Photo By Brooke Nevins | The "Olive Branch Petition," New York Public Library, July 1775.... read more read more
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Though the Second Continental Congress had established its army in June 1775, its members still sought to avoid further conflict. In July, 46 colonial representatives, including John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, signed the “Olive Branch Petition,” addressed directly to King George III, seeking cooperation in resolving discord sowed by the king’s ministers and restoring harmony to the realm.
The petition, drafted by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, cited the previously strong and beneficial relationship and the dedicated service by the colonists on behalf of the crown in the recent French and Indian War. The group explained that the hostilities brought by the king’s minister’s enforcement of stringent measures “have compelled us to arm in our own defence, and have engaged us in a controversy so peculiarly abhorrent to the affections of your still faithful colonists….”
The delegates attempted in the petition to stop “the further effusion of blood, and [avert] the impending calamities that threaten the British Empire.”
The document arrived in Bristol, England, on Aug. 13 and was to be delivered directly to the king, but did not reach the king until Aug. 28, because the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Dartmouth, was not in London at the time.
By then, however, as a result of the recent battles in Massachusetts, King George III had already issued the Proclamation for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition on Aug. 23 declaring all the colonies to be in a state of rebellion. The proclamation stated that the colonists, led astray by “dangerous and ill-designing Men,” had forgotten their allegiance “to the power that has protected and sustained them.”
The king said their actions had progressed from disturbing the peace to obstructing commerce and had “proceeded to an open and avowed rebellion,” by withstanding the execution of the law with open hostility and “traitorously preparing, ordering, and levying” war against the empire.
King George III charged all military members, civil leaders and subjects as legally bound to assist the suppression of the rebellion. Thus, by the end of August, decisions had been made and war would not be averted in the American colonies.
A copy of the original Olive Branch Petition can be found in the digital collections of the New York Public Library at https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/82c79ae0-7f25-0132-c54d-58d385a7b928.
A transcript can be found on the website of the National Archives: https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-01-02-0114.
The King’s response can be found in a broadside, printed in Boston, entitled By the King, a Proclamation, For suppressing Rebellion and Sedition, which can be found among the collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society at https://www.masshist.org/database/818.
| Date Taken: | 08.20.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.22.2025 12:59 |
| Story ID: | 546084 |
| Location: | PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 10 |
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