[3] Before the Revolutionary War, he was a member of Rowan County Committee of Safety.
Dickson was elected clerk of the Lincoln County Court in 1781, and was a member of the North Carolina Senate from 1788 to 1795.
During this time, he was appointed to the commission to establish the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
He was elected as a Federalist to the Sixth Congress in 1798, representing North Carolina's 1st district.
He was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1807 to 1811, serving as speaker the last two years.