Exhaustion of petition defines the threshold for lawful separation

Evidence

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. — Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence, 38

Categorization

• DEFINE: Provides a criterion of ‘unfit to rule’ — acts defining tyranny, not mere conflict, disqualify a sovereign over a free people.