'TIS TIME TO PART

Thomas Paine's Common Sense - January 10, 1776

You might find it hard to believe that, for a good portion of 1775, even after the long train of abuses and usurpations they had suffered at the hands of Great Britain, including a succession of coercive acts and taxes stretching as far back as 1764, a considerable number of colonists in America —even Congressional delegates—still regarded reconciliation with the Crown as achievable.

Even after bloody military engagements at Lexington and Concord in April; even after the Continental Congress had named George Washington Commander-in-Chief on June 15; and even after the Battle of Bunker Hill, which took place just two days later, many of them not only thought that the relationship with the mother country was reparable, but that was actually their preferred outcome.

In fairness (I guess), it’s not like they could ditch their English identity overnight. They still considered themselves very much English and most simply wanted their rights restored and for things to just return to the way they used to be.

Even the relatively hard-line realist, John Adams, in a June 10 letter, wrote, “I find that the general Sense is to prepare for a vigorous defensive War, but at the Same Time to keep open the Door of Reconciliation—to hold the sword in one Hand and the Olive Branch in the other.”

What’s interesting is that, at that point, most of the colonists blamed Parliament —not King George— for all the mistreatment. So, they decided to write His Highness something of a love letter, which would become known as the Olive Branch Petition.