The Petition to the King was a

petition A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer called supplication. In the colloquial sense, a petition is a document addressed to some offici ...

sent to

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

by the

First Continental Congress The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from 12 of the 13 British colonies that became the United States. It met from September 5 to October 26, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after the British Navy ...

in 1774, calling for repeal of the

Intolerable Acts The Intolerable Acts were a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws aimed to punish Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest of the Tea Act, a tax measure ...

Political background

Following the end of the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

(the North American theater of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

) in 1763, relations between the colonies and Britain had been deteriorating. Because the war had plunged the British government deep into debt,

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

enacted a series of measures to increase tax revenue from the colonies. These acts, such as the Stamp Act of 1765 and the

Townshend Acts The Townshend Acts () or Townshend Duties, were a series of British acts of Parliament passed during 1767 and 1768 introducing a series of taxes and regulations to fund administration of the British colonies in America. They are named after the ...

of 1767, were seen as legitimate means of collecting revenues to pay off the nearly two-fold increase in British debt stemming from the war. Many colonists in the Americas, however, developed a different conception of their role within the British Empire. In particular, because the colonies were not directly represented in Parliament, colonists argued that Parliament had no right to levy taxes upon them. After colonists destroyed thousands of pounds of British-taxed tea during the

Boston Tea Party The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1773. The target was the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which allowed the British East India Company to sell tea ...

, Parliament passed the

Coercive Acts The Intolerable Acts were a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws aimed to punish Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest of the Tea Act, a tax measure ...

in 1774, punishing the colonies for their actions. These punitive Acts were vehemently opposed by the colonists, leading the newly formed

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

to seek redress with King George III, in an attempt to reach a common understanding.

Development of the document

Conception

On October 1, 1774, in response to the deteriorating relationship between the American Colonies and

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

, the

decided to prepare a statement to King George III of Great Britain. The goal of the address was to persuade the King to revoke unpopular policies such as the

, which were imposed on the Colonies by the British

. The committee appointed to prepare the Address consisted of

Richard Henry Lee Richard Henry Lee (January 20, 1732June 19, 1794) was an American statesman and Founding Father from Virginia, best known for the June 1776 Lee Resolution, the motion in the Second Continental Congress calling for the colonies' independence from ...

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

, Thomas Johnson,

Patrick Henry Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736June 6, 1799) was an American attorney, planter, politician and orator known for declaring to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): " Give me liberty, or give me death!" A Founding Father, he served as the first an ...

, and

John Rutledge John Rutledge (September 17, 1739 – June 21, 1800) was an American Founding Father, politician, and jurist who served as one of the original associate justices of the Supreme Court and the second chief justice of the United States. Additiona ...

, with Lee designated as the committee chairman.Wolf, Edwin, ''The Authorship of the 1774 Address to the King Restudied'', 190. On October 5, 1774, Congress once more returned to the subject of the Address, stressing to the committee that the document should assure the King that following the successful repeal of the

, the Colonies would restore favorable relations with Britain.

Approval by Congress

On October 25, 1774, the petition came before Congress in its draft form. After the document was debated over and formally amended, it was then approved to be

engrossed Western calligraphy is the art of writing and penmanship as practiced in the Western world, especially using the Latin alphabet (but also including calligraphy, calligraphic use of the Cyrillic alphabet, Cyrillic and Greek alphabet, Greek alphabe ...

and sent to England to be presented to the King.

Annotated text of the petition

The petition, when written, was not divided into formal parts. However, the structure of the document allows it to be classified into sections, including an introduction, the list of grievances, reasons for attention, and a conclusion.

Delivery of the document

On November 2, the petition departed Philadelphia on board the ship ''Britannia'', captained by W. Morwick. However, a storm forced the ship to return to port, delaying the delivery of the petition. It was later discovered that the paper was unfit to be presented. The second copy left port on November 6 on board the ship ''Mary and Elizabeth'', captained by N. Falconer. It was confirmed on December 14 that the document successfully arrived in London.Wolf, Edwin, ''The Authorship of the 1774 Address to the King Restudied'', 192. In Britain, a number of London merchants expressed interest in joining the Americans when the petition was presented, although Benjamin Franklin advised against the proposition.Smyth, ''Writings of Franklin'', 344. On December 21,

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

, Lee, and Bollan were notified by

Lord Dartmouth Earl of Dartmouth is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1711 for William Legge, 1st Earl of Dartmouth, William Legge, 2nd Baron Dartmouth. History The Legge family descended from Edward Legge, Vice-President of Munster. ...

that the petition was "decent and respectful" and that it would be presented as soon as possible to the Houses of Parliament. However, Franklin wrote two days later that the petition could not be presented to Parliament until after the Christmas recess.Wolf, Edwin, ''The Authorship of the 1774 Address to the King Restudied'', 193.

Response

On January 19, 1775, the petition was presented to the House of Commons by

Lord North Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (13 April 17325 August 1792), better known by his courtesy title Lord North, which he used from 1752 to 1790, was 12th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most o ...

, and was also presented to the House of Lords the following day. Because the petition was intermingled with many other documents, and given the increasing turmoil of the times, little attention was given to the petition by Parliament. Likewise, the King never gave the Colonies a formal reply to their petition.

Publication

When the official papers of Congress were published in October and November 1774, the Petition to the King was omitted, because it was preferred that the address be read by the King before being made public. It was not until January 17 or 18, 1775 that the papers were officially released by the secretary of the Continental Congress,

Founding Father The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...

Charles Thomson Charles Thomson (November 29, 1729 – August 16, 1824) was an Irish-born Patriot leader in Philadelphia during the American Revolution and the secretary of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) throughout its existence. As secretary, Thomson ...

, for publication.Wolf, Edwin, ''The Authorship of the 1774 Address to the King Restudied'', 201.

Surviving drafts

Three drafts of the Petition to the King still survive: one written by

, one written by

, and one by

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.Wolf, Edwin, ''The Authorship of the 1774 Address to the King Restudied'', 197.

Patrick Henry

The Henry draft is written with very few corrections on its four portfolio pages. Compared to the final version of the Address, the draft contains more rhetorical descriptions of the contested Acts, and focuses less on the Colonies' past loyalty to Britain.

Richard Henry Lee

The Lee draft is neatly written, with minor changes, on three portfolio pages. Compared to the Henry draft, the descriptions of the grievances were brief. It does contain, however, a harsh attack on the King's ministers, most notably Bute,

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

, and

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

. Because of the inflammatory language in this draft, it is argued that this is the version that was rejected by Congress on October 21, 1774.Wolf, Edwin, ''The Authorship of the 1774 Address to the King Restudied'', 198.

John Dickinson

The Dickinson draft is a rough composition, rite with many changes, including entire paragraphs designated to be transposed. The document is nine and a half portfolio pages, numbered 1-9 and 12, with pages 10 and 11 left blank. The text found in this draft is virtually identical to the document adopted by Congress, with the main difference lying in the list of grievances in the adopted version, which resembled those found in the other two drafts.

Historical significance

The Petition to the King reflected the Colonies' desire to maintain relations with Britain, given that certain demands were met. In particular, it showed that the Colonies viewed themselves as loyal to the British monarchy rather than to Parliament.

Notes

References

* * * * {{Authority control 1774 in the Thirteen Colonies Ordinances of the Continental Congress Documents of the American Revolution Petitions 1774 in international relations George III of the United Kingdom 1774 documents