John Dickinson.
Letters From a Farmer in Pennsylvania was a series of essay by Pennsylvania planter and legislator John Dickinson published from December 1767 to April 1768 in response to passage of the Townshend Acts by the Parliament of Great Britain. The essays were widely read and reprinted throughout the American colonies, and helped to unite the colonists against the Townshend Acts.
Dickinson had been one of the leading figures of the Stamp Act Congress, which met in New York City in October 1765 in response to passage of the Stamp Act. At that time, he had endorsed the claim that Parliament had no authority to levy taxes on the American colonies, and the Letters From a Farmer elaborated the argument. Beyond the questions of taxation and regulation of trade, Dickinson did not elaborate a detailed theory of the broader constitutional relationship between Britain and the colonies. However, the letters warned against separation from Great Britain, and predicted tragedy for the colonies, should they become independent. Instead, Dickinson urged the colonists to seek redress within the British constitutional system. In order to secure the repeal of the Townshend duties, Dickinson recommended further petitions, and proposed putting pressure on Britain by reducing imports, both through frugality and the purchase of local manufactures.
Several colonial governors acknowledged the deep impact of the letters on political opinion in their colonies. Governor James Wright of Georgia wrote to Lord Hillsborough, Secretary of State for the Colonies, that "Mr. Farmer I conceive has most plentifully sown his seeds of faction and Sedition to say no worse, and I am sorry my Lord I have so much reason to say they are scattered in a very fertile soil, and the well known author is adored in America."