Source: Law & Liberty
by Hans Eicholz
“Among the unsung, or rarely sung heroes of the American Revolution is John Dickinson. Of the many reasons for this neglect, none is perhaps more pertinent than his refusal to put his signature to the Declaration when the time came. Biographers and historians have long pointed to this as evidence of a conservative disposition and have usually cited his authorship, some 250 years ago this July, of the Olive Branch Petition, the final attempt of the colonists to avoid open warfare with the mother country. Of all the revolutionaries, it is true, Dickinson was perhaps the most solicitous for reconciliation with England. But he was far from being afraid of assuming great personal risk. … he also co-authored that other great document of the Revolution, The Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 6, 1775.” (07/10/25)