DICKSON, John, statesman, born in Keene. New Hampshire, in 1783; died in West Bloomfield. New York, 22 February 1852. He was graduated at Middlebury in 1808, and while reading law at Milton, New York, in 1808'12, taught languages and mathematics. He was admitted to the bar and practice(1 law in West Bloomfield, New York, from 1813 till 1825, in Rochester, New York, from 1825 till 1828, and subsequently in West Bloomfield. He was a member of the New York assembly in 1829'30, and of congress from 1831 till 1835. In February 1835, he is said to have made "the first important antislavery speech ever made in congress." He was known as " Honest John Dickson," and was the author of a work entitled "Remarks on the Presentation of Several Petitions for the Abolition of Slavery and the Slave Trade in the District of Columbia" (1835).