The Fourth of July is a celebration of all things American with parades, backyard barbecues and the night sky lit up with fireworks. This month marks the 250th anniversary — the semiquincentennial — of a document enacted almost exactly a year before the Declaration of Independence: “The Olive Branch Petition,” ratified July 5, 1775 by the Continental Congress. Its primary author was John Dickinson, a Pennsylvanian whose writing skills led some to call him the “Penman of the Revolution,” and would stand as a final, desperate plea to reconcile with Britain.
