Olive Branch Petition | The last concerted effort on the part of the Continental Congress to reconcile with Great Britain

Olive Branch Petition

Committee of Safety. To the Inhabitants of the Colony of New-York [caption title]. [New York: John Holt, 1776]

Four 8vo leaves (191 x 105 mm), inlaid to 4to sheets (248 x 197 mm). Early twentieth-century half brown half morocco, spine lettered gilt; joints rubbed.

The New York Council of Safety, under the leadership of Pierre Van Cortlandt, ordered the text printed 9 January 1776, "To present, as much as possible, the evil consequences which may arise from the assertion, that the 'Continental Congress have made no approaches towards an accommodation with Great Britain …'"—Van Cortlandt's preamble refers to the address of London Mayor Wilkes.

Evans calls only for the seven-page printing of the Olive Branch Petition in the pamphlet, although he does ascribe the printing to Holt. Drafted after fighting had erupted at Lexington and Bunker Hill, the Olive Branch Petition represents the last concerted effort on the part of the Continental Congress to reconcile with Great Britain. The petition temperately defined the grievances of the colonists against the Crown, and was delivered to the King by Richard Penn, a stern loyalist. George III refused to receive the petition from Penn or through any other means (see following lot).

REFERENCE

Evans 15146 (recording only the 7-page printing of the Petition)

PROVENANCE:

Thomas Addis Emmet, M.D. (1764–1827), Irish and American lawyer, New York State Attorney-General 1812–13 (armorial bookplate on front pastedown)