The right to petition under the First Amendment helps ensure the government remains accountable to the people.

While the government does not have to respond to or act on anyone’s “petition for a redress of grievances,” it cannot retaliate against people when they ask for change, whatever their perspective or message.

Petition protects many ways people can tell the government how they want it to serve them. It includes filing a formal petition with constituents’ signatures, calling or emailing elected officials, speaking at a government meeting and suing the government.

Discover 11 examples of petition

Throughout U.S. history, people have petitioned in many ways and about various issues they care about. Whatever the issue, cause and viewpoint, these petitions are protected as a First Amendment right.

Olive Branch petition | July 5, 1775

In the spring of 1775, American colonists were frustrated after a decade of disagreements with Great Britain over taxation and governance of the colonies. Colonial leaders had petitioned for more say in their rule but had been met with high taxes and restrictions on their rights. Colonists boycotted British goods and organized protests. By July, colonial militias and British forces had skirmished over supplies and harbor access, with fatalities on both sides.

A Continental Congress met to discuss the draft of one last petition to King George III, written by Thomas Jefferson. The Olive Branch petition, initially an aggressive, strongly worded text, was rewritten to be more conciliatory and asked the king to help restore harmony. It was signed by John Hancock, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and several other Founding Fathers who would sign the Declaration of Independence a year later.

The Olive Branch Petition was not protected by the First Amendment – because the First Amendment did not yet exist – and King George III refused to read it, instead declaring the colonies to be in rebellion.

The British Parliament and the king’s ongoing refusals to acknowledge colonists’ petitions helped set the stage for the Revolutionary War, American independence, and for the framers of the Constitution to later include the right to petition in the First Amendment.

Abolitionist petitions | 1790-1865

Advocacy against slavery predates the independence of the U.S. An abolitionist society formed in Philadelphia in 1775. In his final public act, Benjamin Franklin, the organization’s president, presented a petition to the first U.S. Congress in February 1790 to end the slave trade and abolish slavery. Congress heard the petition and tabled it after heated debate because the Constitution banned Congress from regulating the slave trade until 1808.

This did not deter abolitionists like the Rev. Absalom Jones and 70 other free Black men, who in 1799 petitioned Congress to end the Fugitive Slave Act requiring the return of escaped enslaved people — a petition Congress debated and denied. Other petitions at the time asked Congress to ban slavery in the District of Columbia.

In the 1830s, abolition activists sent Congress thousands of petitions to end slavery nationwide. In 1836, Congress received more than 300,000 such requests from constituents and set up a rule that these petitions would have to go through a complex procedure that essentially meant they would never be heard. This “gag rule” was repealed in 1844, but petitions in general were less likely to be formally heard by Congress going forward.

However, abolitionists persisted, delivering 100,000 signatures on petitions in 1864 urging Congress to abolish slavery. This ultimately led to the passage of the 13th Amendment, which banned slavery and was ratified in December 1865 as the Union had won the Civil War.

Women’s suffrage petitions | 1865-1920

Women began petitioning for voting rights at the state level in the 1840s. For example, six women asked New York to include voting rights for women in the state constitution in 1864. That effort failed until 1917, when women in New York won the right to vote following ongoing petition efforts that included a campaign led by Susan B. Anthony and county “captains” as well as a 1917 New York City “Procession of the Petitions” featuring more than 1 million signatures.

Between 1870 and 1920, women sent more than 2,000 suffrage petitions to Congress, 95% in favor of suffrage, with petitioning at the national level beginning in earnest after the Civil War.

Women used their First Amendment freedom to petition strategically. For example, in 1871, some suffragists asked for the right to testify in person before Congress — like Susan B. Anthony did in 1874, when she asked Congress not to fine her for voting, which she did in an act of civil disobedience. (She was not required to pay her fine.)

In 1913, 1915 and 1916, separate expeditions of women drove across the country collecting signatures on suffrage petitions for Congress. They also began to exercise their right to assemble, such as a 1913 march in Washington, D.C., and a nearly three-year-long picket at the White House that began in 1917.

By 1918, public opinion had shifted, and the ongoing pressure led to the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment granting women suffrage nationwide. The persistent examples of petition had led to the biggest expansion of voting rights ever, redefining what it meant to be a citizen — and counties across the country with more suffrage petitions later had higher voter turnout, suggesting a correlation between the act of petition and the act of voting.

