Pennsylvania Farmer -- Declaration of Independence What

Pennsylvania Farmer -- Declaration of Independence What objections did the "Pennsylvania Farmer" have regarding the content of the Declaration of Independence? What did the Pennsylvania Farmer agree with, philosophically, and fundamentally, regarding the wording of the Declaration of Independence? These questions will be addressed in this paper. The Declaration of Independence and the Pennsylvania Farmer Essayist Charles Kromkowski asserts that prior to 1774, few colonists had "openly advocated" independence (Kromkowski, 2010, p. 45).

However, leading up to the 1770s there were influential propaganda-themed documents published and distributed throughout the colonies that vigorously opposed the fact that the British Parliament acted arbitrarily in taxing the colonies without the consent of the colonists and that the British Parliament unilaterally suspended the New York legislature, among other egregious acts.

One of the most influential writers of propaganda in the late 1760s was the "Pennsylvania Farmer," whose name was John Dickinson and who actually was not a farmer at all but rather he was a successful lawyer trained in London and Philadelphia -- and a legislator who opposed using violence. But for the purposed of this paper, the "Pennsylvania Farmer" could have been any intelligent, literate, hard-working colonist that wanted fairness for his emerging county. What argument for the ratification of the U.S.

Constitution -- based on the philosophical ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence (DOI) -- would the Pennsylvania Farmer make? He would certainly agree with the passages in the DOI that relates to the England's degrees: a) "…Imposing Taxes on us without our consent"; b) and for the act of dissolving "Representative Houses repeatedly… [refusing] to cause others to be elected…" (DOI). In the Pennsylvania Farmer's first letter, he insists that the British Parliament "had no right" to suspend the legislative powers of New York (Jensen, 2003, p. 131).

"It seems therefore to me as much a violation of the liberty of the people of [New York], and consequently of all these colonies, as if the parliament had sent a number of regiments to be quartered upon them till they should comply" (Jensen, 131).

And, he went on, "If the parliament may lawfully deprive New York of any of her rights, it may deprive any, or all the other colonies of their rights… To Divide, and thus to destroy, is the first political maxim in attacking those, who are powerful by their union" (Jensen, 132). The farmer also objected to England's imposed prohibition on manufacturing, and England's insistence that the colonies procure manufactured goods only from England.

With these unjust laws imposed on the colonists, the farmer went on, "…we are as abject slaves…" (Jensen, 138) What argument in the DOI would the farmer refuse to support? In the Declaration of Independence it is stated that when "any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends [in this case, England] it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it… [and] it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government." The Pennsylvania Farmer refused to sign the DOI because he "favored non-importation agreements and conciliation rather than revolt" (Columbia University Press).

At that time the farmer wanted to reach an accord with England in which the Parliament would abandon the policies of.