Thomas Jefferson's Olive Branch Petition

In the summer of 1776, amidst the stirrings of a revolution, a selection of our country’s founding fathers- Ben Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman and most importantly, Thomas Jefferson were appointed by the Continental Congress to write a declaration of independence from Britain’s monarchy. Secession from the monarchy was deemed necessary for two paramount reasons; Americans wanted a representative government and civil liberties that allowed freedom of expression and created equality. King George’s governance infringed on the American ability to seek their natural rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. Eight years later, many of the same delegates rejoined in Philadelphia during the smoldering summer of 1781 to revise the

Due to these atrocities of this, Americans began “to no longer considered themselves British…(and) denied England any authority in the colonies”. Thomas Jefferson, the principle author of the Declaration of Independence, voiced the colonists’ discontent with the British Monarchy and outlined the flaws in King George’s rule. He said that in his “absolute tyranny” over the colonies, King George neglected laws that benefitted the “public good” and appointed government leaders “distant from the depository of their public records…(to) fatigue them into compliance of his measures”. Jefferson also noted that King George “dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people”, an act that he and other the delegates found inexcusable and intolerable. Jefferson also accused King George and Parliament of being “deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity”. In response to their concerns, Americans disbanded their “allegiance to the British Crown” and waged war fueled by the idea that a government should be representative of the people and cannot limit its citizens’ “pursuit” of “liberty and…

To protect the “unalienable rights (of) life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and ultimately the freedom of expression, the First Amendment prevents congress from restricting religion or the “freedom of speech, or of the press or the right of the people to assemble peaceably” in order to . Most importantly what the First Amendment allows is the right of the people to “petition the Government for a redress of grievances”, which allows the American people to “abolish…and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on…principles…most likely to effect their safety and happiness”, exactly as the Continental Congress did with the Declaration of