Black Hills land-claims petitions | 1877-present

The Great Sioux Reservation of more than 7 million acres in the Black Hills of South Dakota was created by the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie between the U.S. government and a group of Native bands represented by about 130 tribal leaders. The treaty declared the land “unceded Indian Territory” that could only be ceded in the future with the agreement of 75% of adult male tribal members. However, gold was discovered on the reservation, and the U.S. Army was unable or unwilling to keep white trespassers out of the reservation, leading to clashes such as the Battle of Little Bighorn.

In 1877, Congress responded by passing a law taking the land back, even though only around 10% of adult male tribal members agreed to exchange the land for food rations.

In seeking recourse, the tribal nations first had to petition Congress for the right to sue over the land, which wasn’t granted until 1920. The case worked its way through different courts, was subject to fights over how it could be heard and fell under several acts of Congress — with some victories and some defeats for the Native tribes. This continued until 1980, more than 100 years since Congress took back the land. That year, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that since Congress had taken the land, the Fifth Amendment required compensation paid to the Native tribes, which the government had not delivered (United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians).

While this was a partial victory, the tribal communities wanted the land itself, not compensation, leaving the case in a stalemate. According to the tribal nations, accepting the money would acknowledge and accept the land being taken in violation of the treaty. The compensation remains unpaid, as the tribes have refused to accept the payment. In 2023, Standing Rock Sioux Chair Janet Alkire said, “The Black Hills are not for sale, and they never were.”

Vietnam War protest petitions | 1960s-70s

U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War faced growing opposition thanks to a counterculture movement, on-the-ground news reporting of the grim realities of war and lack of government transparency about the operation.

People protested and petitioned for an end to the war. Some petitions include letters and postcards sent to President Lyndon B. Johnson with antiwar messages. University of Iowa students signed a petition in blood to protest military recruitment on campus. Catholic clergy petitioned Congress, particularly antiwar Sen. George McGovern, to end the bombing, push for peace and ensure conscientious objectors could not be drafted, pointing to surveys of American Catholics who strongly opposed the war.

Active-duty service members petitioned for peace, too. In November 1969, more than 1,300 took out a full-page ad in The New York Times calling for antiwar protests and urging people to write to the president and Congress to allow service members to protest. The “Stop Our Ship” movement petitioned Congress to stop the Pentagon from sending warships into action, with one petition collecting 50,000 civilian signatures. In 1971, the crew of the USS Coral Sea aircraft carrier started circulating an SOS petition of some 300 signatures, but the petition was seized, and 15 soldiers were punished. The men later went on to collect 1,000 signatures out of the 4,500-person crew. The ship was redeployed despite the crew’s petitions and lost dozens of aircraft and more than 40 men.

By 1975, a combination of strong public objection and military losses led to U.S. withdrawal, and the USS Coral Sea helped evacuate refugees and troops.

Gun rights petitions | 1970s-present

The First Amendment is not unlimited, and the same is true for other rights, like the Second Amendment right to bear arms. Gun regulation is a polarized area of policy across the U.S., with many people advocating for fewer regulations and restrictions on gun manufacturing and ownership and others arguing for more limits to try to reduce gun violence.

Petitioning by gun-owner and manufacturer groups today is primarily done through lobbying: hiring policy analysts to advocate on people’s behalf to elected officials. The National Rifle Association, the largest membership organization of gun owners, has been called the most effective political lobby in the U.S. and, along with groups like the Gun Owners of America and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, has used this lesser-known form of petition consistently and at a large scale. Research has also shown that during specific policy pushes, both sides of the gun debate raise money, but gun rights groups tend to sustain longer growth and more stable revenue.

According to one analysis, between 2013 and 2018, 22 states passed new gun restrictions, while 13 reduced regulations.

In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court defined a new test for evaluating whether a gun law violates the Second Amendment or not, which led to an increase in gun rights groups petitioning the courts to review and overturn gun restrictions. This, in turn, led to several state regulations being struck down as unconstitutional but also some court rulings upholding other laws, creating some confusion across the country.

9/11 families petition for 9/11 Commission | 2001-2004

On Sept. 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 people died in terrorist attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania.

Amid the recovery efforts, advocacy led by the families of the victims began. Family groups like the Voices Center for Resilience called for the government to investigate the attack, including any intelligence failures or shortcomings that could have prevented it.

In June 2002, families rallied in Washington, D.C., to call for an independent commission to investigate. Family members held vigils and petitioned by calling, writing to and visiting members of Congress in person. They also met closely with the White House and testified before Congress.

