideology served as a way to articulate a sense of identity. Increasingly, the colonists envisioned themselves as a people emancipated from religious and political despotism, as a simple cooperative people whose virtue and independence rested on land ownership. Signer of the U.S. Constitution. A Philadelphia landlord and lawyer, John Dickinson (1732-1808) played a critical role in mobilizing popular opposition to the Townshend Acts. In a series of newspaper essays, he argued against all parliamentary taxes--both "direct" taxes and "indirect" taxes. Far from being duties to regulate trade, the Townshend Acts were taxes to raise revenue. Taxes disguised as trade duties, he wrote, were "a most dangerous innovation," with the potential for turning the colonists into "abject slaves." Significantly, like Brutus, Dickinson can assume that all white colonists, regardless of class or occupation, are "free," and are thus vulnerable to British "enslavement." |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859 |
| Transcript | Show/hide |