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22 U. Kan. City L. Rev. 183 (1953-1954)
The Olive Branch Petition

handle is hein.journals/umkc22 and id is 187 raw text is: The University of Kansas City Law Review The Olive Branch Petition ALICE TANNER BOYER* In the Declaration of Independence, following the specifications of particular oppressions to which they had been subjected, the colon- ists made reference to repeated Petitions for Redress made by them in every stage of (the enumerated) Oppressions. Of such earlier petitions little is known by the average American today, and even the school history books make only passing reference to any petitions for redress of grievances which preceded the Declara- tion of Independence. Probably the least known but perhaps most significant of these was the one known as the Olive Branch docu- ment.' Its particular significance lies not in the words of the petition itself but rather in the circumstances surrounding its drafting and the far-reaching consequences of the King's refusal to receive it in London. In an address to the Pilgrims at their annual meeting at New York on January 28, 1932, the late Nicholas Murray Butler, then president of the organization and of Columbia University, referred to the Olive Branch Petition as a document which in American history stands in importance and significance side by side with the Declaration of Inde- pendence itself, observing, further, that not one American in a million has ever heard of its existence.12 Today one copy of this historic document is on exhibition in the Public Record Office in London and the other copy, discovered in the late 1920's in England and since then sold at auction in New York City at a price of $53,000, has come to rest in the New York Public *A.B. (1941) Washburn College; LL.B. (1951) University of Kansas City; Law Librarian and Instructor in Law, University of Kansas City School of Law. 'For example, The Encyclopaedia Britannica (14th Edition) makes no mention of any petitions, crediting the Second Continental Congress principally with activities leading to a prosecution of the war effort. 'Wickersham, Cornelius W., The Olive Branch, 56 Bulletin of the New York Public Library 542 (November, 1952). Its historic importance should in no way b subordinated to that of the Declaration of Independence, wrote the late Randalph G. Adams, Director of the William L. Clements Library, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, in his treatment of the document which appeared in a special catalogue.

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