DDH – The Patriot King?

What if the revolution could have been avoided? Not through compromise or clever strategy, but by a single decision from a man wearing a crown. In this episode of Dave Does History, aired on Bill Mick Live, Dave Bowman explores a strange moment in 1775 when the American colonies weren’t quite ready to break away. Not all of them. Not yet. There were still some holding out hope that King George III would listen. That he would do the right thing.

That hope lived in the mind of John Dickinson, who believed the solution wasn’t rebellion, but reconciliation. He helped write the Olive Branch Petition, a heartfelt plea asking the King to rise above Parliament and his ministers. Dickinson and others imagined George might become something better than a ruler—something almost ideal. They wanted him to become what Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, once described as a Patriot King.

Bolingbroke’s vision wasn’t just theory. It was a full-on political fantasy. He imagined a monarch untouched by party politics, one who ruled with reason and integrity, loyal not to factions but to the people. Dickinson believed such a king could bring peace. George III believed he already was that king. And that’s where the trouble began.

The conversation on Bill Mick Live takes a close look at this clash between political hope and political reality. Dave unpacks the timing and tone of the petition, why it failed, and what it revealed about the gulf between the colonies and the Crown. He shows how the rejection of that olive branch didn’t just end a diplomatic effort. It ended any illusion that the King was listening.

At some point, even the most loyal subject has to decide what comes next. That’s where the colonies found themselves. George had answered—not with words, but with warships and hired soldiers.

This episode isn’t about kings and thrones as symbols. It’s about the limits of hope, and the moment when people stop waiting to be rescued. Listen in as Dave follows the final thread of loyalty as it snaps, setting the course for something entirely new. The Patriot King remained a dream. America moved on.