As for John Dickinson, the soul hold-out, well, we all know who he came back as 226 later, he's Tom Daschle.Now wouldn't it be just like the man not to want to sign the Declaration of Independence, just out of spite?
More importantly, John Dickenson, who would later serve as President of Delaware and President of Pennsylvania, was a great patriot. He served as President of the Annapolis Convention of 1786.
Never heard of the Annappolis Convention, you say? Only five states sent official delegations, So, it lacked a quorum. But Dickenson assigned Alexander Hamilton to write its final Report. That Report invited all states to send delegations to Philadelphia in May, 1787, the place where the Constitution of the United States was written.
And Dickenson had the wisdom to see that mere amendment of the Articles of Confederation was insufficient. They were fatally flawed. That invitation to all states was to do what is "necessary for the exigencies of the union." By repeating that language, which most states did, they gave their delegations the very power to write the Constitution.
So let's have no more comparing of John Dickenson to Li'l Tommy Dashcle. Dickenson was one of the great patriots who is little known. Do not accept a made-up conversation in a Broadway musical (1776 was a good show, though) as description of how things really happened.
Dashcle is not fit to black the boots of Dickenson, who shares with Sam Houston the distinction of being the only two men who ever served as Governor (President) of two different states.
Congressman Billybob