The history of the American Revolution is endlessly fascinating and has been debated and studied and turned into movies. The stuff that led up to the Declaration was pretty interesting as well. On July 3, 1775, Washington officially took command of the poorly trained and under-supplied Continental Army which had been fighting here and there since April.
Two days later, July 5 1775, the Olive Branch Petition was adopted by the Continental Congress and professed the attachment of the American people to George III. It expressed hope for the restoration of harmony and begged the king to prevent further hostile actions against the colonies. The following day, Congress passed a resolution written by Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson, a “Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms,” which rejected independence but asserted that Americans were ready to die rather than be enslaved. King George refused to receive the Olive Branch Petition on August 23 and proclaimed the American colonies to be in open rebellion.
The King set in motion what would take a year to produce, a Declaration of Independence. George III the first British King to be born in England, not Germany, was considered by most observers, even his own followers to be insane. He might have been nuts but he had some accomplishments. He goes down in History as the King who “lost the colonies”.
