Download PDF by William Murchison: The Cost of Liberty: The Life of John Dickinson

“Makes a strong and convincing case for restoring John Dickinson to his rightful position within the first rank of the Founders.” —The Washington Times 
 

The price of Liberty offers a sorely wanted reassessment of a very good patriot and misunderstood Founder.
 
It has been greater than a part century seeing that a biography of John Dickinson seemed. writer William Murchison rectifies this error, bringing to existence essentially the most influential figures of the total Founding interval, a principled guy whose presents as author, speaker, and thinker merely Jefferson got here almost about matching. within the approach, Murchison destroys the cartoon of Dickinson that has emerged from such well known remedies as HBO’s John Adams miniseries and the Broadway musical 1776.
 
Dickinson is remembered commonly for his reluctance to signal the announcement of Independence. yet that reluctance, Murchison indicates, had not anything to do with an absence of patriotism. in reality, Dickinson instantly took up palms to serve the colonial cause—something just one signer of the announcement did. He stood on precept to oppose mentioning independence at that second, even if he knew that doing so may deal the “finishing blow” to his once-great reputation.
 
Dubbed the “Penman of the Revolution,” Dickinson was once not only a scribe but in addition a shaper of effective occasions. From the 1760s in the course of the past due 1780s he was once current at, and performed an important position in, each significant assemblage the place the Founders charted America’s path—a declare few others can make. writer of the landmark essays Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, delegate to the Continental Congress, key determine at the back of the Articles of Confederation and the structure, leader government of either Pennsylvania and Delaware: Dickinson used to be, as one esteemed historian aptly positioned it, “the such a lot underrated of the entire Founders.”
 
This energetic biography supplies an outstanding Founder his long-overdue degree of honor.