John Dickinson and the Protection of Rights During the American Revolution

The American Revolution was effected to protect basic rights. Yet on the eve of independence, the United States was more fiction than fact, more inchoate ideas and frenetic energy than structures or even blueprints. There was no national constitution or government, and the same was true for some states; no foreign alliances or policy; barely an army to fend off the most powerful military forces in the world, enemies on the borders, or internal insurrections; and deep factional animosities. Despite this dire reality, for two centuries, scholars in thrall to a whiggish interpretation of the Founding professed not to understand why John Dickinson, the acknowledged leader of the resistance to Britain since 1768 and the foremost legal mind in the colonies, refused to vote on or sign the Declaration of Independence. Projecting their befuddlement onto him, they ignored his well-documented activities outlining the troubling deficiencies of the American plan for independence where rights were concerned. This paper discusses laws Dickinson advocated in the months surrounding the Declaration that trace the gaps in protections for civil and criminal rights, including liberty of speech and press, religious liberty, warrants for searches and seizures, habeas corpus, trial by jury, and others. It then highlights notable instances in which the very rights he sought to protect were violated with impunity by revolutionary governments at the state and national levels. Although the national mythology about a Revolution to secure rights is both salutary and necessary for civic purpose and cohesion, it is insufficient for a full understanding of how to preserve those rights. Americans must also know where the founders’ efforts fell short, the dire consequences of these failings, and the remedies instituted to prevent future violations. Only when they understand both ideals and shortfalls can they be knowledgeable and vigilant about their rights.