A Founder's Previously Unknown Attempt to Avert the Revolutionary War
A previously unknown letter from Founding Father John Dickinson proposes a last-ditch compromise to avert the American Revolution, offering new insights into efforts to avoid the war with Britain.
Background
John Dickinson was a Founding Father who refused to sign the Declaration of Independence, yet helped draft the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. This article discusses a newly discovered document showing that as late as June 1776 — only weeks before the Declaration — Dickinson drafted a secret proposal to King George III to negotiate peace, hoping to avoid war entirely. The find is significant because it reshapes the familiar narrative of a unified march toward independence, revealing deeper ambivalence among the Founders and showing that diplomatic off-ramps were still being pursued at the very last moment.