The JDP is pleased to announce that Penman of the Founding, has won the following 4 awards: • The James Kirby Martin History Prize from the Fort Plain Museum & Historical Park • The Herbert J. Storing Book Prize from the Ciceronian Society 1/2

On this day in 1776, the Second Continental Congress held a vote on whether to declare independence from Great Britain. John Dickinson, who had spoken eloquently against it the day before, knew how the vote would go.

@thefp.com Thank you for this nice summary of Dickinson's actions when independence was being debated and declared!

On this day in 1776, driven by conscience, John Dickinson gave his final speech against declaring independence. He was willing to ruin his reputation to save his country. Explaining that he wasn't opposed to independence per se, just the timing, he reiterated his concerns that America wasn't ready.

In June 1776, John Dickinson made the most revolutionary contribution to the American Revolution. He wrote a draft of the Articles of Confederation intended to protect Americans' most basic rights. Among the key provisions were 1) a strong central government to which the states would be subordinate;

What better as an inaugural post than to announce the publication of an article in the NYT about the work of the John Dickinson Writings Project and the discovery of several remarkable new Dickinson documents?