The 9/11 Commission was established in November 2002 at the urging of the families and government officials. It included a 12-member Family Steering Committee, made up of those who lost loved ones in the attacks, to provide input and testimony to the commission and to Congress.

The commission held a public hearing in March 2003 and published recommendations about government reforms. The Family Steering Committee’s testimony contributed to the passage in 2004 of legislation to enact many of the commission’s recommendations, such as creating the Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Bears Ears national monument petition for protection | 2010-present

The Antiquities Act of 1906 authorized the president to designate federal land of scientific, cultural and environmental interest for special protection. One of the natural areas the author of the law had visited was the Bears Ears region of Southwest Utah, a sacred homeland with more than 13,000 years of human history and ongoing use for gathering, ceremonies and hunting by Native tribal communities.

Efforts in the 1930s to protect the area failed, and over the decades, many cultural artifacts were looted from ruins there. In a series of raids in 2009, law enforcement recovered more than 40,000 looted objects.

In 2010, Utah Diné Bikéyah, a coalition of Native tribal nations, formed to collectively advocate for the area’s mapping and protection. In 2015, the Utah Legislature said the area should instead be used for development, and a bill in Congress to protect the land did not pass. But in December 2016, a presidential proclamation established the 1.35-milion-acre Bears Ears National Monument.

In 2017, in response to a proposal to shrink the physical size of Bears Ears and certain other national monuments, comments filed with the U.S. Department of Interior showed that 95% of commenters and 65% of Utah residents were in favor of the area’s protection as a national monument. But a presidential proclamation that year modified the boundaries to cover two smaller areas, suggesting that other existing laws protected the rest of the land. Several advocates, including the Native American Rights Fund, sued, arguing the Antiquities Act did not allow reducing previously established monuments.

In 2021, a new presidential proclamation restored the original boundaries of the monument, plus the areas newly designated in 2017.

However, examples of petitions to ensure protection for other federal lands continue, including a “Monumental Call to Action” of community campaigns that collected 800,000 signatures in 2024.

Flint water crisis petitions | 2014-2017

In April 2014, the city of Flint, Michigan, switched its drinking water source and treatment process, which caused pipes to leach contaminants into the water and sicken people. The corrosive chemicals and increased chlorine used to treat the water caused illnesses, as did lead and bacteria. Residents complained about the water’s smell, taste, appearance and effects on skin and health — and their advocacy included many examples of petition to the local, state and federal government to help. People testified at public meetings asking the city to test the water, treat children experiencing lead poisoning and ensure all residents had access to safe drinking water.

By mid-2015, residents were going door to door encouraging people to petition their elected officials, marching from Detroit to Flint. They collected more than 26,000 signatures for a petition to the mayor asking the city to switch its water system back. Another grassroots effort collected more than 4,500 letters petitioning the Michigan Legislature to provide help and funding.

After a study confirmed more than 1,700 children had elevated lead levels in their blood, a coalition petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to intervene, and it did so in 2016. Eight-year-old Mari Copeny used her right to petition to write a letter to President Barack Obama, who flew to Flint to talk to community members. Ultimately, states of emergency were declared at the city, state and federal levels. Both the Michigan Legislature and Congress passed laws providing support, recovery and prevention efforts – efforts residents are still fighting to have fulfilled.

Residents also sued the city and the state and filed a class action lawsuit, petitioning the federal courts to take action to provide safe water and medical treatment, winning a settlement in 2017.

Public school race and gender curriculum petitions | 2020-present

In 2020, discussions of race in U.S. history and culture came to the fore of the social conversation. Increased discussions in public schools about race, racism and racial history raised concerns for some parents.

Parents and activists began to petition for more input into curricula and for limits on public school teaching around topics that some people found divisive, such as race, gender and sexuality.

One group, Moms for Liberty, founded in January 2021, grew to have more than 165 chapters in more than 30 states. Thousands of the group’s members petitioned school boards and state legislatures to update school policies on topics such as race and gender identity, as well as endorsed school board candidates.

In some cases, advocates first had to petition for the right to petition. For example, in 2021, Moms for Liberty sued a Florida school board after the board limited public petitioning at meetings, including “repeated interruption, silencing, and even removal of parents from meetings.” And in 2023, a group called Mama Bears sued a Georgia county after officials stopped a group member from reading excerpts at school board meetings from books the group deemed inappropriate and wanted removed from school libraries. Both groups won their lawsuits, affirming their right to petition by speaking at public meetings.