Petition for Redress

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Petition for Redress “In every stage of these opressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petititions have been answered only by repeated injuries.” –Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence. During the American Revolution colonists were petitioning for redress. The petitions were towards either British parliament or the King. The petitions were either laws or documents towards British informing them that the colonists wanted to be free from the British. However the King and British parliament weren’t always happy when they heard of these petitions. Even the Declaration of Independence was written due to King George not comprehending with the previous colonial petitions to declare independence. Each of the thirteen colonies had their own charter between either the king and joint-stock company or the king and proprietor (Burk, 92). Colonists had made it clear that their colonies were not a “part of the realm of England” but in fact a rather “separate and distinct dominions” (Burk, 92). By emigrating here to the new country colonists believed they had the right to enjoy all liberties and immunities of free and natural subjects (Burk, 92). They had argued that the King refused many times to accept that the colonists had their own liberties of free-born Englishmen (Burk, 92). However the colonies weren’t free from the British Empire until the third quarter of the 18th Century (Burk, 92). Due to colonies not being independent they had to share the “British Constitution,” referring to the structure of government, the way it conducted itself, and powers it held, which derived from traditional practices and revered documents, for example the Magna Carta of 1215 and the Bill of Righ... ... middle of paper ... ... Branch petition was given to the Secretary of State for America, Lord Dartmouth, who ignored the petition and thus no answer was received by the King (Burk, 157). Works Cited Burk, Kathleen. Old World, New World: Great Britain and America from the Beginning. New York: Atlantic Monthly, 2008. Print Leibiger, Suart. "The Journal of Southern History." JSTOR. Southern Historical Association, Aug. 1993. Web. 1 Feb. 2014. . Baack, Ben. "Forging a Nation State: The Continental Congress and the Financing of the War of American Independence." JSTOR. Economic History Society, Nov. 2001. Web. 01 Feb. 2014. . Flavell, Julie M. "Lord North's Conciliatory Proposal and the Patriots in London." JSTOR. Oxford University Press, Apr. 1992. Web. 01 Feb. 2014. .

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