The Olive Branch Petition was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775, and signed on July 8 in a final attempt to avoid war between Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies in America. The petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated King George III to prevent further conflict. It was followed by the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, however, which made its success unlikely in London. The petition was rejected by the British government; King George had refused to read it before declaring the colonists traitors.