Petitions

Petitions to the president. Petitions to Congress. Petitions to the governor. Petitions to the legislature. Petitions to mayors and local commissioners. Petitions can be found at almost every level of government. As students of history, how do we use these? What value do we squeeze from them? Do we systematically seek them?  Or, do we occasionally stumble upon one that has a name of interest and think: Hmhh, could this be my person-of-interest?