July 8, 1775

To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty.

MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN: We, your Majesty’s faithful subjects of the
Colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania,
the Counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
North Carolina, and South Carolina, in behalf of ourselves and the inhabitants
of these Colonies, who have deputed us to represent them in General Congress,
entreat your Majesty’s gracious attention to this our humble petition.The union between our Mother Country and these Colonies, and the energy of
mild and just Government, produce benefits so remarkably important, and afforded
such an assurance of their permanency and increase, that the wonder and envy
of other nations were excited, while they beheld Great Britain rising to a
power the most extra-ordinary the world had ever known.Her rivals, observing that there was no probability of this happy connexion
being broken by civil dissensions, and apprehending its future effects if
left any longer undisturbed, resolved to prevent her receiving such continual
and formidable accessions of wealth and strength, by checking the growth of
those settlements from which they were to be derived.In the prosecution of this attempt, events so unfavourable to the design
took place, that every friend to the interests of Great Britain and these
Colonies, entertained pleasing and reasonable expectations of seeing an additional
force and exertion immediately given to the operations of the union hitherto
experienced, by an enlargement of the dominions of the Crown, and the removal
of ancient and warlike enemies to a greater distance.At the conclusion, therefore, of the late war, the most glorious and advantageous
that ever had been carried on by British arms, your loyal Colonists having
contributed to its success by such repeated and strenuous exertions as frequently
procured them the distinguished approbation of your Majesty, of the late King,
and of Parliament, doubted not but that they should be permitted, with the
rest of the Empire, to share in the blessings of peace, and the emoluments
of victory and conquest.While these recent and honourable acknowledgements of their merits remained
on record in the Journals and acts of that august Legislature, the Parliament,
undefaced by the imputation or even the suspicion of any offence, they were
alarmed by a new system of statutes and regulations adopted for the administration
of the Colonies, that filled their minds with the most painful fears and jealousies;
and, to their inexpressible astonishment, perceived the danger of a foreign
quarrel quickly succeeded by domestick danger, in their judgment of a more
dreadful kind.Nor were these anxieties alleviated by any tendency in this system to promote
the welfare of their Mother Country. For though its effects were more immediately
felt by them, yet its influence appeared to be injurious to the commerce and
prosperity of Great Britain.We shall decline the ungrateful task of describing the irksome variety of
artifices practised by many of your Majesty’s Ministers, the delusive
pretences, fruitless terrours, and unavailing severities, that have, from
time to time, been dealt out by them, in their attempts to execute this impolitick
plan, or of tracing through a series of years past the progress of the unhappy
differences between Great Britain and these Colonies, that have flowed from
this fatal source.Your Majesty’s Ministers, persevering in their measures, and proceeding
to open hostilities for enforcing them, have compelled us to arm in our own
defence, and have engaged us in a controversy so peculiarly abhorrent to the
affections of your still faithful Colonists, that when we consider whom we
must oppose in this contest, and if it continues, what may be the consequences,
our own particular misfortunes are accounted by us only as parts of our distress.Knowing to what violent resentments and incurable animosities civil discords
are apt to exasperate and inflame the contending parties, we think ourselves
required by indispensable obligations to Almighty God, to your Majesty, to
our fellow-subjects, and to ourselves, immediately to use all the means in
our power, not incompatible with our safety, for stopping the further effusion
of blood, and for averting the impending calamities that threaten the British
Empire.Thus called upon to address your Majesty on affairs of such moment to America,
and probably to all your Dominions, we are earnestly desirous of performing
this office with the utmost deference for your Majesty; and we therefore pray,
that your Majesty’s royal magnanimity and benevolence may make the most
favourable constructions of our expressions on so uncommon an occasion. Could
we represent in their full force the sentiments that agitate the minds of
us your dutiful subjects, we are persuaded your Majesty would ascribe any
seeming deviation from reverence in our language, and even in our conduct,
not to any reprehensible intention, but to the impossibility of reconciling
the usual appearance of respect with a just attention to our own preservation
against those artful and cruel enemies who abuse your royal confidence and
authority, for the purpose of effecting our destruction.Attached to your Majesty’s person, family, and Government, with all
devotion that principle and affection can inspire; connected with Great Britain
by the strongest ties that can unite societies, and deploring every event
that tends in any degree to weaken them, we solemnly assure your Majesty,
that we not only most ardently desire the former harmony between her and these
Colonies may be restored, but that a concord may be established between them
upon so firm a basis as to perpetuate its blessings, uninterrupted by any
future dissensions, to succeeding generations in both countries, and to transmit
your Majesty’s name to posterity, adorned with that signal and lasting
glory that has attended the memory of those illustrious personages, whose
virtues and abilities have extricated states from dangerous convulsions, and
by securing the happiness to others, have erected the most noble and durable
monuments to their own fame.We beg further leave to assure your Majesty, that notwithstanding the sufferings
of your loyal Colonists during the course of this present controversy, our
breasts retain too tender a regard for the kingdom from which we derive our
origin, to request such a reconciliation as might, in any manner, be inconsistent
with her dignity or welfare. These, related as we are to her, honour and duty,
as well as inclination, induce us to support and advance; and the apprehensions
that now oppress our hearts with unspeakable grief, being once removed, your
Majesty will find our faithful subject on this Continent ready and willing
at all times, as they have ever been with their lives and fortunes, to assert
and maintain the rights and interests of your Majesty, and of our Mother Country.We therefore beseech your Majesty, that your royal authority and influence
may be graciously interposed to procure us relief from our afflicting fears
and jealousies, occasioned by the system before-mentioned, and to settle peace
through every part of our Dominions, with all humility submitting to your
Majesty’s wise consideration, whether it may not be expedient, for facilitating
those important purposes, that your Majesty be pleased to direct some mode,
by which the united applications of your faithful Colonists to the Throne,
in pursuance of their common counsels, may be improved into a happy and permanent
reconciliation; and that, in the mean time, measures may be taken for preventing
the further destruction of the lives of your Majesty’s subjects; and
that such statutes as more immediately distress any of your Majesty’s
Colonies may be repealed.For such arrangements as your Majesty’s wisdom can form for collecting
the united sense of your American people, we are convinced your Majesty would
receive such satisfactory proofs of the disposition of the Colonists towards
their Sovereign and Parent State, that the wished for opportunity would soon
be restored to them, of evincing the sincerity of their professions, by every
testimony of devotion becoming the most dutiful subjects, and the most affectionate
Colonists.That your Majesty may enjoy long and prosperous reign, and that your descendants
may govern your Dominions with honour to themselves and happiness to their
subjects, is our sincere prayer.JOHN HANCOCK,JOHN LANGDON,THOMAS CUSHING, New-Hampshire

