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The Olive Branch Petition: a last-gasp attempt to prevent all-out war...

Item # 687432

August 24, 1775

RIVINGTON'S NEW-YORK GAZETTEER; or, the CONNECTICUT, HUDSON'S RIVER, NEW-JERSEY, and QUEBEC WEEKLY ADVERTISER, New York, Aug. 24, 1775
Certainly the most notable content in this issue is found taking over a full column of page 1 and a bit of page 2, being the very historic Olive Branch Petition.
This was one of the more historic documents of the war, adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775, in a final attempt to avoid a war between the American Colonies and England. The petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and strongly urged the king to prevent further conflict. However, the Petition was written just one day before the historic "Causes & Necessity For Taking Up Arms", which caused it to be viewed as disingenuous by the British.
There is other content within relating to the Revolutionary War but it pales in comparison to the Olive Branch Petition. Several items are shown in the photos. There is a reference to the Battle of Bunker Hill.
Background:
James Rivington, the famous printer of this newspaper, had an interesting career. He began this newspaper in 1773 initially with an impartial stance which shifted as a revolution loomed and public opinion polarized, until by late 1774 he was advocating the restrictive measures of the British government with such great zeal and attacking the patriots so severely, that in 1775 the Whigs of Newport resolved to hold no further communication with him. The Sons of Liberty hanged Rivington in effigy. On May 10, 1775, immediately after the opening of hostilities, the Sons of Liberty gathered and mobbed Rivington’s wife's home and press. Rivington fled to safety while his office & press were destroyed, the lead type converted into bullets. Another mob burned Rivington's house to the ground.
In 1777 once the British occupied New York he returned with a new press and resumed the publication of his paper under the title of Rivington's New York Loyal Gazette, which he changed on 13 December 1777, to The Royal Gazette, with the legend “Printer to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty”.
Four pages, rejoined at the spine with a narrow mounting strip to the back spine margin, very nice condition.