Pennsylvania: Elected officials

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3:02

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Pennsylvania's three most consequential Revolutionary leaders each took distinct paths. Benjamin Franklin returned from London in 1775 uncommitted, and his eventual embrace of independence carried enormous symbolic weight. John Dickinson, author of Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania, resisted independence until the last moment. He abstained from the Continental Congress’s vote on the Declaration, allowing the delegation to tip in favor. Immediately after, he put on a soldier’s uniform. Later, he drafted the Articles of Confederation. James Wilson took the most radical position, arguing as early as 1774 that Parliament had no legitimate authority over the colonies. He voted for independence on July 2, 1776. Pennsylvania's 1776 state constitution—drafted in Franklin's absence but with his support—was the most radical in America, with a unicameral legislature, no governor, annual elections, and broad suffrage. Wilson and Dickinson opposed it as dangerously democratic, and its tensions ran through Pennsylvania politics for decades.

Interviewees

David Brigham
- President and CEO, Historical Society of Pennsylvania
William Ewald
- John J. O’Brien Professor of Comparative and International Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School

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