Statecraft and Schools: John Dickinson and Pennsylvania Education

John Dickinson, a distinguished lawyer and politician who fought in the American Revolution before serving as governor of Pennsylvania and Delaware, was one of the wealthiest and best educated men in colonial Pennsylvania. His personal education was shaped by several key influences: private classical education with professional tutors, moral and ethical influence by the Quaker community (although Dickinson himself was not a Quaker), and advanced legal training in London. Dickinson wrote perceptively about the value of education not only for his own career but also for other political leaders and for ordinary people, and he devoted substantial time and resources later in his career to help establish educational institutions for all. Dickinson’s parents and wife were observant Quakers, and the emphasis of reading and basic education in colonial Quaker communities influenced Dickinson’s eventual support of various forms of private and public education in Pennsylvania.