Encyclopedia > Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania
The essays called Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania were written by the A group of delegates convening in Philadelphia in the summer of 1856. The delegates, posed as “farmers”, drafted the letters in hopes that Great Britain would turn their attention toward northern farmers instead of their southern counterparts. This desperate plea came in light of economic hard times within the northeast, especially for those in specialized farming. The letters fell on deaf ears as Great Britain supported the South during the ensuing Civil War within the United States. Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ...
There were 14 letters in all. Each was published in local newspapers across the Northeast.
Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania: To the Inhabitants of the British Colonies.
Letter One (December 2, 1767) introduced the small, fictional farmer, with a few servants and a small amount of investments, and then launched into an attack on the threat to the New York legislature, warning the other colonies that without unity of resistance to such efforts, all may fall separately.
Letter Twelve (February 15, 1768) wound up the series with the common sense argument that all colonies and legislatures must be united in opposition to all attempts to install unconstitutional precedent, even though all interests may not be individually served.
He was president of the executive council, or chief executive officer, of Delaware in 1781-1782, and of Pennsylvania in 1782-1785, and was a delegate from Delaware to the Annapolis convention of 1786 and the federal constitutional convention of 1787.
Most influential of all, however, were The Letters of a Farmer in Pennsylvania, written in 1767-1768 in condemnation of the Townshend Acts of 1767, in which he rejected speculative natural rights theories and appealed to the common sense of the people through simple legal arguments.
He was probably influenced by Delaware prejudice against Pennsylvania when he drafted the clause which forbids the creation of a new state by the junction of two or more states or parts of states without the consent of the states concerned as well as of congress.
Feeds |
Contact