Biography
curriculum vitæ
I am a professional historian of the American Colonial and Founding Eras with a special interest in the intersection of theology and political thought. Both my teaching and research have focused on Quaker and Reformed Calvinist (Puritan) methods of resisting injustice by the government. My primary area of expertise is American Founder John Dickinson (1732–1808).
After earning my PhD at the University of Chicago, I taught history for twenty years at various institutions, including St. Mary's College of Maryland, Yale University, and the University of Kentucky. My courses included everything from 100-level American and Western "civilization" courses to specialized topics at the graduate level. As much as I love teaching, I left academia in 2024 because I could no longer be part of a corporatized and politicized system that treats students like customers, prioritizes graduation rates over education, and pressures faculty to "just pass" students with a C.
In 2010, I founded The John Dickinson Writings Project (JDP). Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Historical and Publications Records Commission, and several private foundations, the JDP is collecting and publishing everything Founder John Dickinson wrote on public affairs over the course of his life.
Apart from Dickinson and Quakerism, I have also worked on Thomas Paine and the Second Amendment. Other interests include material culture and animal rights.
Selected Articles & Essays
“The Friendly Jurisprudence and Early Feminism of John Dickinson,” in Great Christian Jurists in American History ed. Daniel L. Dreisbach and Mark David Hall (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019), 133–59.
“Myth-Making and Myth-Breaking in the Historiography on John Dickinson,” The Journal of the Early Republic vol. 34, no. 3 (2014): 467–80.
“Thomas Paine, Quakerism, and the Limits of Religious Liberty during the American Revolution,” in Selected Writings of Thomas Paine. ed. Shapiro and Calvert. Rethinking the Western Tradition Series (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014), 602–29.
“John Dickinson’s Quaker Contributions to the Creation of the American Republic,” in Faith and the Founders of the American Republic, ed. Mark David Hall and Daniel L. Dreisbach. (Oxford University Press, 2014), 277–304.
“The ‘Documentary Democracy’ of the Writings of John Dickinson, Then and Now,” Scholarly Editing 34 (2013).
“Letter to Farmers in Pennsylvania: John Dickinson Writes to the Paxton Boys,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography vol. 136, no. 4 (2012): 475–77.
“‘The Character of an Author’: Attribution and Misattribution of the Writings of John Dickinson,” The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America vol. 104, no. 3 (2010): 341–46.
Brief of Historians of Early American Constitutional, Legal, and Pennsylvania History as Amici Curiæ in Support of Respondent City of Chicago, with Nathan Kozuskanich, Paul Finkelman, and Thomas D. Hamm, submitted to the United States Supreme Court, January 2010.
“Liberty without Tumult: Understanding the Politics of John Dickinson,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography vol. 131, no. 3 (2007): 233–62.
“The Quaker Theory of Civil Constitution,” History of Political Thought vol. 27, no. 4 (2006): 586–619.
“From Necessity, Not Choice: Lessons in Democracy from Early Maryland,” with Anthony K. Lake, Occasional Papers for The Center for the Study of Democracy vol. 1, no. 1 (2005).
Public
Engagement
“The American Arc" blog, The Jack Miller Center, January 2024.
Pennsylvania Cable Network, “Pennsylvania Books: Founders’ Series,” September 2022.
“‘A perpetual jealousy, respecting liberty’: John Dickinson on Fundamental Rights,” for Online Library of Liberty, The Reading Room, The Liberty Fund, July 2022.
“Understanding the Legacy of John Dickinson,” The Real America Revolution, February 2022.
“John Dickinson Manuscripts at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania,” Annual Meeting, Board of Directors of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, December 2021.
"Enlighten Men: The John Dickinson Writings Project,” Delaware Public Media, December 2021.
“The John Dickinson Draft of the Articles of Confederation,” in The Panorama: Expansive Views from The Journal of the Early Republic (2020).
Ben Franklin’s World: Doing History: To the Revolution! Series, Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Fall 2019.
“Historian Jane Calvert Shows the Human Side of Founding Father John Dickinson,” UKNOW: University of Kentucky News, October 2017.
"The Most Important Founder You've Never Heard Of," Delaware Today Magazine, December 2017.
Ben Franklin’s World: Doing History: To the Revolution! Series, Omohundro Institute for Early American History and Culture, Fall 2017.
Featured Author, C-SPAN, July 20–21, 2013.
“John Dickinson: Penman of the Revolution,” a documentary by Teleduction, WHYY, December 14, 2012.
Contact
Available for media interviews, speaking engagements (for a fee), and pro bono assistance for students and scholars.
