john dickinson is one of the most important of them. he was the author of the letters of the pennsylvania farmer, is against some of those various taxes, the stamp act and so on. he is one of our best-known political writers of the day. he is pulling back, the idea of how we are going to win a war against the british. this does not seem like the best idea in the world to declare our independence, because this completely cuts off any chance of negotiating with the british. others might look at the idea that we do not have anyone helping us. again, burton -- britain is one of the great powers of the world. america, 3 million people and there are a chunk of them remaining loyal to the crown. there will be battles in this war, after all, with just americans on both sides. some, saying we should slow down but most men are ready to move forward. on july 1, they will hold a nonbinding committee vote. the vote is on the question of being free and independent states. here's how voting works at the continental congress. you have 13 states or colo

john dickinson of delaware, who had been the principle drafter of the articles of confederation a decade earlier, said, no, why don't we do it the other way? why don't we start to by figuring out what powers we want to give the national government? if they are not that expansive, maybe we do not have to alter the structure, you don't have to alter the rule of voting. madison has a different position. he says we cannot agree on what powers we are going to give until we determine whether or not principles of justice, in terms of the allocation of representation, will be respected or not. that is what drives really the first six to seven weeks of the convention. that is why when you get into the debates in philadelphia, which we know best of course from madison's notes, what we see is that one issue. how will seats in congress be apportioned among the states in both houses is really the one dominant issue until you get to mid july 1787 and the so-called great compromise. and talking about the so-called great compromise thus gets me to the three myths about the constitution, which are the re

lawrence patrick dickinson michael d. diehl johno vincent francis difazio carl anthony difranco donald joseph difranco john digiovanni eddie a. dillard debra ann di martino david dimeglio stephen patrick dimino william john dimmling christopher more dincuff jeffrey mark dingle rena sam dinnoo anthony dionisio george dipasquale joseph di pilato douglas frank distefano donald americo ditullio ramzi a. doany johnnie doctor, jr. john joseph doherty melissa candida doi brendan dolan robert e. dolan, jr. neil matthew dollard james domanico benilda pascua domingo alberto dominguez carlos dominguez jerome mark patrick dominguez kevin w. donnelly jacqueline donovan william h. donovan stephen scott dorf thomas dowd kevin christopher dowdell mary yolanda dowling raymond matthew downey, sr. frank joseph doyle joseph michael doyle randall l. drake patrick joseph driscoll stephen patrick driscoll charles a. droz iii mirna a. duarte luke a. dudek christopher michael duffy gerard j. duffy michael joseph duffy thomas w. duffy antoinette duger jackie