Excerpt from The Life and Times of John Dickinson, 1732 1808: Prepared at the Request of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania It is a matter of regret, not to say of reproach, that no one has hitherto undertaken fully to portray the public career of this remarkable man, and to explain his conduct and motives by reference to the peculiar position Of the country, and especially Of this State, during the Crisis of the Revolution. In undertaking the work which has been assigned to me, I have been led to discuss many historical questions which may appear at first to have little connection with Mr. Dickinson's life and services. But, according to the plan I have adopted, it was essential to a proper understanding of both that some fair account of his environment should be given. For a long time the papers of Mr. Dickinson were preserved with jealous care by his family. But during the years which have elapsed since his death many have disappeared, and others are scattered beyond hope of recovery. Still, documents of priceless value to the historian remain among them, and I am greatly in debted to the kindness of miss F. A. Logan, one of the descendants of Mr. Dickinson, for an Opportunity to examine the large collection of original papers in her possession. Indeed, I am bound to say that if any new light is thrown upon Dickinson's career in my book, its source was found in my researches among these papers. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.