History of the United States I / Unit 5 USH1 0620 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Dickinson and the Circular Letter
Captions available
The idea
John Dickinson's Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer conceded Parliament's right to regulate trade but denied its authority to impose internal taxes or external duties without representation.
In practice
Samuel Adams's Massachusetts Circular Letter of seventeen sixty-eight calling such duties infringements of natural and constitutional rights.
Where people slip
The letter professed the greatest deference to the wisdom of Parliament. Even radical voices still declared allegiance.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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