SAMUEL ADAMS,JOHN ADAMS,ROBERT TREAT PAINE, Massachusetts
STEPHEN HOPKINS,SAMUEL WARD,ELIPHALET DYER, Rhode-Island
ROGER SHERMAN,SILAS DEANE, Connecticut
PHILIP LIVINGSTON,JAMES DUANE,JOHN ALSOP,FRANCIS LEWIS,JOHN JAY,ROBERT LIVINGSTON, JR.,LEWIS MORRIS,WILLIAM FLOYD,HENRY WISNER, New-York

WILLIAM LIVINGSTON,JOHN DE HART,RICHARD SMITH, New-Jersey
JOHN DICKINSON,BENJAMIN FRANKLIN,GEORGE ROSS,JAMES WILSON,CHARLES HUMPHREYS,EDWARD BIDDLE, Pennsylvania
CAESAR RODNEY,THOMAS McKEAN,GEORGE READ, Delaware Counties

MATTHEW TILGHMAN,THOMAS JOHNSON, JR.,WILLIAM PACA,SAMUEL CHASE,THOMAS STONE, Maryland

PATRICK HENRY, JR.,RICHARD HENRY LEE,EDMUND PENDLETON,BENJAMIN HARRISON,THOMAS JEFFERSON, Virginia
WILLIAM HOOPER,JOSEPH HEWES, North-Carolina

HENRY MIDDLETON,THOMAS LYNCH,CHRISTOPHER GADSDEN,JOHN RUTLEDGE,EDWARD RUTLEDGE, South-Carolina