Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/193

Rh ied the doctrine afterward known as " popular sov- ereignty." (See Butts, Isaac.) Among the meas- ures that have since been adopted, Mr. Dickinson earnestly advocated the free passage of weekly newspapers through the mails in the county where published. His conservative course in the senate not only secured him the vote of Virginia for the presidential nomination in the Democratic conven- tion of 1852, but a strongly commendatory letter from Daniel Webster, 27 Sept., 1850, in which the writer asserted that Mr. Dickinson's " noble, able, manly, and patriotic conduct in support of the great measures " of that session had " entirely won his heart " and received his " highest regard." In 1853 President Pierce nominated Mr. Dickinson for collector of the port of New York, and the nomination was confirmed by the senate ; but the office was declined. At the beginning of the civil war in 1861, Mr. Dickinson threw all his influence on the side of the government regardless of party considerations, and for the first three years de- voted himself to addressing public assemblages in New York, Pennsylvania, and the New England states. In 1861 he was nominated for attorney- general of his state, and was elected by 100,000 majority. He was nominated by President Lincoln to settle the northwestern boundary question, but declined, as he also did a nomination by Gov. Fen- ton to fill a vacancy in the court of appeals of the state of New York. He subsequently accepted the office of district-attorney for the southern district of New York, and performed its duties almost till the day of his death. In the Repjublican national convention of 1864, when President Lincoln was renominated, Mr. Dickinson received 150 votes for the vice-presidential nomination. As a debater he was clear, profound, and logical, and not infre- quently overwhelmed his opponents with scathing satire. His speeches were ornamented witii classi- cal allusions and delivered without apparent ef- fort. Among his happiest efforts are said to have been his speech in the National democratic conven- tion at Baltimore in 1852, in which, having re- ceived the vote of Virginia, he declined in favor of Gen. Cass, and his eulogy of Gen. Jackson in 1845. Mr. Dickinson's brother has published his " Life and Works " (2 vols.. New York, 1867).

DICKINSON, Edward, lawyer, b. in Amherst, Mass., 1 Jan., 1803 ; d. in Boston, 16 June, 1874. He was the son of Samuel Fowler Dickinson, one of the founders of Amherst college. He was gradu- ated at Yale in 1823, and opened a law-office in Amherst in 1826, where he continued the practice of his profession until his death. A few months previous to that event he resigned in favor of his son the treasurership of Amherst, an office he had held uninterruptedly since 1835. In 1838-'9 and 1873 he was chosen a member of the Massachusetts assembly, and was elected state senator in 1842-'3. In 1846-'7 he served as a member of the governor's council, and from 1853 till 1855 sat in the lower house of congress, having been elected by the whig party. Having been elected to the legislature in 1873 that he might secure to his native town the advantages of the Massachusetts Central railroad, he delivered an able address in the interests of that road in connection with the Hoosac tunnel, and died of apoplexy on the same day.

DICKINSON, John, publicist, b.'in Maryland, 13 Nov.. 1732; d. in Wilmington, Del, 14 Feb., 1808. He was the son of Samuel D. Dickinson, "who removed to Delaware, became chief justice of the county of Kent, and died. 6 July, 1760, aged seventy-one. John studied law in Philadelphia, and subsequently passed three years in reading in the Temple in London. On his return he practised successfully in Philadelphia. His first appearances in public life were as a member of the Pennsylva- nia assembly in 1764, and of the Colonial congress convened in New York to oppose the stamp-act in 1765, In the latter year he began to write against the policy of the British government, and, being a member of the 1st Continental congress (1774), was the author of a series of state papers put forth by that body, which won for him a glowing tribute from Lord Chatham. Among them were the " Ad- dress to the Inhabitants of Quebec," the first " Pe- tition to the King," the " Address to the Armies," the second " Petition to the King," and the " Ad- dress " to the several states. Of the first " Peti- tion," which has been credited to Lee, it has been said that " it will remain an imperishable monu- ment to the glory of its author and of the assem- bly of which he was a member, so long as fervid and manly eloquence and chaste and elegant com- position shall be appreciated." In June, 1776, he opposed the adoption of the Declaration of Inde- pendence because he doubted the wisdom of the measure "without some prelusory trials of our strength," and before the terms of the confeder- ation were settled and foreign assistance made certain. When the question came to be voted upon, he ab- sentedhimself inten- tionally, but proved that his patriotism was not inferior to that of those who difliered with him, by enlisting as a pi'ivate in the army and remaining un- til the end of his term of service. He served again as a private in the sum- mer of 1777 in Del- aware, and in October of the same year was commissioned as a brigadier-general. In April, 1779, he was elected to congress from Delaware, and in May wrote another "Address to the States." In 1780 he was chosen a member of the Delaware assembly, and in the following year elected president of the state. From 1782 till 1785 he filled the same office in Pennsylvania, and served as a member of the convention that framed the Federal constitution. In 1788 he wrote nine letters over the signature of " Fabius," urging the adoption of the constitution, and these were followed in 1797 by a series of fourteen, written to promote a friendly feeling toward France. In 1783 he was influential in founding and largely endowed Dickinson college, Carlisle, Pa. At this time he was living in Wilmington, Del., where he collected his political writings in 1801. The remaining seven years of his life were passed in retirement. Besides the writings mentioned, he was the author of "Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies" (Philadelphia, 1767; reprinted, with a preface by Dr. Franklin, London, 1768 ; French translation, Paris, 1769). In 1774 appeared his "Essay on the Constitutional Power of Great Britain over the Colonies in America." In 1796 he received the degree of LL. D. from the College of New Jersey. — His brother, Philemon, soldier, b. in Croisedore, Talbot co., Md., 5 April, 1739 ; d. near Trenton, N. J., 4 Feb.,