"What then can we do? Which way shall we turn ourselves? How may we mitigate the miseries of our country? Great Britain gives us an example to guide us? She Teaches us to Make a Distinction Between Her Interests and Our Own.
"Teaches! She requires—commands—insists upon it—threatens—compels—and even distresses us into it.
"We have our choice of these two things—to continue our present limited and disadvantageous commerce—or to promote manufactures among ourselves, with a habit of economy, and thereby remove the necessity we are now under of being supplied by Great Britain.
"It is not difficult to determine which of these things is most eligible. Could the last of them be only so far executed as to bring our demand for British manufactures below the profits of our foreign trade, and the amount of our commodities immediately remitted home, these colonies might revive and flourish. States and families are enriched by the same means; that is, by being so industrious and frugal as to spend less than what they raise can pay for."
The various Non-Importation Agreements signed during the next ten years, bear testimony to the popularity of the proposed plan.
This pamphlet circulated freely and increased Dickinson's reputation as that of a man capable of thoroughly discussing public measures; it also brought his name to the attention of the British public for whom the "Letter" was especially written.
At the call of Massachusetts, representatives of nine of the colonies met in New York in October, 1764, and after a long discussion (in which Dickinson's knowledge of constitutional law and English colonial policy enabled him to assume the leadership) issued a "Declaration of Rights," in which it was asserted that the inhabitants of the Colonies, standing on their rights as Englishmen, could not be taxed by the House of Commons while unrepresented in that body. Memorials were sent abroad protesting against the proposed acts, expressing, however, their willingness to meet loyally as in the past any properly accredited requisitions for funds sent to the various Assemblies. Notwithstanding this opposition, and the protests of all friends of America in England, the Stamp Act was passed. A year later it was repealed.
JUST PUBLISHED.
Printed on a large Type, and fine Paper,
And to be sold at the LONDON BOOK STORE
North Side of King-street
LETTERS
FROM
A FARMER in PENNSYLVANIA
To the INHABITANTS of the
BRITISH COLONIES.
(Price two Pistareens)
Among all the WRITERS in favor of the COLONIES, the FARMER shines unrivalled, for strength of Argument, Elegance of Diction, Knowledge in the Laws of Great Britain, and the true interest of the COLONIES: A pathetic and persuasive eloquence runs thro the whole of these Letters: They have been printed in every Colony from Florida to Nova Scotia; and the universal applause so justly bestowed on the AUTHOR, hath fully testified the GRATITUDE of the PEOPLE OF AMERICA, for such an able Adviser and affectionate Friend.
Written in a plain, pure style, with illustrations and arguments drawn from ecclesiastical, classical and English history, each point proven with telling accuracy and convincing logic, conciliatory to the English people, and filled with expressions of loyalty to the King, these essays, popularly known as the "Farmer's Letters," furnished the basis on which all those who resented the attacks on their liberty were able to unite. Town meetings[2] and Assemblies vied with each other in their resolutions of thanks. The "Letters" were published immediately in book form in Philadelphia (three different editions), New York, Boston (two different editions), Williamsburgh, London (with a preface written by Franklin), and Dublin. Franklin was influential, also, in having them translated into French, and published on the Continent. Owing to the beauty of its typography and the excellence of its book-making, the Boston edition, published by Messrs. Mein & Fleeming, has been selected for republication, and has been reprinted line for line and page for page, in a type varying but slightly from that used by Mein & Fleeming. A few typographical errors have been corrected, but the irregularities in spelling, wherever they exist throughout the various editions, have been retained. The binding also is a reproduction of that of the original. Its publication[3] was announced in the "Boston Chronicle," March 14-21, 1768, by the advertisement reprinted on the preceding page.