Jonathan Gienapp @jgienapp.bsky.social · 30/07/2026The forum begins with an Introduction to the documents by me and Jane Calvert (director of the John Dickinson Writings Project @jdproject.bsky.social and expert on all things Dickinson). 151
Jonathan Gienapp @jgienapp.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Then onto the star of the show, the documents themselves: two letters and a draft act that Dickinson sent to the banker David Barclay Jr. in London in mid-1775. The letters warned that America was on the brink. The enclosed draft legislation was written for Parliament to adopt to end the crisis. 171
Jonathan Gienapp @jgienapp.bsky.social · 30/07/2026The initial transcriptions were done by Donovan Rees, a specialist at London rare book and manuscript dealers Bernard Quaritch Ltd., who brought the documents to light after they were identified among the papers of a branch of the Barclay family. The discovery was chronicled in the New York Times.nytimes.comThe Founding Father Who Sought a Last-Minute Deal to Avert the RevolutionRecently discovered documents reveal a back-channel attempt by a leader of the Continental Congress to make peace. (He did not succeed.) 150
