John Dickinson begins 'Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania'

Background. The Stamp Act of 1765 had ignited a dispute over Parliament's authority to levy internal taxes on the colonies; Parliament repealed it in 1766, but in 1767 imposed import duties remembered as the Townshend Acts. Dickinson, a wealthy Philadelphia lawyer and Pennsylvania assembly member who had drafted the 1765 Declaration of Rights and Grievances, set out to clarify the constitutional question and urge moderate opposition.

Publication in the Pennsylvania Chronicle. The Letters were first published in the Pennsylvania Chronicle, appearing under the pseudonym 'A Farmer' from 1767 to 1768. The original publication of Letter III appeared in the 14 December 1767 edition of the paper. Dickinson, who had little to do with farming by 1767, adopted a persona rooted in English pastoral writings, and the essays were published anonymously.

Early Reception and Spread. Between 2 December 1767 and 27 January 1768, the letters began appearing in 19 of the 23 English-language colonial newspapers, with Letter I reprinted in the Boston Gazette on 21 December 1767. Dickinson's connections with leaders such as Richard Henry Lee and Christopher Gadsden helped ensure wide publication, and the essays reached an audience likely larger than any previous colonial political writings.