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Abstract
This biography of Mahlen Dickerson reveals a man on the national political scene who was active through the whole of the Jeffersonian period and who remained important in the Jacksonian period of our history. His activity and his thought throw light on the political, social, and economic events and developments of his time.
In his home state of New Jersey, Dickerson was for a time the most powerful political leader, and for a long time afterward he was an important and influential figure in the state.
Dickerson was a New Jersey aristocrat, and as such he was a type of Jacksonian leader which has been largely overlooked. He typifies a Jacksonian leader who retained his commitment to the Jeffersonian old virtues, but even more he reveals a deeper commitment to Jeffersonian liberalism. It was this latter commitment which allowed his continued activity and influence in the Jacksonian period, and which marks him not so much as a unique type among the Jacksonian leaders, but rather as an undelineated type.
Dickerson was born in Hanover Neck, New Jersey, on April 17, 1770. His family had roots in America going back to the early seventeenth century; and in his native Morris County, both his father and grandfather were respected and influential citizens.
Dickerson grew up in Morris County, which was, during his boyhood years, one of the centers of patriotic zeal through the years of the American Revolution. He received his early education there, and in 1787 entered the College of New Jersey at Princeton. After graduation from that institution, Dickerson served a law apprenticeship in Morristown, and was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1793. In the following year, he served as a volunteer in the forces which went to western Pennsylvania to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion.
From 1797 until 1810, Dickerson lived in Philadelphia where he practiced law. In that city he was very active in cultural affairs including the activities of the American Philosophical Society. He made many friends, and was deeply involved in Republican politics in the city and the state. While in Philadelphia, he held many appointive and elective offices on the local, state, and national levels. His highest office was that of state Adjutant General.
In 1810, Dickerson returned to New Jersey where he gained control of his late father's iron mine and thus laid the basis for his future fortune. He remained active in politics and held several public offices, up to and including a judgeship in the state Supreme Court and the Governorship.
From the Governorship Dickerson moved to the United States Senate where he served for sixteen years. Dickerson's greatest contributions in the Senate centered around the tariff debates when protection was being established, strengthened, and then almost destroyed. He was one of the leading spokesmen for protection. Dickerson was deeply involved in national politics during his years in the Senate, and at one point was seriously considered as the vice presidential candidate by the Jacksonians.
Dickerson was Secretary of the Navy in the cabinets of Jackson and Van Buren. His accomplishments were not out- standing in this office, but his activities do reflect administrative problems and procedures and help to illuminate national political developments.
In Dickerson's declining years, from 1838 to 1853, his interests in politics, protection, and his mine continued, but with his advancing years, his influence and power steadily declined. He died October 23, 1853.
