The correct answer is Declaring the colonies to be in rebellion.
What king George III received an olive branch petition from Congress he declared the colonies to be in rebellion.
King George III –King of England- did not accept the petition, written by John Dickinson. It appealed directly to George III and was an effort to reconcile between Great Britain and the colonies. But for the King, it was like an insult to the Crown and he considered this an act of rebellion.
On September 1775, Richard Penn and Arthur Lee were the members of the Continental Congress that presented the Olive Branch Petition to the Earl of Dartmouth.