A year before declaring independence, colonists offered ‘Olive Branch’ petition to King George III
July 3, 2025
Millions of protesters have denounced President Donald Trump as a would-be autocrat and marched under the banner “No Kings.” But at the same point 250 years ago, in the summer of 1775, the mood was more cautious. Even after the bloodied conflicts of Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill, many Americans were not ready to break from King George III and call for independence from Britain. Almost exactly a year to the day before the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress ratified the “Olive Branch Petition,” a plea for peace with “the Mother country”