This image provided by The New York Public Library shows a document known as the “Olive Branch Petition,” asking King George III to restore harmony between Britain and the American colonies ...

This image provided by The New York Public Library shows a document known as the “Olive Branch Petition,” asking King George III to restore harmony between Britain and the American colonies ...

This image provided by The New York Public Library shows a document known as the "Olive Branch Petition," asking King George III to restore harmony between Britain and the American colonies ...

But over the first half of 1775 Dickinson and others still hoped that King George III could be reasoned with and would undo the tax hikes and other alleged abuses they blamed on the British ...

A year before declaring independence, colonists offered ‘Olive Branch’ petition to King George III ...