Today two delegates representing Delaware arrived, but not enough to constitute a majority from Delaware. Consequently, the convention still lacks a quorum and cannot conduct business.
George Read, Gunning Bedford, John Dickinson, Richard Bassett and Jacob Broom were appointed delegates by the Delaware legislature on February 3, authorizing them to deliberate and discuss “such alterations and further provisions, as may be necessary to render the federal constitution [Articles of Confederation] adequate to the exigencies of the Union.” However, there is a proviso that such alterations “do not extend to that part of the Fifth Article of the Confederation of the said States.”
Article Five of the Articles of Confederation describes the terms for State representation in the Confederation Congress, including term limits for individual members, the annual meeting date for Congress, and other provisions. However, for Delaware the most important element to safeguard is that which states, “in determining questions in the United States in Congress assembled, each State shall have one vote.” George Read is largely responsible for having this restriction placed in the credentials of the Delaware delegates to protect the small States.
Along with James Madison and most of the Virginia delegation, Read is lodging at Mrs. Houses’s boardinghouse, which he complains is very crowded and “the room in which I am presently is so small as not to admit of a second bed.” Already mingling with delegates from other States, he has received “a copied draft of a federal system to be proposed.” What he read so alarmed him he immediately drafted a letter to John Dickinson.
“We now have a quorum from six States,” he wrote, “South and North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New York, and single deputies from three others – Georgia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts – whose additional ones are hourly expected, and also the Connecticut deputies, who have been appointed there.” After briefly summarizing the draft plan, Read concluded, “I suspect it to be of importance to the small States that their deputies should keep a strict watch upon the movements and propositions from the larger States, who will probably combine to swallow up the smaller ones by addition, division, or impoverishment.” Finally, with a sense of energy, he advised his friend, “if you have any wish to assist in guarding against such attempts, you will be speedy in your attendance.”
Read and Dickinson are almost exactly the same age, fifty-three and fifty-four, respectively. They share the same profession, although Read studied law from a local attorney and Dickinson had the great advantage of attending the Middle Temple in London. Their political careers coincided during the colonial era when Delaware was not a separate colony, but simply three counties located on the Delaware Bay which had been the subject of a continuous legal tug-of-war until 1704. That year, a separate Assembly was convened for Delaware. From that time until 1776, Pennsylvania and Delaware had separate Assemblies but shared the same governor. When the revolution erupted, severing ties with Britain, Delaware and Pennsylvania emerged as separate States.
During the colonial period, Read served in the Delaware (The Three Counties) Assembly and as attorney general, while Dickinson also served in the Assembly, including a term as Speaker. Both were selected by their State legislatures to serve in the Continental Congress – Read representing Delaware, Dickinson representing Pennsylvania. Their commitment to protecting colonial rights was unassailable, but they were cautious. They feared extremism and hoped for reconciliation.
Both were here in Philadelphia on that historic day, July 2, 1776, when Congress prepared to vote on Richard Henry Lee’s resolution “that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.” Read was intimately involved with the drama that unfolded.
Read was one of three delegates representing Delaware. It had been agreed that a unanimous vote of States present would be required for the resolution to pass. Each State had one vote and that vote would be decided by a majority of its delegates. Eight States were in favor of independence. Pennsylvania and South Carolina had been vacillating, but it was increasingly evident they would be voting “aye.” New York was absent. Delaware was divided: Thomas McKean “aye”, George Read “no,” Caesar Rodney “absent.” As a brigadier general in the Delaware militia, Rodney was home in Dover squelching a Loyalist riot. Independence would depend on breaking the “Delaware deadlock.”
On July 1, McKean hired an express rider to carry an urgent message to Rodney – the final deliberations and vote on independence will take place tomorrow; your presence is desperately needed.
The express rider reached Rodney’s home after midnight. Rodney responded immediately, saddling his best horse and racing into the night through ninety miles of torrential rain, swollen streams, and slippery cobblestone streets as the night of July 1 gave way to the dawn of July 2. Exhausted, suffering from a serious facial cancer and asthma, fully aware that his vote might result in the death penalty at the hands of the British, he stumbled across the threshold of the State House and was half carried into the hall. He voted “aye.”
George Read voted “no” that day but signed the Declaration of Independence. John Dickinson also opposed the resolution and chose not to sign, but his “Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer” and other writings clearly articulated the principles underlying the impasse between Britain and the colonies, earning him the title “Penman of the Revolution.”